He pulled something out of that pocket.And he…he reached for her left hand.She glanced down and realized—“Is that anengagementring?”
Because now Atlas held a gleaming, glittering ring.What appeared to be an incredibly expensive ring.No way the man just casually had that thing lying around his house.“When did you get it?Where?”
“Lily…” A smile seemed to be in his voice.“It’s me.I make phone calls, and things happen.”Gently, he slid the ring onto her finger.
Lily shook her head.“It’s…too much.”And it was.She was certainly no expert when it came to jewelry—she typically didn’t wear any jewelry at all.When you were going in prisons to interview killers far too often, you tended not to bother with jewelry.After all, you’d just be constantly taking the pieces on and off at check-in.Better to just not wear anything fancy.And this ring… She swallowed.
Fancy.Expensive.Too much for me.
“It’s not enough,” he said.“But it will do, for now.”
What did that even mean?“It’s full of diamonds.”And one very big sapphire gleamed in the middle of the diamonds.
“Loyalty.Trust.”
She glanced up at him.
“That’s what a sapphire is supposed to symbolize.Given our unique relationship, I thought the sapphire fit us.I will be loyal to you, Lily.Always.And I want you to trust me.”
“I’ll be loyal to you.”She would be.“But willyoutrust me?”
“Yes.”
The ring was slightly cool against her skin, and the fingers that still held hers—his slightly callused fingertips—were warm.
“There’s a tracking device in the ring,” he told her.
She’d rather thought there might be.
“If you ever get taken, I will find you.”His head lowered toward hers.“Then I will kill the sonofabitch who took you.”
“You say the sweetest things.”
His eyes widened.His gaze searched hers, harder.“Lily, you just joked with me.”
“I can do that, occasionally.”Very, very occasionally.
His smile teased at his lips.But his dimples didn’t bloom.
“You have a tracker on you, too, don’t you?”she asked him.
“Um.I have quite a few trackers.One in my watch.One in my cuff links.One in a tie pin.Sort of depends on the day, but I will always have one close.”His lips twisted.“I should have said onewasin my cuff links.But I lost my favorite cuff links somewhere at the cabin when the killer took us.”
So the cuff links had been how Desmond tracked him.“You wanted the killer to take you.”
His head cocked to the right.“I give you an engagement ring, and you immediately start talking about killers.I’d hoped for a different response.”
Had he really?Or was he just trying to distract her?“What sort of response did you want?”
“You vowing to love me forever would have been great.”
She blinked.
His full dimples flashed at her.“That was a joke, Lily.I make them, too.Actually, I make them a lot more often than you do.”
“I…” She swallowed because her mouth had gone way too dry.You vowing to love me forever.“I don’t…I am never going to be the one laughing in the middle of a room.”That sounded awkward.Fair enough, she felt awkward.Awkward, and Lily was too aware of the ring.“I will never joke easily.An occasional joke is all that you’ll get from me.And, yes, my whole life, I have always been told that I am far too serious.”
His dimples slowly faded.
