Free Untamed: An Alpha's Promise (Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance) by Evelyn Glass

lip. “Let’s not think too hard about this, okay? Things are going to be fine. We’ll figure it all out long before this baby gets here.”
     
    Finally he lured her out of the bathroom and into his bed, where he spooned behind her, his face buried in the familiar scent of her hair. He cupped his hand protectively over her belly, and after a few moments she covered his hand with her own. The last thing he remembered as he drifted off was Charmaine’s whispered apology.
     
    “I’m sorry, Parker.”
     
    And he knew it was time to make her understand just how serious he was.
     

 
    CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
     
    When Charmaine woke up, Parker was propped up on his elbow, watching her with the strangest expression on his face.
     
    “I love it when you’re here with me,” he murmured, stroking her hair from her face.
     
    “Me too,” she admitted, recalling the night before and trying not to tense beneath his touch. He pulled her against him and she burrowed deeper into his arms, inhaling his familiar scent. He was holding her tenderly but his body was stiff against hers, and when she pulled back to look at him, his brow was furrowed.
     
    “What’s wrong?”
     
    “I just…” His face was serious, his eyes clouded in pain. “I hate this. Separate lives, all the secrecy. I hate that it has to be that way. I love being here with you in our little love nest, but I want to be out with you. I want to go to the grocery store together, take you out to dinner, pick you up from work sometimes. I want to be able to enjoy your successes with you, and the hard things, too, without hearing about them second-hand when you come home.”
     
    “I know,” she sighed, feeling him relax a bit as he spoke.
     
    “A couple weeks ago you experienced the most important moment in your professional life, and I couldn’t be there. I wanted to be there to support you, Baby. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be.”
     
    “It’s okay.”
     
    “It’s not, though. And now it’s not just us.”
     
    “This is where we should be having all our serious talks,” she sighed as he cuddled her against him, tucking her head against his chest as they stretched out together, their legs twined.
     
    “Don’t change the subject,” he growled, touching her fingertips with his own one by one as he so often did after making love, threading their fingers together before bringing her hand to his lips.
     
    Parker was quiet for several long moments as he held her to him, her cheek nestled against him. Finally he spoke. “I love our life together,” he began, “but I want it to be bigger. More. If there’s anything I’ve learned from this whole thing with your dad--with both our fathers, really--is that life so much shorter than we think. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget what matters.” He kissed her knuckles, rasping them against his scruff before tucking her hand against his chest, covering the steady thumping of his heart with her palm.
     
    “ We’re what matters,” he continued. “You and me, and children--this baby, and more, whenever they come--that’s what matters. It’s bigger than us, too. We’re Mated for a reason, I have to believe that. It isn’t just random. There’s some purpose for us being together.”
     
    She smiled and nodded against his chest. “I believe that, too.”
     
    “And because of that,” he pressed on, “I want to make it official, you and me, in the eyes of nature and the law. No more talking about it in the abstract. No more putting it off for a better time. I know we can’t do it the way we want to with everything like this, but just to know…”
     
    Her heart galloped as he tilted her face up to his and captured her mouth with his. “Marry me,” he murmured tenderly. “It’s so right between us. I can’t imagine anything else in my future if you’re not a part of it.” Parker gazed down at her with so much love that she thought she’d overflow with