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Smoke grinned at him. “I’m just yanking your chain. But at least I got you admitting it.”
“Admitting what?”
“That you love her, dipshit.”
Xander laughed. “If hearing me say that I love her is news to you, then you’re the dipshit. I thought it was blatantly obvious and didn’t need stating.”
Laura winked at him before turning to Smoke. “He’s right, you know. There’s no missing the fact that he’s in love with her – or that she’s in love with him – at least, not to those of us with eyes in our heads.”
Smoke narrowed his eyes at her. “I could see it; I just didn’t know if he was ready to admit it.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “It’s not as difficult for most people as it was for you.”
Xander chuckled as he watched them. He didn’t know the story of how they’d gotten together but knowing Smoke, he couldn’t imagine that it had been easy for the big guy to admit that he’d fallen in love.
Smoke made a face at him. “Is that why you wanted to meet me here? Are you ready to buy the ring?”
All his breath caught in his chest. A ring! That hadn’t even occurred to him. They’d talked about getting married – at least, he’d talked about it. He’d asked Tori if it was something that she wanted, but then he’d carried on as if it were a foregone conclusion.
He exhaled sharply when he realized that Smoke and Laura were both watching him closely.
Smoke smirked. “What’s up? You don’t mind admitting that you’re in love with her, but you turned pale when I talked about buying a ring. Is marriage too big of a commitment for you just yet?”
He let out a short laugh. “Hey, I’m not the one who has commitment issues. I want to marry her – the sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned.” He turned to Laura. “I don’t want to admit this to him.” He inclined his head toward Smoke. “But now I really do feel like a dipshit. We’ve talked about getting married – about being married – about how that’s what we both want.” He blew out a sigh. “But I didn’t even think about the whole ring thing – about a proposal or anything like that.” He shook his head and said, more to himself than to them, “What a damned fool! She so deserves that.”
Smoke’s laughter brought him back to the moment. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
Laura rolled her eyes. “He’s one to talk. He asked me to make a ring for him – for me.”
“Hey! I followed you all the way to London so that I could ask you.”
Laura reached up and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Okay. You made it all right in the end. But this isn’t about you.” She looked back at Xander. “He’s right, though; you don’t need to be hard on yourself. You guys haven’t been together all that long. There’s still plenty of time for you to ask her in a way that you think will be special to her.”
“Yeah.” He started to look around the store frantically. “You have engagement rings, right?”
Smoke laughed. “She sure does. You know that she’s world-famous for them?”
Xander had to laugh with him. “I do. Sorry. I’ll get my shit together now. It’s just… I feel pretty stupid.”
“That’s because you are,” said Smoke.
Laura slapped his arm. Hard. “Would you stop it?”
Smoke snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “I’m trying to drum you up a sale here, lady. The more guilty he feels, the bigger diamond he’ll buy.”
“He’s right,” said Xander. “You might as well make the most of it.” He looked around again, searching for the engagement rings. “But please, will you help me? I have no freaking idea what kind of ring she might like.” He shrugged. “And even though it probably doesn’t need saying, I don’t care how much it costs, I just need it to be perfect for her.”
Smoke laughed. “Ding, ding, ding. We have a sale.”
Laura rolled her eyes at him. “If you can’t behave yourself, I might have to send you to the café to pick up lunch for us all while Xander chooses.”
“Nope. No way am I missing this.” He grasped Xander’s shoulder. “I’m glad that I get to be a part of it.”
~ ~ ~
Xander held the door open for her as Tori made her way out onto the deck, carrying the pizza. She set it down on the table, and he brought the plates.
She sank down into a chair with a sigh of relief. “It’s only been a couple of weeks that we’ve been going so hard to get everything ready, but I am pooped. I hope I’m not going to be totally exhausted by the time we finally open the doors.”
