Arielle Immortal Fury (The Immortal Rapture Series Book 6) (11 page)

She turned and leaned closer. She ran her finger over his bottom lip. “I adore you,” she whispered, and her lips brushed over his.

Sebastian let out a shuddering breath. He kept one hand on the wheel and reached around Arielle, pulling her securely against him,
reveling at the sensation of her warmth. Arielle rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Sebastian gazed down at her, and his lips parted, drawing a shaky breath.
Who am I kidding? This is much harder on me than on her. Her
warmth in my bed nearly undid me.
For a long moment, he remained
quiet, filled with passion and desire, fighting the maddening thoughts that were ripping into him like wild fire.
I would much rather be home with her, celebrating her birthday alone, but it’s too late to scratch the plans.
He
had already paid to throw an amazing surprise party for Arielle. Eva and Gabrielle had phoned all their friends from school, and there had been a great response. All he needed to do was to get her to Gabrielle’s place.

“Would you mind if I make a quick stop at Troy’s?”

“Something wrong?”

“No, he has some papers that he wants me to look over prior to our morning staff meeting.”

“No, I don’t mind,” she replied sluggishly.

Sebastian bent down and nuzzled her hair. She was half asleep, and he chuckled. She didn’t seem to care about much right now. She really did look exhausted, but he was sure that she would be
pleased.

When they arrived at Troy’s, everything seemed quiet. The
house
was completely dark except for a couple dim lights on the upper
level.

“I’ll wait for you right here,” she said, leaning back at the
headrest and closing her eyes.

“I don’t think I would like that. I don’t want you sitting in the car alone,” he said firmly. He walked around and opened her door. He
pulled her into his arms, pressing a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.
“Wake
up, sleepy head,” he said against her ear. He kept his arm around her as they reached the front door, and he pressed the doorbell. It
was a couple of minutes later when the front light came on. Troy opened the door and took Arielle’s breath away. He stood in the doorway shirtless, wearing a pair of jeans.

“Come on in,” he said. He reached over and gave Arielle a hug.

“Is Gabrielle asleep?”

“Not yet, but she’s in bed,” he replied with a soft smile. “Do you want me to get her for you?”

“No, no, don’t bother her. Sebastian and I are going out for my birthday.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun,” he gazed at her for a short moment. “Are you certain?”

“Yes…yes…let her rest. I know she must be exhausted after a whole day riding,” she said. “I feel pretty much the same way right now.”

Sebastian exchanged a glance with Troy. He spoke quickly to cover the awkward moment. “I’ll get those papers for you,” Troy
called out as he disappeared around the corner toward his office. They stood in the foyer. Sebastian snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. There was complete silence in the house, which was strange because Gabrielle loved music and played it night and day. She saw a dim light go on in the kitchen.

“Hey, Sebastian come here a minute.”

Sebastian pulled her softly, and they both walked through the study toward the kitchen. They were halfway there when suddenly
all the
lights came on with a blinding flash. Arielle stilled and drew a
shocked
breath. She blinked, and her jaw dropped. The room was full of
familiar faces, faces that she loved.

Everyone shouted out, “Surprise! Surprise!”

Gabrielle and Eva ran towards her with open arms. “Happy birthday, Arielle!”

Arielle appeared lost for words. She looked around, disbelief in her eyes. She stared as tears blinded her view once again.

“When did you guys do all this?” Arielle asked, wiping her eyes, searching Eva's and Gabrielle’s faces.

“Oh, it was all Sebastian,” they replied simultaneously,
motioning toward him. “He took care of all the details, the catering, the flowers,
and the music. He only asked us to help with the invitations,” Eva
said. She was beaming with excitement.

She immediately looked back. Sebastian stood between Ian and Troy. He had a huge smile plastered across his face. She ran to him, falling into his arms.

“Thank you!”

He stared down at her with a mischievous smile on his face. “You can thank me when we get home,” he whispered in her ear, and she giggled.

Sebastian grinned and pressed his lips on hers. “Go and say hello to your friends, I’ll try to control my jealousy as much as possible.”

“Okay,” she said and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Chapter 8

ARIELLE WAS PLEASED
to find all of her friends from the university and some from secondary school had shown up to
celebrate her
twenty-second birthday. There were a few girls that she didn’t know,
but they had come with her friends, so they were welcome. The cake was huge, and there was plenty of everything. The excitement woke her up.

She heard Gabrielle’s voice say, “Arielle, did you see who just came in?”

“Who?”

“Alex, Robert, and Damien.”

“Oh, that’s great!” she exclaimed.

“I invited them, but I didn’t think they were going to make it.
They had a Halestorm concert to attend. I’m really surprised they made it,” Gabrielle said.

Sebastian squeezed Arielle tighter. The song was over, and they moved off of the dance floor. It was but a few minutes later when the newcomers came up to say hello. They wished her a happy birthday, and she got a hug from each one of them.

“Guys, Gabrielle told me that you were all going to the concert tonight,” Arielle said.

“What? And miss your birthday party? What are you thinking?” she heard Robert say.

“I am so happy to see you, but I’m not sure that I would have
done the same thing for you guys,” Arielle said softly, and they all
chuckled.
They knew Arielle would have done the same thing to be at their
surprise party. They talked for a while, reminiscing about some of their other
wild parties and weird things they did during their primary school
years.

The girls were overjoyed to see Stefan Broderik, Andrew Boyer,
and Jack Wallace. Eva, Gabrielle, and Arielle were standing next to each other as they used to do when they were younger. Arielle
snorted out loud, putting her arms around her two best friends.

“Look at us!” she exclaimed. “Do you remember this?” she
asked, looking between Eva and Gabby and pointing with her hand at the three of them.

“Yes,” they said in unison. “We look just as we did the night of our secondary school commencement party,” Eva said.

The memories from that evening amused them, and they broke out into laughter filled with exhilaration. The main difference from those days was that the three of them had fantasized about meeting the men of their dreams. Today, they were engaged to three amazing men that made their lives perfect.

“Did you ever imagine that we were going to find ourselves part of the weirdest group on earth?” Arielle asked.

“No, I thought the weirdest thing would be Eva’s witchcraft and
Marcus the warlock. Look where we are now.” Gabrielle’s voice was giddy as she looked back and met Troy’s gaze. Jack walked up and
asked Eva to dance. James Drew took Gabrielle to the dance floor.
Arielle was ready to walk back to Sebastian when strong fingers
wrapped around her wrist and brought her to a stop.

“Happy birthday, Arielle. Would you like to dance with me?”
She knew that voice. Her eyes met Sebastian’s across the room. She saw
his lips curve up into a smile. She turned around and came face to face with Stefan, looking even more handsome than he did the last
time she had seen him at the beach. He had a wide smile on his face showing a beautiful set of teeth.

“Sure,” she said. He pulled her to the dance floor.

“How have you been?” he asked, slipping his arm around her waist.

“I’m doing great, and you?”

“I’m doing okay,” he replied hesitantly. Arielle barely noticed.

“How is school going?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Oh, I guess okay. Did Andrew tell you that we’ve been hanging out together?” he chuckled.

“You and Andrew?” She looked surprised. “I thought that you
two weren’t very good friends.”

“The only issue we really ever had was you,” Stefan said before he could stop himself.

“What do you mean?”

“He didn’t like me talking to you, especially when he found out
that I had a crush on you.” Arielle coughed to clear her throat. She
didn’t want to revisit the issue.

“Well, I’m not surprised.” She chuckled. “Andrew is one of my dearest friends and is very protective of me.”

Stefan looked at her nervously. “Yes, like I told you on the beach
a couple weeks ago, I wanted to ask you out ever since our secondary year. But that’s water under the bridge. I do realize that was one of
my biggest mistakes, as it could have turned out differently between
us,” he said, smiling as he pulled her closer.

“Stefan, that was a long time ago. However, I can assure you that you didn’t miss a great relationship between the two of us,” she said softly.

Stefan’s eyes narrowed. He gazed at her with an odd expression. “How do you know that?”

“Oh, I’m absolutely positive,” she said decisively. “You’re
amazing
looking and very charming but not the guy for me. I know that I
could never make you happy,” she said as if it were obvious.

Stefan frowned. “I don't know how you can be so sure, but I
have
to accept your decision. I can’t help feeling that I missed my chance
to be with you.” He groaned.

“I’m sorry, Stefan.” She smiled softly as she gazed into his eyes. They remained silent for the rest of the dance. He seemed at ease holding her tightly in a last desperate attempt to experience her
touch.

“I hope you don’t mind me saying that you are strikingly
beautiful. I envy the guy that is your choice.”

“Thanks,” she said. The song was over, and Robert walked up to ask her for the next dance.

“Have a happy birthday,” Stefan whispered close to her ear and walked off to talk with his friends. She followed him with her gaze, a smile on her face. Robert pulled her in his arms, and they moved to the next dance.

“Great party, Arielle,” Robert chuckled.

“Robert, I can’t believe you gave up great concert tickets to be here.
I love you guys, and I’m extremely happy to see you all. I would do the same for you.”

“Well, we knew that,” he said. “When we got the call about your party, there was no question as to what we were going to do.” He squeezed her tightly, and she giggled.

At the end of the dance, Robert walked her back to where
Sebastian was waiting patiently, and they talked for a little while. He then left them and went to join Alex and Damien.

“I can’t believe the huge difference between dancing with you in Calais and dancing with you here,” Arielle said with a snort.

“What in particular do you find different between the two
centuries?” he asked, gazing into her eyes.

“Oh, that’s easy,” she said.

“Enlighten me,” he said and pulled her into his arms.

“Well, I love feeling of your body close to mine. I don’t think I
could stand those gowns for too long, at least not around you.” She laughed with jubilance. He pulled her tighter against him and a thrill
coursed through her. She gasped for air as he let her go with
amusement. Ian and Eva walked up. Sebastian gave her a huge hug.

“Thank you, Eva.”

“For what? You did it all.”

“No, I don’t mean the party. I mean the incredible adventure
you gave Arielle. Your gift was amazing for her and for me.”

Eva grinned. “I’ve to say Sebastian, your brothers were hot!”

Sebastian laughed out loud. “Did you tell that to Ian?” he asked, glancing in Ian's direction.

“I sure did. He needs a little nudge here and there. I don’t want him to think that I’m blind or that he’s all that,” she said feigning indifference.

Ian pulled her in his arms and locked them in a hot kiss. “I don’t think that you’re blind, but…you better have eyes only for me,” he said, pretending to scold her.

“I can assure you, Ian, she was perfectly proper,” Sebastian said
with amusement. “Thanks to Arielle, I recalled the entire evening of
their visit,” he added, pulling Arielle tighter against him.