"Jonathan, I love my ring. Almost as much as I love you," Jennifer said excitedly as they walked out of the jewelry store.
He felt his heart flutter with joy as he watched her gaze at her beautiful new engagement ring. It was a ring that he had bought for her to show the whole world that Jennifer Edwards was his fiancée. He belonged to her, and she belonged to him. "I'm so glad you love it. I love it and I love you, darling."
They had wandered around the jewelry district in Mayfair for the better part of an hour. Jonathan let Jennifer choose exactly what she wanted and was somewhat bemused by the realization that she had no idea what she wanted. She did, however, know without a shadow of a doubt what she didn't want. Nothing emerald cut. Nothing in yellow or rose gold. Nothing with colored stones. Nothing that would be too cumbersome or delicate. There were a few very beautiful rings that Jonathan had suggested at two of the shops that Jennifer had wrinkled her nose at in distaste, so he figured out soon enough to just let her make her decisions. But she was not a bully to the shop assistants or to him. As soon as she did consider something, she immediately asked his opinion. And he gave his opinion honestly. He didn't like the marquis cut or the pear cut and he told her so. She took his preferences to heart. "It's my ring, but it's our engagement," she had said. Jonathan liked that. He was finding more and more that he liked everything she said and did, everything about her.
In the end, she wanted him to choose between two that she'd really liked. One had a simple band and a large oval diamond with a halo of smaller diamonds around it. The other had an elegant twisting pattern on the band, half of which had small diamonds, and a large oval stone in the center slightly raised with smaller diamonds in a hidden halo beneath it. Jonathan liked the latter ring, and Jennifer agreed. It was interesting and impressive without being ostentatious. Much like Jennifer herself.
"So," Jennifer said with the cadence of changing the subject, "do you have any thoughts about a wedding?"
Jonathan had anticipated this conversation, if not now then eventually. They walked down the street holding hands, her left hand with her new engagement ring laced with his right. "I do, actually," he replied, testing the waters somewhat. "But I don't really feel too strongly. I imagine you've got a dream wedding, right? I want to make sure we have your dream wedding, Jennifer. Anything you want, we can do."
She scoffed slightly. "Well, contrary to your expectations, I don't actually have a dream wedding. I never really thought I'd ever get married. I've always been sort of independent and married to my career. I liked having the freedom to wander the world to follow a story and not have anyone to get sore at me for it." Her tone was slightly sarcastic but there was a twinge of bitterness that he sensed.
"I won't ever tie you down, Jennifer," Jonathan told her seriously. It was very important to him that she know he wouldn't ever do anything to hold her back. "I only want what you want, now and always," he vowed.
"And I appreciate that, darling," she replied. "And I believe it, too. But the fact of the matter is that I didn't think I'd ever meet anyone like you, anyone who wanted to support me in what I wanted. I guess that's why I never thought I'd ever get married. I didn't think I'd ever get any wedding, so I never dreamed of one. So why don't you tell me your thoughts about your dream wedding?"
Well, Jonathan didn't really have a dream wedding either. He was over forty and very content as a lifelong bachelor. The marriage and family thing had never appealed to him before. After all, he'd learned of adulthood from Max who was long divorced and happy to be. Of course, all of that was before Jennifer came into his life. He explained, "Honestly, I would be happy to go to Vegas and get married then and there. I just want to marry you. I never really imagined I'd get married either. I didn't give it a lot of thought before I met you."
"Vegas could be fun," Jennifer ventured. "I don't know…I think I want my father there, and all our friends. I mean, after you meet my friends and I meet yours. I guess we'll figure some things out and take it one step at a time. Next stop LA?"
"Do you want to go home to New York first? I can work remotely from anywhere. And we've got Hart Industries office in New York if I really do need to go in," he offered.
Jennifer considered that, thinking aloud, "Well, I don't want to keep you from your work. And I've got enough here in London I can pack up and bring right to LA. Though I probably don't have nearly enough warm-weather clothes, here or in New York. So let's just go right to LA. I want to see whatever fabulous mansion you own in the Hollywood Hills or Calabasas or wherever."
He chuckled at that. "Penthouse in Downtown LA, actually," he informed her. "But we can buy a house together, how about that?"
Her brows jumped up her forehead. "California real estate? I'm doing well, but I don't think I've got enough cash on hand to put even half of ten percent down on a four-million-dollar house, Jonathan. And you know the money could go a lot further somewhere else. I've had some friends move to Nevada recently for the tax breaks and they built a ranch in the desert. I don't much like the desert, but there is some pretty open land…"
Jonathan wanted to tell her that he was happy to buy a house for them to share and she didn't need to worry about money now or ever again. But he was intrigued by her rambling thoughts and interjected, "What would you want on that open land?"
"I don't know, maybe some horses?" she said with a shrug. "A few head of cattle for fresh milk, maybe goats and sheep? Do you ride horses? I mean…do you even like animals?"
He could see her suddenly get a little worried and insecure. Obviously horses and animals were important to her. And Jonathan had good news for her. "I do ride horses, and I do love animals," he confirmed. "I actually joined the LA polo club about two years ago."
Jennifer's jaw dropped. "Oh god," she breathed.
Jonathan felt a flicker of panic. "What?"
She blushed and dropped her gaze. "Oh I…um…I'd like to watch you play polo sometime."
He was confused for a moment and then saw the little familiar flush in her cheeks and he started to get a sense of what she was talking about. "Ah. Is it the pants?" he teased.
Jennifer looked up at him and licked her lips. "I'll take them off you with my teeth."
Jonathan felt that rocket through his body and right to his cock. He swallowed hard and said, "I'll see if I can join a game as soon as we get home."