Page 99 of The Billionaire's Teacher

“I don’t really want to see the wrath of Kayla. She’s pretty fierce when she’s normal.” Sunshine tugged my hand and dragged me the last few feet to my car.

“Reasonable.” I opened the door and held it for her, then snuck a quick kiss on her cheek as she slid past me to sit.

Sunshine laughed. “Stop.”

“Can’t.” I grinned and shut the door before circling the car to get in on the driver’s side. I fastened my seatbelt and started the engine, then glanced over at Sunshine. “Would you be opposed to swinging by a jewelry store on the way home from lunch?”

Her face paled. “For…?”

I cocked my head to the side. Had I misunderstood? “A ring? For you. An engagement ring for you.”

Sunshine blinked at me, then began to chuckle. The chuckle turned into full out laughter and she actually had tears leaking out of her eyes.

I frowned and backed out of the parking spot, heading toward the restaurant on the river we’d decided on. “What’d I miss?”

“Nothing.” Sunshine took a deep breath and made several attempts to quell her laughter before she succeeded. “You didn’t miss anything. I just—”

She broke off. I glanced over. “You just?”

“I feel like I need to preface this by saying it’s about Luca.”

I reached over and took her hand. “You can talk about him. He was a big part of your life. I don’t ever want you to feel like I’m…I don’t know, jealous? I’m not. And if I ever am? That’s my problem, not yours.”

“Okay.” She blew out a breath and nodded. “Okay. Well. Luca never actually proposed, either. I was just thinking it was hilarious that I was going to be married twice and neither time would I have that moonlight-down-on-one-knee experience.”

I bit my lip. “I’m sorry. I should have thought—we can do that. I’ll surprise you later.”

“Don’t you dare.” She glared at me. “We’re engaged and I want a ring.”

“You’re a confusing woman sometimes, do you know that?” I shook my head, but I couldn’t stop the grin that formed. “So you’re okay with the jewelry store after lunch?”

“I absolutely am. But no diamonds.”

“What? Why not?”

Sunshine wrinkled her nose. “Too flashy. They get caught on things. I want something I can wear when I dive and not worry about it.”

I nodded. That made sense. Diving was a big part of her life, just like it was in mine. “I’ll agree to the last part, but I’m not willing to rule out diamonds yet. Let’s at least look. Do I need to remind you money is no object?”

She snickered.

I was glad she’d caught the tease. “Deal?”

“Deal.”

I pulled my hand back to make the tight turn into the parking lot. It was crowded. No big surprise, seeing as it was a warm, summer Sunday. “I hope we can get a table.”

“I don’t mind waiting. As long as we can get Kayla a breadstick or something.”

“I imagine we can do that. They know us here. Ha.” I spun the wheel quickly to angle into a parking spot that was hidden by a big truck. It took a little maneuvering to get in—and the truck was going to have to work to get out—but I did it. And, when I opened my door to double-check, I was in the lines. So any issues weren’t on me.

Sunshine pushed open her door and climbed out. I did the same and met her at the back of the car. I took her hand and gave our arms a swing as we crossed the lot and climbed the steps leading to the deck at the front of the restaurant.

Megan greeted us. “They had a big table on the back deck. I called on our way over and they reserved it for us. Good thing, too, because another big group is gathering but they have to wait until everyone’s here to be seated.”

“Nice.” I opened the door for the ladies and followed Megan and Sunshine through the crowded inside seating to the doors leading to the outside tables. A breeze blew off the river, bringing cooler air to move around the humidity, but also the little whiffs of the Potomac that were oh-so-different than the ocean freshness.

“Glad you could join us.” Noah smirked over the top of his menu.

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