“Unbelievable.” He moves even closer, a misleading smile on his face. His eyes back to those dark orbs – the devilish emotions in there are overpowering, leaving me breathless and my mouth dry.
“Mel,” he gets down on one knee, forces down a swallow, and takes my hand. “I hope by now you understand how I feel about you. This is as real as it gets …” He combs his fingers through his hair.
“So will you, THE GIRL … do THIS GUY the honor and marry him?”
He holds a dainty ring out at me – a harlequin black Opal encircled by smaller Alexandrites – both our birthstones combined. A surge of emotions floods my body, my hand moving over my mouth, as I stare at the ring with huge eyes. He knows me so well. It’s perfect … everything about it forms my dream ring. The world around me becomes a blur, but somebody is holding me up. I can’t speak or form words, and I’m sure my body went into shock.
“Mel, I’m dying here …” His hand is shaking slightly, showing me that he’s nervous. It makes me smile, my cocky bastard is scared I might reject him – sweet. I find my voice.
“I have a few demands.” Everybody suddenly freezes, waiting to hear my next words.
“Firstly, you’ll never do anything to break my heart.” He nods without hesitation.
“Secondly, you’ll get rid of your guilt – it’s what your demons feed on.” My devil doesn’t say a word, but a tear rolls over his cheek.
“And lastly, your racing … ” I see fear in his eyes. I know racing is his life. But I also know he would give it up for me.
A few of the witnesses standing in a circle around us gasp and pull in their breaths. I notice the worried look deepen in my racer’s eyes, and I can’t help but smile seductively.
“You have to promise to be careful when you brake late and slide into corners. I mean, if you lose a limb I might just have to get myself a new husband.”
“Husband,” he frowns. “Does that mean you’re saying ‘yes’?”
I bite my lip on purpose.
“Yes, you dumb dipshit.” He moves so fast, grabbing me in his arms, his lips claiming mine with force.
“Fuck, I love you,” he says, looking into my eyes, his one hand moving protectively over the very tiny bump under my shirt, “Both of you.”
Book 2 – The Actor’s Contract (Enrique Blackburn) starts on 18 March – approximately a month after this treasure hunt
Date = 15 August (about 6 months later) = Enrique’s wedding (Book 2)
Place = San Francisco (where the haunted house was)
POV – Damion
“Hey, son, where is Mel … she needs to get dressed?” Judging by the sound of her voice, Mom is panicking. Why is everyone so on edge? I mean, since we left the club Enrique phoned once … the other bridesmaids three times … and this must be Mom’s fifth call. Hell, it’s just a wedding. And not ours. And there’s still time.
“We’re still at the building site …” I calmly explain … again. “We got what we came for.” And what we came for is a tiny piece of blue jewelry… for the bride.
Mel got a blue angel charm to hang on her new sister-in-law’s bracelet today as her ‘something blue’. And apparently, it’s very important – a crucial part of the wedding. And that would be why we are back here at the haunted house construction site instead of getting ready at Inferno.
“We’ll be there,” I pause slightly to calculate the time it will take us to get there, “in about twenty minutes or so.” I wonder if this woman will be this stressed at my wedding too.
“Well, get moving.”
“Walking to the car as we speak.”
“Gmf,” my mom snorts.
I end the call, ensuring Mom that Mel is on her way, ready to get waxed and dressed.
“Was that your mom?” Mel confirms.
“Yep, she wants to know where you are. Fucking unbelievable, I swear she worries more about you than me,” I snicker and almost instantly receive a hard punch on the shoulder.
“Language Grimm … ” Mel scolds rubbing her hand over her protruding tummy. “Your son can hear you you know.” She sticks her tongue out at me and my dick suddenly tweaks. I’ve never in my life found a pregnant woman sexy but Mel pulls this pregnancy thing off in a sexy sensual manner that’s pretty darn perfect.
A huge smirk covers my face when I feel the impudent stiffness rising. I wiggle in my pants, as some unsavory thoughts harbor my mind. Perhaps we can squeeze in a quickie on the backseat before the wedding. Mel draws her eyebrows together in an attempt to be criticizing, but instead, it’s very alluring. My semi grows into a raging full-on.
“Grimm, I already told you where to shove that stiff dick of yours.” Oh, she knows me too well. But what can I do … she’s so frickin adorable no matter what she does.
“I’d still rather shove it into you.”
She points to her tummy and I can’t help the proud smile on my face – I did that. That baby is all me.
“Stupid pervert,” she snorts, “You’re to blame for my discomfort. I wish I could ram this baby into you and see how you cope with carrying a little hyperactive back-straining unnecessarily heavy parcel around … not to mention the excessive peeing.” Her eyes shoot daggers at me, but I don’t mind. I love this girl. She can do anything to me that she wants. It will be better if that includes a brief session to resolve my current predicament … but I can wait till later.
“And now I have to go pee … again!” She wrinkles her nose in disapproval.
“Just one week to go.” I try to soothe her. One week more and I’ll be holding my baby in my arms. Fucking dope.
“We better hurry, I still need to get dressed,” Mel says, “I wonder if my dress is gonna zip up … I believe I got bigger since my last fitting.”
She’s looking down at her pumped-up breasts. I want to tell her that it’s not a problem for me … if the dress does not fit we can both just stay naked and miss the wedding. But I keep my mouth shut … nothing I say now will go down well, I know that by now. Her head is raging with hormones, making her even more unpredictable than usual. So, instead, I push down my stiffy, pull on my overhanging church shirt, and take her hand, looping my fingers through hers.
I lead her through the semi-finished buildings where the haunted house was before. The doomed building is gone and this fresh appealing development is rising from its ashes. And it’s going to be BIG.
The area is empty – the workers are on a well-deserved break till next week since they’ve finished the previous stage earlier than expected.
“This was such a great idea. I can’t wait for this to be finished,” Mel gleams, “It’s gonna be such a great place.”
“Yeah, your man is rather impressive.”
It actually was just a spark of luck. Since Harry had no living relatives left, and no will, all his belongings, including the house, were escheated to the state and I could buy it.
Initially, we planned only to build a school center where underprivileged and problematic street kids could get the best of everything for free … education, sports, activities, food … you name it.