“Are we really going wedding ring shopping this morning?” she asks as we eat.
“Hell yeah. And I can’t wait. Do you know how much I’ve wanted to see you walking around with my ring on your finger, wifey? To know that, even when I’m on the road, any man who sees you will know you’re mine?” Whether Mira wears my ring is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It’s a little piece of metal. What matters is that she’s mine. Heart, body, and soul. But I’m a possessive bastard, not to mention hopelessly romantic about shit like this, and it’s killed me having her walk around the Twin Cities with a bare ring finger. I want her towantto show the world that she’s taken.
And now she does.
“I have to admit, I hated seeing those women throw themselves at you that night at the bar. Maybe if you’d been wearing your wedding band, they would have backed off.” Mira’s cheeks flush as she admits her jealousy, and I grin like an idiot.
“Why do you look embarrassed about that, sunshine? I want you to stake your claim. It’s fucking hot that you were all jealous and possessive. If you had told those women to back off, I may have bent you over that table and taken you right there in front of everyone.”
Mira’s nose wrinkles. “Ew. My brother was there.”
Oops. Yeah, I guess he was. “Okay, well, then I would have thrown you over my shoulder and taken you to a supply closet and fucked you so good that you’d be screaming my name, and every woman in the bar would have known who I belong to.”
“My brother can never hear us have sex, Griffin. I cannot stress enough how much I do not want that ever to happen.”
She looks so utterly disgusted by the idea. It’s hilarious.
She doesn’t think so, though, and when I chuckle, she narrows those pretty green eyes at me. “I’m serious, babe.”
I hold my hands up, palms out, in surrender. “Okay, okay. I won’t bang you when your brother is around. Duly noted. Can I finger you under the table?”
“Griffin,” she shrieks. I laugh and duck when she grabs a pillow and swings it at my head.
Yeah. This right here is everything I’ve been missing. Everything I always hoped for. Breakfast in bed and naked pillow fights with the most beautiful woman on the planet?
Someone pinch me.
thirty-six
GRIFFIN
I’m ringshopping with my wife.
This is such a surreal moment, and I can’t calm my mind or body down. Mira grips my hand and rests her head on my arm to get me to stop bouncing on the balls of my feet. But how can I stay calm? This is fucking everything.
“I like that one.” Mira points at a sparkly band covered in tiny diamonds.
“Let’s get it.” I pull out my wallet as my wife giggles.
“Babe, we can’t just buy the first rings we see. We have to try them on first.” She rolls her eyes like I’m being silly. Maybe I am. I don’t know what in the hell I’m doing right now. This is a first for me.
The saleswoman tries to stifle her grin, but she loses the battle when I give her a helpless shrug. Can she tell how keyed up I am? It’s this potent combination of nerves and fucking bliss.
My wife is going to wear my ring. She’s going to claim me in public and let me claim her. And there are so many ways I want to claim her. I wonder if she’d kick my ass if I climbed into theannouncer’s booth at a game and told the whole arena that she’s my wife?
Probably.
It would be worth it, though.
“Now, what a lot of people like to do is match their band to their engagement ring,” the saleswoman says helpfully.
Mira’s face scrunches in this little grimace. “Oh, um, that’s okay. We’re just looking for bands on their own. No engagement rings.” Mira smiles at the girl before lowering her eyes to the rings on display in the glass case.
I get the saleswoman’s attention and discreetly motion to the cases filled with engagement rings, then at Mira. I give the girl a wink before clearing my throat and playfully poking Mira’s side. “All that coffee really ran through me this morning. I gotta take a shit.” Mira’s nose scrunches up, and I punch myself in the metaphorical dick for not coming up with a less disgusting excuse, but it’s too late to change course now. “You look around. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The saleswoman tries not to laugh when I ask her where the bathroom is. Then I tell her to let Mira look at whatever catches her eye, motioning with my head at the engagement rings. To her credit, the saleswoman’s eyes widen and she nods. As I walk away, she says, “Why don’t we look at these engagement rings first? It may help me suggest the right band for you if I get a better idea of your style.”
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Mira says as I hide around the corner, watching.
