by Black, Lena
I rise and crawl out of bed, standing before him. He sluggishly scans me up and down, crossing his arms and shaking his head once his eyes meet mine. “Fuck. If we didn’t have something so serious to discuss, I would have you dine like this tonight.”
“Serious discussion, huh?”
“Yes,” he replies, gathering the dress and holding it open. I hold up my arms, staring up at him with a wicked smirk, and wait for him to dress me like a little doll. He slides it over my arms and down my body, guiding it with his hands running over every curve. He slithers his hand up my skirt, over my exposed rear. I shut my eyes and wobble in a daze.
“You really are stunning,” he murmurs, tucking loose hair behind my ear. I gaze at him admiringly, finding he’s doing just the same. He leans in, and I fall into his arms, kissing him deeply. He lifts me up and walks us over to the table, removing his lips to set me down near my chair. I take a seat while he pours wine into our glasses. He takes his seat and lifts up his glass, which I mimic. “To us.”
I take a sip of the wine then scan my plate, licking my lips.
“It’s prawns sautéed in coconut oil with lavender rice and snow peas. I hope you enjoy seafood, we’ll be having it quite a bit.”
“I love it! This looks amazing, and the view is wonderful. This is perfect, Damian. Thank you for bringing me here, and convincing me to talk to my mother…I’m still a little hurt, but now I can focus on healing.”
“I only want what’s best for you, Gabrielle. Your happiness and well-being mean everything to me. I also understand that life is too short to fight with the ones we love.”
He reaches across the table and takes my hand in his, rubbing my knuckles with his thumb.
“Yes, which is why I’m sorry for my overreaction yesterday. I was stressed about my mom and you keeping secrets from me. I’ve just been so overwhelmed…”
“Gabrielle, there’s no need for you to explain why you reacted to me the way you did. You have every right to feel strained…Let’s eat. I have something I need to talk about once we’ve finished.”
“Why not talk now?”
“If we discuss anything serious before you have a chance to eat, you’ll lose your appetite, and I didn’t slave over a stove for you to let it go to waste.” He smirks at me.
“Next you’ll be telling me I don’t notice when you change your hair, or I work too much.”
He chuckles. “Are you trying to tell me I sound like a whining housewife?”
“You said it, slick,” I giggle out, and he laughs harder, throwing his head back. When he recovers, he plucks a prawn off his plate between his fingers, extending it across the table for me to take. I open my mouth, allowing him to place it on my tongue, and chew it with delight. I realize the energy has shifted between us, not any less electric, but open and exciting as if there are no barriers blocking us, as if anything is possible for us.
“I could get used to this, you know,” I mumble, still chewing the huge morsel and smiling cheerfully at him.
He smirks at me and shakes his head. “That’s my plan.”
Once he stuffs me to the brim, we take a walk down to the beach to digest and talk. We stroll hand-in-hand along the surf, allowing the cool, wet sand to bury itself between our toes. It’s a moonless night, only a sky full of stars lights our way. It’s truly astonishing.
I glance up at him, on our way back to our room, and notice he’s rubbing the back of his neck. It’s his only tell when he’s worried about something. “What is it, Hunt?”
He rips his hand from his neck, thrusting it into his front pocket, and then glances down at me hesitantly, slowly pulling his hand back out. “It’s nothing. I just have some work stuff on my mind.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
“No,” he replies, smirking down at me, “it’s all very dull. Normal stresses of running a corporation.”
“Well, if you ever need an ear, I’m here.”
“Thank you.” The smile on his face is faint. Whatever’s on his mind must be pretty serious, so I decide to change the subject.
“So, weren’t we supposed to have a serious conversation?”
“Let’s get back to our room,” he says, ignoring my question. “I want to immerse myself in you the rest of the night.”
“That sounds like paradise,” I purr, overlooking his odd behavior.
I roll off him panting, content. He pets and kisses my face while I slowly come down from this incredible sexual high, listening to the beautifully intense song, ‘Au Revoir’ by OneRepublic. Hunt wraps me in his arms, spooning me until my breathing steadies and my body relaxes into his.
“Elle,” he whispers in my ear.
“Yes?” I sigh out.
“I’m ready to tell you about my parents.”
This shocks the hell out of me, and I leap up, kneeling beside him to stare into his terrified, emerald eyes. He rises, gloriously naked, and sits on the bed, facing me with his legs crossed. He looks so…normal, nothing like the strong, alpha male that he portrays to the world, but the true man underneath it all, a Dominant fallen. For the first time ever, his wall has come down, and he is ready to let me inside himself. I mimic his pose and wait patiently for him to gather himself. I place my hand on his knee for support.
“I loved my parents more than anything in the world. My family was my whole world, my safe place…It was my birthday, and I was so excited when I woke up, I could hardly contain myself. I remember realizing they hadn’t woken me up early with my birthday pancakes, which was a tradition in our family.”
He takes a steadying breath and shuts his eyes, only to reopen them with fresh tears pooling at the bottom.
He continues, and I hear the tremble in his voice, “I thought it was odd, so I went to go find them, heading downstairs to see if they were in the kitchen, but they weren’t, so I searched the rest of the house. When I couldn’t find them, I headed back upstairs to their room and noticed the door was cracked open…I spotted my mother first, bound, gagged, bloody…Oh, Gabrielle, I just shut down. I couldn’t handle it. It was as if a part of me had died right along with them.”
“Oh, my sweet, loving Damian.” I crawl into his lap, wrapping my arms about his neck and hold him as tight as I can.
“Please, no more,” he pleads.
“No, shhhh. You’ve done so well, Damian. I’m here.”
He throws his arms about me and digs his face into my neck, releasing all the pain and suffering he ever felt. His hot tears roll down my neck and back, bathing me in his sorrow.
“I will say this about them,” I mutter, lifting my face from the crook of his neck, “I will be forever indebted to them, forever grateful, because they gave me you.”
I kiss him softly on his cheek and caress the other with my hand. He lifts his head to look at me with red, glossy eyes, and I nearly break down at the sight of this closed off man, exposed, vulnerable, and raw.
I jump out of his lap and walk over to the sink near the shower, grabbing a washcloth and wetting it with cool, clear water. I walk back over to him, stopping abruptly when a thought that jolts me to my core pops in my mind. I love this man more than I could ever truly comprehend. After this afternoon, I realize I can’t live without him, I won’t.
“Marry me,” I softly blurt, and his eyes find mine, widened with amazement.
“Gabrielle,” he murmurs.
“Marry me, Damian.”
He stares down at his lap, smiling a knowing smirk, and then climbs off the bed, naked and splendid. He picks his shorts up off the floor, sliding his hand into the pocket he was messing with earlier, and palms something. He saunters up to me with his omniscient smile and opens his hand to reveal a tiny white box, just big enough for a ring. I smile up at him with tears in my eyes.
“If you think for one moment I would allow you to propose to me, you don’t know me very well,” he states, shaking his head at me.
I giggle and anxiously bite on my bottom lip as he kneels befo
re me, spectacularly naked, clutching my trembling hand in his, which is just as unsteady. He stares up into my eyes, tears returning to them, but these are different, these are joyful. He removes the belt-shaped ring from that most significant finger and places a stunning princess-cut diamond ring at the tip, holding it there while he gazes up at me with the most loving gleam in his eyes.
“Gabrielle Sophia Hyde, you are my light, my love, my everything. Without you, I don’t exist. I want to spend the rest of my life taking care of you, loving you, growing with you. I love you more with every passing moment. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife…Will you marry me, Elle?”
He knows my answer, yet there’s a look of sheer panic in his eyes.
“I’m nothing without you, Damian.” I gently pull my hand away and stare down at the stunning, reasonable stone framed in tiny diamonds. I pinch it between my fingers and slide it on the rest of the way. “Yes, I will marry you.”
He leaps up and embraces me in his sculpted, protective arms, melding our bare bodies together. He’s trembling, and I toss my arms about him, burying my face into the crook of his neck. We stay like this for a few moments, basking in the brilliant glow of our love, and after some time, he clasps onto my hair, gently pulling my head back, and stares deeply into my eyes.
“Are we going to make love now?” I ask in a breathy voice.
“Yes, angel, we are,” he answers, coming down on my lips softly, caressing them, tasting them, claiming them as his own. I run my hands down the sides of his face, wiping away the hot tears trickling down his defined cheeks, and he moans into my mouth.
He takes me to bed and makes love to me, desperate, roaming-hands-and-lips-all-over-your-body love.
I wake the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for another day in Eden. I stretch, reaching out for Hunt, but my hand catches air. I stare at the ring on my most significant finger and smile warmly at it. I stretch with a loud groan, grinning stupidly to myself.
I rise, tossing on my robe lying at the end of the bed for me, and head out to the main house. I skip up the stairs, and as I get higher, I hear an upbeat tune blasting from the open-air living room. When I enter, I find the cutest sight I’ve ever seen in all my days. Hunt’s cooking and singing along to the song ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’ by Hall & Oates. He shakes his hips and pushes the spatula about the pan on the stove. He actually has an amazing voice, and I find myself moving to the music.
He does a turn and stops abruptly when he finds me watching and dancing along. He laughs and starts dancing towards me, snatching me up and spinning me about the space. We sway back and forth, spin and dip, singing like fools to the song.
As it comes to an end, he pulls me in close and kisses me with such passion and lust that my body melts like butter, going limp in his secure arms.
“Good morning, future Mrs. Hunt. Did you sleep well, angel?”
“Good morning, Mr. Hunt. Yes, I did…like a log. You?”
“I slept very well. The best sleep I’ve had in ages.” He kisses me on the temple, lingering for just a moment. “Are you hungry?” he asks in a seductive tone.
“Starved,” I reply, going in for his bottom lip and tugging on it with my teeth. He moans against my mouth and shuts his eyes, latching both hands firmly onto my rear.
“Wow,” Chase’s voice suddenly breaks our lustful focus on each other. “It’s only eight and you’re already going at it?”
We spot the teasing grin smeared across his face. Then, we notice Maya tucked under his arm, nuzzling into his side.
“You’re one to talk,” Hunt comments with a kinked grin, nodding his head at my sister.
“Yeah, I guess things change,” he replies glancing down at her. “Anyway, your folks will be here soon. So, I would probably pull back on the lovebird stuff for now.”
Maya stares at me with a smile and a curious gleam in her eye. “What are you smiling about?” she queries.
I hadn’t realized I was smiling, but when I take a second, I can feel the shit-faced grin dancing from ear-to-ear. I’m about to speak when Hunt chimes in, “I asked Gabrielle to marry me, and she accepted.”
The ear-splitting shrieks that come from behind Chase and Maya startles us, even Hunt jumps slightly. Our families come charging at us, surrounding us. They hug and kiss and congratulate us while Hunt and I stand helplessly in the eye of the storm. They ask when, how, where.
“When are you getting married?” Aubrey asks.
“We hadn’t really…” Hunt tries to get out.
“Where do you think you’ll do it?” Keira blurts.
“We’re not su…” I attempt to answer.
“How…” Aubrey interrupts, but Hunt holds up his hand, halting everyone in his or her place.
“We have only just made the decision to get engaged. We will let you know all the details when we have discussed the wedding further.”
Everyone takes a step back, giving us room to breathe.
“May we see the ring?” my mother asks, smiling softly at us. I hold out my hand and blush, grinning like a damned fool. She admires it with a pleased smirk. “It’s truly stunning, Ellie.”
“Oh, Damian,” Vivian says in a teary voice, “your mother’s ring. She would be so proud of you. They both would.”
She and Pierce bring him in for a long hug, and in a manner unlike him, he grabs them both and holds them right back. It’s such a touching sight, I feel the tears welling up in my eyes before they spill out.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hell Hath No Fury
It’s been two months since Hunt proposed to me in paradise. It was also the last time we heard from Dante as well. Damian says, ‘It’s just the calm before the storm’. I want to believe he’s wrong, that he’s given up, but I know it’s not true. It would be a dangerous move to underestimate his hatred and desire to take us down.
I’ve been so busy lately, with work, planning the wedding, and Hunt, that I seldom have time to think about much else. We’ve decided to have the wedding at B’s place up north, in the garden, under the oak trees where we danced and professed our happiness. Beverly said she would take care of the décor, I just told her a general idea of what I like. I only insisted on one thing, that all the flowers were to be white lilies, like the ones Hunt sent to me when we first met.
In a surprising twist, Hunt asked Chase to be his best man, and Chase actually accepted! He’s also asked Alexander and Wade to stand with him as well. The idea makes me nervous, all that alpha male testosterone in one place… That doesn’t have whips or hanging sex apparatuses that is. But, I am pleased that he’s made friends with dicks, which I tease him about mercilessly.
My mother, Vivian, and the girls have taken the rest into their own hands. They’ve only asked my opinion when absolutely necessary. The truth is I don’t mind this at all. I hate shopping, they know how to put a party together, and it keeps my mother occupied. It’s a win-win for everyone. Plus, it’s a huge stress off of me as far as major decisions. I simply tell them if I absolutely hate an idea, which I almost never do, but I’ve realized there are so many aspects and facets that go into planning that special day. It’s all about the little details.
I never really thought about how my wedding would be or what dress I would wear, but I always wondered who the person waiting at the end of the aisle would be, would he love me as I love him, was he thinking of me the way I thought of him? I’m pleased to say I found the answer was a resounding, passionate yes.
“Ellie…? Ellie, what do you think?” Elizabeth asks, rubbing my hand to get my attention.
“What?” I ask, shaking my head to get the last of the distracting thoughts out of my head. We’re sitting in this charming little bakery. Its décor is white molding, small octagon tiles, and antique brass light fixtures with delicate chocolate and pastel treats perfectly displayed behind glass.
“The cake, dear…Which do you prefer?” Vivian asks nodding down at my plate of half eaten pieces of cake.
“Oh, I like the hazelnut crème.”
“Perfect,” My mom says with a huge, overjoyed smile on her face. “That’s just what I was thinking…How about you, Vivian?”
“It was my top pick, too. Excellent choice, dear,” she praises.
I glimpse down at my watch and notice I’m running late for lunch with Hunt. I rise from between them and say, “I really should get going. Will you be okay without me?”
“Of course, Ellie. We have this under control,” Elizabeth states, waving me off.
I lean over and give them both kisses on the cheek and rush out.
Hunt
She’s late.
However, ever since we got engaged, she’s either late or occupied by the details of the wedding. Though, I can’t complain. She still manages to make time for us.
I’m sitting in my office, waiting for her to arrive, when my desk phone goes off. I hit the speaker button and answer with an impassive tone, “Yes, Rebecca?”
“Mr. Hunt, Ms. Montgomery is here to see you.”
“Keira or Aubrey?”
“Neither,” Olivia’s voice says from the doorway.
I stare, stunned for a moment, before leaning back in my chair, asking in a sharp tone, “What are you doing here?”
She shuts the door behind her and saunters over to my desk, dressed in all black. Her tall heels clack across the marble floor as she makes her way toward me.
“I need to speak with you.”
She takes a seat on the other edge of my desk, picking up a picture of Gabrielle. She holds it up to me, smiling faintly, but you can see the disgust behind it. The barrier makes me feel more comfortable with her unwarranted appearance.
“I remember when I was the one that held your fancy…What happened to those days?” she inquires, staring down at Elle’s photo.
“What do you want? Why have you come here, Liv?” I ask with an air as to let her know I’m not to be fucked with.
“Isn’t it obvious, Damian…? I miss you. I miss us.”