Chapter 11 Pretty Girls Deserve Sparkly Things
PRETTY GIRLS DESERVE SPARKLY THINGS
CLAIRE
When I woke up this morning, I needed to get some air. Declan left early for a meeting so I was on my own until this afternoon. While this was a leisure trip, there was a little business sprinkled in since most of this team was rarely all in one place.
I didn’t mind the break.
Last night, dinner with Declan was… nice. My brain was having a hard time convincing itself that the man who was joking around with me and laughing was the same man who refused to make eye contact with me or say my name for years.
The Declan I’d been getting to know for the last few days was a different man. He wasn’t stuck up or arrogant, and he didn’t make me feel small. He asked me questions about myself like he cared and I honestly wished he wouldn’t. I liked the image of him that I low-key hated. That image was easy.
This new Declan was… confusing.
The man was hot as sin when he was in a suit but him in a sweater and reading glasses?
Smash.
Absolute, smash.
But, I couldn't let my brain go there. It was messy, regardless of our rocky working future together. Even if he got this promotion, we wouldn’t be more than a few hook ups. I didn’t date and he’d be moving to Denver. It was too much and better to stay far, far away from those thoughts.
I walked up to the boutique that sat in town and stepped inside. Declan had given me a card to use but I had yet to actually make a purchase besides dinner last night. I wasn’t one to use him for his money, but I wasn’t against window shopping.
That was another thing that made Declan and I very, very different.
I had no idea how much money the man had but I knew it was a lot.
We hadn’t talked much about his upbringing so I wasn’t sure if he grew up with money, or if it was from the way he climbed the corporate ladder—maybe that was why this promotion was so important to him.
Security never feels all that secure when you earn it the hard way—when you grow up knowing what it’s like to lose it all and have nothing.
I knew he owned properties around the country that he used when he traveled, he went to an ivy league school, and he wasn’t from Texas.
Other than that, he was a mystery.
Regardless, it was obviously that my credit score could not afford me the black metal credit card that was weighing down my wallet.
I walked though the boutique, picking up a few cute tops but putting them back deeming I didn’t need them. I picked up my fifth top when a throat cleared behind me. I whipped around and came face to face with Sarah Driscoff.
“Claire! Lovely to see you.” She air kissed both of my cheeks like we were in Europe—er, I guess we are in Europe but you get my point.
“Hey, Sarah.” I placed the shirt back on the rack and faced her.
“That is so cute. Are you going to try it on?” She asked, her eyes trailing to the shirt I just put down.
Her tone had all of the sincerity her eyes lacked.
It felt like that scene in Mean Girls where Regina George compliments a girl's skirt to her face and then calls it the ugliest skirt she’s ever seen behind her back.
“Oh,” I gestured toward the rack. “No. I’m just looking.”
“Please,” she sighed. “Like Dex didn’t give you a credit card to go crazy. It was the best part of dating him.” She laughed but her eyes flared in challenge.
I didn’t miss the way she immediately snuck in a comment about knowing what it was like to date Declan. I didn’t ask but she felt the need to remind me. I straightened my shoulders.
“Oh, he did. I just don’t see the point in buying something so frivolous. I prefer diamonds.” My voice was wistful as if I owned a single diamond.
Gag.
“Yes! Great idea!” She looped her arm in mine and dropped the stack of clothes in her arms before pulling me toward the exit.
“It is?” I asked.
“Of course. I was just thinking I needed something sparkly.”
I swallowed hard as we approached the local jeweler across the town square. This was fine. I didn’t have to buy anything. I could just look around and appreciate the pretty gems without charging Declan’s card.
We got this.
Sarah marched right up to the counter and started gushing over a large diamond ring in the display case.
“I just hope Tom buys me something like that when he proposes,” she said, pointing toward the ring with a price tag that made me want to throw up.
“Are you guys that serious?” I was genuinely curious.
She snorted. “Is anyone ever actually that serious?”
I blinked at her. “What does that mean?”
“Oh, you know these guys.” She waved a dismissive hand at me. “They date a girl for a year and then decide that they’re done trying so might as well marry her. It never means that much but at least you get a pretty ring.”
My eyes tracked down to my left ring finger where the obnoxious diamond sat.
Sarah’s words felt intentional. She was reminding me that even though I had Declan, he didn’t really love me.
The mean part was that she had no idea that any of this was fake.
She genuinely meant to hurt me, and that pissed me off.
“It’s so sad that you think that,” I said with a sugary sweet tone. “Not everyone can have what Declan and I do. Marrying your best friend is a luxury.”
Her face went stone cold. My smile was smug as I turned toward the case. “Can I see that necklace, please?”
The man behind the counter smiled as he opened the case and slid out the piece I had asked for. It was a bezel set pear shaped diamond sitting on a simple gold chain. It was elegant and understated and sparkly.
“It’s perfect,” I said with confidence. I fished Declan’s card out of my purse and handed it to the worker. “I’ll take it.”
I didn’t dare look at the price in fear that my face would give away how uncomfortable I was.
I couldn’t let Sarah see my insecurities.
She was under the impression that Declan and I had been together long enough to get married.
By her definition, that was at least a year.
That would mean I should be used to being showered with expensive gifts.
The worker placed the perfectly packaged jewelry box into a little bag and handed it to me with a wide smile.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I took the bag with a shaking hand. I turned toward Sarah, who was standing behind me with a sour look on her face. “Are you going to buy anything?”
Her lips tilted to one side. “No. I’m going to give Tom a list so he can choose something to buy me. It always means more when he picks it himself.”
My face fell for a second before I looked back at her. “I don’t need a man to pick out my jewelry. I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.”
“A cute statement from a girl who just charged ten grand to her fiancé’s credit card.”
My heart dropped.
I fought the urge to pull out the receipt to double check but by the look on Sarah’s face, she wasn’t bluffing.
My right eye started twitching in panic.
“I said I could pick it. Didn’t say I wanted to pay for it.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder as I pushed out of the store.
I hated pretending to be this girl. It didn’t come naturally and I felt like a gross human being.
Sarah laughed. “I like you.”
That makes one of us.
“Come to dinner with Tom and I tonight. We have a reservation at the ski lodge restaurant. I can call and change it to four.”
“We’d love to,” I lied. “I’ll let Declan know when he gets back from his meeting.”
“Great!” Sarah smiled and air kissed my cheeks again. “See you tonight!” She turned and sauntered away into town.
I practically ran back to the chalet, thinking about how I was going to break the news of my purchase to my fake fiancé.
I heard the front door open and shut as I leaned against the kitchen island, staring at the jewelry box. I’d been like this for an hour and I still had no idea what to say to him. It was reckless and embarrassing to goad Sarah like that at Declan’s expense.
Declan’s steps grew closer until I could sense that he had entered the top floor.
“Hey, how was your day?” He asked as he opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water.
I didn’t face him as pressure built behind my eyes. My guilt was threatening to consume me whole.
“Claire?” He asked, walking toward me.
“I made a mistake,” I whispered as a tear fell.
“What happened?” Declan’s voice was panicked. He gripped my shoulders and turned me to face him. The moment he noticed my tears, he took my face in both hands. “Hey, hey, why are you crying?”
“I did something stupid.”
“We can fix it. I promise. What happened?”
He was too close. His body was pressed against mine as he cradled my face. He smelled like leather and spice. I was drowning in him.
Declan’s eyes were soft as his thumb stroked my cheek, catching stray tears.
“I ran into Sarah in town. She was saying a lot of things to make me feel small. She made a comment about men only proposing because they didn’t want to try anymore and it made me mad so I picked out a necklace and bought it to make her jealous.
But I didn’t look at the price and it was more than I thought it would be, and I want to be sick.
Please don’t be mad at me. I can return it. ”
I thought Declan would be mad or call me selfish, but instead, he closed his eyes as his chest shook with laughter.
“Why are you laughing?” I whined through my tears.
“You got jealous,” he said simply.
I took a step back. “I did not.”
“Sarah tried to make you insecure by mentioning our relationship, right?” I nodded. “And you got back at her.” I nodded again. “Did it feel good to see her face when you dropped ten grand on a diamond?”
My heart plummeted. “You knew?”
He chuckled. “My bank sends alerts to my phone when there are large purchases in foreign countries.”
I scoffed. “I’m so embarrassed. I’ll return it. I promise.”
“No you won’t.”
I whipped to face him so fast that my hair fanned out around me. “Excuse me?”
Declan took a step toward me, placing his hands on my shoulders and facing me away from him. He reached around my body to grab the jewelry box, his mouth grazing the skin on my neck ever so slightly.
He gathered my hair above my neck. “Hold this,” he whispered into my ear.
My body was buzzing. I could feel every hard plane of his body as he pressed against me. I wasn’t sure if it was the heightened emotions or his close proximity but I hadn’t been this turned on in a long time.
He slipped the necklace out of the box and let his fingers brush my skin as he sat the dainty gold chain around my neck. He connected the clasp and let his hands fall to my ribs. I released my hands, letting my hair tumble down.
“Pretty girls deserve sparkly things,” he whispered before dusting his lips on my temple and taking a step back.
I finally released the breath I was holding. Turning to face him, my eyes fell to the pear shaped diamond that was sitting on my collarbone.
“How does it look?” I asked, hesitantly.
“Beautiful,” he said with confidence.
My cheeks flushed as I looked away.
“Is that all that had you stressed?” He asked with a protective look that said he would literally check under my bed for the boogeyman if I asked him too.
I bit my lip and shook my head. “There’s one more thing.”