Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
I laughed.
He pulled back a little. More water washed up around our feet, reaching our ankles.
“In the magical world, you are my mate,” he said. “That’s known. But you were a Jane not so long ago. You have Jane friends and a Dick ex. It’s important to me that they understand my claim, as well.”
I furrowed my brow at him…and then he dropped down to one knee.
Butterflies exploded through my rib cage as he reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a navy-blue, almost black box with an HW insignia.
Harry Winston.
Holy crap.
A wave washed up around us as he held the box up for me. It hinged open on either side to reveal a ring in its center. A round-cut diamond that had to be at least two carats was held in place by split prongs on four corners. Small round-cut diamonds lined the band, adding more carat weight and an insane amount of sparkle.
“Jacinta Ironheart, will you marry me?”
I gaped at him, suddenly shaking, tears springing to my eyes. Another wave washed up around him, and the salty air kissed his face. The morning sun highlighted his cobalt eyes.
“Yes,” I said softly, then laughed, bending down to him. “Yes!”
He kissed me and stood, pulling me up with him. He took out the ring and dropped the box back into his pocket before reaching for my hand. It trembled as I stretched it forward. He slipped the ring over my finger, his eyes so soft.
“I love you,” he said, and I kissed him again, wrapping my arms around him. “Now there will be no snide comments about my intentions toward you. There can be no doubt that I mean to stick around. Forever.”
“Tell me you didn’t get this just because Matt made those comments,” I told him, wiping away a tear and holding my hand up to look at the ring in the sunlight.
“I’d already bought it. I bought it the moment I realized you didn’t think being mates was the same as a Jane marriage. I didn’t give it to you before now because there was never a perfect time. I wanted it to be special. I’m glad it worked out this way, though. I’m glad he made those comments. He thought he had wiggle room to turn me against you, but he’ll see the way it is now.”
“This is posturing,” I told him, not able to look away from the sparkler on my finger. “A Harry Winston of this size? Give me a break. For him and his friends—his mother!—it’s better posturing than any amount of alpha power you could pump out. I wish we were going to his club. I’d shove this in all of their faces.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Next time. About the posturing, though… Not even remotely my intention, but tomorrow all his people will get to see that you’ve moved up in the world. I can’t wait to rub it in their faces.”
TWENTY-SIX
Austin
The next afternoon, after an amazing Christmas Day in which their immediate family and crew all got together at the rental house and had a great time, Austin drove one of the Mercedes to the ex-in-laws’ party in what Jess mentioned was a ritzy neighborhood in the Santa Monica Mountains. Some of the houses they passed were certainly extravagant, pushed back from the street and snuggled into the land. Jess had mentioned that those would sell for between five and twenty million. Multiple rooms, decadent pools, the works—they belonged to the filthy rich.
There were also plenty of moderately sized homes on average-looking streets, built in the early or mid-eighties and not updated. Their yards were tended and streets cleaned, but Austin couldn’t see the point of paying two and a half million for what was essentially just an average house. That was the going price, apparently, and these people were forking out just for the prestige of the neighborhood.
“That really is a very beautiful ring, Jessie,” Mimi said from the back seat, her little smile saying she was poking fun.
Aurora covered her smile with her fingers, incredibly expressive any time she was in the vicinity of Jess. This time she was sharing the joke, a joke Jess did not get.
Her parents wouldn’t be coming to the ex’s party, off the hook so that Jess could justify bringing Austin’s family and a couple other additions. Jimmy was in a car with Mr. Tom—he was originally supposed to be in this one, but gave in when Mr. Tom caused a big fuss about his “inability to protect the young master when being relegated to an unimportant vehicle out of the way.” Jimmy was proving to be just as easygoing as his mother, and just as willing to let Mr. Tom fuss over him.
Speaking of Jimmy, his smile had been bright yesterday when he saw Jess’s new ring. If Austin had been at all concerned that the boy wouldn’t want to see his mother remarry so soon after divorcing his dad, that fear would’ve been put to rest immediately. He’d given Austin “knuckles” and then pulled him into a one-armed hug before patting his back and hugging his mom. It was clear that he really wanted to see his mom happy, and it was just as clear he believed Austin would do that. The tears in her eyes made the Jane engagement that much more special.