A pulse thrummed so loudly in his ears, he wasn’t sure he’d heard her right. “Ginny … are you proposing to me? Again?” He tried to sound like he was flirting, but it probably came across stilted and awkward.
“What if I am?” She met his gaze straight on, daring him to say yes.
Wait, she was daring him to sayyes. He knew that look as well as he knew the schematics for the Genie in a Bottle, the first roller coaster he ever designed. “Then I’d say yes.”
Time skipped a beat as Ginny absorbed his answer. She leaned forward slightly, her lips parting. “Really?”
He stared at her lips for a beat too long before lifting his eyes. “A promise is a promise,” he rasped.
She placed both palms on the table and whispered, “Then what are we waiting for?”
His mind spit out several answers, none of which were romantic. A license. Invitations. Her dress. His tux, though he probably already had a tux he could wear in his closet. A priest.
Her nose wrinkled when she smiled. “Let’s go ring shopping.” She signaled for the check, and he paid on autopilot.
He was helping her into her rain jacket at the coat check when he realized what they were about to do. They were getting engaged, and he hadn’t asked the most important question in his life. He’d have to do that. There were certain things a man needed to take care of, and proposing—officially and correctly—was one of them.
Chapter Eleven
Ginny
What had she done?!
One minute she and Quinn were having a perfectly normal conversation like two adults, and the next she asked him to take her ring shopping. Strike that. She’d asked him to marry her. Hello! Normal people don’t ask their best friends to end a non-date dinner—or a date, for that matter—with a marriage proposal.
It was just … his touch had made some things clear.
Number one: Quinn was all sorts of manly. He had thick, corded forearms and a deep voice that strummed chords in her belly, making them vibrate.
Number two: She’d been around the world and hadn’t found a guy who understood her like Quinn did. If she spent the rest of her life with a man who paid that much attention to her, then she was doing great. And making snap decisions was one of her strengths. Her gut instinct had never led her wrong, and it was pointing right at Quinn.
Number three: If she didn’t grab him, someone else would. A guy like Quinn didn’t stay on the market forever. Sure, they may be besties, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be the best man at his wedding. Well, he’d probably give that honor to his brother, but she was a close second in the running. Which sat as well with her as day-old oysters.
Therefore, she had to act and act quickly.
And Quinn? Quinn hadn’t blinked since she’d said the word marriage. Based on his reaction, you’d think marrying her was a cartoon hammer she’d pulled out of her purse and hit him over the head with before dragging him into the jeweler’s.
“And this little beauty contains stones from South America and Africa.” The salesman, Bob, placed the ostentatious ring on a ring stand covered in black velvet. He smiled, revealing a gap in his front teeth. “You look like a woman who can appreciate the distance these jewels had to travel to come together to create something of such beauty.”
“Thanks?” She gulped as she continued to stare at the small spot on the band where the light bounced. The Fantine oval-cut diamond ring was exactly what she would have picked out of all the rings in the store. The teal blue African stone in the middle reminded her of the ocean, how it ebbed and flowed, dealt with garbage, and contained the majority of its beauty below the surface. She could almost feel the rocking of a boat beneath her as she stared into the stone’s depths. And the smaller South American diamonds ringing it and the gold band were precious. Like a hundred wishes trailing across the night sky. She wanted it, but it was so big!
“You like it.” Quinton’s hand brushed down her back.
“It’s impractical.” Like the feelings that swirled inside of her. She hadn’t reacted this way to Quinton in college. He’d always been her stabilizing rock, keeping her feet firmly on the ground, not sending her head into the clouds with a single touch.
He snorted. “You sound like my mom when she opens her Christmas gifts from me and Ben.”
She snorted back at him. “I’m taking that as a compliment.” His mom was truly awesome. She gave hugs that meant something.
“That’s how I intended it.”
She leaned into him, enjoying the solidness of his body. “Really? Because your scoffing tone said otherwise.” He rubbed her back once more without replying, his eyes unfocused. She’d pushed him too far with the flirting. “Um, maybe we should talk.”
He stiffened, his hand dropping away. The salesman, who had been politely rearranging the rings in the case, got up without a word and moved to a discreet distance where he could keep an eye on the jewelry but not be within hearing distance.
Ginny angled her knees towards Quinn and leaned her elbow on the glass. “I’ve been thinking over our conversation, and I feel like I bullied you into this. You don’t have to uphold a stupid marriage pact for me to think you’re a man of your word.”
He captured her hand and held it against his chest, where his heart pounded beneath his shirt. Her heart matched his in speed and intensity. “There’s no one on this planet I would rather be married to than you.”
