His Absolute Proposal: An Illicit Billionaire Love Story (Elise, #3) (21 page)

Yes, I knew this.  I probably could have finished Lucent's sentence for him.  He had a few obsessions, or passions if you preferred, and... well, I was one of them.  I really liked that.  Lucent adored work, as well.  He liked being allowed to be analytical, and not seen as odd or overly formal.  I mean, he was sort of those things, but there was a time and a place, you know?  In his business life, he could be the sort of person he wanted to be.  And in private... well, we could be the sorts of people we liked to be, too.  With all of what Lucent's BDSM things entailed.

I thought it was really the best of both worlds.

Lucent's mother jumped into the conversation, giddy and clapping.  "Oh!  What about the weekends?" she asked.  "You could both come for dinner then?  Saturday?"

Lucent opened his mouth to speak, probably to protest, but she stopped him with a curt wave of her hand.  "Not every Saturday, of course," she added.  "Maybe every other one?  Once a month, at least?  Oh, Elise, tell Lucent you'd like to come for dinner at least once a month.  You would, wouldn't you?"

"Apparently I have no say in the matter," Lucent said.  "I will defer to Miss Tanner."

Angela gave us both a confused look, curious and uncertain.

I moved close and whispered into Lucent's ear.  "You should just call me Elise here.  Your mother is getting worried."

"No," Lucent said.  "I'm putting my foot down.  Excuse me a moment, Miss Tanner."

By that, he meant he wanted to stand?  I had no idea what was going on or what he planned on doing, but Lucent shifted away from me, abruptly halting our couch cuddling, and stood to confront his mother.

"Mother," he said.  "Please.  Sit.  Indulge me.  I would like to inform you of something."

Angela sat, looking up at her son, waiting patiently.  "Yes, what is it, dear?"

"I don't expect you to understand it completely, but please realize that when I refer to Elise as Miss Tanner, it is because I have a deep adoration of her as a person.  It is not meant to relay formal indifference, or abrupt courtesy.  It is a term of endearment, much like a man might refer to his lover as babycakes or honey.  I reserve the right to call Elise by her first name for special occasions, as personal whim dictates, and otherwise I enjoy calling her Miss Tanner."

"I like when Lucent calls me that, too," I added.

"So it's not bad?" Angela asked.  "That's what I'm worried about.  I..."

"Mother, please let me reassure you that if I have my way, Elise will be the mother of my children and I guarantee you'll have your precious grandbabies in the future."

The way he said it made me laugh.  I didn't mean to laugh, or not quite, but... and then the way Lucent's mother looked so happy, eyes watery, nearly tearing up.  I needed to look away.  This wasn't supposed to be amusing or entertaining or anything like that.

"Well..." Angela said, nodding once.  "Well, good!  I'm glad!  I deserve grandbabies, Lucent!"

"May we please refer to them as grandchildren?" he asked.

"No," she said.  "Grandbabies.  Are you two ready to eat now?  Everything is ready.  I hope you don't mind, but I've arranged dinner in different courses.  It's all on the table now, since your father and I don't like to go back and forth to the kitchen when we don't have to, but you have to eat everything in order, alright?"

"That is acceptable," Lucent said.  "Miss Tanner, will you accompany me to the fine dinner my mother has laid out for us?"

"Yes, but, um... courses?" I asked.

"There's soup and salad to start," Angela said.

T
his meal was unlike anything I'd ever eaten before.  I melted after my first spoonful of creamy mushroom bisque.  The fresh tomato and mozzarella salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette tasted heavenly.  I'd seen this before in restaurants, though I hadn't ordered it for myself, but the tomatoes were sliced in thick wedges about as large as my finger, with chunks of fresh mozzarella to match, and... that was it.  Simple, yes, but absolutely amazing and to die for.

And this was just the first course.

I slowed down considerably during the side of whole, baby roasted potatoes, crusted in oil and herbs that went along with a half-roasted quail topped with a sweet and creamy leek sauce.  I didn't want to slow down, I really wanted to eat more, but I was getting somewhat full.  The quail tasted kind of like chicken, which surprised me a little.  Granted, it looked similar to chicken, too, so I didn't know why I was surprised; it was just something I'd never considered eating before.

Angela glanced at me and my half-finished plate, brow furrowed, worried.  It made me laugh a little.  She reminded me of my own mother in some ways, always a little worried, always somewhat concerned.

"Is the food alright?" she asked.

I nodded while swallowing the chunk of potato I'd slowly been chewing for the past minute.  "Yes, it's... it's just so much.  I'm getting full," I confessed.

"Oh, well that's fine.  You don't have to eat everything!  I just hope it's all good.  This is the first time I've done this particular quail recipe, and I didn't expect company, so I was a little worried, but..."

"Mother," Lucent said.  "Your food, as expected, is phenomenal.  Thank you for inviting us to your dinner table."

Angela beamed, smiling so brilliantly and bright, as if her son had just told her she was going to be the new Queen of the Universe.  Lucent's father grunted his approval, and I caught a faint glimmer of a smile on his face, too.

This was nice.  All of it was nice.  We...

Could we stay here?  No, probably not.  I knew we needed to leave.  I understood the reasoning.  There was too much going on, first off, and I knew Lucent wouldn't want to put his parents in danger.  Regardless of their differences and past arguments, he wouldn't accept causing undue stress.  He must love them, even if they'd fought.

He must have thought the same thing as me at that very moment, because after a cursory glance around the table, he lowered his fork to his plate and cleared his throat.

"If dinner is coming to a slight lull, I'd like to discuss a few matters with everyone in attendance," Lucent said.

"Lucent," I whispered, giving him a funny look.  "We're at dinner.  It's not attendance."

"If we're not in attendance, what do you propose we're doing?" he asked, scowling at me.

"We're sitting at the dinner table, having a nice meal with your parents," I said.

He frowned at me before continuing on.  "Regardless of what we're all doing here, I'd like to discuss what's happened, if that's fine with everyone?"

"Yeah," John said.  "I'd really like to know why I got some uppity call from a police officer in some station hours away.  Not too happy with that one."

"John, it's not Lucent's fault.  Don't get so upset," Lucent's mother said.

"I'm not upset!  I'm just not happy!  There's a difference."

Lucent waited patiently while his mother and father argued semantics.  I tried not to laugh, but it reminded me of a conversation that Lucent and I would have; it reminded me of the one we'd just had about his use of the word "attendance" even.  They caught me on the verge of giggling, trying to hide my smile, and then they stopped.

"She's much nicer than you, you know that, Lucent?" John said, jerking his head towards me.  "How'd she end up with a guy like you, anyways?"

"John!  I think Elise and Lucent look very sweet together," Angela said.  "Don't say things like that.  You're going to scare them off and they'll never come visit after this."

Lucent waited patiently again while his mother and father held a heated discussion as to whether they were going to scare us off.  Once it was settled that, no, currently they weren't going to scare us off, but if they continued like this, they might, they stopped and deferred to their son.

"Thank you," Lucent said.  "As I was saying—"

"There was a fire," I said, accidentally interrupting him.  I mean, I supposed that technically I intentionally interrupted him, but I felt a sudden urge to just say it, and I knew Lucent, and...  "There was a fire in our friend's mansion.  Asher and Jessika.  Um... they're billionaires, so maybe you know them?  Landseer?  And Lucent went to stop it.  He was very brave.  We found a man in the room where the fire was, and he was trying to steal, um... something."

I glanced towards Lucent for acceptance and confirmation.  He rolled his eyes at me and nodded for me to continue.

"So then we ran and hid in the library.  The city library.  I used to work there.  I realize that sounds like a strange thing to do, but it made sense at the time, because of... reasons... except then the police were searching for us because they thought we started the fire.  Or they thought Lucent did, and a bunch of crazy things happened, and someone was following me on the street!"

"Oh no!" Angela said, startled.  "Are you alright?"

"Mother," Lucent said.  "Miss Tanner is sitting at the dinner table with us.  Yes, she's fine."

I nodded, because Angela didn't seem like she'd accept the fact that I was alright unless I answered her myself.  "Yes, and... so then we went to Jessika's house.  Again.  That's confusing.  It was a different place.  Her old apartment.  And in the morning, a police officer showed up.  We thought we were going to get arrested, but apparently he was a friend of Lucent's, and the police chief is trying to bring Lucent in, saying he's guilty of a felony and a danger to society, so we escaped again, and then the person who was following me found us.  We were kind of in a car chase, but Lucent's a good driver and we escaped, then we came here."

John nodded along, quiet, listening.  Angela started biting her nails, looking extra concerned this time.

"Lucent," she said.  "Did you do something illegal?"

"Yes, mother," Lucent said.  "I apologize."

"You know you really shouldn't do that?" she said.

"Angie, it's not like we didn't know.  That doesn't mean they should go and arrest him," John said.

"Actually I think that's exactly what it means.  If you do illegal things, you get arrested."

"Yes, but he didn't do the illegal thing they want to arrest him for.  You didn't start the fire, right?"

Lucent shook his head, no, glowering.  "Of course not.  I have the utmost respect for the Landseer mansion.  You, of all people, should know that, father."

"That was a trip, huh?  The good old days when you weren't such an ass."

"What?" I asked.

"My mother and father know about my transgressions, Miss Tanner.  I apologize if I forgot to inform you.  They've been mostly accepting and occasionally complicit in aiding me with some of the finer points," Lucent said, almost as if he were noting a bullet point at a business meeting presentation.

"You... what?  Lucent, you told your parents?  You didn't even tell me."

"I daresay I've known my mother and father for a considerable amount of time.  They've had more than a few occasions to learn of my goings on.  It's not that I didn't tell you, it's merely that the proper time and occasion never presented itself."

"You didn't tell her?  Lucent, you can't do that.  If she's going to have our grandbabies, then you need to tell her these things."  Angela shook her head at him, fierce.

"Your mother's right, Lucent.  I don't say that often, so you know it must be true," John added.

Lucent took in a deep breath, then huffed it out.  "Yes, well, Miss Tanner and I have had this conversation and I am deeply apologetic for not informing her previously, especially considering our current situation."

"Well, is everything going to be fine, though?" his mother asked.

Her question struck me as odd.  Not because of what it was, but because of how she phrased it.  She didn't ask the specifics, and she didn't even question any of the details of what happened.  She seemed far more accepting of the entire ordeal than... than I thought a normal parent would be.  Except this was Lucent's mother, so perhaps that made sense in an odd, roundabout sort of way.  Lucent's father just shrugged along with it all, like this happened all the time.

I was starting to think maybe they were part of some mafia family that I hadn't heard of, which was both exhilarating and frightening all at once.  Could I do that?  Could I be a part of that?

"This doesn't happen often," Lucent said to me, voice quiet, soft, calming.  "I apologize, but my parents are somewhat abstract."

"Your mother is weird.  Just say it like it is," John said.

"Your father is a brute and... and he's a stubborn asshole!" Angela said, shouting out the last few words.  "There.  I said it.  Are you happy now, John?"

"Yes, darling," John said, smirking and leaning over to give his wife a kiss on the cheek.  He whispered something to her that I didn't hear, and she blushed and slapped at his shoulder lightly, turning away from him.

"Anyways, as I was saying, we're perfectly fine," Lucent said, ignoring his parents.  "It would be preferably if you allowed Miss Tanner and I to stay here for the night.  We shall depart early in the morning.  I apologize for the inconvenience."

"Oh, no, it's fine, dear," Angela said.

"It's nice to see you again," John said with a grunt.  "Elise is a beauty and a joy, too.  Glad to see you're not terrible at everything."

"He's not terrible, John.  He's an important businessman, you know?"

"If you say so."

I grinned, almost laughing, trying not to.  Hiding, I buried my face in Lucent's arm without thinking.  When I peeked out, everyone was looking at me, smiling, happy.  I didn't know why or how.  I'd never expected to make all of these people happy.  It's not that I wanted them to be unhappy, it's just... they were happy because of me?  It startled and confused me, but it made me feel warm and comfortable and safe, too.

"I trust Lucent," I said, shy, whispering.  "I trust him and I know that maybe we're in this mess because of some of the things he's done in the past, but I also know that if he wasn't the person he is, then we wouldn't be safe right now.  Thank you for letting us into your home, and I'm glad we were able to have this nice dinner together.  It's been wonderful to meet you.  I didn't know when I was going to meet Lucent's parents, but I'm so happy that I finally had the chance."