He dropped her hand but didn’t pull back. “That’s not about you. It’s about Archer. The two of you aren’t the same people around each other.”
She ducked her head, guilt adding to her lingering doubt. She didn’t want to be the wedge in his friendship with Archer. Why couldn’t she take Zane’s explanation at face-value? “It’s just that I had someone stable, with a good job, who didn’t expect me to buy his weed or ask me if I wanted to do my twin sister while he watched, and what did I do? Told himnoand walked away. Destroyed everything. Maybe my only chance at something good.”
Zane clenched his hands into fists, his jaw growing tighter with each word she said.
Please don’t let him close off again.
“I bet he didn’t even get you the right ring.” A smile broke through his shifting expressions.
She paused, brain wrapping itself around the words. Was he really talking about...? There was no way he remembered that. “It had a diamond on it. Solitaire, pretty, princess cut. You know, every girl’s dream ring.”
“Except yours.”
It had been over a decade, and Zane still remembered. The realization warmed her. They’d been at the mall, and they passed a jeweler. She pointed out an engagement setting in the window and said, if she ever got married, she wanted something just like that. Low profile, so it didn’t snag on anything, but brilliant and unique. She’d never seen anything like it before or since.
Back then, Zane made a face, said he didn’t understand why girls spent so much time thinking about things like that, and then tugged her toward the food court.
“No. He didn’t get me the right ring.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“Did you love Archer?Doyou love him?”
She’d lost count of the number of times she asked herself that question, and she didn’t know the answer. “He’s a good guy.”
Except for every habit he had that drove them apart. And those she had, which he hated. And that no matter how many times she tried to talk to him about it, he’d been boring in bed. And he thought her art was a waste of time. And... And... And...
But he’d never hit her or asked her for money. And he would have taken care of her.
Zane tugged at her fingers to draw her attention. “It doesn’t mean the two of you belong together. Do you love him?”
It wasn’t as if she knew what love really was. What if she did love Archer and was too dense to recognize it? “You’re the only other guy I’ve ever met who’s that considerate and fun. Okay, you’re a billion times more those things, but you’re also not the one who proposed.”
“You’re avoiding my question. If you prefer, if those are your only qualifiers for what makes marriage material, and supposedly I have them in spades, would you sayyessimply because I asked?”
Her breath caught. Would she? The thought of Zane down on one knee, or even better, of her spending the rest of her life with him made her pulse race.
No. Romance ruined friendships. “No. I don’t love him.”
“So you made the right choice.” He caressed her knuckles with his thumb.
She smiled, the reassurance not chasing away her misgivings, but making it easier to believe she’d been right to walk away.
“You didn’t answer my other question.” He smirked and slid from his seat to come around to her side of the table. He dropped to one knee next to her and took her hand in his.
What’s he doing? He’s teasing me, right? Blood rushed in her ears, making it hard to hear. They’d been catching up for all of half an hour, and he was talking about love and marriage?
“Riley Ann Carter”—he locked his gaze on hers—“we’ve known each other forever.”
Oh God, he’s really doing this.
“You’re the sexiest, most intelligent woman I’ve ever met.”
Riley’s heart stopped. He twitched. The corner of his mouth pulled up for the briefest moment.
He continued. “With your sister being a close second.”
Her stomach plummeted. He was yanking her chain. Trying to distract her.
“Would you”—his serious expression faltered again—“and she make out, while I watch?”