Page 19

Jaques

Declan

“Let’s go look at engagement rings.”

Normally I’d be sweating if my date said that, but before we’d left the restaurant, Abi had called her shot. “An event at a jewelry store is the perfect opportunity to show your colleagues that you’re as good as married. Leave it up to me, Dexxie, and you won’t be disappointed.”

“Okay,” I said, taking her hand and leading her to the other side of the massive showroom. “But keep it low-key.”

“I’ve got this, Declan Connor.”

The store was all decked out for the event, with music and hors d’oeuvres and trays of bubbling champagne being passed around every few minutes.

They’d done a great job, and the turnout appeared to be fantastic.

Profits were a little down for the jewelry store, so they’d put a lot of planning into this event.

We’d barely started looking at rings when Warren found us, and he had Susanna Jaques beside him. Susanna was the CEO of the jewelry store, a world-class gemologist who knew her shit.

She’d grown up in Zimbabwe and was, quite frankly, obsessed with diamonds.

I knew little about jewelry, to be honest, and I rarely crossed paths with anyone who worked within Jaques, but Susanna was an impressive lady.

Warren introduced her to Abi, completely ignoring me, and I grabbed a passing glass of champagne when the group started discussing diamond engagement rings.

Abi was right, and what she was doing made sense, but I felt like the word engagement pushed our little fib into another level of deceit that made me uncomfortable.

My phone buzzed, and when I pulled it out of my pocket, I had an email from Roman.

Submitting this as my official recommendation for this month’s RWDR investment.

I read through the request, saw the price tag, then sent a quick response: Approved.

My secret side hustle, RWDR Investments, had become my obsession. Hathaway was still my priority, but all I wanted to do when I wasn’t at my day job was work on RWDR projects.

“Uh-oh, Dexxie, I think she’s found one,” Warren said, which made me jerk my attention from the email and put my phone away.

I looked up, and Abi was wiggling her diamond-encrusted ring finger and giving me a huge smile.

“You found one you like?” I asked.

“Do you see how he sweats?” she said to Warren, giving my mentor a teasing grin that made the old guy beam like he’d never been so happy. “Poor Dexxie looks like he’s going to faint.”

That made Warren laugh, which made the entire sales team, who’d converged upon my fake girlfriend, laugh as well. It appeared Abi had charmed everyone in that corner of the jewelry store, and I was a little proud of how good she was.

“Show me the ring, Abigail,” I said, stepping closer, enjoying the look of surprise on her face as I officially entered the chat.

Susanna launched into a story about where the diamonds came from, how humanely they were mined, and who’d designed the ring, but my eyes were on Abi’s face as she watched me.

It was obvious she knew she might’ve gone beyond “low-key.”

“It’s stunning,” I said, holding her hand and staring down at the thousands of dollars in diamonds sitting upon her slim finger.

“I know,” she replied in a near whisper. “But I think I want to take it off now.”

“You don’t like it?” Susanna asked, sounding shocked.

“I don’t like hijacking the time of the amazing Jaques team when there are so many shareholders to assist,” she said, sliding the ring off her finger.

“Trust me when I tell you that we will be back soon, just Dex and I, to explore your beautiful selection of rings. Thank you so much for letting me try this on.”

She was a talented actress for sure. The team, Susanna, Warren—everyone—appeared to be enamored of my angelic girlfriend.

While Abi was being divested of her six-figure ring, I quickly whispered to a guy on the sales team. I knew exactly what I needed, and he was going to get it for me.

“Hey,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from Warren and the group. “I’m getting jealous. I’m stealing you away from this guy.”

“Selfish,” Warren teased, but his smile told me he approved.

“Dex,” Abi said, grinning at me in a way that did something weird to my chest. “I’m trying to chat with Warren here.”

“I bought you a present, though,” I said, grabbing her hand and tugging her closer. “Don’t you want it?”

“Bye, Warren,” she said without looking back, which made both Warren and the team laugh.

When we reached a spot that was away from other people but close enough that they could see what was happening if they wanted to, I let go of her hand and held out the box that’d just been passed to me as I walked by the necklace counter.

“For the most beautiful girl in the room,” I said, meaning that part of it. She was just so fucking alive that she very nearly glowed.

“Dexxie,” she said, her smile so wide she was almost laughing. “You do know that I’d love you even if you didn’t buy me jewelry, right?”

“Of course you would,” I said, stepping closer to say into her ear, “ Not. ”

She let out a little breathless laugh at our inside joke that made me want to make her do it again, and I couldn’t stop myself from dropping a kiss on the side of that long, exposed neck that had driven me crazy since she’d shown up in my closet holding her sweater together with her hand.

“Are you going to open it or what?” I asked, pulling myself away from her.

“Okay, okay,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “But this box doesn’t look like it would hold the engagement ring I picked out.”

“Like I would really buy that with you in the same room and all the shareholders here. Hardly seems romantic.”

“On the contrary, it seems like it would be a great way to shout out to the world how much you love me,” she said.

“You might be right. Perhaps it was a missed opportunity.”

“Well, I guess I will open this non-ring anyways,” she said, her nose crinkling as she smiled at me. I watched as she opened it, and I knew I was totally pulling off the besotted expression I was going for because I was absolutely charmed by her at the moment.

It was all an act, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think it was real, but I was having a great time pretending. It probably had to do with the shots, but this was honestly more fun than I’d had at a work-related event in a very long time.

Her mouth dropped wide open when she looked inside the box. She put her hand over her heart and said, “It’s so beautiful.”

“Would you like me to put it on you?” I asked. “And I totally get it if you don’t want to wear it right now; I won’t be insulted. There’s something about your bare neck that really works with this outfit.”

“You think so?” she asked in that flirtatious tone that was really starting to torture me. Was she drunk? I wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or that she was just having fun, but I was genuinely feeling this vibe she was giving off.

“Yes,” I said, my voice low. “It’s been driving me nuts since you showed up in my closet needing help pinning yourself into your sweater.”

“Oh,” she said, blinking a little faster like she was surprised I’d said that. Her voice was also low when she said, “Um, yes, please.”

“The stones reminded me of the freckles on your right shoulder,” I admitted as I moved behind her, taking the necklace out of the box and lowering it to her neck.

I wasn’t lying.

When I’d been pinning her sweater together, I noticed the adorable constellation of specks, and the chocolate diamonds almost did them justice.

She looked at me over her shoulder, eyes searching mine. We weren’t saying anything, but the look we exchanged as I clasped the necklace was me admitting to the truth, and her acknowledging that she knew it was the truth.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice so quiet it was almost a whisper.

“You’re welcome,” I managed, my voice coming out a little raspy.

What the fuck is this?

But my what the fuck exploded into a thousand more when she turned and wrapped herself around me in a huge hug. A hug that felt real.

And there was nothing I could do but hug her back, right?

“Should we maybe kiss?” she said quietly in my ear. “I mean, if this was real, we would totally kiss right now.”

“Well,” I said, pulling back enough to see her face. “I’m all about the authenticity.”

I had every intention of giving her the public-appropriate kiss of a couple who’d just exchanged a gift, but something happened.

Just as I lowered my mouth to hers, our eyes met and she whispered against my lips, “Don’t disappoint me, Powell.”