Page 86 of Takeover
"It's been a long time."
Once upon a time, I’d thought I was going to propose to Lucy like my father wanted.Bullet dodged.
"How is your mother?"he asked.
I nodded and shrugged."Some good days, some not great ones."
Micah looked at me curiously.
“Micah, This is Jean Pierre.He's South African.His family owns a diamond mine.When Mom needed to get her jewelry fixed, she'd always come here."
“What’s the occasion?”Jean Pierre asked.“Your mother's birthday?Anniversary of some sort?"
"No, I'm engaged."
Jean Pierre’s eyes went wide, and they crinkled at the corners as a toothy white smile spread across his wrinkled face."Oh, this old man loves love.Nothing better than a love story."
Micah turned to face me."I thought you already had a ring."
"We do.But back then, I didn't care what it looked like.Well, I didn't care enough.I wanted to own her.And that's not what this is about now."
Micah lifted a brow."You fell for her, didn't you?"
I shrugged."It's hard not to.She's smart, she's beautiful, compassionate, she wants to help and fix everyone.But she's not a saint.She has quite a temper.Stubborn.Jesus Christ, she's so fucking mule-headed.Always thinks she knows best.Fiercely independent.And she's terrified of being rejected.And the next thing I knew, there I was fucking falling in love with her.I didn't even know what had happened."
My brother graced me with one of his biggest smiles.
Jean Pierre opened one of the cases with the keys from his pockets."Let's look at settings, shall we?"
Micah had apparently always wanted an engagement ring, because my brother oohed and aahed like he was getting the ring slipped on his finger.
"Look at that one,” he said excitedly.“Classic.You can't miss with classic."
I looked at the ostentatious design and laughed."Well yes, I'd be able to find her in a crowd.I'm pretty sure you'd see anything in that setting from space.I don’t think that’s it for Gwen.She is elegant.Not really fussy.She doesn't wear a lot of jewelry."
Jean Pierre nodded."I'll be back.I have some settings in the back I was working on earlier."
By the time he came back, Micah had already stalked several cases of women's pinky rings and was staring at them under the light.
"God help whoever you marry, brother.You're going to be obnoxious."
“Yeah, and what exactly are you looking for in an engagement ring?”
"Hey, I'm trying to get her the ring that screams, ‘My husband-to-be is Atticus Price.All interlopers beware.’But if it was that easy, I wouldn't have any problems.Lakewood has continued making a nuisance of himself."
Micah rolled his eyes."For fuck's sake.If that was going to happen, it would have happened already.Why can't you get it through your head that Gwen only sees him as a friend?But if you want me to get the fixers on it, Pierce will do it."
"No, I don't want this fixed.And what do you mean, Wade will do it?Do what?"
Micah grinned and shrugged."Don't worry about what I just said.You just focus on getting the perfect baublefor my new sister-in-law, will you?"
So for the next hour, we worked with Jean Pierre.Micah finally started to focus when I was giving my design ideas.He'd interject, directing me several times, telling me that I was going too big and Gwen would like something more delicate.
"I need something big enough to hold the diamond."
Micah sat back, assessing."Okay, I like how you think.It needs to be sturdy.Thick."When he saidthick, his brows lifted, and then he fell over in a fit of laughter.The fool was laughing and I couldn’t help but join in.When was the last time we’d laughed like this anyway?
Jean Pierre chuckled."Don’t worry.We'll find her the right diamond.Or jewel.Maybe she's a ruby girl."
