I stepped closer, not close enough to touch her but enough that the warmth of her body became a temptation. “It wasn’t a bad idea, actually.”
Her eyes snapped up to mine, wide and searching. “It wasn’t?”
“Not at all.” The snow crunched under our boots as we walked deeper into the park, our breath puffing out in white clouds. She tucked her hands into her coat pockets, looking up at the lights strung across the trees. I had a feeling that it was just so she wouldn’t have to look at me, but I pressed on anyway. “We’re a great team. We work well together.”
She arched her eyebrow at me, breaking outThe Aurelia Specialagain. “We terrified one broke client into accepting our proposal. You can’t tell me you think that means we should get married.”
“Nope.” I smiled when she rolled her eyes at me. “I think we should get married because we’d make a great team at everything. We were good together with this last deal, sure, but we don’t have to stop there. Think about everything we could achieve together, Aurelia. Think about what we could do if we teamed up for real. We could build a business together. Hell, we could start our very own empire.”
Laughter burst out of her, light, loud, and lyrical. Her head shook over and over again. “You’re insane.”
“Yeah, I am,” I agreed easily, leaning closer. “So are you, though. That’s why we’re perfect together.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Perfect?”
I shrugged, but my pulse was hammering. “We’re friends, aren’t we? We actually like each other. We get along well. We have a lot in common and we’ve both got something to prove, so why not get engaged? Why not skip the drama and the dating scene all together, and get married?”
While I knew what I was getting into and that she was probably going to laugh at me, I’d been thinking about this and I wasn’t giving up until she’d heard me out. “We already know we work well together. We’d be on the same page about what this is and what we want from each other. It could work.”
She stopped walking, staring up at me like I’d sprouted antlers. “You can’t be serious.”
I grinned. “There would no messy breakup. No more awkward first dates. No more pressure from your parents. Just us against the world, landing deals and taking names.”
Soft laughter bubbled out of her, the sound disbelieving but not mocking. Her gaze flicked from one of my eyes to the other, her jaw slackening. “You’re actually serious.”
I looked at her, her cheeks flushed from the cold, eyes sparkling in the light, snowflakes dotting her hair, and I knew I should’ve probably told her that I was joking. She tilted her head, waiting for me to crack a grin and tell her I was kidding, but instead, I held her gaze, unable to shake the feeling that the craziest idea I’d ever had might also just be the smartest.
Just as I was about to keep making my case, she spoke again. “Fine. Let’s do it. Let’s get married.”
Surprise smacked into me with the force of a rocket ship crashing on my head. “Just like that, huh?”
She nodded, no hesitation. Not even a dramatic pause. “Just like that. A business partnership without all the legal hassle of setting up a corporation. Streamlined efficiency, right?”
Her tone was airy, teasing. A dare wrapped in a voice like silk. Like she was still convinced I wasn’t serious, that I’d laugh it off and we’d move on, but I didn’t laugh. “Yeah, something like that.”
A familiar weight was suddenly pressing against my ribs, sitting heavy right in the center of my chest. I was so damn tired of people not taking me seriously. We walked back through thesnow, her chatter light and her hand brushing mine every so often like it was an accident, but I wasn’t focused on any of that anymore.
By the time I’d delivered her to her condo, she was smiling, her cheeks flushed and her eyes still sparkling with lightness and laughter. “Good night, Westwood. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you soon.”
The urge to just kiss her, to grab her, pull her into me, and slam my lips against hers was almost overwhelming, but I resisted. “Good night, Aurelia.”
I should’ve let the whole idea die right there, but as I watched her disappear into the lobby, I knew there was one more thing I had to buy before I left New York.
It wasn’t another scarf, or more Christmas decorations, or stocks, or even another company. It was a ring—and I wasn’t leaving there without it.
CHAPTER 14
AURELIA
My mother’s New York friends sat around the table with us at lunch, comparing holiday plans like they were high-stakes corporate strategies. They name-dropped, and destination-dropped, and acted like they’d dropped the mic after each reveal, and they did it all shamelessly, like it was completely normal conversation.
I sat between them, not saying a word. Honestly, I didn’t have anything to contribute. My plans were to curl up with a bottle of red wine, a good book, and a soft blanket. I doubted they wanted to know about that, so instead of joining in, I found myself looking around the fancy dining room.
It had been a long time since I’d done stuff like this, lunching with the ladies on an ordinary Wednesday after spending the morning in a department store. In fact, the last time had probably been in my sophomore year of high school. I’d started interning at Van Alen and Associates during the summer of my junior year.
My gaze drifted across the trendy bistro, admiring the art on the walls and chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. A flash of platinum-blonde hair caught my eye. I blinked hard, refocusing as I realized who it was. Who it had to be.
CC Westwood was iconic in our circles. Her icy gray blonde hair had started a trend among my mom’s friends a few years ago, her sense of style untouchable. I’d never met her, but everyone who was anyone in San Francisco knew what she looked like. She had that kind of elegance that could make a room freeze with a single raised brow. Her face had been plastered across ad campaigns for local designers and her parties were legendary.
