The sparkle of my ring caught my eye every time I moved.

The diamond acted as a prism of colors, a beautiful rainbow that flashed across the flawless diamonds, glittering like newly uncovered treasure. When I hung up a painting in the gallery, I noticed it. When I sat at my computer and typed, I noticed it too.

The diamonds were excessive, especially the large one in the center. I never cared for expensive jewelry and had always been fond of my mother’s wedding ring, which was just a button molded into a metal band. It seemed oddly cheap for a woman so wealthy, but it had so much character and clearly meant something to both of my parents.

But Bones wanted something bold and flashy—and he delivered.

I would have loved anything he gave me, but I did love this ring in particular—even though it was pretty heavy.

As I worked that afternoon, I floated like a cloud. I couldn’t stop smiling, couldn’t stop thinking about the way Bones, the most stubborn man in the world, got on one knee in front of my whole family and asked me to marry him.

Well, told me to marry him.

I’d never been so happy in my life.

The front door opened, and someone stepped inside. “I can’t tell what’s brighter—that ring or your smile.”

“Me neither, Father.” I turned around and saw him walk inside my gallery, wearing the same happiness in his eyes that I wore in my smile. It didn’t seem like this moment would ever arrive, not after he hated Bones so much in the past. But here we were…with a diamond on my left hand. I moved into his arms and hugged him. “Maybe it’s a tie.”

“No.” He kissed my forehead before he pulled away. “That diamond can’t compare with that smile.” He stepped to the side and slid his hands into his pockets before he glanced at the new painting I had just put on the wall. He gazed at it for a moment before he turned back to me. “I’m glad you’re happy, tesoro. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this radiant.”

“Wait until the wedding.”

He chuckled. “Good point.”

“So, how is he?”

He shrugged. “Haven’t seen him today. He took the day off.”

I cocked an eyebrow because Bones left that morning as usual. “What?”

My father’s smile slowly faded. “He told me he needed a personal day. I assumed he would be down here.”

Bones didn’t actually lie to me. He didn’t tell me he was going to work. He didn’t say anything at all, actually. “That’s strange…he left the house in the morning like normal.”

“Hmm…” My father didn’t try to make a guess about his whereabouts. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Bones would never betray me in any way, so I wasn’t concerned what he was doing. When I saw him next, he would tell me. “I’m not. So, what brings you here?”

“I had a meeting in town, so I thought I would stop by.” He moved to my desk and leaned against the counter, his arms crossing over his chest. “Want to get some lunch?”

“I would, but I just ate.”

“Oh well. I guess I should head back to the winery since your uncle is doing everything today…but I like making him work, so maybe I’ll stall a little longer.” He grinned slightly, being playful but serious at the same time.

“I’m sure he’s done the same to you.”

“Oh, he has,” he said with a chuckle. “And payback is a bitch. You’re lucky you’re the only operator in your business. You never have to worry about things like that.”

“I thought you liked working with your brother?”

He shrugged. “I like seeing him all the time, but we butt heads a lot.”

“Never noticed,” I teased.

“The winery was my own business when we were younger. I brought him in because we lost our other business, and he didn’t have anything else. But he made it grow, so we have a few different vineyards now.”

“That was nice of you.”

“He’s family…” He looked at the other paintings on the wall.

“And it was really sweet of you to give it to Griffin…” Before Griffin asked me to marry him, my father had already accepted him like a son. He brought him into our legacy and gave him a business he spent most of his life cultivating. It was a gesture that spoke louder than words.

“No one else better, tesoro.” He lifted his gaze and looked into mine. “He’ll do a good job. I have no doubt.”

I smiled at him. “That still must have been hard for you.”

“Not really, actually. He’s not the kind of man who will allow someone to take advantage of him. He’ll protect everything I built with my bare hands.”

“But he’ll also scare away your customers with that scowl…”

He chuckled. “People respect him for it. I respect him.”

My father had been wrong when he treated Griffin so coldly, but he more than made up for it. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for him. He has somewhere he belongs…and I know that means a lot to him, even if he doesn’t say it in those words.”

He nodded. “I know he does. I told him I love him like a son…because I do.”

“And I think he loves you like a father.”

“If he doesn’t, maybe he will someday.” He gripped the edge of my desk. “We’ve got plenty of time. Look how far we’ve come in a single year.”

It was hard to believe I’d loved Bones for almost an entire year. It seemed like he’d been in my life forever…not just a short time.

“So, any plans for the wedding?”

“Uh, we haven’t talked about it much.” We haven’t talked at all, actually. Ever since he put that ring on my finger, he’d been hunting me down around the house and making love to me on every single piece of furniture we owned. His possession increased tenfold. That dark look he gave me with those piercing eyes became far more intense than it’d ever been before. And when I took off my ring to shower, he looked at me like he might slap my ass so hard I wouldn’t be able to walk again.

My father didn’t say any more about it. “He asked me in my office at the end of the day. I knew the moment was coming, but I wasn’t ready for it. I’ve been dreading this day since you were born, and it was a relief when I gave him my blessing and really meant it. There’s no doubt in my mind that man loves you…loves you the way I love your mother.”

I knew this was hard for my father, and he was doing such a good job handling it. “I know he does.” I gave him a slight smile, feeling the emotion bubble up inside my chest. “He’ll be a good husband. He’ll be a good father. And he’ll be a good son to you.”

“He already is. We’ve come a long way. When I look back on the past, it’s hard to believe that stuff ever happened.”

“Me too.” I’d been through so much heartbreak, but it’d all been worth it to end up here.

My father’s eyes darted to the window as someone walked inside. “Looks like we’re about to find out what Griffin did with his personal day.”

I turned around and saw Griffin enter my gallery, his thick arms stretching the gray color of his t-shirt. His nice arms were covered with black ink, and with his short hair and intense stare, he looked like the most terrifying man on the planet.

I guess I had a thing for scary men.

He looked at me, those bright blue eyes the only soft feature about him. As if my father wasn’t standing right there, he turned his possessive gaze on me, glancing at my ring to make sure I was wearing it. “Baby.” He bent his neck and gave me a short kiss on the mouth, but judging by the way he gripped my waist so tightly, he had to restrain himself from kissing me as hard as he really wanted.

“Griffin. Care to give me an explanation of where you’ve been all day?”

He cocked an eyebrow, shooting me a flash of annoyance. “If I asked you that same question, I’d get slapped.”

But you love getting slapped. “What happened to your hand?” I noticed the white gauze wrapped around the ring finger on his left hand. There wasn’t a sign of blood, but it seemed like he had a bad injury.

Griffin didn’t glance at it. “If I’m not working today and you aren’t either, what does that mean?” He turned to my father and ignored my question.

Father shrugged. “Cane is busting his ass—for once.”

Griffin gave a slight smile. “Good.”

I looked at his hand again. “What happened?”

He pulled his hand to his chest and carefully pulled the gauze off his finger. He tossed it into the garbage can by my desk and held up his left hand, showing the black ink that wrapped around his finger and formed a thick wedding band. It contrasted against his fair skin, being just as obvious as the diamonds I wore.

It took me a second to process what I was looking at. “You want a tattoo as a ring…”

“We both know I’m not a jewelry kind of guy.” Griffin lowered his hand. “I don’t even wear a watch.”

“But we aren’t married yet,” I said with a chuckle. “You’re supposed to do that after we get married.”

“After?” he asked, not caring about having this conversation in front of my father. “We are married. I asked you last week, and you said yes.”

“That’s not how it works.” His ignorance was adorable at times. “There’s no way you don’t know that. We’re supposed to have a wedding and—”

“That’s not us.” He silenced me with his ferocious look. “Our bond started long before I put that ring on your finger. Signing a piece of paper isn’t going to make that more true. This ink represents a lot more than matrimonial love. It represents my eternal commitment to you. So I can get this ink anytime I want, whether I’m your husband or not.”

My father’s eyes shifted back and forth as he looked at us, clearly uncomfortable with the intimate conversation we were having. It was something he shouldn’t stand there and witness. He cleared his throat then slowly drifted away. “I should get back to the winery…” He let himself out, his shoes tapping against the floor until he was gone.

Bones never took his eyes off me. His chest rose and fell with his deep breaths, and he looked at me like he’d never been angrier with me.

“Griffin, I’m not angry that you got that tattoo. It’s sweet, actually.”

His breathing decreased slightly, along with his aggression.

“I just thought you did it prematurely. We may not have a wedding for a year…”

Now he was pissed off all over again. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“It takes time to plan a wedding, Griffin. My family knows a lot of people, so there will be a ton of guests.”

He looked like he could pick up my desk and throw it out the window. “I don’t want any guests at our wedding. I want it just to be us and a few people. There’s no goddamn way I’m waiting a year to marry you. Is this a joke?”

“Then what were you expecting?”

“Tomorrow.”

Both of my eyebrows rose up my forehead. “Tomorrow?”

“Or the day after. What about today?”

“Are you crazy?”

“No, baby. You’re the one who’s crazy. How could you possibly want to wait a year to be married to me?”

“It’s not that I want to wait,” I argued. “It’s just… It’s stupid.”

“Tell me.”

Like every other woman on the planet, I’d dreamed of how I wanted my wedding to be. “I’ve always wanted to wear a wedding dress. If we do it at the court, I can’t really do that. And I know my father wants to give me away. So…we need to have a wedding, Griffin.”

His eyes watched me for a long time. “We can still do that.”

“Then we need to wait.”

“You can get a wedding dress in a day or so.”

“But then it needs to be fitted—”

“What the hell is Conway for?” he snapped. “That’s what he does for a living.”

Sometimes I forgot my brother actually had talents besides being annoying.

“And we can have a small ceremony—just family. We’ll do it on Saturday.”

That was only a few days away, but when Bones described it that way, it actually sounded pretty perfect.

“You wanted to start a family right away?” he asked, the tension in his eyes slowly dying away now that he was getting his way.

“Yes…but I thought we would talk about that later.”

“Well, we need to be married first.”

I rolled my eyes. “Our relationship has never been conventional, so let’s not start now.”

“When I asked your father if I could marry you, I promised I would take care of you. So if you want to start a family, I want to do it the right way. I want to be your husband. I want to get you pregnant in our bed, our rings on our hands.”

It was one of the sweetest things I’d ever heard him say.

“And don’t expect me to wait a year for that to happen.”

“So…you really want to start a family with me?” I knew I wanted children. I’d known since I was a little girl. But when I mentioned it to Griffin, he didn’t seem interested at all.

“I thought I didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

“But I would hope that you would have changed your mind on your own…”

He looked down for a moment, considering his answer carefully before he gave it. “I love you more than anything else in the world, and the idea of something happening to you…is my worst nightmare. So the idea of having babies…having a daughter who looks like you…just scares me even more. The more people I love, the more I have to protect. The more I have to lose. That’s what scares me.” He grabbed my hand and surrounded it with both of his palms, like he was protecting my hand with his. “In that regard, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”

I brought his hand to my mouth and kissed his knuckles. “You already are ready, Griffin. You’re a protector. And you’ll always be the best protector I know.” I held his gaze as I kissed him before I moved into his chest.

He wrapped his powerful arms around me and rested his chin on my head. “Marry me on Saturday.”

Now I wanted to marry him that very moment. “Saturday.”