Page 87 of Crushes and Confections

I could feel both his excitement and nerves through the bond and I quickly agreed. By the time I pulled up in front of his parents’ house, his leg had begun bouncing up and down in his seat.

“Should I be worried?” I asked, only half serious.

“Not about this,” he said, shaking his head as we climbed out and made our way towards the front door. “But I know she’s about to give me some grief.”

The door opened as soon as I’d lifted my hand to knock, Riley’s mother filling the doorway with a serious expression on her face.

“One would think you don’t love me anymore,” she said to Riley with a straight face. “You never visit the restaurant or come by for dinner anymore. You only call when you want something.”

“It’s only been a week, and Claire was in heat—”

“It’s a good thing I have a new son to take your place,” she said, opening the door wider and giving me an honest to god smile. “Come in, mijo.”

I wasn’t sure what I enjoyed more, Riley’s look of utter betrayal or his mom’s warm welcome and acceptance. They had already welcomed Adrien and me to the family before, but the smile I’d just received was next level.

“Vance,” Riley all but growled as we stepped inside.

“I’m sure I can get you an invite to Sunday dinners,” I said, trying to hold back my smile.

The roll of his eyes and following grin told me I was all but forgiven. While Riley’s sass was all his own, I could see where he might have gotten some of his dramatics from.

It was only when we were in the living room that his mom grabbed something off the mantel and turned back to us.

“For the record, you’ll always be my son,” she said, cupping Riley’s face with her free hand. “But I’m so proud of you for letting people in.”

Riley covered his hand with hers, his eyes going misty. “Thanks.”

“If you would have asked for this for anyone else, I would have said no,” she said, pulling away to open the small box she’d gotten off the mantle. “But you two have been meant to be since you met. I couldn’t ask for a better daughter-in-law.”

Sitting inside the box was a gorgeous ring. The sides had delicate twirls of filigree with a few pavé diamonds before they twirled up to form a nest, where the metal formed a quatrefoil shape that had more stones with a large gem in the middle. It had the faintest hint of peach coloring, and I shook my head at the serendipity.

“She’s going to love it,” I said.

I didn’t need to ask what it was for, it was as clear as day and my own excitement joined Riley’s at the prospect.

“You should come to the Sweetheart Swing tomorrow night,” Riley said. “Convince Blaire and them that they should go too if they weren’t planning to already.”

“We’ll be there,” his mom promised, sending us on our way with a casserole for dinner.

Riley was lost in his thoughts as we ran home to drop off the clothes, flowers, and food. He kept staring at the ring with a content smile on his face.

“Do you want to put it in the safe until tomorrow?” I asked. “Or do you want to have it on you in case you change your mind and want to do it sooner?”

“The safe,” he said with a groan, thrusting it at me. “I asked for it before the heat, but then dad took it to be resized for me. I can barely stop looking at it now and imagining it on her finger. If I would have had it then I probably wouldn’t have been able to wait either.”

I took it from him and went about securing it in the safe. We’d given the two of them the code, but the likelihood of Claire actually using it and finding the ring versus getting handsy with our beta and finding it in his pocket was way better.

“So tomorrow night?” I asked.

“I thought about bringing her to our spot at the lake and doing it, but this felt more right,” he said. “Having our families there…having both of you there, the more I think about it, the more I know it’s what we both would want. Plus, I get a redo.”

“A redo?”

“Of prom. We both totally took lame dates instead of going together like we should have. I mean, we ended up ditching them to dance with each other, but I didn’t realize I was in love with her until later, but it was the first time that I acknowledged that she meant something more to me, that she was way more than my best friend,” he said. “Now that I’ve finally got my act together, not only will I get to tell her I love her and spend the night dancing with my alphas and her, I’ll get to go down on one knee too.”

“I don’t think you’ll be needing that nudge from me this time,” I told him, bringing him in for a kiss.

“I might not, but what about you?” he countered. “When are you going to bite our omega?”

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