“Oh.” I blinked again. “You got me something?”
He narrowed his eyes a little, like he was thinking the same thing I had just been. “Yes.” Getting to his big feet a lot more effortlessly than someone that large should have been capable of, he tipped his head in the direction of the stairs. “Follow me.”
Follow him I did, up the stairs, down the hall, and toward… his office.
His office?
Ahead of me, he pushed open the door and tilted his head for me to go forward.
I hesitated at the doorway, watching him watch me as I did. Aiden’s hand reached in front of my face and flipped on the switch. Stacked on top of his big, hardwood desk were two presents carefully wrapped in peppermint striped paper. I didn’t have to ask to know that those big, careful hands had done the wrapping, not some stranger.
That alone made my nose tickle.
“Open the first one,” he instructed.
I shot him a glance over my shoulder before walking inside the office and taking the gift off the top. Slowly, I undid the wrapping and peeled the slim box out. I knew what it was the instant I saw the name of the company. It was a brand new, top of the line tablet. It was the one most graphic designers would salivate over but never actually buy because you could talk yourself into spending less money on something almost as good, pretty easily.
Holding it to my chest, I turned around to face him with my mouth wide open. “Aiden—”
He held up his hand and rolled his eyes. “Thank me after you open the next one.”
About ready to ignore him and give him a hug right then, I decided to be a good sport and open the next gift first since he’d asked so nicely. The next present was in a bigger box, like a fancy scarf case I’d seen my roommate in college collect things in. Just like the last present, I opened it up slowly and pulled out the perfectly cube-shaped box out.
Peeling off the top, I couldn’t help but crack up at the pile of nightlights and flashlights inside. There were two small ones with keychains looped through the base of them, three different plug-ins: one shaped like Jupiter, another of a star, and the third was a plain column-shaped one that promised to be the best on the market. Apart from those were four flashlights in various sizes and colors; pink, red, teal, and black. I picked up the metallic pink one.
“They reminded me of your hair colors.”
Oh no. “Aiden—”
“I know it isn’t much compared to what you gave me, but I thought it was good enough at first. I haven’t bought anyone a present in years—”
“It is enough, dummy,” I said, looking at him over my shoulder, holding what was the most thoughtful gift anyone had ever given me.
The big guy cleared his throat. “No. It isn’t. I owe you.”
He owed me? “You don’t owe me anything. This is… this is perfect. More than perfect. Thank you.” Fucking nightlights. Who would have thought?
Two big hands landed on my shoulders. “I owe you, Van. Trust me.” Just as quickly as they’d gotten on me, his hands retreated and he added, “This isn’t a present, but hold out your hand.”
I did, cupping it high above my shoulder, curious as to what he was going to give me. Chewed up gum?
Something cool and small fell into my palm. It was pretty heavy.
When I lowered my hand, all the saliva in my mouth went just about everywhere else in my body.
“It isn’t a gift. The jeweler called yesterday and said it was ready. I was going to give it to you, but...”
At first, I honestly thought it was a rock. A big, light blue rock. But I must have been so confused I didn’t see the white gold band that lay against my hand. Then it hit me: it was a ring. Holding it up closer to my face, years of shopping at vintage thrift stores came back to me. An emerald cut, slightly bluish-green stone—aquamarine to be exact, my birthstone—was mounted to the thin band. On each side of the stone were three accent diamonds. Just below the plain white gold was a simple diamond encrusted band that fit around the bigger ring like a set, very subtle.
It looked like one of those cocktail rings people in the 1950s wore… except I could tell, my heart could freaking tell, this wasn’t some cheap knockoff from a catalogue.
“I figured you needed an engagement ring. I didn’t think you’d like a diamond. This seemed more you.”
“Shut up.” I gaped at the ring a second more, my breathing getting heavier.
“No,” he snapped back. “If you don’t like it—”
“Stop talking, Aiden. It’s the most amazing ring I’ve ever seen.” I held my hand up closer to my face and shook my head in a daze, looking up at his eyes with my heart on my tongue. “It’s for me?”
“Who else would it be for? My other wife?” the annoying ass asked.
He’d gotten me a ring.
And it was—
Damn it. Damn. It. I couldn’t love him. I couldn’t. I couldn’t, especially not because he’d chosen me something perfect. Something me.
I tried to beat back the emotion just enough. “You could have just given me a band. I don’t care what everyone else thinks,” I kind of whispered as I slipped the wedding set onto the appropriate hand and finger.
“I don’t care either, but I got it for you anyway.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“I’m in love.”
Watching Leo zoom from side to side across the tile floor, a vision of everything wonderful in the universe, I couldn’t help but agree with Zac. All three of us loved the little yellow ball of fur, and it had only been two full weeks. In that time, between Aiden and I, we’d potty trained the little turkey and set up a schedule. When the big guy was gone, I kept him with me and made sure to take him outside every couple of hours.
Leo was brilliant, and I completely regretted giving him to Aiden instead of keeping him. Not that it really made much of a difference who he belonged to since he technically spent more time with me anyway with his daddy gone all the time. With the Three Hundreds moving through the post season, advancing through the wild card bracket, they were entering the divisional playoffs. Their game was the next day, and needless to say, the man who insisted on carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders was feeling every inch of stress.
Needless to say, I was giving him a wide birth and trying to be as supportive as I could, which meant I’d been making enough dinner to feed everyone in the household. Aiden was Jedi-level focused, and when he was home, he spent all the time he could with his new kiddo, while also resting as much as possible.
“I love him,” I said as the little guy trotted over to where we were sitting at the nook, draping his body over my sock-covered foot. “He sleeps on my lap for hours while I’m working. It’s so hard not to want to keep him on me all day.”
Zac leaned down to give him a rub with the tips of his fingers, but Leo was out cold. We had gone for a twelve-mile run at the gym where he was training, and immediately afterward took Leo out of his crate, which Aiden kept in his room, and let him run around in the backyard. Sitting straight, Zac took a big drink of the lime green Gatorade bottle sitting in front of him. “Are you goin’ to the game tomorrow?”
“I was planning on it. Did you want to go?”
He went back to peeking under the table. “You have anybody else to go with you?”
Since that first game, Zac hadn’t gone with me to any of the rest. I’d been going alone. “I can go by myself. It isn’t a big deal.”
“I know you can go by yourself, but it’s a division game. It’ll be nuts.”
I crossed my eyes. “I grew up with three psychos. I can handle nuts.”
Zac raised his eyebrows and I realized what the hell I said. I could handle nuts. Idiot.
I groaned. “You know what I mean.”
He grinned big, wide, and so not innocent. “Just for you, I won’t say nothin’.” The doofus winked. “Look, I’ll go with you tomorrow. Just make sure Aiden gets us good seats since you think you’re too good to sit in the box.”