Accidental Proposal (A Year Agreement Book 1) (8 page)

“What do your parents think of all this? Do they even know you’re going to be marrying a stranger?”

I thought of my mother and sighed inwardly. I didn’t know what she would say if she were here. I bet she wouldn’t be proud of what I was doing, but I didn’t really have a choice. I had no money, I’d been working two low-end jobs, and I’d been living in a shitty apartment in the shitty part of town.

“They aren’t here anymore,” I said, not wanting to get into it. I knew the moment I told her that my mom left me, she would pity me, and I hated when people did that. “I don’t really like talking about it.”

“Oh, I am so sorry,” she immediately apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. Most don’t know.”

“Does Liam?” I thought about it and shook my head. I didn’t think he did, honestly. He probably still thought I was some rich spoiled girl that needed money since her dad wouldn’t give her any.

“So does anyone else know about Liam and my deal?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Um, well, there’s me, Liam, Blake doesn’t know…yet. I don’t think anybody else,” she said.

“I told Garrett and my one friend at my old job, but that’s it.”

“You know no one else can know, right? If Liam’s parents find out, then Liam is going to be super pissed. I know I don’t know much about this deal between you guys, and I only just met you, but I don’t want you getting hurt. This deal is bound to hurt someone, and that may be you. I know Liam is my best friend, but when it comes to women, he is not the greatest.” She looked at me sadly.

I already knew I couldn’t tell anyone about Liam and me and that we would have to come up with a story about how we met. And I figured Liam was a womanizer when he’d brought that random girl home. The more I thought about this, the more I realized I was a fucking idiot. Nothing good was going to come out of this whole ordeal.

“Jenna, don’t worry. I mean, things could turn out different than what we think. Plus, I will be here to help you along the way, with Liam and everything else.” She sent me a smile, and I smiled back at her. Well, at least I would have someone.

Two stores later, Lennon said we were done, and I almost kissed her right then and there. I called Garrett to pick us up and followed her outside, my arms heavy with bags. It was three in the afternoon, and we’d started at nine that morning. I was more than ready to be done. I had gotten seven dresses, all fancy ones for events, and matching high heels for all of them. Lennon wouldn’t let me get anything lower than four inches. I got a lot of new tops and even some new jeans that Lennon said “were in style.” Most of the stuff I was carrying was picked by her. I only got a few things I really wanted, like the jeans since they fit me perfectly. Lennon even made me buy a shitload of makeup so she wouldn’t have to use her own on me.

As we piled everything into the trunk of the car, I only felt slightly bad for how much we had spent on everything. When I saw the price tag of the first dress, I almost fainted and told Lennon there was no way I was going to get it. All she did was pull out a black card and wave off my protests, saying Liam had given her permission to buy whatever I needed at no expense. Spending some of Liam’s money didn’t make me feel so bad. This was his whole idea anyways.

“Have fun shopping, you two?” Garrett asked as he drove away from the mall.

“Actually, yeah,” I said. He turned his head and looked at me, surprised. I was surprised myself that I’d enjoyed it a little bit.

“See, told you it would be fun,” Lennon said, grinning widely as she leaned back in the seat. I rolled my eyes inwardly but turned to her.

“Thank you for taking me shopping, Lennon. It was nice doing something somewhat normal.”

“No problem. I don’t mind.”

On the ride home, all three of us talked about random topics before we pulled up the driveway. Garrett helped Lennon, and I grabbed my bags from the back before heading inside.

“God, woman, what did you get? Do you have the entire mall in these?” Garrett asked, his arms full of bags.

“Oh shut up,” Lennon replied. As soon as I got the door open, we all trudged in before dropping the bags in the living room.

“Thank you, Garrett. You can go home. I don’t plan on leaving again.” I sent him a smile. He nodded and said goodbye to both of us before leaving.

“Thanks again, Lennon,” another voice said from behind me.

“Hey, Lennon,” Liam said.

“Hey.” She went over to him and hugged him. I stared at them with wide eyes. I hadn’t heard nor seen Liam so informal since I’d first met him. He always spoke formally, and I didn’t think I had ever seen him smile like that before. His face was relaxed. “What are you doing here? I thought you were at work all day.”

“I had a few things to talk about with Jenna,” he said, looking over at me. Just a glance in my direction and his facial expression seemed to change. It seemed just the thought of me made him go sour. I looked down at the ground, hating the way he looked at me.

“I’d better get going then. See you later, Liam.” I looked up just in time to see her kiss him on the cheek and give him a hug. A flash of jealousy ran through me at the sight of them. For some unknown reason, I wanted to know what it was like to be hugged by Liam. His strong arms wrapped around me would probably make me feel safe. “Bye, Jenna. Thanks for all the fun today. I’ll text you later.” She came over and surprised me by giving me a hug before leaving. I stood there, shocked. It’d been so long since I’d been really hugged that it was weird. There had only been three people I had hugged in the last few years, and they were Sophia, Candy, and Tom from work. They didn’t really count, though.

“Jenna.” Liam jerked me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“Are you ready to go?” he asked. I stared at him, confused.

“What?”

“Did you not hear what I said?” He rolled his eyes at me. “I said we need to leave and pick out a ring.”

“I thought we were doing that tomorrow?”

“We were, but not anymore. Instead of meeting my parents on Saturday, we are meeting them tomorrow.”

Hot man say what?

Chapter Eight

I stared at Liam, frozen. In less than twenty-four hours, I would be meeting his family for the first time and pretending I was deeply in love with him. I didn’t think I could do this. No, I couldn’t do this. As I stood there almost hyperventilating, a voice in the back of my mind started talking.

Jenna, it doesn’t matter if you can’t do this. You are going to have to. You got yourself into this mess, and you’re going to have to get out of it yourself. This is not about you anymore. You are going to suck it up, stop whining, realize this is happening, and deal with it. From now on you are going to have to fake that you’re in love and happy with Liam. Stop acting like a little girl.

I realized that the voice was right. My time of whining and thinking about how stupid I was to take the deal was over. It had happened, and I was going to have to deal with it. Time to start acting mature and not like some high school teenaged girl. I could do this.

“Yes, I’m ready,” I said, swallowing and tilting my head up. With a nod to Liam that I had everything I needed, I walked past him toward the garage. It took a minute before I heard his footsteps following me. Walking out to the garage, I stood off to the side waiting for him to grab the keys.

Without saying anything, he grabbed a random set hanging by the door before walking over to the Audi
that hadn’t been here the last time I was in the garage. I stood there gawking at it while Liam was already inside the driver’s seat, obviously waiting impatiently for me. I quickly walked to the passenger’s side and slid into the dark grey leather seat. The inside of the car was just as sleek as the outside.

Dark grey leather graced the seats, and the dashboard was black and smooth. There was a touch screen stereo system that could also hook to a phone. Clicking my seatbelt on, I ran my fingertips across the dash. This car probably cost more than my life and everything I own, doubled. I’d always loved cars, and even in high school I took an auto class all four years. It was by far my favorite class. Learning what made a car tick fascinated me for some reason. To me it was easier figuring out what was wrong with the car and fixing it, rather than communicating with people. Cars were simple. People were not.

Liam backed out of the garage, and soon we were flying down the driveway onto the road. Surprised at first at the speed we were going, I gripped the door handle, but after a minute, I let go and relaxed into the comfortable seat. Going fast didn’t bother me. It made me feel free, like nothing could touch me.

As we came closer into town, Liam slowed the car and weaved around others. I watched as we passed by tall buildings and cute little shops lining the street. People dressed in suits and pant suits walked briskly past one another, either heading home or back to work. I noticed a few tourists as they walked slowly on the sidewalk, pointing at things.

A minute later, Liam pulled up in front of a building. Opening my door, I stepped out and gasped at the building. Tiffany and Co.
I’m getting a ring at Tiffany’s?
A hand on my lower back brought me back to reality, and I turned to see Liam next to me. I leaned away from him, but his hand wrapped around my waist, pulling me to his side.

“Don’t. We are out in public,” he hissed down at me. Swallowing hard, I nodded and stepped back into his side. He opened the door and pushed me inside, following after me.

The moment I stepped inside, I felt like I had died. Cases upon cases were filled with diamonds. Multiple people stood around dressed in black, holding their hands in front of them, waiting to help someone. Just standing at the entrance made me feel so small and dirty compared to this place. I never thought I would ever be able to come to a place like this. It was every girl’s dream to get a ring at Tiffany’s
,
even a poor girl like me who never would be able to afford one in a million years.

“Mr. Stanford?” a female voice asked. I looked away from the cases of rings to the right of me. A woman stood there. She was middle aged, with brown hair to her shoulders. Her brown eyes were staring at Liam in shock.

“Hello. I’m here to pick out a ring with my fiancé,” Liam said, his arm tightening around me. The lady turned her gaze to me, and I felt her scrutinizing me, like an ant beneath her feet. I watched as her brown eyes narrowed at me before turning back to Liam and sending him a wide grin.

“Of course, Mr. Stanford. I’m Karen. I’ll show you what we have. “As she turned to lead us somewhere, I glanced down at my outfit and couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong with it. A big hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me along. I looked up just in time before I hit Liam’s back. He looked down at me and clenched his jaw before turning back to Karen.
God, what is up with everyone today?

Even though it was 4:30, the place was still busy as we weaved around people. We passed by a case, and my eyes widened at how huge the diamonds were on just one ring.

“Mr. Stanford, here are our finest rings. We have white gold, gold, silver, and platinum bands. We can provide any cut of diamond you want, as well as color.” I stood to the side of Liam and watched as Karen pulled out cases filled with different types of rings. I stared down at them, not having known there was so many different rings to choose from. Who knew you could get pink, yellow, blue, and even green diamonds?

“Honey, go ahead and take a look,” Liam said. His term of endearment surprised me, but I didn’t show it. I sent him a fake smile and stepped away from him, closer to the rings. I felt both of their stares on me but ignored them as I excitedly looked from one ring to another.

There were so many to choose from that someone could easily become overwhelmed. As I looked at the ones in front of me, I didn’t see any that popped out at me. Sure, they were beyond gorgeous, with big diamonds centered in the middle and little ones around the band. There were round, princess, oval, pear, emerald, heart, and square cuts. I could tell the lady was getting impatient, which was stupid for a sales person, so I pointed at one.

“Can I see that one?” I asked politely. I didn’t know if I was allowed to just grab one. She nodded and handed me a pretty ring, its band silver with a few diamonds near the top and a big circle diamond in the center. I slid it onto my ring finger and looked down at it. It was obviously too big for my little finger and kept sliding down.
You know what? This is going to be my only wedding, so I might as well pick a ring I really want and like. Maybe at the end of the year Liam will let me keep it.

“Here,” I said, sliding it off and handing it back to the salesperson. Without waiting for her to put it back, I turned and started walking toward another case. I let myself look through multiple cases with hundreds of rings before something caught my eye, to my right. I leaned over the counter and looked down at the ring. I immediately knew it was the one. The band consisted of white gold or silver with little diamonds all around it, and at the center was a huge pale blue circle diamond; it was surrounded by more little diamonds in a square. The more I looked at it, the more I loved it. I loved that it wasn’t a normal white diamond but blue, my favorite color.

“Can I see this one?” I asked, turning around and seeing both the lady and Liam standing in the same spot. Karen looked at Liam, and he nodded before walking toward me. As I waited for her to come and unlock the case, I looked back down at the ring. It was simple and unique, perfect for me.

“This one is an aquamarine, circle, seven-karat white gold ring.” She handed it to me, and I gently took it. I slowly slid it on my ring finger and grinned. It fit me perfectly. Staring down at my hand, I knew I wanted it. The diamond was huge, but if it were smaller, you wouldn’t see the blue so well. I almost felt like I would break it as I ran my fingertip across it. It felt weird wearing and seeing a ring on that finger.

“I love it,” I breathed.

“It only costs about ten thousand dollars,” Karen said as my eyes widened.
What? No, that’s way too much.
Sighing inwardly, I slid it off and started handing it over. Guess I’d have to keep looking for one less expensive. Just before the lady could take it from me, Liam’s big hand stopped mine.

“We will take it.” I turned to him to argue, saying it was too much, but Karen interrupted me.

“But, sir, that isn’t one of our finest rings. There are plenty of other ones you—”

“I said we will get it. If my fiancé wants it, then she can get it,” he said, his voice hard. Karen swallowed and nodded quickly.

“Yes, sir. Let me go get the paperwork and clean it up. Then you can go.” She quickly walked off, giving me time to turn to Liam.

“Liam! That is too much money for a ring,” I hissed at him.

“No, it is not.”

“Yes, it is. I’ll pick another one that’s less expensive,” I argued.

“Do you have to argue about everything, Jenna? I said we are getting it.” He looked down at me, his blue eyes dark and hard. I opened my mouth to reply, but Karen’s voice interrupted me.
Wow, that was fast.

“Mr. Stanford, I just need you to sign here and here.” She pointed out a couple of places. Liam did as she asked before handing her a credit card, which she took and left again. I wanted to argue with him about the ring, but I knew I wouldn’t win, and a small part of me was excited to actually get an engagement ring that pretty. This would probably be my only wedding, so I might as well enjoy it.

We stood next to each other, not saying a word until Karen came back with stuff in her hands.

“Here you are, sir.” She handed him back his credit card. “Also here is the receipt for the ring as well as the box it comes in. I figured your fiancé would like to wear the ring now. We have a lifetime guarantee on any wedding rings, so if the band becomes loose, tight, or even rusts a little, which is normal, just come in and we will fix it for free.” Instead of handing me the ring, she handed it to Liam. “Thank you for your business, Mr. Stanford.” She shot him a wide smile.

“Thank you, Karen.” Liam turned to face me, locking eyes with me. His hand reached for mine and grabbed it, pulling it toward him. I stared into his blue eyes, almost transfixed as his fingers gently caressed mine. I felt warmth on my finger and quickly looked down, away from Liam’s gaze, to watch him slide the ring onto my ring finger. I looked from it up to Liam as he raised my hand to his mouth before placing a kiss on my knuckles. I felt my cheeks heat up and felt Karen and a few other people’s eyes on us.

The feeling of his soft, smooth lips against my knuckles made a shiver run down my spine. His blue eyes stared intently into mine as his lips lingered longer than necessary. As soon as he pulled away, I felt my knees weaken. It wasn’t even a real kiss, but it still had the power to make my legs feel like Jell-o. That made me wonder what would happen when we actually kissed.

With a final nod at Karen, Liam pocketed the receipt as well as the ring box before grabbing my ring-clad hand and leading me out the door. Without speaking, he helped me into the car before coming around and sliding in the driver’s seat. I looked down at my left hand and gazed at it in wonder. It felt weird. It was kind of heavy, and when I turned my hand, the blue diamond sparkled.
It’s so beautiful.

“Thank you,” I said softly to Liam. I didn’t expect a reply, and I didn’t get one.

We drove in silence, and I couldn’t help but think this was all a dream. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever get a ring at Tiffany and Co
.
,
let alone even get married. I had always figured I would die alone or be one of those crazy cat ladies but with dogs instead. The feeling of the car slowing down made me realize we were pulling into the garage.

“So…” I said a moment before Liam turned the car off. “We need to get our story straight.”

“We met at a coffee shop by work. Talked, went on a few dates, then fell in love,” came his quick response before he got out of the car.

“Liam, that isn’t believable,” I said, hurrying out of the car after him. His long legs made his stride longer, so every step of his was two for me. He didn’t answer me and kept walking down the hall toward the kitchen.

“Liam Stanford, you are going to stop and listen to me right now!” I yelled at him, stopping exactly where I was, putting my hands on my hips. Someone had to be the one to take this seriously, and apparently it was going to be me.

“What did you just say?” His voice was low as he stopped and turned around. I should have felt scared at his expression, but I wasn’t.

“You heard me. We need to come up with a believable story that your parents and your sister will believe. The moment we tell them yours, they will know this isn’t real. So quit being an ass and help me with a story,” I said, my voicing coming out just as low and threatening as his. “And don’t look at me like that,” I snapped. “If you really want this to work so you can get the business, then you need to start taking this seriously.”

I walked past him toward the kitchen to grab a drink and maybe some food. After a minute, I heard him following me. I didn’t care if I pissed him off. He’d pissed me off too many times already, and I would not sit by being the only one serious about this. This was what he wanted me to do and I would do it, but not by myself. Grabbing a glass, I filled it with water before taking a seat at the bar.