Page 62 of The Omega's Fake Mate

“Not all romances end well.”

“No, but in romance novels they do, at least in the good ones.” I squeezed his hands. Moments like this, I wished life could resemble fiction a little more.

Nick leaned in close, his hair brushing my cheek as he rested his head on my shoulder. “So they get to stay together?”

“Yeah, they do,” I said, drawing his sweet scent into my nose with a deep breath.

“Even though their relationship started out fake?”

“Yeah.”

A pause. Then, “Do you think that's going to happen to us?” Nick lifted his head to look at me again, eyes trained on mine. “You said you loved me.”

My stomach squeezed. “I do.”

Nick smiled, and something in me relaxed again. How could he do that to me so easily? Love was such a weird emotion—but wonderful, too. Probably why I liked to write about it so much. No other feeling had quite so many facets.

“You know I came here tonight because I needed to know something,” Nick said.

“What did you need to know?” I asked. If I loved him? Because I'd already told him that twice now, but I'd say it again. As many times as was necessary.

“After last night, I kind of wondered. I mean, it's all so confusing. I wasn't sure if it was just the heat that made me want you when I never wanted anyone else before. So I had to come here to see if I...” He shook his head and then he smiled again. “Sorry, I'm rambling. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I needed to know if last night was just a fluke.”

“So what's the verdict?” I asked, trying not to bite my lower lip.

Nick went down on one knee in front of me, much the same way he'd done when he asked me to be his fake husband. “Zander C. Kerner,” he started, “would you like to be my actual boyfriend?”

“I would love that.” I pulled Nick up on his feet, my heart beating faster, pumping joy through my veins. “You still want me?”

He grinned at me. “Do you think I could stay the night?”

Could you stay forever?“Does that mean you'd like to see my bedroom?”

“Maybe.” His grin turned wicked as he threw his arms around my neck. “I want to see everything.” He pressed a quick kiss to my lips that left them tingling, and then he finally uttered the words I'd been waiting to hear for the past thirteen years. “I love you, Zander. I never thought I'd feel that way about anyone, but I'm glad that it's you.”

“I'm glad that it's me too.” More than glad. I'd never considered myself overly alpha, but the thought of seeing Nick with someone else made me want to rip someone's brains out. I wanted him to be mine, and I couldn't believe that he wanted that too. How lucky was I to have him back after all this time?

Sure, we still had some problems to overcome, like the fact that we lived on different ends of the country, but tonight I didn't want to think about all that.

Tonight, I just wanted to be happy.

22

Nick

Was there anything betterthan waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee? Sniffing the air, I blinked my eyes open to spot Zander carrying a tray with food and coffee into the bedroom.

“How much sugar do you take?” he asked, setting the tray down next to me.

“All of it.” I rubbed my eyes and pushed my hair out of my face. “How long have you been up?”

“A little while. I had to open the store.”

“Who's taking care of your store now?”

“No one. I'm taking an early lunch break.”

“Lunch?” I grabbed my phone from the bedside table to check the time. 10 a.m. “You could have woken me.”