“Fine.” Ryan sighed. “I’ll run the vacuum before I bring her back.”
Bunny shivered. “You might want to consider a flamethrower. I hear you can get one on eBay.”
“Or Craigslist.”
“Even better.”
“Ha. Ha.” Ryan climbed into the car, placing the empty picnic basket on the passenger side floor. He was going to do this up right, damn it. “I have to go pick up the food before I get Glory.”
“Good luck.” Bunny patted the hood of his car. “And remember what we said.”
“Be good to Glory and fumigate my apartment.”
Bunny and Julian both laughed as they said good-bye. Ryan made his way to the restaurant and picked up the food before heading over to the apartment Glory had once shared with Cyn and Tabby. Now that the girls were living with their mates in their homes, Glory was all alone. That was something Ryan hoped to fix, and soon. He was more than willing to do what Bunny had done and buy a home in the area, but first he had to mark his mate.
He pulled up in front of Glory’s home on time and wiped his sweaty palms against his jeans. The guys were right. He was acting like a sixteen-year-old on his first date, but damn it. He’d waited so long for her to say yes to going out with him that he felt nervous as hell. What if the date was a flop? What if she decided he wasn’t worth it?
He took a deep breath and got out of the car. There was only one way to find out, and that wasn’t sitting in the car and hyperventilating.
Ryan knocked on Glory’s door and waited. He knew the area around her apartment intimately, having stood guard over her both when Tabby was in danger and when the girls were being targeted by a madman. He scanned the area now, automatically looking for threats to his mate. Finding none, he turned back to her door just in time to see her open it.
His mouth watered at the sight of his mate. God, she looked edible. Jeans that were painted on, a wispy nothing of a top, and high-heeled boots combined with that cascade of blue hair, and he was ready to say fuck the picnic and, well, just fuck her. “You look incredible.”
She grinned. “So do you.” She waved him in. “Let me grab my coat and we can get out of here.”
He was all for that. “I think you’re going to like what I’ve got planned.” And if things worked out the way he hoped, he’d love the aftermath.
“We’ll see.”
He didn’t let her skepticism get to him. He understood now why she constantly pushed him away. He’d have to prove over and over that he wasn’t going anywhere, but his mate was worth it. He’d show her however many times she needed that she’d never be alone again. “You ready?”
“Ready.” She slid her arm through his and grabbed her purse. “Ryan?”
“Yeah?”
For just a moment, she looked terribly sad. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
She locked her door before answering. “Do you know why none of my relationships have ever worked in the past?”
“Because you always leave before they do.” She glanced at him, obviously startled, as he led her to his car. “It’s not rocket science, SG.”
She blew her curls out of her eyes as she settled in the passenger seat. “You’re such a smart ass.”
He laughed as he settled into the driver’s seat. “Better a smart ass than a dumb ass.”
She glanced at him sideways. “But first you have to be smart, or you’re just an ass.”