Chapter 14
The next morning CC awoke feeling better than she had in weeks. No nausea, Niles was beside her, the sun was shining, her mother had been neutralized, and she wouldn't need to see Niles's parents again for several months.
She pulled her phone off the nightstand and scrolled for the number of her contractor. A few minutes later, she disconnected the call and nudged Niles. "If you want to go ring shopping, you'd better drag yourself out of bed. We have an appointment with the contractor this afternoon," she told him.
"'S too early for that," Niles grunted, and pulled the sheet up to his ears.
"Too early for what?" CC asked, an edge of annoyance creeping into the question.
He opened an eye. "To drag myself out of bed?"
CC sighed in relief. "You're not objecting to the contractor?"
"What? No. I'm going to speak with Mr. Sheffield about moving out of the mansion."
CC stretched out beside him and traced his shoulder through his pajamas. "You're sure?" She asked, tamping down the happiness in her voice.
"Quite," he said, and rolled over on top of her. "If you still want me," he said, and thrust against her.
Trying unsuccessfully to suppress a moan, CC responded, "You'll do." She kissed him then, but broke off contact before either of them was ready. "Ten more days," she murmured, and reluctantly pushed him off her.
As the sun topped the buildings on Fifth Avenue, CC and Niles strolled hand in hand between jewelers. They had already been in two stores and were approaching the third and last they would have time for, with no clear contenders yet.
CC walked into the third store, paying little attention to the armed guards positioned around the showroom. Niles, less familiar with high-end jewelers than she was, nervously eyed the men with guns as he followed her.
"Oh, Niles," CC breathed and pointed at a display case. The matching platinum bands were of an elegant simplicity that no doubt cost more than Niles made in a year. Somehow the style seemed to fit her personality as well as his, and she turned to look at him. "I want them," she said, "and I'm happy to pay for both."
Niles shook his head and lifted a hand to attract the attention of a salesperson. "We'd like to see these," he said, as the well-dressed woman approached with a smile.
"Certainly, sir," she said, unlocking the case and removing the rings Niles indicated before placing them on the counter.
CC slid the band on her finger and held it up to see the sunlight reflect off it. She turned to Niles and batted her eyelashes at him playfully. He smiled at the expression, and tried on the other ring.
He could feel his heart beating rapidly as he looked at their hands. He glanced up at the salesperson and said, "We'll take them."
A week later, Niles had gone by the Sheffield mansion and to the jewelry store to pick up the newly sized rings while CC stayed behind to supervise the contractor's work. Her mobile phone distracted her from the instructions she was giving the crew, and they resumed their destruction of the wall between the apartments as she walked away.
"CC Babcock."
"Hullo, Babcock. Meet me outside?"
"Niles? Sorry, I can't hear you over the noise up here," she said loudly, moving into the guest bedroom and closing the door behind her. "What was that?"
"I said, meet me outside."
"I'll be down in a minute."
CC settled her sunglasses on her nose as she stepped through the glass doors of the apartment building. She spotted Niles leaning up against a limo near the curb and she grinned as she looked at the bouquet of flowers he held. "What are you up to?"
"I'm sweeping you off your feet. Is it working?"
"Might be," she allowed, reaching for the flowers and bringing them up so she could inhale their heady fragrance.
He opened the door for her and she slid across the seat, making room for him beside her. She noticed the small bag with the jeweler's logo on the far side of the seat, and she turned to Niles.
"I'm still annoyed you insisted on paying for both rings," she said to him, as the driver pulled the car into traffic.
He took her hand and held it in his lap. "But we're not going to fight about it again, are we? I thought that poor salesperson was going to call over the guards last week."
"No," she said, wrinkling her nose. Was it her fault the woman had apparently never seen a healthy argument? "Where are we going?"
"You'll see when we get there," Niles said mysteriously.
CC eyed him suspiciously but leaned back against the seat. "How did it go with Max?"
"Better than I expected. Miss Fine is more upset about it than he is. He seems to think our living arrangements won't affect my ability to complete my work."
She turned to him. "Are you happy with his plan?"
"For now I am. I suspect Mr. Sheffield will find it more problematic than he anticipates, but we can cross that bridge when we come to it."
CC heard the emotion in his voice, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I know it's hard for you. But I'm so—so glad," she said, and Niles wrapped his arm around her.
The limo pulled to a stop and Niles reached across CC to grasp the bag. He opened his door and stepped out, then helped CC out of the car.
She drew in a sharp breath. "Oh, Niles."
He held up a finger and leaned back inside the car. "Thanks, John." The driver saluted him in the rearview mirror. Niles grabbed the flowers off the seat before closing the door and watching the limo pull away.
"I couldn't think of a place in this city that's more significant to us than this one," Niles said, settling on the stoop outside the cryobank with the bag at his feet and the flowers behind him.
Moisture gathered in CC's eyes as she looked down at him, and she sat beside him, their hips and legs touching. "Damn it," she said, her voice low. "You're going to make me cry." She lifted her sunglasses and propped them above her forehead so she could see him.
He reached for the bag and pulled out a small box, then lifted CC's ring out of it. "I wanted to give this to you here, because it was here that I realized, whether the procedure took or it didn't, our lives would never be the same." He took her left hand and slid the band on her ring finger.
CC admired the ring and kissed him suddenly, quickly. She reached into the bag and took the other box, opening it and extracting Niles's ring. She didn't trust herself to speak as she placed it on his finger. Afterwards she embraced him, hiding her face against his neck.
As they sat there, arms wrapped around each other, Niles wiped a tear from his eye and cars drove down the street, honking occasionally. Drivers yelled half-hearted curses out open windows, because even if the other drivers were morons, the weather was perfect. A warm breeze lifted CC's hair, and she raised her head and smiled brightly at Niles.
"You know, you're surprisingly romantic when you want to be," she said to him, leaning forward and placing a lingering kiss on his lips.
"Just now noticing that, are you?" He raised a brow at her and kissed her again, his tongue sliding into her mouth.
She pilled away and said, "What would you say if I told you I think it has been near enough to two weeks to suit any cardiologist?"
Niles jumped to his feet with the speed of a man half his age. "I'd say, why the hell are we still waiting around here?" He stuck the flowers in the empty jeweler's bag and took her hand, pulling her towards Park Avenue to find a cab to take them home.