32. Ryklin

HadI set it up right? Prepared for every contingency?

It had been a long time since I prepared for battle, and I"d never been as nervous for that as I was for tonight. Everything had to be perfect.

Some men might have waited for a special occasion of some kind, an anniversary marking our mating or the first time we"d met, anything really. But I didn"t need to wait for some special day to show my denya how special she was.

I would have done this in our quarters, but I wanted something bigger, better. And this tiny observation deck was just the spot. I"d managed to reserve it for personal use and snuck in two meals. Technically people weren"t supposed to eat in there, but we couldn"t have a romantic dinner without food.

The table was set, the candles were lit, I"d even splurged on a bottle of wine.

So where was my mate?

Her shift had ended more than an hour ago, and she"d had plenty of time to shower and read the note I"d left for her. I"d even asked Pippa to steer her in this direction just in case they got to talking after work.

Impatience.

I was working to identify the emotions as they came. It was strange sometimes, what had once been so natural now sometimes fit like a too-tight sweater. And not in the way my mate liked me wearing too-tight clothes.

But I would deal with all the nervousness and impatience I had to for one moment of the joy I experienced when Noelle walked into the room.

And when she did, it made all the waiting worth it.

She saw me first, and then the spread, and her eyes widened. "We"re not supposed to eat in here!" She quickly shut the door behind her.

"I won"t tell if you won"t." I"d once been a stickler for the rules, but I was finding it … fun … to break them sometimes. Especially when it made my mate look at me like that.

"What"s going on? Why all this?" She took a seat and accepted a glass of wine.

I sat next to her and presented our plates. It wasn"t much, just some prepared meals from her favorite restaurant on the station and a small cake I"d ordered especially for tonight. "I wanted to do something for you."

"Is this to apologize for the whole stalking thing?" She raised a single eyebrow and looked at me.

"Would I know your favorite cake if I hadn"t stalked you?" At that point, the only way to react to the accusations of stalking was to fire right back. She"d forgiven me, I knew, but I"d never live it down.

"There"s cake?" She grinned. "You"re forgiven. For tonight."

"Then I suppose I"ll need to figure out something to help you forgive me tomorrow." I punctuated that with a kiss.

Noelle leaned into it, tasting faintly of wine and the small bite of cake she"d already taken. "I bet we can think of something." Her hand landed on my thigh, and I grinned into our kiss.

I looked forward to earning my mate"s forgiveness every night for the rest of our lives.

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