Page 97 of Love on Deck

“Yeah, that failed,” he said softly. He reached toward her with his non-ring holding hand, but she stepped back.

Amelia looked at the ring and cringed. “You think you won’t care, but you don’t know how to live without your parents’ money.”

Kevin stood, wiping down his pant leg where he’d been kneeling. “You think my parents have been funding me all these years?”

“Of course.”

“I have a job, babe.”

“I know you don’t live off them. It’s everything else. Your Jeep. The vacations and restaurants and wedding yacht. The way you live is not sustainable on a normal income. I don’t want you to resent me for making you give up a relationship with your parents and the lifestyle you’re accustomed to. I couldn’t bear it.”

Kevin stared at her until he started to laugh, a crazy sound that had all three of us staring at him like maybe he’d gone a little mad. “I haven’t gotten a cent from my parents since I graduated college.”

Amelia drew in a quick, surprised breath. “How much debt are you in?”

“None. I made some solid investments back in high school with some birthday money, and it’s grown quite a bit.” He said this so nonchalantly, like it was normal to be gifted enough money to make the kinds of investments he must have made. But if that was the case, then Kevin’s current wealth was entirely his own.

She looked down. “So your parents’ money didn’t buy this ring?”

“No.” He took a step closer to her. “That was all me. At least now I know you didn’t marry me for my money.”

She slapped his arm, but she was smiling. “Now you know?”

“Come back to me,” he said quietly, holding out the ring.

“But it’s not your grandmother’s. You wanted me to wear that one so badly. I wanted to wear it.”

“That would have been nice. She was an amazing woman, and she would have adored you. But this is even better, babe. This is from me to you. No one else influenced or got a say in it. It’s ours, and I think it’s a good representation of us. We can move forward now together and there won’t be any negative associations with this ring or our wedding.”

“But your parents—”

“They’ll come around eventually. They do love me, even if I messed up their plans. They’re just being stubborn now.”

“And if they don’t come around?”

“I don’t think they’ll be able to resist grandbabies. If they can, that’s their loss. We’ll just have to create our own little family and teach them what love is really about.”

Amelia fell forward into his arms. I patted my pocket to grab my phone and take a picture but realized I’d left it downstairs. “Grab a picture for them?” I whispered to Jack.

He got his phone out and snapped a few.

“Oh shoot, her hair.” It was still half-braided. At least the pictures from this angle didn’t make it that obvious.

Kevin slid the ring onto her finger. I heard him mention something about going into Tiffany & Co tomorrow to get it sized, but she cut him off with a kiss. Jack moved to the door and held it for me as we silently slipped away.

I hit the button for the elevator to take us down, and Jack reached for my hand. “Is it our turn, now?”

“You also bought me a ring?” I quipped before realizing that it wasn’t funny. “Don’t answer that. It was a joke.”

The last thing I needed was for Jack to think I’d jumped to marriage after only a week-long relationship.

The elevator doors opened and I stepped inside. He followed me, stopping way too close. But, somehow, still not close enough. “I’m sorry, Lauren. I should have told you about the conference right away. It was stupid of me to hold on to it, but I didn’t want to ruin our stargazing, and I thought it would stress you out to realize you needed to work but you had no way of getting home until the next morning. Then Tucker was called in and our ride was delayed, and I wanted to wait until you were actively heading home so it didn’t ruin your morning.”

It all made sense, but it was still dishonest.

The elevator doors opened. I pressed against his chest to push him out, which turned out to be a terrible idea. Jack didn’t budge. He covered my hand with his own, flattening it against his heart, which I now felt to be hammering just as hard as mine. “Hear me out? Please?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

---