Fated - A Mermaid's Curse 2 (12 page)

He kisses the top of my head. “Why don’t we get ready?” he asks.

I get up and I can feel him watch me as I make my way to the bag of clothes and then to the bathroom. I come back out minutes later, wearing a blue summer dress. He is wearing jeans and a white T-shirt and I melt when I see that look on him, and then the look on his face when he sees me. I walk toward him, put my hands on the back of his neck, and stand on my tiptoes to kiss him. His arms go around me instantly, his firm hands on the small of my back. I tangle his hair around my fingers and softly tug at it. He moans in my mouth, his hands moving down to my hips and then he abruptly stops. He pulls away just enough to where he can talk. “Are you sure?” he asks.

I nod. “I don’t want to waste another minute that I have with you.”

He grins and puts his arms back around me, lifting me off the floor and I instantly wrap my legs around him. We go back to kissing and he carries me over to the bed, leaning me down slowly while I still have arms around him. I pull him down with me, still kissing. I can feel his hands make its way to the bottom of my dress and then, against my legs. I’m sure he can’t even imagine how much I missed being this close to him. When he stops kissing my lips, he smiles and then starts kissing my neck. To keep my voice low, I reach over and nibble his earlobe and that does him in. He moans against my neck and then he quickly pulls away to remove his shirt and jeans, not once taking his eyes off me. As I start to remove my dress, he stops me.

“
Let me,” he says.

He leans back down and slowly opens the buttons on the front of the dress while kissing his way down to my neckline, then sliding one of the dress’ straps off my shoulder with his lips as he slides the other side down with his fingers.

“
Blake,” I whisper.

He stops moving his hands right away and looks at me, and by the look in his eyes, he is afraid I want him to stop or that he went too far.

I grin at him. “I love you,” I say.

He smirks and whispers, “I love you, too.”

I can tell he’s a lot more relaxed now. He goes back to kissing me, even more passionately this time and we lose ourselves in each other in a way that we have never done before.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

BLAKE

I can’t remember the last time I was this happy, or when I’d seen her this happy. Instinct tells me to just wait, that something is bound to happen to fuck things up, but I quickly push the thought from my mind.

I look over at her and I know that she must be as hungry as I am. I kiss her left shoulder and she opens her eyes.

“
Hungry?” I ask.

She nods.

“
Carol and Mike are probably wondering where we’ve been all day. We should probably get out there.”

She laughs and blushes like she is embarrassed about us spending the day in the room.

We both fall into laughter, and then I make myself get up before I’m physically unable to.

I get dressed and check my phone to see that I have a few missed calls from dad, which I ignore. As Arianna gets ready to go, I check my emails and texts. Owen sent me a text saying that dad was furious.
Big surprise.

I text him back, ‘Mike didn’t give me a choice.’

Owen quickly replies, ‘I’m not saying that he is furious at you… he is just furious at the situation, but he’ll probably take it out on you, so be ready for it.’

‘
He’ll get over it,’ I text back and shut my phone off.

“
Is everything okay?” asks Arianna. “You look… upset.”

I smile up at her. “Everything is great. Ready?”

She nods and I take her hand leading her out of the room and into the kitchen.

We find the housekeeper in the kitchen and she tells us that Mike and Carol went to a charity event and that they aren’t expected back until late evening.

She offers to make us lunch, or should I say early dinner, since it’s almost four in the afternoon.

“
Thank you,” I say, “Maybe just some sandwiches… something quick.”

“
Yes, sir,” she says.

“
Actually,” I say as I get an idea… “Can you pack those sandwiches and some drinks to go?”

She nods. “Of course.”

I thank her again and start to lead Arianna to the dining room when the housekeeper stops us and says that the flowers on the table arrived earlier and that there is a card with Arianna’s name.

My fists automatically clench, as we make our way to the dining room.

I see the bouquet of red roses and hand the card to Arianna.

She gives me a puzzled look.

“
I might not like it, especially considering that I have yet to give you flowers, but it’s for you.”

She hesitates, but takes the card eventually and opens it while she bites her bottom lip. I can tell she doesn’t like this as much as I don’t.

She reads it over and then hands it to me.

‘
Dinner tonight. I’ll pick you up at 7. – Jonathan.’

I shake my head. Of course he wouldn’t even give her the option to decline it.

“
What now?” she asks.

I sigh. “Now we make sure we’re not back before seven,” I wink at her. I can tell that she doesn’t like the idea of just leaving instead of calling him to tell him no, but he put himself in this position.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

ARIANNA

“
Where are we going?” I ask as we get in Blake’s car.

“
It’s a surprise,” he winks.

We drive for a few minutes before he parks in front of a golf course.

I give him a puzzled look.

He shrugs.

“
No one comes here anymore. It’s closed for renovations.”

“
Should we be here?” I ask.

“
It’ll be okay,” he smiles and we get out of the car. He grabs the bag of food with one hand and reaches for my hand with the other, leading me to the center of the golf course.

We stop walking once we get to a tree by the water. We sit under it and Blake hands me a sandwich and drink.

“
This is nice,” I say. “It’s so… peaceful.”

I sit with my back against the tree and once we’re done eating, Blake lies down with his head on my legs and closes his eyes. He looks calm… happy, even. I run my fingers through his hair and he opens his eyes.

“
You said you thought we should know more about one another. I figured this would be a good time to start.” He pauses and smiles at me. “My favorite color is blue,” he says touching my blue dress. “My favorite person in the world was my grandpa. In fact, for as long as he was alive, he was a father figure for me. I like writing although I can’t remember the last time I wrote anything. It’s funny how so many people spend their lives trying to figure out what they want to do. I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I also knew that would never happen, so one day, I just quit. It was easier to stop than to keep wondering what could be.” He sighs. “My favorite food is pizza. My favorite dessert is ice-cream… any kind. My favorite place in the world is the island… the tree house on the island to be more specific. That place was always mine and grandpa’s and it just brings me this feeling of safety. I like to do anything outdoors… it relaxes me to be at places like this. I listen to just about any kind of music, except for country and pop. My birthday is December first. I like to travel. That is about the only good thing about my job. I’m terrified that my dad will hurt mom, Molly,” he reaches up and wipes the tear on my cheek, “or you.”

I moved my hands, cupping his face and lean down, kissing him. When I pull away he says, “Your turn”.

I’m at a loss for what I can tell him without it being a lie. Truthfully, I wish I could just tell him everything, about me… about what I am or was without the consequences, which at this point, I’m not even sure what they were. He would probably think I’m crazy and leave.

I bite my bottom lip then look down at him, “My favorite color is also blue. It makes me think of the ocean. I also like to be outside and I love the island. I feel like that is… home. My favorite animals are dolphins,” I see him smile at me, and that makes me smile too. “I don’t really have a favorite food, but I don’t eat seafood. I miss my dad. I know that you probably think he’s a terrible being, but he raised me and he did so alone. I never even met my mother. My father always did everything for me. I don’t know what changed for him to make me marry Bram,” I can feel Blake tense, “I wish in some ways that he hadn’t changed or made me do that, but then, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have met you. I love the way that you look at me. I love sleeping by your side more than anything in the world. The only thing that I’m afraid of is losing you.”

“
I’ll always be here, Arianna.”

I look away, avoiding his gaze.

“
What’s wrong?” he asks.

“
I’m afraid that something will set you off and turn you to drinking again and that you won’t be able to stop.”

He sits up and puts a hand on the back of my neck, pulling me to him slowly.

“
If I do, and I don’t intend to, you have my permission to send me off to a rehab program. I know that I told you over and over that I’m the farthest thing from a fairy tale, but I’ll do my best to be the man you need me to be. I’ll do anything to make you happy.”

He reaches into his pocket and grabs a small black box, “I know we’ll probably spend forever learning new things about one another, and I’m not rushing you, but I told you that I would get you a ring to replace the one you lost. Will you still marry me… whenever you are ready?”

He opens the box and the ring inside is exactly like the one he gave me before. I nod in between sobs and he puts the ring on my finger and kisses me. There is so much need and want in that kiss. He pulls me into his lap while still kissing me. I move one of my legs over, straddling him, and the kiss becomes more and more passionate.

He pulls away and we are both panting, but he manages to say, “We should go before I can’t make myself stop anymore.”

I crash my lips into his again, taking him by surprise. I feel his arms around me for a split second before he lets go and his hands go to my thighs, lifting my dress up.

This time I’m the one to pull away and smile at him.

“
Ready to go?”

He groans. “This is not fair, you know?” he winks.

At that moment, it starts pouring. The cold rain reminds me of the night when we met and I can’t make myself get up.

I shake my head, smile, and kiss him again. He moans into my mouth as I reach down and unzip his pants. In one smooth movement he picks me up and lays me down on the grass. As he thrusts into me, my fingernails dig into his back, making him moan again. At that moment, he stops kissing me and when I open my eyes to look at him, there is so much love in his eyes and I know that I want to give all of myself to him and for that to happen, sooner or later, I have to tell him the truth.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

We both get up and I ask him, “What now?”

He looks at his watch and realizes we’ve been here for hours. The rain stopped quite a while ago, but our clothes are still damp.

“
It’s just past seven but I don’t want to risk running into Mikaelis. There’s a beach nearby,” he smiles as if remembering what I told him about the ocean. “Maybe we can go and walk around for a while?”

I nod and we head off to the beach.

***

I’ve never been to a beach other than the island. This one is different. The sand is not as white and the water is not as clear, still, the smell of the ocean makes me miss the water. It makes me miss home. We take our shoes off and I feel the still warm sand against my toes. As we walk toward the water, I feel a jolt of pain on my legs and Blake catches me right before I fall.

“
What is wrong?” he asks concerned.

“
I don’t know. I think it was just a cramp.”

He nods. He still has his arms wrapped around me, afraid that I’ll fall if he lets go. “I think maybe I pushed you into doing too much today. Let’s go back to the house,” he says as he scoops me up in his arms and carries me to the car.

As he walks us away from the water, the pain on my leg starts to go away slowly. I think it might have been a coincidence, but I decide to ask Owen to take me to the doctor when we get back.

Blake puts me down when we get to the car, but doesn’t let go until I promise him that I’m okay. Right before I get into the car, I see a sign for an aquarium. Blake catches me looking and smiles. “I can take you there tomorrow if you want. Maybe we can feed the dolphins.”

“
I’d love that.”

Once we get in the car, I look at the time and it’s almost eight.