“I dream about your hair spread over my pillow at night.”
Silence.
As in she went silent.
“What?”
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he murmured, coming up behind her, running his fingers through her hair, which she’d left loose to trail over her shoulders. “Your hair is the color of rubies. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it shining in the restaurant. I always thought it was a filter, that it couldn’t be real. But I was wrong.” He bent his head and inhaled. “Roses. Roses and rubies and silk.”
Goose bumps prickled on her skin, and she melted back against him, the line of her spine colliding with the hard planes of his chest, his abs. “Have you ever felt this way with another person?” she asked.
“No.” A stroke of those fingers over her collarbones. “Only with you. From the moment I first saw your picture, I knew you were different.”
Her breath shuddered out.
She’d felt that way, too, had become almost obsessed with seeing his posts, but she also knew that her personality bordered on obsessive, that she was always falling too far, too fast, too soon.
This was too soon.
So, instead of saying what was in her heart, she pulled back.
Gently, and with a joke, but she still pulled back. “So, the man who knows nothing of emojis, knows about filters?”
He seemed to understand she needed the distance because he let her go, also stepping back, his soft chuckle filling the air, gentle now without a hint of sexual tension, then reached for the doorknob. “I had to learn about them, or at least that was what my vet tech told me when I started the page last year. I quote couldn’t look shiny.” He opened the door. “And I shouldn’t say I know nothing about emojis, I’ve been known to use one of those ones that’s suggested when you type.”
She snorted, followed him out onto her porch, and took a few moments to lock up.
“I should have asked,” she said when they were on their way to his car, a mid-sized black SUV parked in her driveway, “was I on your way? I could have come and picked you up instead.”
“I’m not far,” he said and gave her the address of his condo, which was actually just in the next neighborhood over. Then he opened the passenger door and helped her in.
“Wait.” She grabbed his hand, finally processing that he lived in a condo. She’d imagined . . . what? A farm or a big house with a back yard filled with animals. He couldn’t have that in a condo.
Shit. Shit. Why had she spent all that time kissing him instead of peppering him with questions? She didn’t know nearly enough to pull off this ruse.
“What, Red?” he asked, turning his hand so he could wrap his fingers around her wrist.
“Do you have any pets?”
He shook his head. “No,” he said. “Not since my Honey died last year. I . . . sometimes it’s hard to be around animals all day, especially when you see them in pain far too often.” Fingers on her cheek. “I know I’ll get another dog or cat someday, but I just needed some time.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, reaching out and running her thumb along his jaw, hating the shadow of pain in his eyes. “That must be hard, seeing all those sick animals. I guess, I just had this image it was all . . . kittens and puppies.”
“Those are definitely the fun days,” he said, voice still soft. “And I love my job, most of the time. It’s like anything else and has it’s tough moments.”
She shook her head. “Except when I mess up on an ad mockup, there isn’t anyone’s life at risk.”
Pale brown eyes on hers, filled with so much warmth that she actually felt her heart expand. “True,” he said. “But that pressure is part of the job.”
“And what do you do to release that pressure?”
He froze. Then he sighed and admitted, “Not enough recently, that’s for sure. When I took over the clinic, I knew the hours would be long, but they’ve been intense and a little overwhelming.”
She wrapped her arms around him, held him tight. “I can only imagine.”
“Thank you,” he murmured. “For asking. And for giving me my first break from the clinic in months with dinner last night,” he added, brushing a kiss to her forehead before straightening and reaching to close the car door. Then, as she was beginning to understand was his M.O., this man turned the topic off himself and back onto her. “You know, we don’t have to do this. I could go as your boyfriend or just as your date. You could just say your mom misheard or that you made a mistake.”
So tempting.
And yet, then she’d have to see the disappointment on her mom’s face.
Plus, “What am I going to say?” she asked honestly. “That I thought you had a ring and I was wrong?”
A flicker of humor on his face. “I—”
“Oh shit.”
“What?”
She lifted her left hand. Her ringless left hand. Fuck. She hadn’t thought of a ring. Why hadn’t she thought of a ring? There was no way her mom would believe she’d gotten engaged without a ring. Which, she got, made her sound like a materialistic prima donna, but engagements and rings went hand in hand. If Kate was planning on getting married, she would have a ring.
Except . . . she didn’t have a ring.
“What, Red?” he asked again, but not impatiently. Instead, those brown eyes stayed gentle, his fingers on her wrist snug, but not tight. His thumb rubbed patterns on the palm of her right hand.
“I don’t have a ring.” She shook her head. “I should have thought to get a ring—”
“I have one,” he said simply and dropped her hand to reach into his pocket and retrieve a box. It was blue velvet, and when he opened the top, she gasped. “Not a real diamond,” he murmured. “I didn’t think you’d—” A sharp shake of his head. “Anyway, it’s called a moonstone, and I thought it was pretty and unique and . . . you. But you can always just tell them it’s a temporary ring because I wanted you to be able to pick out what you wanted.”
She ran a finger over the soft white stone. It was diamond-esque, but opaque with translucent streaks of sky blue. She’d never seen anything quite like it.
She also thought it the prettiest ring she’d ever seen.
“You did this all today?” she asked. “The lunch, the ring, the haircut, and shaving. All of it . . . for me?”
Jaime brushed the back of his knuckles over her cheek. “It was nothing,” he said. “And even if it were, you’re worth it, Red. It took no time at all for me to recognize that fact, honey, and if any man was stupid enough to not recognize that, then it was his loss and my gain.” He slipped the ring from the box. “Because I intend to get many more than just my two dates.” He snagged her left hand, bringing it toward him, and fitting the ring just over the tip of the proper finger. “Got it?”
Her heart pounded, hope filling her with so much helium that she felt as though she could float. Still, she shook her head. “I think we’re insane. This is too much and . . . just idiotic. I know it was my idea, but—”
He kissed her briefly then pulled back.
A wicked smile as he slipped the ring down her finger then lifted his hand and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “Then let’s be idiotic together.”