But once she did, I noticed how unique it was. I realized it was perfect. Just like her.
“But it must have been so expensive,” Melanie breathes.
I smirk and take her left hand in mind. This time, she lets me. “It’s going to take a while to spoil you, isn’t it? When are you going to realize that money isn’t an object here?” I select her left finger and hold the ring in front of it. “Besides, this will help convince everyone our marriage is the real deal. Not even my family would believe I’d be so callous as to get engaged to a woman without giving her a symbol of that engagement.” Still, I wait to slide the ring onto her digit. “So what do you say?” My eyes find hers, sparkling with amusement.
She holds my gaze. “You didn’t exactly ask yet,” she points out, a playful smile hanging on the edge of her mouth.
“Melanie. Will you marry me?”
Her breath stills. She presses her lips together. I watch her throat work tightly around a swallow. “Shouldn’t you say fake marry, or something?” she clarifies.
I laugh. Without waiting for more of an answer than that, I slide the ring onto her finger, where it settles easily. The size is perfect. I know, because I watched her try on a much less expensive ruby ring, clearly just for fun. Then, when she’d moved on, I made the jeweler tell me her size.
I stand again, but Melanie is too busy staring at the rock newly added to her finger to pay me much attention at first. I bend down to kiss her temple, and she startles, glancing back up at me.
“Thank you,” she breathes. “It’s beautiful. I’ll give it back as soon as the charade is done, I promise.”
I shake my head, chuckling under my breath. She really doesn’t get it yet, does she? “Consider it a part of your payment,” I tell her. “Really, you’ve earned it.” I take her left hand and tilt it up to the light, so we can both consider the diamond sparkling on her finger. “Besides, it looks much better on you than it would on me,” I add with a smirk.
She laughs, and I squeeze her fingertips, then lean in to kiss her, softer and slower, full on the mouth. Her lips part beneath mine, letting me in easily. My tongue twines with hers, and I taste her all over again, even more potent with her sex still on my lips.
She deepens the kiss, arches up to press against me and flings her arms around my neck. Fuck.
Many more kisses like that, and I’m going to have serious trouble remembering that this engagement is fake. That all of this, it has an expiration date.
No matter how much I’m starting to like Melanie, though, I need to remember that. This is business, nothing more. I break from the kiss and turn away from the sight of her in that gorgeous, drop-dead gown, before I do anything more insane. Before I pin her against the mirror and fuck her right here and now, until we’re both screaming each other’s names.
Before I start falling for her any harder than I fear I already might be.
9
Melanie
Dinner is even more awkward than I feared it would be.
The whole car ride over to the venue, Xander preps me on everything I’ll need to know about his family. His sister’s name is Patricia. His brother is Michael, but he goes by Marco for some unfathomable reason (no, it’s not his middle name, and yes, I asked. Rich people are strange, I guess).
Patricia is the oldest, and Xander’s the middle child. Both of his siblings are already married with growing broods of their own.
Both of Xander’s siblings sounded far too excited to meet me, to judge by the stream of texts I noticed them sending him throughout the car ride. I’m not sure what I expected, based off of Xander’s explanations, but it wasn’t the scene that greeted us when we stepped out of the elevator at the top of the high-rise building.
Marco and Patricia had reserved us a table at the corner of the rooftop, with a beautiful view out over the city. I noticed champagne in buckets beside the table already, not to mention a whole platter of oysters. Normally I love seafood, but my stomach turns at the thought of trying to eat right now.
I’m so nervous. I’ve never lied to anyone before. And although I’ve recited the story Xander wants me to tell again and again in my mind, part of me is terrified that I’ll slip up and mess up the story somehow, reveal us to be frauds.
“You must be Melanie.” Patricia reaches me first. I extend a hand, but she grabs my shoulders with both hands and pulls me into a hug instead, kissing both of my cheeks while she’s at it. “It’s so lovely to meet you. We’ve heard so many great things about you from Xander. I can’t believe someone’s finally tied my wayward brother down!” She releases me only with seeming reluctance, and her gaze travels over my body, up and down, before it shoots to the rock on my finger. It seems like she’s assessing me, although what she’s looking for, I can’t guess.