Jay’s face flushed.Is he implying—
“No, thank you,” Nicholas said, which made her face burn hotter. “But we’ll take a raincheck.”
“My wife’s been dying to meet the man who makes me late for dinner every night. I spend so much time at the office, she calls you the son I never had.” His cheeks reddened a bit beneath the whiskers, like he hadn’t meant to say so much. “Thank you for asking me to be part of your day.”
“You did me a favor.” Nicholas ran his fingers over Jay’s arm. “I should be thanking you.”
Watching him leave, Jay said, “I can’t believe your father hired him.”
“He was only a manager when I took over,” Nicholas said. “He was one of the first people I promoted.”
“No wonder he’s so loyal to you.” Jay put her hands on Nicholas’s—herhusband’s—shoulders and stretched to brush a kiss over his mouth. On the sidewalk across the street, someone on a bicycle slowed to stare but Jay made herself ignore them, straightening his lapel. “You chose well.”
“You’re blushing.”
“Yes, because your CFO implied that you might be too busy deflowering me to get dinner.”
“He didn’t mean it that way. He’s just being nice.” Nicholas ran his thumbs over the outer edges of her neckline. “And I’ve already deflowered you.” His fingers ran down her sides, making her suck in. “Your heart’s pounding. I can feel it through your dress.”
Jay gave him a defiant look. “Yes, well, to be fair, so is yours.”
A hint of color appeared on his cheekbones—is he embarrassed?Jay wondered. “I don’t get married every day.”Turning from her, much to her bemusement, he opened the door, waiting until she’d gathered the skirts of her dress to her body. “Have some more champagne. It’ll just go flat.”
Jay let him refill her glass with far too much wine, too flustered to worry about whether anyone could see. Her ring finger still throbbed where he’d twisted the ring off, just to replace it on her finger after they had said her vows. She fiddled with it, turning the little bird back and forth.
“What a day,” she sighed.
“Mm. Did you look at your ring?”
“Yes, it’s very nice.” She hoped he wasn’t about to tell her how much it cost.
“I meant the inside. I had it engraved.”
“With what?”
“Take a look.”
As Nicholas peeled out of the lot, Jay twisted the ring off again, wincing at the gouge of the tiny diamond-studded wing. When she held the silver band to her face, she could see faint words etched inside. She squinted, bracing her elbows on her knees to steady her hands.
“I am no bird, and no net ensnares me. I am a free human being with an independent will.”
“I thought if you still didn’t believe my intentions,” Nicholas said, staring fixedly at the road, “you might believe them coming from your favorite book.”
“I can’t believe you remembered that.”
“Itisyour favorite,” he said, almost as a question.
God, she felt like she was about to cry again. “Yes, but that was ages ago. When did you do this? I don’t recall this being here before.”
“The day after we watched the documentary about the planets. That was when I realized that I couldn’t let you go. Not until you fell in love with me. Not unless you agreed to be my wife.” At her stunned silence, he said, “I told you you weren’t forgettable. I’ve been thinking about you every day of my life since you first walked into it.”
He parked the car in the drive while her mind reeled with that revelation, loping around the side to open the door for her the way he always did. They didn’t go through the front door. To her surprise, he led her around the side, past the same lilies, jasmines, and roses that had made up her bouquet, and into the sunroom where she had arranged his mother’s picture on the wicker table.
Nicholas already had his jacket off and had tossed it on one of the chairs as they passed, the way he had so often done with his school jacket as a child. Jay narrowed her eyes at him and he grinned unrepentantly, already loosening his shirt collar. The sight of his tanned skin made her stomach flip, and so did the smile he leveled in her direction.
She could almost imagine the words he’d engraved in her ring burning into her skin.
“Are you going to come upstairs with me, Mrs. Beaucroft?”
