“Honestly.” He curled his fingers around the ring, tucking it into his palm. “Bailey, that ring is not you. You’re totally right.”
She scooted to the edge of the suitcase she was still sitting on and took his face between her hands. “But I will marry you, Chase. Definitely. Absolutely.”
He nodded. “That’s all that matters. We’ll get a different ring. Or one of those trendy new bands that people wear who work with their hands. Hell, girl, I’ll put a bread sack tie around your finger. As long as you are mine, I don’t care what you wear.”
“Really?” she asked, her eyes sparkling a little with what might be tears.
“Really.” An idea occurred and he reached up to the back of her head. He pulled the ponytail elastic from her hair and held it up. “This doesn’t ever seem to do a ton of good in your hair. How about we use this right now?” He reached for her hand and pulled it toward him.
She extended her fingers with a smile and he looped the elastic around the ring finger on her left hand.
She held it out, admiring it, wiggling her fingers.
“That will work,” he decided with a nod. “For now.”
Bailey nodded, too. “You realize, of course, knowing us, that it will probably cut the circulation off in my finger and we’ll have to cut it off later.”
His eyes widened and he grabbed for her hand. “Holy shit, Bailey.”
“The elastic band! We’ll have to cut the elastic off! Not my finger!” She pulled her hand out of his reach. “And I’m just kidding. Mostly,” she added. “I’ll keep an eye on it.”
“Yeah, let me know when your finger turns purple,” he said dryly.
She giggled, then launched herself at him again. He caught her as her arms went around his neck and her mouth met his. He was just sinking into the kiss when he heard the soft ping as he felt the ring slip from his palm.
“Shit.” He pulled back from the kiss.
She frowned. “What?”
“I dropped the ring.”
Bailey twisted to look. “What? Oh no!”
She popped up and Chase pitched back before catching himself. He got to his feet too, scanning the floor. He saw the glint of the diamond at the same time Bailey did. It had bounced about a foot away. They both stepped toward it, but they were still in a busy area and a man with his eyes glued to his cell phone got to it first. Kind of. His toe of his shoe did anyway. He kicked it and the ring went skidding over the tile. Not that the man noticed. His attention was firmly on his screen.
Chase’s chest tightened as he watched the ring come to a rest. Another man’s dress shoe just missed it, but then a black suitcase wheel hit it, pulled it along for about a foot, then bumped over it.
“Oh crap!” Bailey started after it.
Chase was right on her heels.
Another suitcase hit it, then someone stepped on it, then someone picked it up. That someone was about six years old.
“Mommy! Look!”
“Don’t pick things up off the floor,” the woman said, as she pushed a stroller in front of her and pulled a suitcase along behind.
“But it’s pretty!”
“Put it down, Spencer,” she said, her voice tired.
Spencer sighed. “Okay.”
“Hi, Spencer,” Chase said, quickly.
But Spencer had already let go of it.
The ring hit the hard tile and bounced again. Chase rolled his eyes. It landed about two feet away and was stepped on again before Chase finally swept it up.
He turned, holding it up triumphantly. Just as a man, who was walking backward, keeping an eye on his three kids, plowed into him.
Chase hit the ground hard. The man stumbled and nearly landed on top of him. The guy’s heavy duffle bag did land on him.
“What the hell, man?” the guy demanded.
“Really?” Chase asked, shoving the bag off of his lap.
But before he could say more, Bailey was there. “Who walks backward in an airport? You need to watch where the hell you’re going!” she told the guy. She was a foot shorter than the man, but she had her hands on her hips, her head tipped back, and she was clearly mad.
“He can’t just stand there in the way!”
“What were you doing? Are you even aware of the fact that there are other people here around you?”
“I’ve got three kids!” the man blustered.
“So we’re all just supposed to clear the way for you guys?” Bailey demanded.
As a matter of fact that people walking around them were giving them plenty of space at the moment.
“Okay, let’s go,” Chase wrapped an arm around Bailey’s waist and picked her up. “Let’s not start any fights.”
“But he could have hurt you!” Still, she didn’t resist his hold.
Chase was sure she was glaring at the man as he turned and started in the other direction with her.
When they were several yards away, back by their bags, he set her down. “Bailey.”
“What?” She was still frowning.
“I love you.”
Her eyes snapped to his and her expression softened immediately. “I love you, too.”
“I can’t wait to marry you.”
She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I can’t wait to get somewhere alone with you where we can take our clothes off.”
He put his lips against her neck. “Yeah. That too.”
“So, we should obviously stick with less expensive, easily replaced rings.” She giggled.
“Obviously.” He cupped her butt and brought her up against him for a deep, searing kiss.
“Excuse me? Sir? Ma’am?”
They pulled apart to find two guys with airport security uniforms standing there.
“Yes?” Chase asked.
“Are these your bags?”
“They are.”
“They were reported as unattended. We need to take a look.”
Unattended. Of course they had been, as Chase and Bailey chased the engagement ring. “We were only a few feet away!” Bailey said. “We were right over there!” She pointed.
“We’re going to need to take a look,” the man repeated stoically.
Bailey opened her mouth to argue, but Chase hugged her against his side. “It’s fine. You can take a look.”
“Thank you. This way, please.”
Chase sighed as the men turned to lead them away. Bailey grabbed her suitcase as Chase swung her bag up onto his shoulder and took hold of the handle of his suitcase.
“We’re going to airport jail?” Bailey asked.
“Hopefully just to an office,” Chase said.
She blew out a breath. “Well, I guess it’s safe to say that we’re probably never going to be bored together.”
He laughed. “Maybe we’ll even get to the point where we hope for a quiet night at home with nothing going on.”
She grinned. “Maybe. Then again, we’re going to be living near the Landrys, so that’s probably not going to happen.”
“True. Well, I’ve increased my health insurance coverage, got a new knee brace, stocked up on ibuprofen, and I am, after all, in medical school…so I’m ready for you, girl.”
A few minutes later, the airport security guards had their bags open and several things from one of Bailey’s bags spread out on a table in a back room.