Page 39 of His Protective Bear

“You too, Mr. Matthew’s,” I said.

He shook his head, “Call me Colin, please.”

When it was Sage’s Papa, he pulled me in for a quick hug, “Good seeing you, son. Even though technically, I guess I see you almost daily.”

I chuckled. “Well, the diner does have the best food in Asheville.”

“Of course we do, and we’ll both pretend that’s why you showed up every single day for years won’t we,” Seth teased.

“That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it,” I replied, grinning.

Sage’s brother came up to me with a serious look on his face. “I’m Clay. Sage’s my big brother.”

“I know,” I bent down to look him in the eye. “Nice to meet you, Clay. I’m Hunter. Sage is my mate.”

“You be nice to Sage,” he said seriously. “He’s the bestest big brother ever.”

“I promise,” I said, matching his seriousness. I looked up and found both of Sage’s parents looking proud as punch at their youngest child.

He nodded, “Good. Is that for me?” He pointed at the box with the remote-controlled truck.

“It is,” I nodded.

“Can I have it?” I looked over at Colin and Seth and got a nod from Seth, so I handed the box to him.

“Say thank you, son,” Seth prompted.

“Thank you, Hunter.” With that, he was gone.

Seth chuckled. “I’ll go get him settled down, but please have a seat, dig in. I’ll be right back.”

I sat down opposite Colin, and Sage was beside me. There was so much food on the table I wasn’t even sure where to start.

Sage picked up the dish with chicken pot pie and handed it to me. “Thanks, baby,”

He smiled and ducked his head, “You’re welcome.”

With that, everyone dug in to serve themselves. Seth came back a few minutes later to join us. Dinner progressed well, if I said so myself. The conversation was easy, and the meal was delicious. We chatted about the town, and my family and I even told several funny stories from my time as sheriff.

Halfway through dinner, Sage got up and excused himself. “You okay?” I asked.

He nodded and smiled at me. “I just need to go to the bathroom.”

I waited till I heard the door to the bathroom close, then turned to face Colin and Seth,

“I wanted to take a moment while Sage isn’t here to reassure you of my commitment to him. I love him and our baby very much and would like to ask your permission for his hand in marriage. I want to raise our children together and grow old with him. He’s the love of my life,” I said, trying to quell the emotion in my voice.

“Hunter, I think I can speak for my husband when I say we are delighted that you are his true mate. He suffered quite a while earlier in his life, and we know you will protect him with all of your might. You have our blessing, and we want you to know you are now part of our family.”

When Sage returned to the table, he looked at us as if he had missed something. I just smiled at him and kissed his cheek when he sat down.

After dinner, we had dessert, and Sage began to yawn. I took that as my cue to say goodnight so that he could get some sleep. I still had a few things up my sleeve for our date tomorrow night, so I kissed him goodnight and went home.

* * *

I couldn’t be happier with how dinner went. When I pulled into my driveway, all I could think about was that one day very soon, Sage would be here with me. I wouldn’t have to kiss him goodnight and come home alone to an empty house.

We would build our family just as my brothers had before me. For the first time in my life, I felt whole.

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