His Absolute Proposal: An Illicit Billionaire Love Story (Elise, #3) (18 page)

"I don't know if Lucent told you how we met," I said.  "It's strange, actually.  Last year I was working in a library during the blizzard we had.  I should have left, but sometimes I'm not good at paying attention to my surroundings.  Lucent came in and found me there.  It was already too late at the time and we were trapped there over the weekend."

Lucent's father's ears perked up, curious.  I had him, I thought; it was a good story, an interesting one.

"I thought he was an asshole at first," I admitted.  "He is kind of a jerk sometimes, you know?  Or that's how he seemed.  But for whatever reason, he was also very considerate.  Maybe a little flirty, too.  It was fun.  Mysterious and dangerous, almost.  I don't know why I'm telling you that part, except to say that even when I thought he was a jerk he always treated me kindly.  One thing confused me at the time, though.  Lucent seemed adamant against us attempting to leave.  I didn't think we could, anyways, but we could have tried, you know?  Instead, we stayed holed up in the library until the storm passed and we were able to escape a few days later."

"It was one of the most memorable moments of my life," I continued.  "I think I fell in love with him then, but he did his best not to fall in love with me.  Lucent had a strange secret, though.  I think he was already in love with me before he even met me.  I don't expect anyone to understand that, and sometimes it's hard to understand it myself, but I know."

"He told me about Abby," I said, finishing up before he could say anything.  "Lucent told me what happened.  He told me how she went out in a snowstorm when he was just a young boy, and how she died.  And it hurt.  It hurt me to hear him tell the story, because it hurt to even think about something like that happening to someone.  I know you must know about it, because you were going to head to the cabin a couple days later, weren't you?  That's what he said.  It happened a long time ago, but you can't forget things like that."  I paused for a second.  "You didn't think he'd ever tell someone that, did you?"

"No," he said, truthful.  "Can't say I did."

"That's what Lucent meant when he told you I was his soulmate," I said.  "It wasn't just something cute to say.  It wasn't something he said for me.  It was something he said for himself, and it was something he wanted to say to you, too."

We stayed silent for a long time after that.  John looked out at the lake, and I turned to look, too.  I didn't know what else to say, nor did I know if I wanted to say anything else.  I wasn't sure if he was going to speak, either.  Contemplative silence turned into an awkward quiet moment between us.  I started to get up, to head back inside, but he stopped me.

"Wait," he said.  "Maybe you're right."

"Hm?" I asked, gentle, tilting my head to the side, inquisitive.

"Maybe you're right.  I didn't give Lucent a fair chance, and I didn't give you a chance at all."

I nodded, listening.

"It's not that I don't want to," he said.  "It's just that he's flat out refused to listen to us in the past.  Both his mother and I have tried to talk to him, but it doesn't work.  She'd like to have grandchildren some day, but how's that going to happen?  I tried to tell her he was just sowing wild oats, or focusing on his career, but it only goes so far.  He'd always tell us he was seeing someone, some girl, but it was never serious.  His mother begged him to bring one to meet us, but he never would.  Told her that there was no future there."

"What do you say to that?" he asked.  "I guess I can understand it in a way.  Lucent's successful.  I know what he does, and I can understand why he does it, but it's not family oriented.  I don't mind so much as long as he's happy.  His mother's something else entirely, but I think she'd be fine with it if he was happy.  It was obvious he was never that happy, though.  When I saw you with him today, I thought he was just bringing you here to prove some point to us.  To get it over with, to say he'd brought a girl over to meet us, and then be done with it so we'd stop harping on him."

"He took Abby's death the hardest," he continued.  "I know that.  I understand that.  Everyone took it hard, but I don't know if Lucent ever got over it.  We tried to help him, but nothing seemed to help.  He drifted away, hid himself, tried to act normal, but I can't say my son is very normal.  He takes everything to the extreme.  He..."

"I love him," I said.  "I love Lucent and I know he loves me."

"His mother's going to be happy about that," John said.  "I'm sure she'll be more welcoming than I was.  She's got a naive streak sometimes, though.  Even if it was all fake, if it was Lucent favoring her this one time, trying to get us to leave him alone once and for all, she would have believed it.  She wants to believe that he can find someone, move past this, and be happy."

"We are happy," I said.  "I think Lucent's happy.  It's hard for me to know what he was like before.  I've kind of always known him like this, so when people talk about him being different, it's a little strange to me, you know?"

"How?" John asked.

I blinked, unsure at first.  How, what?  But then I realized what he meant.  How were we happy...

"This sounds silly," I said, feeling like I should preface what I was about to say with that.  "Lucent likes to call me Miss Tanner instead of Elise.  And I know that sounds kind of stuffy and formal, but I like it because of why he does it.  He told me that everyone says things too casually.  Everyone falls in love too easily, and you can hear people saying that they love someone after only a few weeks sometimes, and he didn't want to do that.  He didn't want to take anything for granted.  Not even my first name."

John laughed and shook his head.  I thought I saw faint signs of tears in the corner of his eyes, but when I looked again they were gone.

"I know it's a little different and maybe it's strange, but I like it," I said.  "It reminds me that when Lucent calls me Elise, it means something more.  It reminds me that when he says he loves me, it's special.  It's not casual to him.  He doesn't take it for granted, you know?  It means a lot to me.  I try never to take him for granted, too."

"Do you call him Mr. Storme?" John asked, grinning.

"No," I admitted, smiling and looking away for a second.  "I just call him Lucent.  Most of the time.  Sometimes I do call him Mr. Storme, I guess, or Master—"

Er... whoops!  This was Lucent's father.  I shouldn't be saying that sort of thing to him.  Um... that was more than a bit intimate and private.

"I know what types of things my son is into, Elise.  Not that I want to talk about that with you or him.  I have no issue with it, especially if he's found someone who can accept him for who he is.  You two be yourselves.  Let's just not talk about the specifics."

I laughed.  "I think that's a good idea."

"I stand by what I said earlier, though.  You're quite the character, and a piece of work."

"Maybe I am," I said.  "I hope that's alright, though."

"Is he doing better?" he asked.  "Lucent and I don't talk much anymore.  He calls his mother sometimes, but we barely talk on the phone.  We've got a few business arrangements, but I gave up trying to pry into his life years ago.  I suppose our communications could be called friendly but formal.  I'd like more, but I don't quite know how."

I winked, playful.  "I'll put in a good word for you," I said.

"Oh yeah?" he asked.  "Now I've got some girl sassing me about my own son.  Never thought I'd see the day."

"I'm not sassing you!" I said, laughing.  "I mean, maybe I am a little bit."

He laughed at that.  I smiled and continued laughing with him.  Soon, he placed his work tools down on a bench to his side, putting the snowglobe along with them.  He glanced towards the lake, at the sun slowly winding down, close to setting in an hour or two.  I watched the water, too, staring at the ripples brought about by light gusts of wind every now and then.

"It's beautiful here," I said.

"It is," John said.  "We could have afforded it on our own, if we wanted, but I was surprised when Lucent told us he bought it for us.  Was a nice retirement present.  I thought it meant something at the time, but nothing panned out.  It was just a present.  No reunion or coming to terms, coming closer, nothing like that."

"I don't think I'm supposed to say this, but I think that's why Lucent brought me here today," I said.  "I think it's hard for him.  I mean, I know it is.  He's not always good with his emotions.  I'm kind of not very good with mine sometimes, either.  I like that, though, because we're good together somehow.  I find it really easy to talk with Lucent about anything, and I like how he talks with me, too.  He opens up more to me, or that's what people say, at least.  I guess it's hard to tell from my end, because most of the time he's always open."

Most of the time, I thought.  He wasn't recently, but he promised to be again.  I didn't want to hold it against him, though.  I mean, I had a reason to be upset, but I just didn't want to be upset.  I didn't want to be hurt.  I didn't want him to be hurt.  I wanted us to be happy.  We had a chance, a serious opportunity, and I wanted to take it.

"I think that's why he brought me here, though.  For all of us.  For me and him, but for you, too.  As a second chance, maybe.  To help.  It's hard to talk about things alone sometimes, because you don't always know if someone will understand you, but I think he wants you to understand him."

"I'll try," John said.  "You should go back inside to him.  I'm glad he brought you here, Elise.  Not just because of what I said before.  You seem like you're good for him in a way I hadn't thought about."

"Thank you," I said, smiling.  "I really appreciate that."

"You're welcome," he said.  "You're welcome, and welcome to our house.  I hope you'll make yourself at home.  Thanks for coming out to talk with me and favoring an old man."

"You're welcome," I said, smiling.

I stood to go back inside, then belatedly realized, that, uh....

I turned back and smiled sheepishly at Lucent's father.  "I don't know how to get back in the house," I said.

He barked a laugh, slapping his hands on his thighs, thoroughly amused.  "Just wander outside and can't even get back in?  What were you going to do if this little heart to heart of ours went sour?"

"Well, I don't know," I said, scrunching up my eyes, pretending not to laugh.  "I didn't think this all the way through."

"It's fine," he said.  "I'll let you in through the back.  Take your shoes off before going in the kitchen, though.  Lucent showed you where to put them?"

I nodded twice.  "Yes."

John showed me to the backdoor that entered directly into the kitchen; glass from top to bottom.  He typed a number into the keypad near the handle, then popped it open once it unlocked.  I slipped off my shoes and stepped inside.

"Go take a nap or something," John said.

"I think I will do exactly that," I replied.

He smiled and I smiled back.  Before he closed the door and went back outside, I hurried to give him a quick hug.  Yes, it was a bit of an awkward hug, but it was a nice hug, too.  Quiet, awkward, and nice; possibly three of my favorite things.

Lucent's father closed the door after I scampered away through the kitchen to bring my shoes to the shoe cubby spot in the foyer.  Tiptoeing to the stairs leading to the finished basement, I snuck back downstairs, headed to the bedroom, and slipped under the covers before Lucent noticed I was missing.

I
tried to sneak back into bed with Lucent, but it didn't work.  I managed to get back into bed, thinking myself quite sneaky in the process, but as soon as I settled under the covers, he immediately turned to face me, staring hard into my eyes.

"What?" I asked him, probably sounding more than a bit confrontational.  I didn't mean to, except, no, I decided I did mean to.  "I just had a talk with your father," I added.  "Do you know what I've learned?  I've learned you're very stubborn, Lucent."

He narrowed his eyes at first, watching me, perplexed, but as soon as I called him stubborn, he began to smirk.  "Is that so?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.  "And I don't like it one bit!"

"You don't, do you?" he asked.

"No, now close your eyes and pretend you're sleeping."

Lucent gave me one final confused look before laying on his back again and closing his eyes.  For added effect, he feigned a snore.  Lucent never snored, or at least I didn't think he did, so this sounded rather comical, but I did my best not to laugh.  I had other important matters to attend to, and laughing at him as he tried to amuse me was not one of them.

Before he could react, I threw the covers off of both of us, sending them flying towards the foot of the bed.  I scrambled quick, refusing to waste precious seconds, and unbuttoned and unzipped Lucent's pants, then grabbed and pulled them down his legs.  His eyes shot open and he stared at me once again, even more perplexed and confused than the last time; quite confounded.

"What exactly do you think you're doing, Miss Tanner?" Lucent asked.

"You shut up," I said.  "Close your eyes.  I'm finishing what I started this morning."

Our eyes locked, a battle of souls and love, lust and longing, but also domination and submission.  I knew that I was not the dominant one in our relationship, not by a longshot, but sometimes I thought it was fun to play at it.  Also, I could see Lucent's mind working, saw a glint of recognition in his eyes, the slight furrow of his brow, scrunched up nose.  I imagined him wondering what I was talking about, what I'd started this morning, and...

Well, yes, he realized it rather quickly, now didn't he?  He wasn't exactly erect, but he was more in a state of what I liked to refer to as playfully interested.  Half hard, perhaps curious to see more?  It was a fun position for him to be in, at least for me.  I really couldn't say exactly why, but I liked to touch and play with Lucent.  Nothing serious, or not always, but casual contact, just a little bit.

I did so now, reaching out to cup his soft balls in both my hands.  His cock twitched again, more playfully curious than before.  I smiled at him, doing my best to appear wicked and commanding.