I laugh, unable to help myself at the dryness in his tone. His lip curls and he looks back down at the watch. “Besides,” he says, “one day I’ll give you something expensive for this finger, right here. The watch is good practice.”
“Anthony…”
“Summer,” he says. Turns my head up and presses a single kiss to my lips, one that spreads through my chest and warms my heart. “But don’t worry. I’ll involve you in the process.”
“Involve me in the process?”
“Yes. I think you’d prefer a vintage ring, if I know you as well as I think you do.”
“You do know me very well,” I murmur, looking down at my bare ring finger. “I’d love to wear your ring.”
He’s hinted before, but here it is, spoken out loud. My throat feels thick with emotions. And Anthony knows, because he always does, and presses me closer against him.
His lips brush my temple. I look down at the puppy in his lap and wonder how he can make us feel so comfortable, just by being him.
“Summer,” he murmurs.
I press a kiss to his jawline. “It’s funny. When you bought Opate, I wasn’t too happy about it. I knew you were saving us, but I was afraid you’d change things.”
“I did change things,” he says.
“Yes, but for the better.”
He chuckles. “I had to change it for the better. You gave me no choice.”
“Mmm.”
“For the record,” he says, brushing a tendril of my hair back, “I wasn’t too happy about it either.”
“You made that clear.”
“Have I ever told you how I ended up being the Acture partner who ran point on Opate?”
“No. Is there a story here?”
The puppy in his lap yawns, and he looks down, smiling. “There is, actually. We played poker for it.”
“You… played poker? The winner got Opate?”
He gives me a look. “No,” I say, bumping his shoulder with mine. “Don’t you dare tell me it was the loser.”
“It was, and I lost. We were at Tristan’s and the lighting wasn’t very good. I mistook the suits.”
“Oh.”
“I was bitter,” he says. “I’ll admit that. But the thing is, I might have lost that game, but I still won in the end. Opate is doing better than ever and here I am, sitting with a future guide dog in my lap, and you beside me. I saved Opate, but you saved me.”
I can’t tear my eyes away. He’s never been more handsome to me than he is right now. “You saved yourself,” I murmur. “By embracing the future.”
“Embracing the future,” he echoes. “For however long we have, and whatever comes our way.”