Page 48 of A Deal with the Bossy Devil

And here it was—my chance to fix this whole thing. All I had to do was cover my nose and lie. Tell him that Jamie and I were in a loving, committed relationship and I was planning to propose to her on her birthday this year. And boom, problem solved.

But even I wasn’t that selfish. Because… I don’t know—what if he was her lobster or something? I absolutely abhorred the idea of the two of them together, and I could voice my concerns to Jamie, but I wouldn’t get in the way of her potential happiness.

Iwouldfigure out a way to shrink his testicles into little raisins if he hurt her though.

“No,” I answered. “I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Good.”

Wait. “Why’s that good?”

Adrien reached into his pocket and pulled something out. A dark velvet box.

“We need to talk about Victoria.”

14

It looked like a jewelry box.Like a ring box.

But what would Adrien be doing with an engagement ring? He just said he was single. Was he helping one of his buddies propose? Was that why we were flying down to BC? Was I supposed to be helping in some way?

And why did my chest feel so tight all of a sudden? Was I having a heart attack? Or was it a fear response?

“Is that a ring?” I whispered, keeping my voice low in case it was a secret. Adrien answered by popping the box open, and holy mother of diamonds. “It’shuge.”

“I’m gonna need you to wear it.”

My hands curled away from him instinctively, clasping against my chest. “No. What? No. Why?”

“I’m going to need you to wear this while we’re on the island,” Adrien repeated coolly. “Give me your hand.”

Was he out of his goddamn mind? “I’m not giving you my hand.”

“Great. Then put it on yourself.” He tossedthe box.

I gasped, instinctively jumping out of my seat to catch it… only to trip on my own foot and start to go down again. Until someone caught me.

Adrien. It was Adrien who caught me. On his lap.

“Can you just…befor two fucking seconds?” he growled quietly.

“You’re the one who threw the box!” I hiss-whispered in his face. A hint of aftershave touched my lungs, and it was actually infuriating, how good he smelled. “What’s the matter with you?”

Thankfully I’d managed to catch the ring before it rolled under someone’s seat or something.

“I lightly tossed it, and it would have landed on your lap if you hadn’t flailed like a freshly caught salmon lit on fucking fire.”

His arm was wrapped around my waist, his other hand holding my wrist. And for some unknown reason, the proximity was… kind of slowing my brain functioning down. “Mmmkay, you should probably let me go before I start thrashing again.”

Something wicked flashed across Adrien’s features. “I’d get used to this if I were you, we’re going to need to—”

“Ma’am, I’m very sorry, but I’m going to have to ask that you get back into your own seat.” The flight attendant looked like she was having absolutely none of my bullshit as she stood above us, lips prim with disappointment. Which was kind of unfair if you asked me, since Adrienhad been the one who’d practically pulled me onto his lap.

Still, I couldn’t help flushing as I mumbled an apology and moved back to my own seat, a little too aware of Adrien’s hard body as mine maneuvered against it. So, he worked out a lot. Who the hell cared?

Jamie, probably. She’s super into muscly dudes.

Just like that, the nausea was back.

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