CHAPTER SEVEN

Adalind was sleeping peacefully in Nick's arms when he woke up a few hours later. It was the middle of the night, and the moonlight was dancing over their naked bodies.

Nick's eyes wandered to the floor, next to the bed, and he spotted something blue... the velvet box, he realized. He had completely forgotten about the ring. The plans he had made for tonight had gone to hell when he had received that phone call from Renard. The romantic candlelight dinner, the walk up to the highest point of the mountain where he was going to propose under the stars... but that didn't mean he still couldn't ask the one true love of his life to marry him.

Nick carefully slid from under Adalind, making sure not to wake her. He slipped out of the covers and slowly got down from the bed. He walked to where the box had fallen and picked it up. He heard the bedsheets ruffle behind him, so he turned around to see if Adalind had woken up.

"Hey" she said, still half asleep. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Just thought I heard something."

He had nowhere to hide the box, so he had to decide whether or not to go through with the proposal now. Was this special enough? Was it ok to propose in bed? Would it be memorable enough for Adalind? Or should he go back to his original plan of proposing under the stars?

"Come back to bed" Adalind said, her voice still sleepy.

"Actually, do you feel like going for a walk?"

"In the middle of the night?" she asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, why not? It's such a beautiful night..." Nick said, trying to convince her.

"Hum, sure, I guess we can do that" she said, getting up to put something on.

Nick quickly put on a pair of jeans and his burgundy sweater, carefully making sure Adalind didn't see him put the velvet box in his front pocket. He turned around and she was standing there, staring at him.

"What?" he asked, scared she had noticed the box.

"I'm sorry I ruined your plans tonight, I know you wanted this night to be special for us."

"Don't be silly, you didn't ruin anything. We can always go out to eat another night. Besides, I'd much rather have you all to myself" Nick said, wrapping his arms around her.

"Ah-ha, so you were going to take me out to dinner?" she said with a little laugh.

"You caught me, here I thought I could surprise you and blow you away" he said, kissing her gently.

She kissed him back, pulling him closer. Nick could feel her trying to draw him back to bed. Not this time. He slowly pulled away from her.

"Come on, let's go for that walk."