His Absolute Proposal: An Illicit Billionaire Love Story (Elise, #3) (16 page)

I hid my face in his chest, suddenly shy.  I didn't know why.  I shouldn't be shy around Lucent, I just... sometimes I felt confused.  Conflicted?  In a good way, though.  An exciting one.

"What is it?" he asked, almost laughing.  "I know you want to say something."

"I'll do it," I said.  "I really will.  I don't know if I want to, but I will, but can I touch you first?"

"And if I allow you that one slight concession, you'll do as I ask?" he asked.

I nodded fast.  "Mhm."

"I don't have to," he said.  "You're in no position to compromise, Miss Tanner.  My demands should be absolute, followed without question.  Do you understand?"

I nodded fast again.  I liked this.  It was a game, sort of.  A sexy, commanding one.  I liked demanding Lucent.  I thought he was probably one of my favorites.

"If I allow you this, I'm not going to give you as much leeway later.  Are you alright with that?"

My answer came by way of my actions.  I slipped my hand from his rear, alongside his hip, then towards the front of his body.  The heel of my hand touched against his taut abdomen while I snuck my fingers beneath the waistband of his underwear.  A little further, and... yes...

I pushed downwards, grabbing Lucent's crotch.  His half-erect cock twitched in response.  I slid my fingers around his partially soft length, teasing and exploring him.  He grew harder with every little touch.  I stroked downwards, slipping my fingers lower, inching my index finger and thumb towards the head of his cock, then teasing and tempting him there.  I went a little lower still, shifting this way and that so I could cup his balls in my hand.

"I enjoy that," Lucent said.  "I shall definitely make you pay for this later, though, Miss Tanner."

"Will you touch me, too?" I asked.  "Not now, I mean.  Um... later?"

"How would you like to be touched?" he asked, interested.

"I like when you hold me," I said immediately.  My fingers wrapped around his balls, squeezing slightly.  "I like when your entire hand is cupping me, my crotch, um... my pussy."

"Your what?" he asked, grinning.

"I like when you're kissing me, Lucent, but you have your hand between my legs and your palm pressed against my clit, with your hand cupping my pussy, and then you slide your fingers up and down so easily because you make me so wet.  And while you're still holding me like that, you slip one finger in, and then another.  After that, when you pull slightly with your fingertips, like you're pulling me up and off the bed, just by an inch, guiding my body with your hand and your fingers inside me..."  I had Lucent's balls in my hand, rolling and massaging them, squeezing and quickening his erection.  "That's what I like," I said, finishing.  "Will you do that to me later?"

"Yes," he said.  "I will.  Now, though... now you will be good and button up my pants, Miss Tanner."

I pouted at him, reluctantly pulling my hand away from his cock.  Lucent smirked and kissed away my frown.  Removing both my hands from beneath his pants, one in the back and the other in the front, I nimbly re-buttoned his jeans and then stood quietly, eyes cast downwards slightly.  Lucent laughed and lifted my chin up with his fingers, kissing me softly.

"I love you, Elise," he said.

"I love you, too, Lucent," I said.

"Are you ready?  Your purse?"

I bent down to pick it up, then stood to attention once more.  "Yes!  I'm ready.  Where are we going, again?"

Lucent paused for a second, swallowing hard before clearing his throat.  "This is where I grew up," he said.  "Would you like to meet my parents?"

I
n retrospect, it seemed like somewhat of an odd question.  I fully realized this, and yet a part of me wondered at more, too.  Meet Lucent's parents?  Was that a good thing?  A step in the right direction?  I'd never actually met anyone's parents like that before.  I mean, I'd met people's parents, but I'd never met the parents of someone I'd been dating.  Granted, Lucent was probably the first serious boyfriend I'd had, so that made sense.

Boyfriend?  That didn't seem correct.  I mean, of course it was correct.  That's what he was, and I was his girlfriend.  Right?  I felt like we were more than that, though.  Not um... not married, of course.  We weren't getting married.  Not yet, at least.  Would we sometime?  I supposed that meeting his parents was a first step towards that, or so it seemed, but it also seemed rather confusing and odd considering our situation.

Were Lucent's parents like him?  Did they know what he did?  Were they... um...?

Well, I supposed I was about to find out, now wasn't I?

We walked hand in hand through the parking lot behind the factory, towards a path between a small section of woods leading to a school building.  The school looked mostly empty.

"Did you go to school here?" I asked.

"Yes," Lucent said, but nothing else.

We followed another path past the school until we reached a cobblestone foot road.  A few people passed us as we walked, but none of them did much more than say hello and wave.  I waved back, saying hi, and Lucent nodded amiably but stayed mostly silent.

"Are you nervous?" I asked.

"Nervous?" he said.  "What makes you think that?"

"You're quiet," I said.

"I'm generally quiet, Miss Tanner."

"Yes, but you're not quiet with me," I said.  "You're quieter right now.  Is it because you're taking me to meet your parents?"  And because I thought I should get this out of the way, I added, "Is this a step, Lucent?"

"What kind of step are you referring to?"

"You know?  Um... a step?  An important step?  I think it's supposed to be important when a boyfriend takes his girlfriend to meet his parents.  I know that sounds odd.  Is that what we are?  Boyfriend and girlfriend?  I think of you as more than that, though.  Do you think of me as more?  What should we refer to ourselves as?"

"A step..." Lucent said, tasting the words, repeating them slowly.  "I suppose it could be considered that.  I'm unsure of the importance of this particular step, though.  As well, I agree with you that I would consider our relationship more serious than the simple connotation of being boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Are we lovers?  That doesn't sound right, either."

"No, it doesn't, does it?"

"I know we do BDSM things, but I'm not sure if that's good, either.  Master or dominant or whatever and submissive?"

"We are those things in some capacity, are we not?" he asked.

"I think I'm a very bad submissive, though.  I don't listen well sometimes."

"You're a wonderful submissive, Miss Tanner," Lucent said.  "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Yes, well, you can say that, but it doesn't answer the question of what we are.  How are you going to introduce me to your parents?"

"I thought I'd refer to you as your name.  Elise Tanner?"

"You're just going to go up to your mother and father and say something like, 'Hello, mom and dad, this is Elise Tanner.'  Did I get that right?"

"Yes?"

"No!"  I sighed and shook my head.  "Lucent, you can't do that.  You need to say something else.  I guess you can just say I'm your girlfriend.  Partner sounds odd and too formal.  Fiancee sounds nice but we aren't going to get married."

"We're not?" Lucent asked, snickering.  "Are you certain?"

"Do you want to?  I thought maybe you'd propose to me with a little more celebration involved, but it might make things simpler if you just do it now so you have a good way to introduce me to your parents."

"That's quite utilitarian of you," Lucent said with a grin.  "Unfortunately I don't have a ring on me, so I hardly think it's appropriate."

"If you did, would you propose right now?" I asked.

"That," Lucent said, "is a secret."

"I don't like that," I said.

"Too bad," Lucent replied.

"Too bad?  Really?  That's quite rude of you, you know?  I don't know how I feel about your rudeness, Lucent."

Through all this, we were still walking.  After I called Lucent rude, he guided me towards a path in the woods.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pristine lake resting closely alongside us, visible through a short stretch of trees.  I wanted to look at it, to stare openly at it, but I was slightly too busy calling Lucent rude and trying to mean it, so I didn't think looking away and gaping at the beautiful lake would do me well at the moment.

I stared at Lucent instead, eyes transfixed, hoping to look menacing and persistent.

He surprised me.  Oh God.  Lucent surprised me very much.

"Soulmate," he said.  "That is what you are to me, Miss Tanner.  I hope you feel the same way towards me."

I opened my mouth to speak, but I was suddenly at a loss for words.  Soulmate?  I hadn't thought about it before, but the words seemed so perfect.  More pristine than the natural beauty of the lake filling a gap in the earth beside us... that was what we were to each other, wasn't it?  Lucent was my beautiful lake, he filled my gaps, and I was that to him, too.

"I like that," I said, smiling shyly at him.  "That's beautiful, Lucent.  Will you really say that?"

"Of course I will," he said.

"Me too, then.  Whenever I introduce you to anyone, I'll tell them you're my soulmate."  I practiced this now, attempting to take on a sweet and subtle tone.  "Yes, hello, have you met Lucent?  He's my soulmate."

Lucent laughed.  "That sounds wonderful."

"Do you really think so?" I asked.

"I do."

"Were you telling the truth before when you said we were going to a lake house?"

"I was," Lucent answered.  "We're nearly there."

I saw it immediately; it was the only house near us at the moment.  Hidden away in the woods, surrounded by trees and lake—with the path we were currently on leading up to it, and a long, winding driveway leading away from it—was the most beautiful house I'd ever seen.  It looked nothing like any of the buildings in the city.

Yes, it was a regular house, but calling it that wouldn't be doing it nearly the justice it deserved.  Compared to many of the prefabricated houses existing most everywhere, Lucent's parent's lakehouse seemed the exact opposite.  It melded perfectly with the surrounding land, lake, and forest, almost looking like it belonged there, like it had grown from the ground and came into existence through some divine, natural force.  The outside looked like a log cabin of sorts, but not quite.  The roof slanted similarly to the canopy of the trees growing nearby, making the entire house look almost like a large tree of its own.  In the back, a winding wooden staircase trailed down from a magnificent, rounded porch, to another porch overlooking a dock.  The lower porch contained a short set of steps onto the dock itself, where a tied up boat rocked slowly in the gentle, cresting waters.

A man sat in a large, cushioned chair on the lower dock, staring out at the lake.  He had tools of some sort in his hands.  Whittling?  He was making something at least, though I couldn't exactly see what he was doing.

"Is that your father?" I asked Lucent.

"Yes," Lucent said.  "Come.  I'll introduce you to him."

U
nfortunately, um... well... meeting Lucent's father went nothing like I thought.  I was nervous, yes, but I didn't need to be nervous for long.  Apparently nervousness didn't exist here, replaced by something else entirely.  I didn't know if this was a good thing or not, but if I had to choose I thought I would have preferred being nervous.

Lucent's father saw us long before we approached.  He stood from his chair and set his tools and his work down on a table, then slowly crossed the porch to another set of stairs leading down to the path we were about to step off of.  He stood at the bottom of the steps, shoes on the lush grass, staring at us.

Or, not at us exactly, but at Lucent.  I might as well have not existed.

Lucent cleared his throat to speak, but his father interrupted him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.  The tone of his voice was angry and accusational.

"A pleasure to see you, too, father," Lucent said.

"Who's that?" his father asked, nodding his head to me.

Well, this was it, wasn't it?  Or not.

"This is Elise Tanner.  She's my—"

Lucent's father cut him off.  "One of those girls, I bet.  Your mother and I know.  You can say it's rumors if you want, but I know you better than that.  I don't know why you brought her here.  We've heard, too.  Got a call from the police.  Expected as much.  Don't know how you thought you could get away with it for so long.  Don't go thinking that building this house excuses anything, Lucent."

"You're wrong," Lucent said.  That was it.  A few simple words.  He squeezed my hand tight and stood tall to face his father, expression stern, jaw clenched.

"She's not here," his father said.  "Your mother went into town.  She'll be back later."

"That's fine," Lucent said.

This was... well, no.  Not going according to plans at all, or at least not according to my plans.  What did I expect, though?  I'd expected love, I guess.  Love and happiness and acceptance?  I'd expected an intimate greeting, maybe a hug from Lucent's father, a welcome to their home, and an invitation inside.  I certainly hadn't expected some stand off outside next to a lake, where I didn't understand half of the emotions running between them.

I tugged lightly on Lucent's hand, leaning close to whisper into his ear.  "Lucent?"

"Not now, Miss Tanner," Lucent said.

"Exactly," his father added.  "That's how it always is, isn't it?  When are you going to grow up, Lucent?  You can act grown up all you want, with your fancy job, your money, your skyrise apartment, but when are you actually going to grow up?"

Lucent opened his mouth to offer some retort, but...

No.  I couldn't stand this.  This wasn't what was supposed to happen.  And it was wrong!  I didn't know Lucent's father, and perhaps I was overstepping my bounds here, but he was wrong.  He wasn't correct.  He didn't know.  He couldn't know.

Maybe I should have phrased this a little more gently, but I didn't.