Chapter 36
Ruby contemplated changing the locks while Jax had been away.
Childish? Yeah, but she hadn't been thinking straight since he left. The realisation she might have overreacted about the promise ring didn't help.
The longer she thought about it, the more cringe-worthy her reaction became. What had she been expecting? They barely knew each other, had fallen headfirst into a sham marriage that had miraculously morphed into something more all too quickly, and she'd expected that ring to be a lifelong promise?
She could apologise when he returned, but she wouldn't. They had a business deal, and love wasn't on the agenda. Besides, she didn't have time to sit around and wait, hoping his promise might turn to something deeper.
She loved him.
She needed him to love her back. Now. Not sometime in the future, if ever. That wasn't enough for her. She deserved more. She wanted more. She wanted it all.
Restless and unable to sleep like every other night over the last week, she flung off the top sheet and slipped into her robe.
She'd been working on a new radiant cut sapphire in a collet setting. Maybe that would take her mind off pining for her soon-to-be ex-husband.
She padded downstairs in bare feet, pushed open the iron door, and followed the floor lit sconces towards her workshop. She pulled back the curtain to enter when a hand clamped on her shoulder and she screamed.
"Hey, it's me."
She should've relaxed at the sound of Jax's voice but she didn't, her nerves snapping taut at their inevitable confrontation when she'd barely slept all week.
She whirled around and shoved him. "What the hell do you think you're doing, sneaking around here and scaring me half to death?"
"Sorry." He held up his hands in surrender. "I thought you were asleep. I just entered through the back door and was trying to be quiet when I saw you heading towards the workshop."
She folded her arms, hating how grumpy and out of sorts she sounded, hating the way her heart thumped and her body subconsciously craved him more.
"You could've called out."
"And spoiled the surprise?"
His mouth kicked into a crooked grin, his uncertainty surprising her.
The Jax Maroney she knew was many things; uncertain wasn't one of them.
"Did you come to pick up your toothbrush?"
His smile faded and she mentally kicked herself for sounding so abrupt.
"If that's what you want."
Sheesh. What did he mean by that? Was he putting this back on her? Did he want to pick up where they'd left off? Sex without strings? A fake marriage without emotional investment?
She would've settled for those things once, and she had. Before she'd made the mistake of falling in love.
"What do you want, Jax?”
"You," he said, a second before dragging her into his arms and crushing her mouth with his.
He didn't give her time to resist, didn't give her time to breathe as she lost all rational thought the moment his tongue touched hers.
She reached for him, clung to him, as they made up for a week's worth of lost contact with a kiss to end all kisses.
He ravaged her and she let him. Revelling in his frantic hands, his demanding lips, his hunger that called to her on an intrinsic level.
As they eased apart, dazed and clamouring for more, reality hit.
She couldn't do this, not when she had to walk away.
She pressed her palms to his chest to push him away, but unable to resist the last, fleeting contact.
"Jax, we had a deal and I'm willing to stick to it. We keep up the marriage pretence until your mine is global and my company is in the black, that's it."
He stiffened. "You want out?"
She gnawed on her bottom lip, willing her tears away. "Were we ever in it together to begin with?"
He didn't answer, his probing gaze sweeping her face, searching for answers. Pity she didn't know the questions.
"Bull."
She gaped, uncomprehending as he pressed her hands to his chest and held them there.
"We were both in this marriage from the beginning."
"Physically—"
"And the rest." He snagged her hand and dragged her to the front of the showroom, to the spot where they'd met. "From the minute you strutted up to me here, all sass and smart mouth, you had me."
"Had you?" She parroted, sounding inane but increasingly captivated by his revelations.
"Yeah. I didn't want to feel anything for you, couldn't feel anything, but I visited my dad today and maybe I'm not such a lost cause after all—"
"You visited your dad? That's great," she said, his nervous rambling endearing him to her as much as his disclosures.
"I did it for us," he blurted, releasing her hand to start pacing. "You were right about me needing to see him to face the past, deal with it and move on. I needed to get things straight in my head before I saw you, because I didn't want to mess up like I did with the promise ring."
She winced. "Sorry, I didn't expect it and it came out of the blue."
He stopped in front of her to tilt up her chin. “I think you expected a ring, just not an imitation of the real thing."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a navy box. A Seaborn box, and her heart stalled.
"That promise ring was exactly that. A promise I'd wait for you. I didn't want to rush you, didn't want to scare you with my feelings, so I gave you an interim ring, giving you space until you made up your mind if you wanted this marriage to work for real."
He inched open the lid with his thumb and her heart kick-started again, racing a million beats a minute.
"Besides, this one wasn't finished and I wanted to give you something—"
She squealed as she caught sight of the ring.
Her ring.
A perfect three-carat, fantasy-cut, pink diamond set in white gold.
"How… when…?"
He slipped the ring from the box and slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand. "You once told me how much an engagement ring means to you, how you didn't want one unless it meant the real thing."
As the ring slid into place, he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it.
"I'm hoping this ring says what I feel in my heart a lot more eloquently. I love you, Ruby Seaborn. I probably fell a little bit in love with you the first moment we met. I didn't want to love you—"
"Quit while you're ahead." She kissed him, wrapping her arms so tightly around him she never wanted to let him go.
The timing of the ring proved his love. He'd commissioned it before their weekend away, before the promise ring, before she'd lost the plot.
When they eased apart, she clung to his shirt and gave him a little shake. "You should've told me about the engagement ring earlier."
"You should've trusted me, trusted what's in here." He placed his hand over her heart and it leapt.
"I'm guessing a marriage proposal is kind of redundant, huh?"
She laughed and locked her hands around his neck. “A girl can never have too many pieces of jewellery, and seeing as I've got the wedding band, engagement ring, and promise ring, maybe an eternity ring wouldn't go astray?"
"You don't need a ring for me to show you I'll love you for eternity."
"Aww… the tough guy's a big softie underneath."
He growled and nuzzled her neck. "That'll be our little secret."
"Forever," she murmured, a moment before his lips touched hers.
She couldn't think of a better way to celebrate their marriage, having her husband's undying love.
Though she did have her eye on some flawless canary diamonds that would make a perfect eternity ring…
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