“Easy. We’re not going to tell them.” I popped a strawberry into my mouth, pretending to think it over. “Not yet, anyway.”
“Now there’s a brilliant plan.” She pursed her lips, but I saw the smile she was trying to hold back. “We’re just going waltzinto our respective family Christmases with matching rings on matching fingers and hope for the best?”
“We could. It’s not a bad idea, but that’s not quite what I had in mind.” I reached for my champagne, savoring the way her eyes narrowed in annoyance at how calm I was about this. “First, we figure out why they hate each other. Then we make a plan.”
“How are we going to figure it out?” she asked, suspicion ringing clear as a bell from her tone. “Did you miss the part where I said they don’t even want to talk about each other?”
I smiled. “I’m going to need an invitation to your mother’s holiday ball.”
She laughed. “You want to crash Regina’s crown jewel of the season?”
“I’m a very devoted fiancé,” I cut in smoothly. “Any future mother-in-law will love me for it.”
She rolled her eyes, but I caught her lips curving into another smile before she hid it behind her glass. “Fine. I can secure an invite, but we’ll need to be careful.”
“We will be, but all her guests will be too dazzled by you in that dress to notice me,” I said. “Don’t even worry about it, Aurelia. We’ll be fine.”
Her gaze softened just a fraction, like she was genuinely reassured by my confidence, which was surprising. She even smiled a little as some of the tension eased out of her features. “Are you really flying home in the morning?”
“Yep. Mom promised Sterling we’d only be gone a couple days. When are you getting in?”
“At the end of the week,” she said softly. “We’ll regroup when we’re back on home turf?”
I nodded. “Let me know as soon as you’re inbound and we’ll meet up.”
Her hand drifted to the ring, her fingers toying with it absently, spinning it against the light. “I can’t believe you actually bought this thing.”
I leaned back, watching her and feeling emotions I couldn’t quite name. That wasmyring.I’dput in there, and seeing it on her finger?
I swallowed hard. “Don’t tell me you’re regretting it already?”
She hesitated but shook her head, her smile small but genuine. “No. I love it.”
There was almost a shyness to the way she said it. Pride surged through me, hot and heady. She was like this over a ringI’dchosen. Something that marked her asmine, even if it was only business.
Suddenly though, I didn’t want it to be. I didn’t want it to feel like pretend. Or like she wasn’t really mine.
She spun the ring again with the faintest smile tugging at her lips. I leaned in before I could stop myself. “If that’s what you like, I’ll deck you out in gems.”
Her gaze flicked up, the expression in her eyes sharp but amused. “That’s a dangerous promise, Westwood. I have expensive taste.”
“So do I,” I countered with a smirk, lifting my glass in mock salute. “It’s not a promise though. It’s a guarantee and, happily, one I can afford to make.”
She laughed, shaking her head before turning back to the wall of windows. The thought that burned through me as I watched her was a lot more troubling than the promise I’d just made, but the fact was that I would do a lot more for her than cover every inch of her in precious stones.
In that moment, I realized I would do anything for her.Is this how my brothers felt just before they toppled like dominoes? This peaceful certainty? The acceptance? The way the room seems to shift when she’s in it?
No. It couldn’t be. They were all nauseatingly in love. And me? I wasn’t.
Or at least, that was my story and I was sticking to it.
CHAPTER 16
AURELIA
Istared past the Christmas decorations out of the coffee shop window, smiling faintly as I thought about myfiancé. Even now, days later, the thought of that was utterly crazy, so completely removed from the reality of my normal life that I could hardly believe it was true.
We were back in San Francisco, but I still couldn’t stop touching the ring. It dangled from a thin gold chain around my neck, tucked safely beneath my blouse. The metal was warm against my skin. Every so often my fingers brushed over it like I needed regular proof it was still there.
