"I don't want you to leave, you idiot," John said. "I want you to shut up so your mother can go get the carrot cake and we can all eat dessert together."
"Oh! Yes, there's dessert. Would anyone like some?" Angela asked.
"Yes." A chorus, all of us, united, together...
I cuddled up against Lucent while his mother went to fetch the carrot cake from the kitchen and his father started talking about his booming snowglobe business. Lucent seemed more than interested, and in fact, enthralled.
Everything was so different. Not just everything, but everyone. Lucent, me, his parents. When the day first started, I hadn't expected this. In fact, yesterday ended on such a—I didn't want to say bad, but it was difficult; a hard note. I didn't know what to expect from today. I didn't even know if today would happen. I mean, of course it would happen, but... how? An irregular day, disturbing, disjointed.
Except, not now. No. While before, Lucent and I had been surrounded by worry and doubt, concern, uncertainty, well... now we were surrounded by trust and love, loyalty...
Acceptance.
And if everything went according to plan, tomorrow we'd be laying on a beach, resting and relaxing, hidden away from the world and waiting for everything to calm down.
I still wanted to help, though. I didn't want to leave Asher and Jessika alone to deal with everything. What if they needed help, too? I promised myself, made a silent vow to my friends, that I would try to do what I could, no matter what. I still needed to look on Lucent's hard drive to see what was there.
It was mine now, sort of. He was mine. Not just him anymore, though, oh, no. His family, his thoughts, his... his life. He was willing to share all of it with me, to give me a piece of everything.
And I would do the same for him. I was his, too. Together.
Grandbabies?
I smiled and accepted the tiny plate of carrot cake Angela offered me.
***
We didn't tell Lucent's parents what we were planning on doing once we left. His mother didn't want to know. She said it was better if we didn't tell her. Plausible deniability. Lucent's father acted gruff and indifferent, like he didn't care one way or another, but I suspected that was a lie. He cared. I knew he did.
After finishing our dessert—which was maybe the most exquisite thing I'd ever eaten—we talked about nothing much for a little while. Me, my books. Lucent's mother sounded intrigued that I was a writer. John wanted to know about the business side of it all, and made sure to ask if Lucent was helping me. It was just a normal, casual conversation among family and adults. It was nice.
"If you'll excuse us," Lucent said after awhile. "I'd like to show Miss Tanner something downstairs."
"Ooh, are you going to...?" Angela asked, trailing off.
Lucent grinned and nodded, saying nothing.
"Good," John said. "I approve."
If, um... if I didn't know any better? Or, actually, even still, if I did know better, er... it sounded like... well, downstairs was the bedroom, wasn't it? Where Lucent and I had, uh... before... things... but his mother interrupted us. Which was fine! I was alright with that. I enjoyed meeting her, and everything was wonderful so far, but...
That really didn't change the fact that it sounded like Lucent had just told his parents he was going to take me downstairs and do horribly sexual things to me, to which his mother sounded especially intrigued, and his father heartily approved. There wasn't really any way of getting around that. I blushed, unable to look any of them in the eye, barely able to stand when Lucent did. He needed to coax me up from my chair, because I couldn't even think, couldn't even...
I mean, I was fine with it, wasn't I? Lucent and I were adults. If we wanted to go downstairs and um... make grandbabies for his parents, uh... that was... oh God.
Oh God Oh God Oh God.
Yes, and we went. We went while I blushed and mumbled and Lucent's parents started looking at me oddly. John said something, and Angela shushed him, and then even Lucent stared at me with a peculiar look. I didn't know why they were looking at me strangely. I wasn't the strange one here, which was somewhat new because honestly usually I was the strange one in most places. Or the quiet one. I didn't think I was too strange, but people seemed to take issue with quiet people for some reason or another. I didn't exactly understand that, and now I was sort of mentally rambling to myself, until I realized we were downstairs, and we'd stopped near the pool table in the game room.
On the pool table? Not even in the bedroom? It was an open room, and, er... we...
"Lucent!" I hissed at him. "We can't have sex on the pool table! Your parents might come down."
He... why was he looking at me like that? Eyes wide, lips pursed, confused, nose scrunched up, one brow lifted as high as it could go.
"What are you talking about?" he asked. "I have no idea what you're saying right now."
I told him, um... he'd invited me downstairs, and before when we were downstairs, and his mother... then his father, and...
Oh God.
Lucent burst out laughing and I thought he was going to fall on the floor from the force of it. Before he really did, he steadied himself on the side of the pool table. Then he squeezed me in a tight embrace, kissing me on the cheek, the neck, the ear.
"Sometimes," Lucent said, "I find you so wonderfully insane. You are an absolute joy, Miss Tanner. There's no better way to describe it. I love you."
"Yes, well, I love you, too, but we still can't have sex on the pool table because your parents might come down," I said. I needed to put my foot down somewhere, and this was it.
"That's not why I invited you down here," he said. "There's something I'd like to show you."
"Lucent, I've heard this before. I know your games," I said, pointedly glancing down at his crotch. "I think I've seen it all before."
"Have you?" he asked. "What if I told you I could show you something you've never seen before?"
"I... I don't know if I believe you," I said. "I'm not sure if I should trust you right now. You've got that look in your eyes. It's a dangerous look, Lucent."
"It is," he said, eyes twinkling, wickedly mischievous. "Come," he added. "That's an order, Miss Tanner. If you refuse, I will punish you. I will lower your pants, bend you across this pool table, and spank you."
"You can't do that," I said, laughing at his sudden enthusiasm. "I just said you can't do that!"
"Then you agree to come with me?" he asked, grinning.
"I suppose I don't have much of a choice, now do I?" I said.
"You always have a choice," he replied. "I hope you'll choose to come with me."
I did. I went. I chose.
We hadn't fully investigated the downstairs area before, though obviously Lucent knew what he was doing and where he was going. A bar built into the counter stood near the stairs, with a walk-in cooler and wine cellar behind it. The pool table took up residence right in front of the bar, and parallel to that sat a large couch directly in front of a huge TV hanging on the far wall. The bedroom we'd hidden away in earlier was behind the wall with the TV. All of this sat in a huge room, the finished basement, but...
Well, we hadn't gone to the other side. Another couch, yes, but no TV here. Instead of a TV at this end of the room there was a massive fireplace. It looked big enough to sit inside, if, um... I really couldn't think of any reason why someone would want to sit in a fireplace, to be honest, but if someone were so inclined, they could certainly do it with this one. The hearth was empty, which made sense considering it was currently summer. Off to the side, stacked neatly in a rack designed specifically for it, lay a pile of split wood.
It reminded me of the library. Our library. When Lucent and I were trapped there last winter, when we'd lost power and a heavy chill began creeping through the building, we'd stolen away with stacks of ruined books and used them as kindling in the fireplace upstairs in one of the closed off rooms. Thankfully the books weren't readable since they were covered in coffee stains, so I didn
't feel as bad about burning them. It was romantic, though. Romantic in a strange and different sort of way.
I remembered Lucent and I hiding up there, locked behind closed doors, the fire and the books crackling away. We'd taken some of the sandwiches from the downstairs kitchen nook and roasted bits of meat and bread on the fireplace poker things from a stand next to the hearth. At the time, I remembered having no idea what those fireplace poker things were called, and the memory made me laugh; even now, I didn't know if they had s special name or not.
Lucent gave me a curious look. "Your thoughts, Miss Tanner? Indulge me?"
"I was thinking about fireplaces," I said. "Remember when we were in the library? I loved that, Lucent. I... I do know it's silly, but I miss it in a way. I remember us wrapped in some of the thick window curtains, both of us naked or near to it, sitting in front of the fire. And you fed me little bits of meat. Do you remember?"
He smiled softly and pulled me in for a quick kiss. "Of course. I will never forget that."
"I think I fell in love with you then," I said, honest though uncertain. "I'm not sure. I know it wasn't that long after we met, but I think that's when I fell in love with you."
He grinned quick and kissed me again. "I believe that's when I fell in love with you, as well."
Before he could kiss me another time, before we could get wrapped up in memories, lost to nostalgia, I slipped out of his arms and spun away from him. He watched me go, smiling and happy. I loved how Lucent liked to watch me. It seemed strange, perhaps inconsequential, but I enjoyed his eyes. I liked to think of what he saw, and what he was looking at. Both of those things seemed like they'd always be the same, but I thought they were different. Sometimes we could see things that others didn't; sometimes, even if we looked at the exact same thing, we saw something completely different.
If I looked in the mirror, if I looked at myself, my reflection, my face or my body or my clothes, I didn't think I'd see the same thing that Lucent saw when he looked at me. I wasn't sure if I could ever see the same thing, but I thought that was fine. I didn't want to be in love with myself, or not exactly. I wanted Lucent to be in love with me, and I wanted to be in love with him, too. I knew I saw him in a way that was different than how he saw himself, too, and I thought that was fine. I thought it was nice.
"Are we going to build a fire?" I asked him, winking. "I don't think that's a good idea, Lucent. I'm going to want to get naked and cuddle up next to you while you feed me little bits of meat."
"I am sorely tempted to ignore my previous plans and build a fire immediately, Miss Tanner, but, no, that wasn't my intention," he said with a slight chuckle.
"We can sit on the couch and pretend there's a fire?" I offered.
"We could, yes," he said. "Or..."
Lucent strode towards the fireplace. A plaque stating something official sounding hung above the mantle. He slid it sideways, revealing a small button, which he then pressed. Something cracked, or it sounded like it, then something else rumbled. Low, like thunder or a growling beast, the noise continued. It wasn't loud, but the rest of the room was silent, and so it seemed like the sound filled everything around me. I blinked and furrowed my brow, curious.
Then it happened. Nothing extremely obvious, oh, no. Very strange, though. Sort of strange. Different and not at all like what I expected to happen, though after thinking about it for a second, I didn't know why I shouldn't have. It made sense in the most illogical way possible.
The back of the fireplace inside of the hearth peeled away from the wall and shuttered into a hidden slot to the left. Once the rumbling stopped, a hole large enough for someone to bend down and crouch through appeared. A passageway opened up past that, angling downwards; some sort of ramp or slope.
"Ladies first?" Lucent said, winking at me. He gestured for me to allow myself into the opening.
"I think," I said, "and I'm not entirely sure about this, but really, I think that you're entirely too fascinated with hidden passageways."
"I disagree," Lucent said. "I don't think anyone can be too fascinated with hidden passageways."
"Where does it go?" I asked.
"Why don't we find out?" he answered.
***
After the initial crouched entry, the passage ceiling grew higher a few steps in. I huddled low and stepped past the precipice of no return, then crawled a little further in until I could stand at my full height again. I supposed it wasn't actually a place of no return, because I was fairly certain we were going to return after, but I liked the idea. It seemed more fun and ominous. Lucent followed after me, and soon we were on our way.
"Why does it go down?" I asked.
The slope continued slightly downwards for as far as I could see. Small lights built into the walls and ceiling illuminated the tunnel, but not nearly enough. The only thing I could really see was a shadow of myself, some of Lucent, and the darkened, closed in walls surrounding us.
"We need to go under something," Lucent said, mysterious and vague.
"Under what?" I asked. When he didn't answer, I prodded more. "The house?"
"Technically this is a part of the house," he said.
"What are we going under, then?"
"After all this time, I find it curious that you still have very little idea how to exercise patience."
"I can be patient!" I said in protest. "I just don't know where we're going."
I didn't know why I was leading us there, either. Granted, there wasn't much of a need for directions. Straight, and down; that's the way we were headed. My shoes scuffled against the floor, fighting against the slope for some semblance of regular balance. Behind me, Lucent placed his hands on my hips, holding me as we walked.
"I wish you weren't so mysterious sometimes," I said.
"It's part of my allure," Lucent said. I couldn't see him, but I was certain he had a wicked grin on his face. "Dashing, mysterious, and devilishly handsome."
"Nope!" I said, laughing. "Only mysterious."
He swatted my rear, sending a reverberating smack echoing through the passageway. I jumped and squeaked, instinctively trying to get away from him, but he grabbed my hips again and pulled me close.
"Please note that I'm refraining from giving in to my baser needs at the moment, Miss Tanner," Lucent said, whispering a low growl into my ear. "But, by all means, give me a reason to shove you against the wall, wrench your pants down your legs, and have my way with you right here and now."
"I hardly think I've done anything so dreadfully wrong that you need to resort to such brutish behavior," I said, adding a hint of playful snobbishness to my voice. "We're both civilized here, Mr. Storme."
"I don't want to be civilized," he said. "I want to fuck you. I also hope to show you something beautiful beforehand. All things have a time and a place, though I admit my patience is wearing rather thin at the moment."
I played into his hand, smiling to myself. When he squeezed my hips hard and pulled me against him, I gasped, acting surprised, but, oh, I loved it. I loved being close to Lucent. I loved his voice, listening to him. I liked when he called me Miss Tanner, and I enjoyed his artful affections, and I also loved when he gave all of it up and went straight towards striking a more carnal chord.
"I love you," I said, squirming and pressing hard against him.
"I love you, too, you beautiful nymph. Now, move. Step forward. We're almost there."
I did as he asked, stepping with him, both of us moving forward. Slow, silent, and languorous, we went onwards, together, as one.
It wasn't long before we reached the end of the passageway. Only a few minutes or so. A room opened up past that, the confinement of our tunnel giving way to a more vast expanse of space. It was hard to see much of anything down here, but something twinkled and sparkled from the ceiling. Once we stepped into the room, Lucent guided me towards a couch of sorts in the center.
A couch, yes, for sitting, but... of sorts, because it looked more like it was for laying in. It had all th
e trappings of a regular couch, complete with seatback and armrests, but it spread out twice as wide, almost like a bed. On the outskirts of the room stood a small refrigerator and some sort of LCD panel. Not much brighter than the tunnel, I couldn't see all that well, but I spotted a set of speakers hanging from each corner of the room, too; four total.
Lucent sat me on the couch and vanished towards the LCD panel. He tapped at it, bringing the display screen to life. He slid some bars up and down with his fingers, doing this and that. The lights grew dimmer, and then non-existent, though for some reason the ceiling seemed to brighten in an odd way at the same time. The speakers came to life, low, playing soft, ambient music. After, his last quick trip away from me before returning, Lucent went to the mini-fridge and opened it. Light flared through the room, practically blinding compared to the darkness around us. He took out a tiny bottle of wine and two chilled glasses, bringing them both to me on the couch.
He sat next to me and I sat next to him. He toyed with something in the armrest, and a little table zoomed up and out of the floor at either side of us. I didn't even know where he got it, but there was a corkscrew... somewhere. From the table on his side? Lucent used it to open the bottle of wine, then poured us both a glass.
I sniffed at my wine, curious. It smelled fragrant and sweet, with a slight floral vanilla scent to it. I took a quick sip, rolling it in my mouth to test and taste it. This, Lucent had taught me, was the proper way to first indulge in wine. You needed to give it a moment, let the flavor sink into your mouth, and then allow it to trickle down your throat as you swallowed. Granted, if we were following proper wine etiquette, we also should have let the wine breathe a bit first, but I wasn't patient enough for that at the moment.
And... well...
"Do you like it?" he asked. I saw a faint hint of a grin on his face in the dimness of the room.
"I have no idea what this is, but it's the most delicious wine I've ever had. It's sweet, but a little tart. I like it a lot."
His Absolute Proposal: An Illicit Billionaire Love Story (Elise, #3) Page 17