Page 45 of Most Likely to Deny Love (Yearbook #2)

JACK

T he weight of the ring box in my pocket had been driving me insane all day.

Every time I’d reached for my phone, my fingers had brushed against the velvet, reminding me of the early morning trip I’d made while Mia was still sleeping.

The jeweler’s knowing smile when I’d described what I was looking for.

The way my pulse had quickened when I’d seen the sapphire.

I couldn’t even say why I’d chosen it, when a diamond made more sense. I just knew it was exactly right.

“Ready for the tower?” I asked Mia as we stepped out of Le Train Bleu into the cool evening air.

Her face lit up with that smile always made my pulse leap. “I’ve been ready my whole life.”

The ride to the Eiffel Tower was mercifully short, because sitting beside Mia with my ring glinting on her finger was doing things to my head I couldn’t afford to analyze.

When I’d slid it onto her finger, watching it settle into place like it belonged there, my heart had done a weird little flutter that I’d immediately shoved down.

It was just a prop. An expensive one, sure, but still just a tool for our performance in Colorado.

Nothing more.

I shook the thought off as my driver pulled into the curb.

I stepped out of the car, adjusting my jacket against the evening chill before circling around to Mia’s door.

When I pulled it open, she looked up at me with those gray eyes that somehow managed to be both stormy and clear at the same time.

The sapphire on her finger caught the streetlight as she extended her hand for me to help her out.

“Such a gentleman,” she teased, her voice carrying that hint of playfulness that had become so familiar over the past weeks.

As she stepped onto the sidewalk, the Tower was already beginning its hourly light show, thousands of bulbs twinkling like earthbound stars.

We’d only taken a few steps when Mia stopped walking entirely, her hand pressed to her chest as she stared up at the iron latticework soaring into the darkness.

“It’s so much bigger than I imagined,” she whispered. “And more beautiful.”

I watched her face instead of the tower, memorizing the wonder in her expression. “Want to go up?”

She nodded eagerly, already pulling me toward the entrance. “All the way to the top.”

In the elevator, Mia pressed herself against the windows, pointing out landmarks she recognized from our day of sightseeing, her excitement infectious despite the knot of anxiety in my stomach about Colorado.

About Nan and that weirdly mournful way she’d been talking in our last few phone calls that had pushed me to the fake engagement.

When we reached the top, Paris sprawled beneath us in a glittering carpet of lights. Mia moved to the viewing platform, leaning against the protective glass with a sigh of pure contentment.

She turned to me with shining eyes. “I can’t believe this is real. I can’t believe I’m actually here.”

I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close as we gazed out at the city. “Paris looks good on you.”

“You think?” She glanced up at me, a hint of a smile in her eyes. “I was thinking it’s the company that makes the difference.”

My breath caught at the warmth in her eyes.

For a moment, neither of us spoke, just existing in this shared pocket of time and space, high above the world.

A slight breeze caught her hair, blowing a strand across her face.

Without thinking, I reached up to tuck it behind her ear, my fingers lingering against her cheek.

“Do you know what my grandmother used to say about Paris?” Mia asked, her voice soft.

“What’s that?”

“That it’s impossible to visit Paris with someone and not fall a little bit in love.” Her cheeks flushed as soon as the words left her mouth. “With the city, I mean. Fall in love with the city.”

I smiled, watching the way the tower lights played across her features. “Your grandmother might be onto something there.”

Mia’s gaze dropped to the ring on her finger, turning her hand slightly so the sapphire caught the light.

The sight triggered a thought. I needed a photo.

Something to send to Nan, to start laying the groundwork for our Thanksgiving visit.

If I was going to sell this engagement to my family, I needed evidence.

“Would you mind if I took a photo?” I asked, pulling out my phone. “For my family. They’ll want to see...”

“Of course.” Mia moved to my side without hesitation, fitting perfectly against me as I held the phone up for a selfie.

The first shot was terrible because I was too focused on the warmth of her body pressed against mine.

The second was ruined when she laughed at the serious expression on my face.

The third one, though. The third one was perfect.

Mia had turned slightly toward me just as I’d taken the shot, her smile soft and natural, the tower glittering around us. We looked like a real couple. The kind who took selfies on romantic trips and meant every smile.

And soon I’d need to use this photo to convince Nan that this relationship was genuine. I hadn’t even told her about Mia yet. How exactly was I going to explain that not only was I seeing someone, but we were engaged?

I scrolled through the photos again, studying each one.

Maybe I was overthinking this. Nan had been asking me to settle down for years.

She’d probably be so thrilled I’d found someone that she wouldn’t question the sudden nature of it all.

I needed to think about this, about how to frame it for Nan.

How to introduce Mia properly. What words would convince my grandmother that this was real, that I’d found someone worth bringing home.

That I wasn’t going to be all alone in the world when she finally…

With that, the thought of deceiving her, even for her own peace of mind, sat uneasily in my chest.

“Everything okay?” Mia’s voice pulled me back to the present. She was studying my face with those perceptive gray eyes that saw too much.

“Fine,” I said, pocketing my phone. “Just thinking about how to break the news to Nan about us.”

Mia’s expression softened. “She’s the one you were talking to yesterday? Your grandmother?”

“Yeah.” The word came out rougher than I’d intended. “She’s... important to me.”

Mia’s hand found mine, her fingers intertwining with mine in a gesture that was becoming as natural as breathing. “Then I can’t wait to meet her.”

The simple honesty in her voice made my throat tight. She meant it. This woman who barely knew me, who was only playing a role, genuinely wanted to meet the person who mattered most to me in the world.

“She’ll love you,” I said, and realized I meant it completely.

We stood there for a while longer, watching the city sparkle beneath us, Mia’s head eventually resting on my shoulder. The wind was picking up, making her shiver despite her coat, and I pulled her closer against my side.

“We should head back,” I murmured against her hair. “It’s getting cold.”

She tilted her face up to look at me, and in the soft glow of the tower’s lights, she looked so beautiful it actually hurt. “One more minute?”

I would have given her a hundred more minutes. A thousand. Whatever she wanted.

“One more minute,” I agreed, and tried not to think about how right this felt, how easily I could forget that the ring on her finger was just for show, that this entire weekend was just an elaborate fantasy with an expiration date.