Chapter 137 Plans
“I want to ask Aria to marry me.”
Marcus studied him for a moment.
Then a slow smile appeared.
“About time,” he said.
Kane gave him a look.
“That’s all you have to say?”
“What else would I say?” Marcus leaned back in his chair. “She is your mate. You have two pups together. The only surprising thing is that you waited this long.”
Kane said nothing.
“Does she know?” Marcus asked.
“No. I want it to be a surprise.”
Marcus nodded.
“Have you picked out a ring?”
“Yes.”
Kane reached into his jacket pocket and set a small box on the desk.
Marcus opened it.
The ring was a round cut diamond, large enough that there was no mistaking the intention behind it. The stone sat high on a thin platinum band, flanked on either side by two smaller diamonds that framed it without competing with it. The light in the office caught it immediately.
Marcus let out a low breath.
“Wow.”
“Yes.”
“This is three times the size of what you gave Victoria.”
“I know.”
Marcus closed the box carefully and pushed it back across the desk. The smile on his face had shifted into something more genuine.
“Speaking of Victoria,” he said, his tone changing slightly. “Have you heard from her again?”
“Not since I asked for the DNA test.”
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
“Nothing at all?”
“Nothing.”
“Do you think she lied about the pregnancy?”
“Knowing Victoria,” Kane picked up the ring box and slid it back into his jacket. “I would not put it past her.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
A short silence followed.
Kane glanced across the desk.
“How are things with Maya?”
The change in Marcus was immediate.
His shoulders shifted. He reached for his tablet and set it down again without looking at it. He cleared his throat.
Kane watched him with growing interest.
“That well?” Kane said.
“I met her parents last week,” Marcus said.
“And her daughter?”
“Sophie? I met her a couple of weeks back,” he said.
“Does she…”
“Know what I am?” Marcus cut him off. “Yes. She found out the same night we met.”
Kane’s expression shifted.
“How?”
“She saw me shift in the garden three weeks ago. I did not know she was there. I thought I was alone.”
Marcus paused.
“Was she scared?”
“Surprisingly, no. She asked me if I could do it again.”
“Of course she did,” Kane said. “I’ve met her a couple of times. She’s very free spirited.”
Marcus was quiet for a moment, then responded.
“Wish it was that easy when I met her parents too.”
“What happened?”
Then he sat forward and told him everything.
“Maya’s father made a comment about the food. Something about the steak being undercooked. He said he could never understand how anyone could eat rare steak.”
Marcus looked down for a moment, then back up.
“I was not fully paying attention. I responded without thinking. I said it was delicious.”
Kane remained quiet, watching him.
Marcus’s jaw shifted slightly.
“He said it would only be good if I were a dog.”
Silence followed.
Marcus held Kane’s gaze.
“I crushed the fork.”
Kane blinked.
“You crushed the fork?”
“Completely. In my hand. In front of her father. While he was looking directly at me.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing. I could not think of a single thing. I just sat there holding a destroyed piece of cutlery while Maya’s mother stopped chewing and her father stared at my hand.”
Kane said nothing.
“And then Sophie,” Marcus continued, “looked across the table without any expression at all and told her grandparents it was a magic trick. That I had been practicing. That I was very good at it.”
“She did not hesitate for even one second. Then she looked at me and said I should show them the spoon next.”
Kane stared at him.
“She asked you to bend the spoon?”
“She had already decided I was going to bend the spoon. There was no discussion. She just looked at me and waited.”
“And you bent the spoon.”
“I bent the spoon,” Marcus confirmed. “In front of Maya’s parents. Who were now fully invested in what they believed was a dinner magic show.”
Kane pressed his lips together very hard.
“Her grandfather leaned across the table and asked if I had learned it on YouTube.”
The sound Kane made was not quite a laugh but it was close.
“I said yes,” Marcus said flatly.
“You told Maya’s father you learned to bend metal with your bare hands from YouTube.”
“I told him I had been watching a lot of tutorials.”
Kane laughed. It was brief and genuine and Marcus looked pained in a way that only made it worse.
“Her grandfather wants me to teach him,” Marcus added. “He has asked twice. He thinks it is a grip strength exercise.”
“What does Maya’s mother think?”
“She thinks I am very dedicated to my hobbies.”
Marcus straightened his jacket with more dignity than the situation warranted.
“Sophie spent the rest of the evening requesting additional demonstrations. I had to tell her I was tired.”
Kane was quiet for a moment.
“I brought her a gift the following week to thank her for covering for me at dinner. She accepted it, looked me directly in the eye, and told me she expected it would not be the last time she would need to help me out.”
Kane said nothing.
A moment passed.
Eventually Marcus exhaled and looked up.
“Where are you planning to propose?”
Kane was quiet for a moment.
“The place where it all started,” he said.
Marcus looked at him steadily.
He understood immediately.
He opened his mouth to respond.
The door opened.
Both men turned.
Aria stood in the doorway.
She looked at Kane. Then at Marcus. Then back at Kane.
Neither of them had moved, but something about the stillness of the room was immediately wrong and she could tell.
“What is going on?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Kane said.
The word came out half a second too fast.
Aria’s eyes narrowed.
“You both look like I just walked in on something.”
“We were going over logistics,” Marcus said.
He was already reaching for his tablet with the practiced calm of someone who had spent years managing difficult situations. He tucked it under his arm and checked his watch.
“Actually I have a call in three minutes.”
He moved toward the door with purpose.
“I will send you those reports tonight.”
That last part was directed at Kane and meant absolutely nothing.
“Good talk,” Kane said.
Marcus nodded once at Aria as he passed her.
Aria watched the empty doorway for a moment before turning back to Kane.
He had not moved from where he stood beside the desk. His expression was composed in the specific way it became when he was working to keep it that way.
She walked toward him slowly.
“What was that about?”
“I told you. Logistics.”
“Kane.”
“Territory management. Very dull. You would have fallen asleep.”
Aria stopped in front of him and looked up.
“You are a terrible liar.”
“I am an excellent liar,” he said. “Ask anyone.”
“I am asking you.”
He looked at her for a moment.
Then the corner of his mouth moved.
He kissed her, and she stopped thinking about Marcus and the logistics that were not logistics and the secret that was apparently a surprise.
When she reached up and held the front of his jacket he made a quiet sound and lifted her without much ceremony and set her on the edge of the desk.
The tablet slid sideways.
Several papers followed.
Neither of them paid any attention.
“Let’s have dinner tomorrow night.”
“That sounds lovely,” Aria responded.
“It’s a date.”