Liona smiled as she attempted to snuggle a little closer in Erik's arms again now that she had calmed down. Looking up at him, she asked, "Does this mean we're dating? Can I call you my boyfriend?"
"I thought that if we both knew we were each other's fated mate, then that would mean we should try dating? Was I rushing things?" Erik worried he had inadvertently pressured Liona into a relationship.
"No. I want to see you and get to know you better while we date. That's part of dating, after all! So, boyfriend?" Liona asked again.
"Sounds good, girlfriend…" Erik smiled and leaned down to give Liona a peck on her cheek.
While the two were wrapped up in their own world, not too far away, a voice could be heard calling for Liona.
"Liona? Are you out here? Mom's looking for you!" The voice sounded insistent.
"Crap, that's my little brother, Noah. If my mom sent my siblings to look for me, she must be pretty peeved that I disappeared." Liona fretted.
"I'm sorry for keeping you out here so long, you even told me you needed to get back to your family gathering." Erik apologized.
"It's okay, Erik, I was the one that wanted to stay and spend more time with you. I have to go back inside now. I'll stop by the coffee shop before school tomorrow with another lunch for you. Make sure to save it for your lunchtime at school. And if you want, I'll even make it big enough to share with your sisters…" Liona smiled up at Erik as he seemed reluctant to let her go.
"Oh, Nikki doesn't share the same lunchtime as I do. My school is so big that it breaks the lunch periods up into two time slots. The upperclassmen, like me, have the first lunch period and the underclassmen, like Nikki, have the one after that. Besides, I thought the lunch you made for me today was quite cute… I liked the surprise of finding an I ♥️ U buried deep within the food." Erik smiled as he recalled the adorable lettering he had found.
Liona blushed as she next heard the voice of her little brother, Nolan also looking for her.
"Liona if you don't get your butt back inside, Mom's threatening to ground you until you graduate!"
"Aaagh!" Liona let out a frustrated sound.
"I better let you go, I don't want you to be grounded, I'll never get to see you if that happens!" Erik reluctantly let Liona out of his embrace…
Not quite wanting to part with Erik, Liona beckoned for him to lean down. When he complied, she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a long kiss on his lips. She kept it chaste because if she took it deeper, she really would be unwilling to part with her newfound love. "I love you, Erik." She whispered before turning and leaving his arms to head toward her brothers.
Erik felt Liona break the kiss and her whispered words of love. Not wanting to part without letting her hear him say it too, he clasped her hand and kissed it before saying, "I love you too, Lia." He said her name in such a rush that it came out shorter than he intended. Before he could correct himself, he heard more voices calling for Liona.
"I love it! I'll see you tomorrow, Er!" Liona managed to say before she had no choice but to acknowledge her brothers and her sisters that were now looking for her out here.
"I'm coming, you brats! Tell mom I'll be inside shortly!" Erik heard Liona call out as she headed back towards the building.
He smiled at her shortening of his name to Er. It never crossed his mind that he had a name that warranted shortening, but he didn't hate it. Because his lovely fated mate had given him that nickname. He now felt he could float home on a cloud of happiness, despite his fatigue. He watched as Liona reached her brothers and sisters before an unheard conversation took place and Liona was left outside while her brothers and sisters headed inside. He was curious why Liona didn't go inside with her siblings, so he waited a moment more. When he saw her turn around and start heading his way again, he started to head toward her. Meeting in the middle, Liona laughed before coming to hug him once more.
"My brothers and sisters told me they're going to tell our parents that I'm not feeling well because they could smell your pheromones all over me. Despite their sometimes bratty behavior, they're good kids and are sometimes willing to run interference with our parents for me. Of course, I'm going to have to owe them a huge favor after this, but I consider this well worth that favor." Liona explained to Erik.
"Really? Then what are you going to do now?" Erik asked.
"Well, I need my siblings to get my shawl and my purse, then I'm free until curfew. If I'm out past curfew, my dad's going to be the one that flips, not my mom. He's a stickler for the rules, so I don't want to test his patience on that." Liona explained.
"Is your Dad mean?" Erik hadn't gotten that impression, but you never knew.
"Oh, goddess no! He's such a teddy bear! He's really just a big softie, and he worries about me, so he does his best to keep me and my siblings safe. Since he works with criminal alphas and omegas, he sometimes gets a bit over the top about the house rules."
"Well, I guess I can't fault him for wanting to protect you. I want to protect you too, so I will do my best to make sure you don't get in trouble with your parents." Erik hugged Liona, glad to have her back in his arms.
"Liona! Hey! I've got your purse and shawl. Ari is waiting to let you and Erik in the other side entrance, so hurry up!" Liona and Erik heard Aurora say.
Liona broke away long enough to grab her things from her sister, give her a hug and promise to do her a favor later before she went back inside.
"Okay, Ariel is waiting to let us into the hotel on the opposite side of the building. From there, we make our way to the lobby, and I get my car from the valet."
"Do we have to go through the hotel? We are already out here in the parking lot, can't we just go and get your car from here?" Erik asked, confused.
"For one, the valet has my keys, and the kiosk is at the front desk. For two, it's cold out here, three, it would look odd if I walked into the lobby from outside the hotel when I was seen going to the ballroom where my whole family is. Despite being in a parking lot, this is not the valet parking area. This is just standard guest parking. Valet parking is in the underground garage of the hotel." Liona did her best to explain as she led Erik to where Aurora had indicated. "Plus, my feet hurt, and I'm not up for walking the long way when cutting through the hotel is faster."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize your feet hurt…" Erik felt bad. She was wearing some kind of strappy heels that looked painful. Georgie was right, he didn't understand fashion one bit.
"It's okay, I don't expect you to know that. It's not really important, I'm just whining because I want to maximize my remaining time with you tonight. My siblings know that if I were to enter the ballroom with your scent all over me, there would be endless questions, especially from my parents. My grandparents might even question who my alpha is. Those are questions I don't think you'd be comfortable with yet." Liona paused when they got near the side entrance that Ariel was waiting for them at.
"I want to protect you too, and if that means keeping our relationship to ourselves for a little while, then so be it. Just because I have a good relationship with my parents, doesn't mean that I need to force you to get along or worry about what my parents may think or say about us. I figure when you're ready, you'll let me know when you're comfortable officially meeting them as my fated mate and boyfriend."
"How did you know I was uncomfortable meeting your parents?" Erik was really curious.
"Did you think I was just hanging around you for the fun of it when I first said I wanted to be friends? I've been observing you and your skittish behavior around not only me and my friends. Every time someone approaches you that you believe has more than an average amount of money, you get really nervous and start to freak out. You also are uncomfortable with people with authority. That makes me think that you'd definitely be afraid to talk to my dad like he's my dad and not as some person of authority. I understand you enough to know that would make you uncomfortable. This is the reason I'm willing to work with you and prevent my parents from asking questions that you're not ready to face."
"I guess, I just saw you as a pretty little airhead at first…" Erik confessed as a door opened from the inside of the building and Liona's sister who he assumed was Ariel motioned them inside. He didn't know them well enough to tell the sisters apart yet.