The Bachelor's Perfect Proposal (Bliss Series Book 2) (7 page)

“What do you need those for?” I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to ease the tension.

Veronica peered at me through her lashes, a confused smile on her face. “My panties?” She threw back her head and laughed. “Would you prefer I go commando the entire two weeks?”

No, I preferred she not go at all. But there was no stopping her.

She rounded the bed and stepped between my legs. Her nose touched mine as she cupped my chin with her hands. “Why are you so worked up over this? It’s just work.”

“Why can’t you tell me who he is?”

“Levi, I’ve told you why. It’s part of the deal. He asked for confidentiality. And I can’t believe you’re still trying to ask. You have nothing to worry about.” Her soothing voice reverberated down my chest as she covered my lips with hers. Her tongue danced with mine, and I inhaled every bit of her. I let my hands rub and rove up her naked legs, under the hem of her blue dress. My fingers skimmed the silk and lace covering the roundness of her behind.

“I have to go.” She said the words, but her fingers pushed through my hair and tugged as my lips found the hollow of her neck.

She could have been trying to distract me, but I was willing to make the sacrifice. Too many things had come between us in the past that could’ve prevented us from being together, including our stubborn selves.

“Babe, Jewel is coming to get me soon.” I had already removed the barrier between me and what I wanted, slipping silk and lace material down her legs.

“I won’t take long,” I promised, laying her on the floral quilt beside the opened suitcase. Her dress was halfway up her hips. “You’ll be gone a while, I want to make sure you’ll think of me…and only me….”

I hurried to remove my clothes, depositing them on the floor, and helped her take her dress off. The only thing left to do was to unsnap the lace bra that matched the panties I had disposed of earlier.

“Hurry.” Veronica reached for me, and I let her guide me where she desired me most.

That was when the knock came. I looked past the open bedroom door and gave an angry huff into Veronica’s hair.

“That’s Jewel. I told you she’d be here soon.” She made no move to push me off.

“I’ll fly you to the Maldives myself.” I buried my face in the curve of her neck, inhaling her scent.

Another knock echoed into the apartment, followed by the buzzing of her phone on the nightstand. There wasn’t any fear of anyone walking in on us. Since an embarrassing, yet unforgettable, incident with her mother and sister on Christmas, Veronica had asked people to call her first before zipping into her apartment.

“Levi, babe, look at me.” Veronica ran her fingers on my neck, urging me to lift my head up and stare her in the eyes. She trapped my head between her hands. “I love you.” The spark in her eyes reaffirmed her words. “I will miss you, but it’s only two weeks. I will call you, Skype, FaceTime, whatever you want, every single free time I get. Jewel will be with me. I won’t be alone with my client the entire time. Then, I will come back home to you, where I belong.”

She rubbed a thumb over one of my cheeks and down my chin. Her thumb traced the outline of my lips, as though she was committing it to memory. I captured her thumb between my teeth and when I gently sucked, she moaned. It was like I was struck by lightning.

I’d been with different women for many reasons, treating each relationship like a business. I had only known real love with Veronica.

My heart swelled at her words, at her promises. She lifted her head to plant another heat-searing kiss on my lips. I met it with all the fervor and passion I could manage. Then, slowly, I turned to my side, freeing her, and helped her up to let her redress.

She was mine, and I was hers.

I stayed quiet the entire time, kicking myself for not bringing the ring. Although the time wasn’t perfect, I would’ve wanted her wearing the ring before she went to an island with another man…to let him know that she was with me.

The limo her client had provided idled outside the apartment as I held her one more time.

“C’mon, lovebirds, we’re going to miss that first flight,” Jewel informed us as we stood by the door.

“Miss me,” I asked her, almost pleading.

“You know I will.” She smiled up at me, her eyes shining.

“You guys make me sick,” Jewel huffed before opening the door, making gagging sounds as she bounded down the steps to the limo.

I walked Veronica to the town car, leaning down to give her one last peck before closing the door. “Be good,” I told her, and a trickle of laughter filled the air.

Moving aside, I watched and waved at the retreating car. Once it had cleared a block, I pulled out my phone and made my first phone call of the day.

“Tell me you have an answer,” I told the person on the other line.

If Veronica knew I’d done a covert operation to find out who this man she would be spending two weeks with, she would probably refuse to talk to me for days. But I convinced myself that I had to know. I had to, even if my conscience told me it was the wrong thing to do. I had to.

In my life, even those who’d told me they loved me had left, time and time again.

“
H
e’ll be fine
.” Jewel tapped the top of my hands, crossed over my lap, taking my gaze away from outside the plane to her. “You’ll see him in two weeks.”

I nodded and tried to smile, but I couldn’t. Something was off. Levi had never been the clingy kind. He’d been a wonderful boyfriend, perfect to a fault. But he was not clingy.

“You know what will take your mind off things?” Jewel asked, shuffling through her purse and bringing out a pen, handing it to me. “Make a list of things you want to do while we’re there.”

I opened my mouth, but since what I had in mind was far from what I wanted to say, I pressed my lips together.

“Nica, what’s wrong?”

I bit the corner of my lip before saying, “I think Levi’s hiding something from me.”

Jewel furrowed her brows, tilted her head to one side, then looked sideways. What was it they said about people lying or trying to remember something? Who looked left? And who looked to the right?

“Jewel?” I stuffed my iPad and notebook back in my purse. A loud sound from the airplane engine caused me to jump on my seat. I gripped my armrests, but continued my prodding. “Do you know something?”

“Why would I?” she said quickly. “I barely talk to the guy. You guys are always sucking faces when he’s at the office.”

That was true. But something niggled at me. I looked away from Jewel and held my hands on my lap again, twisting the belt secured over me. “I can’t help but think that what we have is too good to be true. As if something bad is about to happen.”

“Why would you say that?”

“I don’t know. He’s too good for me. He’s hot and…he’s so hot…and he has money and he can have any girl he wants, but…”

“Geez, Nica. Are you trying to sabotage your own relationship? Haven’t you two been through enough crap?”

“We have but…”

“Stop saying but. No buts. I don’t want to hear it. What would Chase say if she were here instead of me?” Jewel eyed me ruefully.

I chuckled drily. “She’d say go with my gut. Probably try to convince me to break it off.”

“Would she really?”

“No.” I shook my head. Chase had expressed her dislike for Levi but she knew how much I loved him and how happy I was with him. “She’d probably say the same thing. I don’t know.”

Jewel settled back on her chair. She stayed quiet, deep in thought, for a bit, then said, “He looked worried when we left, yeah, but I think it’s probably because he’s going to miss you.”

“We’ve been away from each other before.”

“Not this long.”

“True.”

“And not when he doesn’t even know where you’re going and why…and with whom.”

I copied her position, pressing my back on the cushiony seat. “I hate not telling him, but it’s work.”

“You think if our client wasn’t so hot he would still worry?”

“I don’t think so, but I would never cheat on him…on anyone.”

“He knows that, right?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean…I think so.”

Although I was madly in love with Levi, our relationship was still young, fresh. We hadn’t been seeing each other for a year yet. We’d had plenty of conversations about life and love, but there were also quite a few things we’d never talked about. Marriage, for one. He’s said before that he wasn’t against it…but could he see himself with me? Married to me?

Since my previous relationship, with Jake, had ended abruptly and he’d gotten married only a few months later, I’d been a bit wary.

Were my thoughts justified? I didn’t honestly know. Was this something I would feel even though I only thought of Levi? And I couldn’t think of not being with him?

I thought of all those times in the past when I’d seen him with other women. He’d had a lot of them. If ever I asked about any one of his exes, he was more than willing to answer my questions. He’d always said that the way his relationships ended were mutual, and not one had been serious enough to consider anything beyond dating.

What if he’d one day feel like that about us? He was sweet and attentive and caring.

So then, what was it? Did Levi have a secret? I couldn’t even think of what. He’d been honest with me from the start of our relationship. He knew trust was huge for me. I didn’t like being blindsided.

A garbled voice came over the plane’s speaker telling us that we were ready for take-off and reminding us once again to turn all our cellphones to airplane mode.

Leaning forward, I grabbed my phone out of my purse and sent a lightning-speed message to Levi:

Tu me manques.

He is missing from me.
Somehow it was more meaningful than just telling him I loved him.

After switching it to Airplane Mode, I threw my phone back into my purse and settled in my seat, hoping whatever ugly feeling was weighing on me would go away. Levi was with me. He loved me. He’d miss me.

“Everything’s fine. He’ll be fine. We’re fine,” I muttered to myself. I bit my bottom lip, tamping down the urge to get up and leave the airplane. Maybe these two weeks away from each other would do us some good. Maybe Jewel was right. It was best I stayed put.

I would hate to ruin my own perfect relationship.

T
wo weeks later
, I walked alongside Sherri back into the kitchen she’d temporarily commandeered for the night. A special night.

“Good luck, duck,” she said, chuckling.

Did I need luck? “I’m prepared.” It had taken the entire two weeks to ensure everything was as it should be. I couldn’t risk anything going wrong tonight.

Between Chase and myself, we had managed to put together a romantic proposal,
sous un ciel étoilé
, under a canopy of stars. Even the weather had been cooperating so far. It looked like it would be a cloudless, starry night. Money might not buy love and happiness, but it could fund a simple, yet elegant proposal.

In a few hours, Veronica would be arriving from her trip to The Maldives. Chase was going to pick her and Jewel up from the airport, and they’d drive to a restaurant in Sequoia National Park, under the guise of celebrating Lily’s current beau’s birthday. I had told her I would be driving from Santa Barbara after checking out a prospective vineyard.

I rode a four-wheeler ATV from the restaurant to the specially picked clearing, where Chase and Maggie were in the middle of arguing how to set up the small square table with a delicate arrangement of wildflowers. Up above on the towering Sequoia trees, Gerard and his husband, Mateo, were securing strings of clear Edison bulbs that would illuminate the secluded spot. Solar-powered luminaries surrounded the table, dotting the ground. About a hundred of the same square lamps were placed along the trail, which would take Veronica to me by a guided horse-ride.

Veronica adored big, romantic gestures.

Once her staff had gotten a whiff of my proposal, they’d all wanted to get involved. The saying
too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth
played in my mind constantly.

A vote had been taken earlier by everyone involved in the preparation whether I should propose before dinner or after dessert. The decision was split in the middle, and I would have to leave it to fate. I would know when the right time was.

My phone vibrated as I parked the ATV to the side. Jake sent a text message asking how things were going. I’d received a similar message from Martina that morning. And I replied with a simple “great” to the both of them. It was an understatement. Everything had gone swimmingly, despite a few silly arguments, and I was thrilled to get help from the people who were closest to my (hopefully) future fiancée.

“Chase, shouldn’t you start driving to the airport?”

“Nice try, Maggie. The flowers should stay in the middle.” Chase moved the wildflower arrangement from where it sat on one side, close to the edge of the table to the middle.

Maggie picked it up and replaced it where it had been. “Side! So Levi can reach across the table to present her the ring!” Maggie extended her hand and flicked it at Chase.

“He’s going down on one knee. Aesthetically, the flowers would look better in the middle.”

“I have to go down on one knee?” I immediately regretted coming between them. If they were acting like this during the proposal, what horrors would they come up with during the wedding preparations? I assumed Veronica would ask their help. But as always, she had powers to oversee such events, and sort out any foreseeable errors.

I wished she was here now to sort this out. Our communication had been frequent, as she had promised, while she was stuck on the tropical island. I’d felt a tug in my heart when I’d seen how tired Veronica had been throughout the ordeal. There were dark circles under her eyes. She’d looked tanned but not rested. A few times during our Skype calls, I’d watched her get startled by her iPad slamming down on her forehead because she had fallen asleep.

Once I’d been given information regarding who her client was and what he was after, my suspicions had somewhat waned. Although he was a Hollywood celebrity, he was just another man who had fallen hopelessly in love with a woman, and wanted the best for his mate.

I could relate.

A truck came bounding down the trail, and out came Lily and James—her new boyfriend—along with one of the park’s senior Rangers. I shook James’ proffered hand and hugged Lily. They’d all promised to make themselves scarce once Veronica arrived. In the meantime, they wanted to check out the site.

“Well lookie here, this is some fine work,” James said.

“Are you sure you don’t want a tent, Levi?” Lily had asked me several times already today.

“Darlin’, look at the sky, entirely cloudless. This could never be more perfect. It ain’t gonna rain,” James informed her, yet again, waving his hands wildly in the air.

Lily pursed her lips, bent down and rubbed her knees. “I’m telling you, it
is
going to rain. I can feel it in my bones.” James gave her a smirk. “Oh fine, I’ll keep my nose out of it. But I brought an umbrella, just in case.” She pivoted and walked back to the other side of the truck.

James shook his head as he laughed. “Women,” he muttered, “can’t live with them...” I waited for the rest of his statement but nothing followed.

Just as Lily was coming back from the truck with a golf umbrella, Gerard and Mateo descended from the trees. We all stepped back to admire all our work.

Maggie’s phone rang and she picked up right away. “Hello.” Then she mouthed “Nica” to us and pointed to her phone.

Veronica was calling her now?

“Hey, Ni--oh...yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, I’ll tell her. I’ll handle it. No worries. Okay. Bye.”

“What’s going on?” Lily and Chase both asked.

Chase took her phone out of her jeans pocket. She read a message on it with a furrow on her forehead. This could not be good...I could feel it in my bones.

“Should I be worried?” I asked as I slid my phone out of my pocket. I couldn’t help the slight tremble in my voice.

“She’ll be calling you.” And as soon as Maggie said it, my phone buzzed in my hand.

“Laurent.”

Veronica’s voice broke through the static, “Hi, babe.”

“Sweetheart, how are you? Are you excited to come home?”
And be back in my arms?
I wanted to add, but all eyes were on me. All ears were too.

“I’m sorry…can’t make it...huge storm...crazy wind...” Her words where interrupted with more static, and what could very well be howling winds. “Flight delayed...morning...”

I looked up the clear skies, past the Edison bulbs, and the Sequoia trees. “Your flight is delayed ‘til tomorrow morning?”

“Yup. I called Maggie...” she replied. In the background--although I had trouble hearing Veronica--I heard quite an unmistakable man’s voice said, “Nica! You’re getting wet!”

“Yeah, I know! I’m coming,” Veronica yelled back at the man. My hand wrapped around my phone tighter, fighting not to throw it against the large tree trunks. “Sorry, Levi, I have to go. I love—” And all I heard after that was static.

I stared at the screen of my phone until it faded to black. It mocked me. It angered me.

I felt movements around me, and as I lifted my head, Chase walked up to Gerard and Mateo, who nodded and avoided eye contact with me. They headed back up the ladder to take down the lights. Maggie began gathering the luminaries and taking them to James’ truck.

Chase caught my attention. Slowly, she made her way to me. “What can you do?” She shrugged. For once, she did seem like she cared about my feelings.

What could I do? I wracked my brain for any solution. One dawned on me. I searched through my contacts and connected with the right person.

I bypassed the pleasantries, and went right to the point, “David, prep the jet. Meet me at the hangar. I’m heading to The Maldives.”

“Maldives?” David, my pilot, paused. “I just checked, Levi, there’s a tropical storm passing through there right now. Everything’s shut down. Couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?”

No, it couldn’t. I couldn’t. “Yeah, I heard that.” It would be suicide to go. I felt defeated.

Lily came by my side and rubbed my back, saying under her breath, “She’s safe. That’s important. She’ll be back tomorrow.” I hung my head.

“All right.” I returned to my phone call. “Don’t worry about it. Good night. I’ll call you in the morning if anything changes.”

In a matter of minutes, Veronica’s friends and family had cleared the area, loading the items on Mateo and James’ trucks. With the floral arrangement that was supposed to go on the table propped against her hip, Lily strode up to me. She lifted an arm and squeezed my shoulder.

“Let’s just hope she gets back fine,” she told me. I cursed myself silently for not thinking that, and for only letting jealousy get hold of me again. “Knowing my daughter, she tried everything she could to get back here on time. She would have wanted to see you tonight, and she would have been ecstatic, cried even, with what you’ve done. She would have said yes.” Lily smiled and patted my arm one more time before heading back to the truck.

“You riding with us?” Mateo asked.

“I’ll take the ATV back.”

“Are you sure? It’s getting dark.”

I stared up at the skies again. “Yeah, I’ll ride behind you guys. I’ve got a torch,” I informed him. I could tell he wanted to say more, but he decided not to and ambled back to his truck.

As I swung a leg over the four-wheeler seat, I felt a drop on my arm. I let out colorful expletives as the heavens opened up. Lily had been right.

I cursed Mother Nature.