AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do you see her?” Bruno asks from somewhere outside the vision of Deirdre I’ve created.
“Yes.”
“OK. Now say the first three words that come into your head. No hesitation. No thinking. Go.”
“Fire. Freckles. Music”
“Good. Now three more. No thinking. Go.”
“Angry. Songbird. Soul.”
I’m aware of rustling, like he’s rearranging his tray every time I speak. But I don’t see it because all I see is her.
“Good. Now what about when she’s all dressed up, maybe going to an event with you. What does she look like? What’s she wearing? Three more words. Now.”
I don’t need to imagine her that way. I can remember her. When I took her to the gala the day after her birthday, draped in dark silk, diamonds at her throat.
“Regal. Blue silk. Diamonds.”
“What about when she’s wearing nothing?”
A growl forms in my throat, but Bruno speaks quickly, placatingly, before I open my eyes and strangle him.
“I’m not asking you to tell me specifically what she looks like. I’m just trying to get at all the variations, to understand the different shades of her. To find something that will suit her whether she’s at an exclusive event or doing nothing but sleeping in her own bed. Or, your bed, I suppose. So, what of it? She’s naked. She’s with you. Three words. Go.”
Her blue silk is gone. Her hair is in a wild disarray around her freckled shoulders. Her breasts are full and firm beneath my hands, nipples greedy and needing to be sucked, her cunt wet like a flower blooming under the shivering weight of dew.
“Perfect,” I rasp. “Flawless. Mine.”
More rustling, more rearranging.
“Alright, Mr. Titone. If you would open your eyes, I have three new options for your consideration.”
Only problem is I don’t want to open them now. Bruno’s not a bad-looking guy or anything, but I’d rather keep staring at the naked Deirdre in my head.
But ultimately, I do want to see what he’s come up with. That exercise left me feeling oddly exposed, and I sure as shit didn’t go through all that Freudian weirdness not to get a goddamn ring out of it at the end.
When I crack open my eyes, there are only three rings left in the rectangle compartment and no more loose stones at all. All three rings are made with diamonds.
“This,” he says, holding up the first one between his finger and thumb, “is another oval-cut stone, like the sapphire ring from before, but as you can see there is no diamond halo around the centre stone, just these two triangle-cut diamonds at the sides.”
The big, sparkly oval sits low on a yellow-gold band, accented by two smaller diamonds pointing out sideways, like leaves jutting out from beneath a bloom.
“Much better,” I say with a crisp nod. Maybe all that psycho-babble nonsense was actually worthwhile. We’re a hell of a lot closer now.
He puts it down and grabs the second ring.
“As you can see, this ring has a yellow-gold band, though I can recreate it with another metal if you so desire. The band is inlaid with pavé-set diamonds, and is crowned with an extraordinary two carat marquis-cut diamond at the centre.”
I nod again, reaching out to take a closer look at this one. I hold it between my finger and thumb and bring it close to my face. I like the shape of the centre stone, pointed at both ends. It feels old-fashioned but not in a granny way. Classic but unique.
“Very good,” I say, suitably impressed with how much Bruno’s refined his suggestions. I pass the ring back and he places it back down. He grasps the third ring and holds it up.
At first glance, it’s the most unassuming of the three choices left. The other two have that warm, eye-catching yellow gold, and both the others are adorned with multiple diamonds. This one’s band is a bright silver-white in colour, and doesn’t have any extra diamonds except a large, round, centre stone.
“Is that one white gold?” I ask.
“Platinum,” he replies. “It’s more durable than white gold, and more pure as well. Unlike white gold that has other metals present, platinum is a single-element metal. It ages beautifully, whereas white-gold requires rhodium plating to restore its lustre the longer it is worn.”
