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“Then I love it,” I rasped.
Ari swiped the corner of her eye under her glasses. “You haven’t even seen it.”
“I already know it’s perfect.” Ari huffed and puffed, and I gently kissed her on her forehead. “I’m not kidding, babe. I know it will be the most perfect ring to make me officially your fiancé. You gonna open that little bag in your hand?”
Ari upended the bag, and a silver metallic ring with a creamy white square and a tiny inset diamond fell onto her palm. “You once told me your favourite colour was the creamy white of wool.”
I nodded, my throat blocked.
Ari brushed her finger over the ring. “This here is mother-of-pearl from Broome.”
“So it’s shell?”
“Yeah, and this style is called a signet ring. Made of platinum. And I thought the colour was like wool, but shiny. And it’s a real diamond.”
Holy shit.“I love it,” I murmured. “Told you it would be perfect.” I held out my hand, a slight tremor obvious from nerves or excitement. Probably both. “Put it on me, babe.”
“Is-is that a yes?”
“Yes, Ariane.” My voice had dropped and was rough. “Make me your fiancé.”
Ari dropped the bag, and her hands shook too as she tried to get the ring on my finger. We both laughed, and I seized the moment to kiss her quickly, the action melting away our nerves, and she slipped the ring smoothly over my knuckles.
“Perfect fit.”How had she worked that out?I held up the ring, letting the mother-of-pearl catch the light. “I have a new favourite colour. It’s shiny pearl white from now on. Wool is second.”
Ari let out a shuddering breath. “Now I don’t know whether you’re marrying me for my future property portfolio or for me alone.”
I stilled. She was still trembling and rambling now. My love sceptic was nervous as hell.
“Oh God, Jet. I didn’t mean anything by what I said. It was a dumb joke. A really lame one, actually. I’ve been reading too much Regency romance lately involving heiresses.”
“I know you have. Found your latest Kitty Malone book. You read the filthiest things.” I reached for my jeans pocket and found the little box I’d been carrying for two days. “And you’ve been bingeing Julia Quinn’s backlist because I know the next season ofBridgertonis coming soon and you love it. And I also know I’m competing with Jonathon Bailey and Regé-Jean Page for your affections.”
Ari laughed weakly and sucked in a breath. “I’m ruining this moment with my dumb comment.”
Silently, I pulled the box from my jeans and held it between us.
She sniffed and wiped a tear from under her glasses. I ached to touch her, but I was going to draw this out, make sure Ari really wanted this, and for her to know just how much I wanted this, too.
“W-what’s that?” she whispered.
“Ordered this after your first year of uni and have been paying it off. Picked it up in Sydney while at Theo and Lily’s place. Was going to wait for the right moment.” I closed the distance between us, forming a cocoon of our bodies around the little black box. “And this is the perfect moment.”
“Ordered it at the end of my first year at uni?” Ari straightened, frowning. “But that was just over four years ago.”
“Yep.”
“So what is it?”
“Open it and find out.”
Ari fumbled with the jewellery box, almost dropping it.
It popped open, and a silver lioness on a silver chain stared back at her, its diamond eyes winking under the pendant light in the kitchen. A small loop of string also lay across the pendant, and I lifted it off.
“Took me a while to find a silversmith who made this kind of thing. It’s a lioness, in case you?—”
“I know.” Ari’s voice cracked, and she smiled, her eyes shining. “You remembered what my name meant.”
