“I’m good. How are you, dear?”
I’m bursting with excitement, and I know she can tell from the tone of my voice. “I’m very happy! Both of us are, and I wanted to ring and tell you why.”
“Elle, what happened?”
“Brax asked me to marry him, twice!” I exclaim with a huge smile on my face. Brax walks into the kitchen wearing nothing but a towel, and my mouth salivates at the droplets of water that are still clinging to his taut chest.
He looks at me ogling him, and smirks as he walks over to the refrigerator and pours himself a glass of water. I’m totally distracted by him when I hear Sylvia say my name in my ear.
I shake my head, trying to rid my mind of the perverted thoughts filling my head. “Sorry, Aunt Sylvie. What was that?”
“I said that I’d like to give you guys a nice romantic weekend away together at my house in the Hamptons. Because it was given to me in the divorce, it hasn’t been frozen like the rest of Harry’s assets. So if you’d like it, it is free this weekend for you” she explains.
“Oh, that would be fantastic, Brax, Aunt Sylvie wants to give us her Hampton’s house for the weekend as an engagement gift.”
“Wow, um okay. Yeah, that would be awesome” he stutters, his eyes wide with shock. I can tell that he’s still unsure how to deal with Sylvia.
“We’d love that Aunt Sylvie, thank you so much” I gush down the phone to her. After a few more general pleasantries, we end the call. I turn around and look at Brax who is still wearing just a towel and leaning against the kitchen counter, looking at me.
“That is an awesome gift, hon. I am really grateful. It’s just I’m not sure how it’s going to be with Sylvia yet.”
I melt inside. This man of mine is finally showing a chink in his good looking armor. I walk over to him and lean into his chest, melting my body into his. “I know, Brax, and I love you for that. It shows me that you’re human.” My eyes soften when I look up at him. “Thank you for accepting her gift. I can’t wait to spend a whole weekend alone with you. I love Devon and Shay to bits, but two days of just you and me in the Hamptons sounds like paradise.”
“I’d do anything for you, Elle, just to see that sparkle in your eye and that gorgeous smile on her face. Anything and everything, every single moment for the rest of your life,” he adds, bending down and kissing me, thrusting his tongue into my mouth, and putting his words into action. I melt into his arms, my knees buckling as he plunders my mouth. He pulls back ever so slightly, touching his forehead against mine.
“It’s you and me, darlin’. Forever.”
After telling Shay and Devon of our plans, and giving them the task of looking for office space for the new company to work out of, we pack the car and leave for Sylvia Brimstone’s Hampton’s house just after lunch.
Of course, the boys come to see us off. They were ribbing Brax for finally becoming an honest man and being off the market. I love seeing them all acting up, teasing each other like three brothers who have spent a lifetime together. Of course, this has not been the case, but seeing them now you would never know that. After giving the boys a good bye hug, and making sure they know where we’re going and how to reach us if they need to, we set off for our romantic engagement weekend away.
On our way down, I couldn’t help but check the rear view mirror regularly, looking for a tail. I know we don’t have any threats against Elle anymore, but it is habit. I’ve been watching Elle’s back for so long, it has become second nature to always be on alert. I didn’t see anything or anyone suspicious, so I was a lot more relaxed by the time we reached the house.
I’ve always had a bad feeling about the guy in the black Honda. He gave us so much grief a few months ago, then disappeared after the shooting. Given that we still don’t know anything about him, especially who he is and what he wanted with Elle, or with me for that matter. It seems weird that we haven’t seen him again. I doubt that he would give up so easily after spending so long stalking us, even following us out of town when we were heading to Atlanta at New Years. All the evidence points to him giving up, though, so I hope for his sake, and Elle’s, that he has.
We unpack our bags and go for a walk along the beach. We decide to go into town, and end up having dinner at a small Ma & Pa seafood restaurant.
After dinner, we get back to the car, and I see that both rear tires are flat. Knowing that it is not possible for both perfect condition tires to go flat at the same time, in the space of an hour while we were having dinner, I’m immediately on alert.
“Sweetheart, I need you to get into the car for a minute. I’m going to ring Triple-A and get a tow to the house and call Shay to come help us out in the morning.” I say, unlocking the car and ushering her inside. Once the car door is shut behind I her, I pull out my phone, dialing Shay and scanning the street around us for anything out of the ordinary.
“Brax, what the f**k are you doing calling me? You’re supposed to be knee deep in your girl” he says as he answers my call.
“Hi to you too. We’ve just got back from dinner to find two slashed rear tires on the Mustang. I have a bad f**king feeling about this. I need you to come down here ASAP because I’d like to have some backup.”
“Dude, you sure? Because Elle will be pissed if D and I come crashing your romantic weekend.” Fucking hell, he actually sounds scared of Elle.
“She’ll be fine. We can have another romantic weekend, but I can’t do that if she’s not f**king breathing. Please, man. I’d feel better having you close by.” I scan the road around us again, but apart from a few cars driving past, there is nothing suspicious.
“Okay, B, we’ll get sorted and leave in about half an hour. Should get there a little after one. All good?”
“Thanks, man. I’ll owe you one,” I say, ending the call.
I dial Triple-A, and after giving our details and location, I’m told that a tow truck is on its way and should be there within the hour. Now we just have to sit tight and wait.
Half an hour later, Elle and I are sitting in the cab of a tow truck, my car being pulled behind us, and the driver drops us off at Sylvia’s house.
“Wait here. I just want to check the house out first, just to be on the safe side,” I tell Elle.
“Please be careful, babe.”
“I will. You just lock yourself in the car and wait until I come back to get you, okay?” I say, hoping that I’m being overly cautious over nothing.