by Kylie Kent
Smiling, I hold out my hand. “Ready?”
Taking my hand, she smiles a little sceptical at what I’m about to give her. “As I’ll ever be,” she says, following me out to the elevator.
Chapter Twenty-One
Alyssa
I’m staring at a huge freaking shiny red car with a huge shiny white bow on it. Merry Christmas Sunshine is written across the windscreen. What the actual fudge?
“Ah Zac, that’s a car!”
Turning to face him, I can see an enormous smile on his face. I’m taken aback, I haven’t seen him this happy for a while. I know he’s been hovering over me and trying to make sure I’m okay; it has taken a toll on him.
“Well, it has four wheels and what looks like a steering wheel inside it. So, yeah; it possibly is a car,” he laughs.
I’m stunned, not sure what to do or say. No one has ever given me a gift like a car before. I mean, what do you say to a gift like this? Oh thanks, I love it just doesn’t seem enough.
I’ve been standing in the same spot just staring at this bright red huge car for too long. I can feel Zac’s gaze burning into me. Finally, he takes my hand leading me to the driver’s side door. Opening it, he picks me up and places me on the seat before walking around and climbing into the passenger seat.
“I don’t even know what to say,” I tell him, shaking my head as I look around the car.
“I believe the words we agreed on were thanks, Zac,” he laughs.
Looking around it dawns on me that this car is exactly the same as another car I’ve been in recently.
“Wait, is this the same car as Bray’s?” I ask.
Smiling, he says, “you said you loved Bray’s car, so I figured you could only love the model higher up from his even more.”
Not sure what to say to that, I lean over to him and kiss him, hoping that this kiss shows my appreciation of him, of his thoughtfulness, of the care and devotion he constantly provides me.
Pulling apart, I look him in the eye. “Zac, I freaking love this car,” I shriek, “but you really do not need to be buying me these kinds of gifts, it’s really too much.”
He stops me, placing a finger to my lips before I can tell him he should take it back.
“Sunshine, the car is yours, it’s in your name. You can do whatever you want with it, but I am not under any circumstances returning the damn car. So, before you even think about it, it would mean the absolute world to me if you accept this gift, not to mention the peace of mind it will give me knowing you can drive yourself around in a safe car for those rare occasions I can’t drive you myself.”
“Okay.” Kissing him lightly on his lips, I whisper, “thank you Zac, I freaking love it.”
He laughs before grabbing my face in his hands, tilting my head and deepening the kiss. Climbing over the centre console, I settle on top of Zac’s lap, grinding against him as he continues to assault my mouth with his tongue.
Groaning, he finally slows down his kiss before pulling back. “As much as I would love to christen this car, I don’t think a garage where our neighbours can walk by is the place to do it.”
Looking back over my shoulder, I peer through the windscreen to see an older couple waiting at the lift.
“You know when you kiss me like that I lose all common sense, I wouldn’t notice who was watching.”
Zac grabs my ass in both hands, squeezing he says, “I don’t share sunshine, and that includes letting any other fuckers see this ass that belongs to me.”
I grind my centre along the hardness of his cock, holding my hips still as he says, “do you want me to show you all the features of the car, or should we move on to your next gift already?”
“If the next gift is your cock in my pussy, then yes, let’s move on already!” I exclaim.
Opening the door, he pulls me out of the car with him before placing me on my feet.
“That’s not your next gift, but you never know it could be something even better.”
Shaking my head, I follow him back to the lift. Not that I have any choice considering my hand is tightly clasped in his. His grip is so firm, it’s almost like he thinks I’m going to run.
“Not sure anything could be better than that,” I mumble behind him.
By the little chuckle that escapes his lips, I know he heard.
I’m sitting crossed legged on the floor in the gym in a pair of running shorts and a sports bra waiting for Zac. He told me to meet him in the gym, ready to work out with him. Secretly, I’m hoping that the workout he has in mind involves the clothes I’m wearing to be removed. All day he has been surprising me with little gifts, randomly coming up with a box or gift bag in his hands when I’m least expecting it. No one has ever wanted to give me gifts like this before, not to mention the freaking car, which I still can’t believe.
Everything from a beautiful silk scarf to a pair of diamond studs which I can tell are real and probably of some carat I didn’t even know existed. The smile on Zac’s face when I open each gift is what has kept me accepting them all day with something like a, thanks Zac I love it, response. He seems genuinely excited to see me open gifts. I haven’t been able to wipe the smile off my face all day.
Hearing the click of the door opening, I look up only for my smile to falter when I see Bray sauntering in and not Zac.
Making a dramatic scene of sniffing under his armpits, he says, “nope I don’t smell. I don’t know why you’re looking so disappointed to see me walk through the door, Lyssa. Do you realise how many ladies would swap places with you just to sit and watch me get all hot and sweaty?” He waggles his eyebrows up and down at me.
I can’t help but laugh a little. “I was waiting for Zac, have you seen him?”
Bray heads over to the weight bench, pulling his shirt over his head before laying down on it.
“Who?” he asks as he lifts the weight bar over his head.
How he is lifting that thing is beyond me. The weights on it look like they weigh a ton.
“Funny,” I say, getting up from my spot, walking over to him and glaring down at him.
“Where’s your brother Bray? He told me to meet him in here, I’ve been waiting for fifteen minutes already.”
Bray continues to lift the weights up and down from his chest. “I saw him just a minute ago with Ella. She needed his help to wrap some shit. I’m sure he won’t be long. But feel free to stand there and enjoy your view for as long as you want,” he finishes with a wink.
“Oh ok, I’ll just wait then. And eww, not even if you were the last man on earth, Braydon.” With that, I turn and head back to sit on the floor.
“You hurt my feelings, Lyssa. You know I have fragile self-esteem issues and you go and say mean things like that to me. I thought we were friends.” Bray puts the bar back in its holder before sitting up and pouting at me.
“Oh my god, self-esteem issues? Yeah right. If your ego was any bigger your head wouldn’t fit out the door. And stop pouting, it’s not a good look on you,” I say with a little giggle.
Just then an idea comes to me, something I have been thinking about for a while now.
“Bray, since we are both in here and it seems I have some time to kill, how about you make yourself useful to me and teach me a few fighting moves?”
Putting on my brightest smile and fluttering my eyelashes does nothing to wipe the look of shock and despair crossing over Bray’s face.
“Do you really hate me that much?” he asks in all seriousness.
Confused, my eyebrows pull together. “What? Why would you think I hate you? Of course I don’t hate you.”
Bray just stands there glaring at me. “You’re trying to get me killed, aren’t you?” he asks.
I shake my head no, I have no idea what his problem is.
“You’re asking me,” he says, pointing to his own chest, “to teach you,” he emphasises as he points to me, “to fight?”
“Well yeah, last I knew you were a professional fighter. So, I figured, who
else better to teach me to knock someone on their ass than you?” I shrug, really not understanding what the big deal is.
“Lyssa, sweetheart. If I taught you to fight, it would be the last thing I ever did,” he declares.
I think he actually believes that. However, I still don’t understand why he has such a problem with it.
“Why on earth would it be the last thing you did? Do you have some kind of medical issue I don’t know about? Like if I accidently punch you in the head are you going to have an aneurysm or something?” I ask.
“Or something,” Bray says. “If I teach you to fight, you’re likely to get hurt in the process, not bad but probably a bruise here or there. If you get hurt because of me, I’m a dead man, because that crazy as fuck boyfriend of yours will kill me.”
At this I laugh, I laugh so long and so hard at him I have to wipe tears from my eyes.
Noticing the tears, he adds, “well shit, now I’ve made you cry so I might as well go and dig my own grave.”
Shaking my head, I pull myself together. “Bray, Zac won’t kill you for teaching me how to protect myself. And If he wants to kill you for it, well I’ll just tell him not to.”
Standing up, feeling energised suddenly, I bounce on the spot.
“Okay, so what’s the first thing I need to know?” I ask as I punch him in the arm, then shaking my hand out because damn, hitting his arm was like hitting a brick wall.
“If I get killed, I’m coming back to haunt your ass until you’re in hell with me.”
He walks over to a shelf and retrieves a pair of gloves. After securing my fists into pink and purple gloves that look like they must belong to Elle, I bounce around feeling the excitement building.
“First, you need to stop jumping around like a damn lunatic on speed. Hold your fist up like this.” He models holding his fist in the air in front of his face. “Hold your left arm up, protect your face, jab with your right like this.” He jabs out stopping just before he makes contact with my face. His hand comes at me so fast I don’t even notice it until it’s stopped just an inch away from my face. “You would have just been knocked out cold, you didn’t even try to block.”
“That’s because I didn’t even see it coming, jerk.”
Bray bounces around me in a circle, throwing out pretend jabs my way, each time calling out “KO!”
It’s starting to annoy me, I can feel myself getting worked up. He notices the change in my mood.
Stopping in front of me suddenly, he says, “good, now you really want to hit me, give me all you got.”
That’s what I do. I punch, or at least I try to land punch after punch to his face, his torso. Each and every time he blocks with what seems little effort. It’s pissing me off more that I can’t actually land a punch on him.
I don’t give though, I keep trying to punch him for what seems like hours, my arms burning. I can feel the sweat rolling down my back. But as I continue punching, I feel like a weight is being lifted off me. Who would have thought this would be so cathartic?
I don’t notice as the door opens and I don’t stop trying to land a punch as Zac’s voice booms across the room.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Bray stops blocking and slightly turns towards Zac. That’s when I see my opportunity and I swing my right arm out, landing a punch on his face. Where I could not tell you, but I definitely felt the contact.
You can’t miss the dramatic yell from Bray, “Ah, god dammit Lyssa! You fucking punched me!” He holds his hand up to his face, covering his left eye.
Oh god, I stop in place, the high feeling of making contact and landing a punch turns into a feeling of dread. I think I hurt him, I can’t believe I actually punched him. Sure, I really wanted to land a hit on him, but I didn’t want to hurt him.
“I’m so sorry Bray. I … I didn’t mean to. I just got carried away.” I try to explain myself at the same time not let the tears fall that are threatening to come loose.
Zac wraps me in his arms. “Sunshine, his fine. He’s being dramatic. Don’t worry about him.”
Wiggling out of his arms, I don’t miss Zac’s scowl as I reach up and pull Bray’s hand away from his face, a gasp leaving my mouth. Holy shit, the skin around his left eye is red. Zac stands behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist before he starts laughing.
“It’s not funny Zac, I hurt him. I hit your brother. Oh god, I’m so, so sorry, Bray. Let me get you some ice.”
Zac tightens his grip around me as I try to move away.
“Babe, he’s fine. You probably bruised his ego more than anything else.”
Bray tilts his head examining Zac. “You know there was a time you would have stuck up for me if I got sucker punched,” he says, pointing at him.
Meanwhile, Zac continues to laugh as he pulls me out of the room calling out, “be thankful it was her that landed that punch, because if she didn’t I was already planning to. Don’t teach my girl how to fight, dammit. What the hell were you thinking? She could have gotten hurt.” I can feel Zac getting worked up as he stops and turns back to Bray.
“She asked me to, what was I meant to do?”
“Say no,” Zac says.
“Yeah, how’s that work out for you? Saying no to her?” Bray asks and then adds, “when you figure out how to do that, let me in on the fucking secret. It might just save my life one of these days.”
I pull on Zac’s hand, tugging him toward the door. “Come on I need a shower. And he needs to ice his face.”
I’m slowly pulled from my sleep and my hot AF dream I was having about a sex god, a sex god who is currently peppering my neck with kisses.
“Mmm.” Rolling over I face him and open my eyes. “I was having the best dream,” I tell him. “I was naked, you were naked, it was good.”
I can feel his body shake as he laughs. “How about I make that dream a reality?” he asks as his hand slowly makes its way up my shirt to cup my right breast.
Lifting my hand up I cup his face. “I’m all for …” My words die off as something shiny reflects off my left hand. Something freaking big and shiny! Sitting up suddenly, I look around the room frantically, realising I am in fact in Zac’s bed in his penthouse and not in a hotel in Vegas somewhere. I hold up my left hand, yep it’s still there. Sitting on my ring finger is probably the biggest princess cut diamond I’ve ever freaking seen. I’m speechless, I don’t know how this got here.
Oh my god, did Zac propose and I’ve forgotten the whole thing? How could that even happen? I remember going to bed last night. I remember having a shower with Zac, a very long and rewarding shower. What I don’t remember is getting a ring put on my finger.
“Babe, you okay?” Zac asks, sitting up next to me.
Am I okay? Is he freaking serious right now? Does he not see this rock sitting on my finger? Oh shit, maybe I’m hallucinating. I must be. I’ve finally lost the plot.
“Umm Zac, honey, do you see anything on my hand? Anything at all?” I ask, my voice a little quiet and unsure.
Zac grabs my hand and pulls it close to his face turning my hand from front to back inspecting it.
“Well, I can see you’ve still got five fingers, clear skin, no signs of a rash.” Turning my hand back over so the diamond is facing him he adds, “other than that three-carat diamond on your finger, I don’t see anything else. What am I supposed to be looking for?” Still holding my hand, he looks up at my face.
"Umm Zac, how exactly did that diamond come to be on my finger?” I ask, still staring at the huge rock.
“I put it there of course,” he replies, that’s it, no other explanation.
“Okay, but I think you forgot the part where you ask me a very big question before you put a rock on my finger?”
Zac raises my hand and kisses just under where the rock sits. “I didn’t forget, I was waiting for you to wake up, I thought I’d get a better answer when you’re conscious and all.”
“Mm-hmm.” I continue to star
e at the ring. Zac grabs my face, tilting my chin up so I’m looking at him.
“Sunshine. Alyssa. I was going to do this differently, more romantically, but I couldn’t wait. I love that the first thing I see in the morning when I wake up is your beautiful face. I love that that’s also the last thing I see before I close my eyes at night. I love how you have brought so much light and joy into my otherwise dark and dim world.”
“The word love doesn’t even begin to describe what I feel for you. I don’t think there is a word to describe it. It’s like you are a part of me, when I’m not with you it’s like I’m short of oxygen. I would love nothing more than to wake up with you in my arms every morning for the rest of my life, to spend the rest of my life loving you the way you deserve to be loved. Alyssa Summers, will you marry me?”
The tears are running down my face uncontrollably. No one has ever loved me like Zac loves me. As I’m processing everything he just said to me, I can hear Ella and Bray squealing down the hall.
“Babe, I don’t want to rush you to answer or anything. You can take all the time you need to think about it. But we have about two minutes before that door is busted open.”
Laughing, I lean in to kiss him. “I don’t need any time Zac, yes. Yes. Yes. Of course I will marry you!”
I barely get the words out as Zac pins me down to the bed and rolls on top of me, kissing the ever loving hell out of me.
Our moment is broken when Bray barges through the room and jumps on the bed, jumping up and down he screams, “mum, dad, it’s Christmas, get up, get up, get up!” I don’t know how the bed is not giving out with how much he is jumping around.
“Argh, make him stop Zac, please,” Ella grumbles from the end of the bed.
Zac rolls off me, pulling up while kicking at Bray’s legs. Bray stops jumping and landing on the end of the bed he sits down.
“Come on, why aren’t you up already, it’s Christmas!” he yells.
It’s then that I really look at him and see the shiner on his face. He has a black eye, I gave him a black eye. Shit. Sitting up, I move across the bed and reach my hand up to touch his face.