We’d been a little rowdy. Mostly me, but Emme was no angel. It was just so damn good to wake up with her knowing we had a stretch of time to ourselves that I couldn’t help myself.
I motioned to my usual seat. “You don’t need a pillow when you can sit on me. Even better”—I held up the oversized blanket draped over the seat back—“I’ll keep you cozy. Or we can do whatever you want under the blanket. Your birthday, your choice.”
She dropped her bag to the seat across the aisle from mine and shot me an indulgent grin. “Good to know.”
I grabbed the gleaming silver bowl and held it out. “We also have thirty oranges.”
Her gaze landed on the red box perched atop the mound of fruit. “What is this?”
“Open it up and find out,” I said.
She aimed a wary glance at me, like she couldn’t figure out why I’d have a birthday gift for her. She’d need to get used to it real fast because the entire weekend was going to be a birthday blowout. I had a full day of spa treatments and massages scheduled. Reservations at the most exclusive restaurants in Vegas. Tickets to every show I could imagine her wanting to see. An adventure day where she could choose from a helicopter tour to the bottom of the Grand Canyon or an off-road dune buggy race through the hills and valleys beyond the Strip. And that was on top of staying in one of the best penthouses in the entire city.
There was a bit of time carved out for a sports industry awards event on Saturday night and I’d promised we’d meet up with a bunch of guys from my team too, but everything else belonged to us. Even better—by this time tomorrow, news of our secret wedding would land.
The last surprise, the one I was saving for her birthday on Sunday, was a trip to the Seychelles. A proper honeymoon right after Grace’s wedding and before the start of training camp.
After a moment of hesitation, she pried the box open. Her eyes went wide and she clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh my god,” she whispered.
I considered that proof of a job well done.
“When I saw it,” I started, “it reminded me of your tangerines.”
“Well, they’re basically the same size,” she cried.
I set the bowl down and plucked the necklace from the box to put it on her. “I know it’s not orange, so it’s not exactly the same as a tangerine, but I liked the plump, oval shape of the diamond.” I swept her hair over her shoulder while the flight crew closed the aircraft doors. “And the marquise-cut diamondssitting on top too. Made me think of an orange blossom’s leaves.” I slipped the chain around her neck, adding, “You can wear it up here”—I held the closure at the shortest point, the pendant sitting at the base of her throat, and then let it slip to the rise of her breasts—“or down here.”
She turned around when I clasped the necklace, her hand over the pendant. “Thank you.” She wrapped her arms around me and tucked her head under my chin. We fit together like puzzle pieces, and even if we did this for the next thousand years, I didn’t think I’d ever find something so right. “It’s…incredible.”
“Mr. Ralston? If you’re ready, we’ll be taking off shortly,” the pilot called from the cockpit.
“Are you ready for your birthday weekend to commence, Mrs. Ralston?” I asked.
“I think I am.” She glanced up at me, laughing. “Let’s do this.”
I watchedwhile Emme ate six tangerines, one after the other without stopping. There was something hypnotic about the way she unraveled the rind and pulled at the pith. It brought me back to the earliest days of our friendship and how I’d ply her with tangerines just for the pleasure of sitting by while she took them apart. I remembered staring at her fingers and feeling a prickle on the back of my neck, and riding that high all day.
“Have you told anyone?” she asked between orange segments.
I stared as she sucked a bit of sweetness from her thumb. We could not get under that blanket fast enough. “Told anyone what?”
“About the news we’re dropping tomorrow.”
“Who would I tell?” I asked, still locked in this trance. “Jakobi was there. As far as the guys are concerned, we’ve been married for months. Ines and your friends already know.”
“Hmm. Let me think.” She licked the rest of her fingers and I might’ve groaned out loud. “Oh, yeah. What about yourmother, Ryan? Your sisters? Gramma CeCe? Don’t you think they’d like to know?”
A deep, barking laugh burst out of me. “Oh, you have no idea.”
“Dare I ask what that means?”
She went for another tangerine and I almost took the bowl away from her, but I knew she’d fight me for it. Some people could drink ten cups of coffee in a day and sleep straight through the night. Emme could eat a bushel of oranges without making herself sick. It was some kind of witchcraft.
“It means my entire family has been gagging over how much they adore you for months.” I held up my phone. “I had to stop following the group chat when they started debating when we’d give my mother a grandchild. Gramma CeCe thinks the horse is out of the stable, as she put it.”
Her cheeks stuffed with citrus, she pointed at her midsection. “I look pregnant?”
“No, Muggsy.” I laughed as I ran a hand over my face. “They came across a photo from some event and decided that was the outcome I wanted based on the look I was giving you.”
