Chapter 10A quick, sharp knock on the office door jerked Lucas’s head up and briefly stopped Candace and Sarah’s intense discussion over the display on the surface of his desk. Jude’s smile slipped a notch when all three sets of eyes were suddenly trained on him as he stood in the open doorway.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “I wanted to let you know that Snow and Andrei left for Ward Security and then they’re going to stop for dinner on the way home. Snow said if you want something in particular, you need to text him in the next couple of hours.”
“Did they take Sven?” Jude shook his head and Lucas swore, sitting back in his leather chair. “Andrei needs to get it in his head that he’s a target now. Not a bodyguard.”
“I’ll text Snow and tell him to pick up a spare bodyguard while at Ward,” Jude said with a smirk. He started to turn to head back down the hall when Sarah’s firm voice stopped him.
“Jude can help. Jude, come here!”
The paramedic took a few wary steps into the large office but stopped well away from the desk where Sarah Carlton, Lucas’s lawyer, was standing on one side and Candace, Lucas’s executive assistant, was standing on the other. He looked at both women, and Lucas nearly laughed to see the sudden tension creep into his tall frame as if he suspected that he was being lured into a trap.
Lucas studied the man who’d saved his best friend. “We could use another opinion.”
Jude stepped closer and Lucas’s lips twitched the moment Jude realized exactly what would drag his lawyer and assistant over to the penthouse on a Saturday. Sitting in a black tray with a black velvet lining were close to roughly two dozen rings, all in a variety of metals and styles. Some shimmered and sparkled with an array of gemstones where others were just simple, plain bands of bright gold or brushed silver.
Jude’s head snapped up to pin Lucas with wide brown eyes. “Holy shit! You’re going to propose!”
Sarah cackled on Lucas’s right and he thought he even heard Candace snicker softly, breaking her usually reserved demeanor. Of course, asking her to bring over a wide selection of male engagement rings this afternoon had been one of his stranger requests. That call had come right before he’d called Sarah to tell her to bring all the paperwork over for his estate. He wanted to begin this very moment working Andrei and his family into all of his plans. They would always be taken care of, whether he and Andrei never made it down the aisle or if they were married for fifty years.
“A bit late for that,” Sarah muttered.
“You proposed already?”
“Nope,” Lucas said, his grin growing, though he could feel his cheeks growing a little heated.
“Andrei?” Jude said, his voice lifting in disbelief.
“Propose might be an inaccurate term,” Candace corrected. His assistant had arrived minutes before his lawyer, who promptly demanded to know all the details. It was the first time Sarah had ever demanded to know personal details of his life despite the fact that they’d worked together for nearly a decade. Both she and Candace had seen far too much of his life when shit was blowing up. For once, he’d been happy to include the two women in something joyous, so he’d given them the highlights of his reconciliation with Andrei. Well, the PG-rated ones, anyway.
“More accurately, Andrei commanded that we marry.” He folded his hands together on his stomach and shrugged. “Why would I ever argue with that?”
Jude sank into the chair behind him, his mouth opening and closing several times in shock. And it was surprising. Just a few days ago, Andrei would barely look at Lucas, showing no signs he could ever forgive Lucas for his absence—not that Lucas could blame him at all. Every time he was able to reach out and touch Andrei, to hear his deep voice over the phone, feel the caress of his lips, he knew he was incredibly lucky. And now he had a chance at that forever.
“Congratulations! That’s wonderful!” Jude exclaimed as if breaking free of his shock. He lurched out of his chair and extended his hand to Lucas, who stood and shook it.
“Thank you. Now, help me choose.” He motioned to the display of rings before them as they both returned to their seats.
“We decided none of the really flashy ones,” Sarah said, pointing to the line of rings filled with various gemstones. “Andrei isn’t flashy.”
“Andrei is a traditional sort of guy. Close to his family,” Candace added thoughtfully. “I think you should go with the traditional gold band.”
“True, but he’s marrying into a very nontraditional family,” Jude added, flashing laughing eyes up to Lucas. “I think it needs to be sedate but different.”