He grinned. “I know. At the last barbeque your dad asked me when I was gonna man up and make an honest woman of you.”
“Ugh.” I grimaced. “That is so archaic.” Shaking my head as he suppressed his laughter, I said, “Anyhow, about the engagement… we would just have to tell people we’ve been seeing each other for a while, but wanted to keep it quiet, in case things didn’t work out.”
“Seems plausible.”
He didn’t seem freaked out by the idea, which gave me hope. “I have a birthday coming up on Sunday—”
“Shit, I forgot about that.” He slapped his forehead. “Probably because I swore I was never gonna talk to you again.”
“Yeah.” I eyed him up and down, even though he was completely covered by the duvet. “That’s always worked well for you in the past, hasn’t it?”
He quirked an eyebrow as he side-eyed me. “Be careful, girl. You need me, not the other way around.”
He had a point, which I hated. “Anyhow, we can just tell people you surprised me with a ring on my birthday and we don’t want to wait to live together, since we’re so madly in love,” I said, dramatically, sweeping my arm out.
He rolled his eyes. “Fine, but if I go along with your plan, what’s in it for me?”
“You get the knowledge of knowing you’re the reason I got to live.”
His smile slipped before he hauled me against his chest. “Don’t ever say that again,” he whispered fiercely. “You hear me? That sonofabitch is not going to hurt you, Briar.” He fisted his hand in my hair, making my heart clench.
I tipped my head back to look at him. “I’m sorry, I was just teasing. I don’t really think he’d try to off me, but you never know what’s going on inside another person’s head, do you?”
His gaze slid to my mouth before he said, “No, you don’t.” He sighed. “Okay, so I’m buying you a ring for your birthday—”
I slapped his chest. “Not a real ring! A cubic will be good enough to fool people.”
He grunted. “No fake fiancée of mine is wearing a cubic. You’ll get the real thing. End of discussion.”
I might have argued a little more strenuously if he wasn’t obscenely wealthy. And it’s not like I’d be keeping the ring. Maybe he could have the diamond re-set and give it to his real fiancée someday. Damn. No reason that should make my stomach lurch. I must be hungry. Or hungover. Too many dirty martinis last night.
“Fine, I wouldn’t want to emasculate you or anything.” He made it so easy to tease him. “A real diamond it is. You think your family will buy it?”
He curled his fingers around the hand I had resting on his chest. Why did it have to be so comfortable with him? Even though we’d always been too busy in bed to do much cuddling, it felt like we’d been doing this for years.
“I don’t see why they wouldn’t. They know we’ve known each other for years. And they’ve told me a least a dozen times I should snap you up before some other guy beats me to it.”
I exhaled noisily. “Like that’s ever gonna happen.” But I was still kind of flattered that his family thought so highly of me. “Okay, so we’re sure family and friends will buy it. The rest should be easy. We’ll just post sickeningly sweet pics on social media announcing our engagement—”
“Uh…”
Shit. I was afraid of this. “You’re seeing someone, aren’t you?”
“What?” He gave me the are-you-for-real look? “You think I’d be lying in your bed practically naked right now if I were seeing someone?”
Good point. “Okay, what are you worried about then? Your friends seeing it? Employees? Some girl you want to get with?”
“There is no girl I want to get with,” he snapped. “And my friends will tell me I’m the luckiest bastard alive.”
I’d met most of his friends. They all had flirting down to an art, despite the fact that Rhett and my brother, Drew, shared a lot of the same friends and Drew routinely threatened to beat their asses if they didn’t quit hitting on his baby sister. I didn’t want to analyze the fact that Drew seemed to have no problem with the fact I’d been intimate with his best friend, numerous times.
“Okay, so what are you worried about? Your employees? Business associates? You think it’ll seem unprofessional to post—”
He pressed his fingertip against my lips. “I don’t care what anyone says or thinks, Briar. We’ll post whatever you want. I just want to know what the ground rules are. I mean, I’ll be living here, obviously, but where will I be sleeping? Will I cook for myself? Do my own laundry?”
I raised an eyebrow at the last one. Rhett had employed a housekeeper for years and I was pretty sure he’d flood the laundry room if he tried to wash his own clothes. Besides, I kind of owed him for uprooting his whole life to help me out. “I’ll cook for you.” I narrowed my eyes when he grinned. He loved my cooking. “Laundry day is Sunday. I suppose I could throw a few loads in for you then.”
“Thank you.” He ran a fingertip down my nose. “And we’ll go grocery shopping together. I don’t want you going out alone. Do you go to the gym?”
