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I wanted to reach out to him, to tell him that eventually, he would be okay, but I couldn’t. I didn’t know him well enough to comfort him in the way that would make sense for him. Also, though Nathan was personable and—yes, charming—he also didn’t share a lot of his feelings. I thought it would be better for him to bring it up, rather than me push my own way of dealing with the death of my mom on him.
So instead of reaching out the way my instincts told me to, I tried to gloss over it, make things okay between us. “Guess I have as much to learn about your family as you have to learn about making shrimp scampi,” I joked.
His eyes warmed, the sadness abating, and he laughed. “Guess so,” he said, winking.
We chatted easily while Nathan cooked and fell into a comfortable silence while we ate. My mind was reeling from all the things I had to get done before the engagement party, so I barely noticed when Nathan left the room and then returned. He gently covered my hand with his, and I looked up at him, startled.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Must’ve gotten lost in my thoughts.”
“It’s okay,” Nathan said, smiling. He slid a small, velvet box toward me. “Just wanted to give you this.”
My eyes widened as I took in the box. I knew what it was based on the shape and size: an engagement ring.
Nathan and I had briefly talked about my ring and the fact that I didn’t have one. Then, he told me that he had his mother’s and that he just needed to get it resized to fit me, and that solved that. He hadn’t wanted to show me before he got it resized.I want it to be a surprise, he’d said. Confirming my suspicions that he was a romantic made it make all the more sense.
But now, as I stared down at the box, I wondered what it would look like. Would it be something gaudy, something that weighed heavily on my finger and wasn’t my style at all? Or would it be everything I hoped for?
Or would it not matter at all because any ring from Nathan was a good one?
Nathan smiled slightly, though his eyes reflected my hesitance. “Go on,” he urged. “Open it.”
With one last shaky breath, I took the small box into my hands and flipped it open. And then, I gasped.
The ring itself was simple in design—a sapphire with a frame of diamonds surrounding it in a star shape—and it was beautiful in its simplicity. And even though I knew that I may not have been the person in mind for this ring when Nathan’s mom gave it to him, it felt like, somehow, it was meant for me.
I had dreamed of a moment like this, with a man like Nathan. His proposal—hastily and spontaneously done, in front of a crowd of people—was nothing like I imagined it would be, and nothing I wanted. But presenting his mother’s engagement ring, this intimate moment with just the two of us, where I could be my whole self, after experiencing a night of pleasure…thiswas everything I dreamed of.
“I love it,” I whispered. “Put it on me.”
“Of course.” He took the dainty ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger. I held my hand out in front of me, dazzled by the way the light hit each stone, tears coming to my eyes. I didn’t know why I was crying—I wasn’t frequently prone to tears—but something about this moment struck me, and I knew it would be seared into my memory forever.
“Will you marry me?” Nathan joked.
I grinned. “I’m not sure. I don’t know if I know you well enough.”
He rolled his eyes, coming to stand between my legs as I continued to look at my ring.My ring.
He took my hand and kissed the knuckles. “Seriously though,” he said. “I know we already signed all the papers, and I proposed in front of everyone, but it’s not too late to back out. I’ll still pay for the animation program if you get in, out of my own pocket if I have to. You don’t have to go through with this.”
If only you knew how much I love you,I thought.If only I could tell you without coming off as a loon.Because what self-respecting person fell in loveand marrieda guy after only three weeks?
“I’m sure,” I said instead. “I promise.”
Nathan let out a slow breath, almost as if he was relieved. “Okay then, Mrs. Ciara Hemingway,” he said, grinning broadly. He lowered his head and kissed me. “It’s official then,” he murmured.
Nothing made me happier.
Iended up forgoing the hangout with Brooklyn in favor of spending more time with Nathan. Though she acted like she understood, I could hear the displeasure in her voice over the phone.
Still, I thought little about it, especially because as soon as I hung up, Nathan slipped one hand under my curls and one between my thighs. Soon, we were making love in the kitchen—a new frontier.
We moved to the bedroom shortly after that.
By the time we came up for air—and food—it was three in the afternoon, four hours before the party. We each had several missed calls and texts from Nathan’s family, including one annoyed but wry voicemail from Mack. “I know you’re newly engaged and I’m probably the furthest thing from your mind,” she said. “But I don’t want to have to deal with excessive sex hair before this party. Please, at least, give me that?”
“Looks like you’re being summoned,” Nathan said, an amused glint in his eye.
I grinned. “I am, indeed.”
