The Bachelor's Perfect Proposal (Bliss Series Book 2) (2 page)

I was a mountain of patience, and I welcomed challenges.

“Evie,” I called.

“Levi, you’re looking rather dashing tonight.” She placed a hand to my cheek as she welcomed a swift kiss on hers.

“Just tonight?”

She laughed.

“Who was that you were just talking to?” I was tired of skirting around the issue.

Evelyn laughed again. “I can always depend on you to keep me entertained. She’s none of your business, my dear boy.” Evelyn Richland reminded me of my grandmother. Beautiful, even at her age, and like Martina, she had a pure heart.

I offered a charming grin. “C’mon, Evie, all I need is a name.”

“Levi,” she began, holding my hands in hers, and staring me straight in the eye, “She is the type of girl who believes in romance, in being swept away, not only by charm and dashing good looks—” She waved a hand at me. “—but by true love. She is a girl who believes in happily ever after, and Levi…Veronica deserves it.”

Veronica
. My throat constricted at the mention of her name. “I believe in all that too.” Not until I said the words did I understand what they meant and that I, in fact, was honest saying them. There was a heaviness in my chest, like I had been punched in my solar plexus, which knocked the air out of my lungs until I could find a way to recover. I pulled at the bow tie around my collar, ensuring that it hadn’t tightened.

“Dear Levi, you may think you do, but it hasn’t seemed that way for years. I’ve watched you with other women. I’ve seen how you are, heard of what you’ve done to them. Best to stay away from Veronica. A girl like her deserves to be loved purely and honestly.”

Evelyn was an intelligent woman, capable of growing her own empire with her head high and her integrity intact, much like Martina. I had had the privilege of acquiring her wisdom through the years, and it would be wise for me to listen to her now. But my heart was a stubborn machine, and I was a stubborn man.

“Levi, dahling, there you are!” Louisa’s hand snaked over my arm and up my shoulder, digging her nails in. “Hello, Evelyn, another lovely event as usual.”

“Louisa, I see you’ve moved on without thinking, once again.”

The two women threw words at each other. Meanwhile, my heart began its fast tattoo once more, and it told me one thing: Veronica was nearby. I watched her cross the room weaving through a sea of people. I held my breath as she collided with a man. His drink spilled all over the front of her dress, and his hand stroked too aggressively over her chest. My hands fisted at my sides, and I was ready to grab his grubby hands away from Veronica.

One of the bartenders interfered and handed Veronica a cloth, while turning the man away. Two other staff approached and guided the man, who was clearly inebriated, out of the ballroom. She and the bartender surreptitiously exited the ballroom through one of the side doors, which led to the terrace.

“Excuse me, I have something...” I didn’t finish what I wanted to say. I yanked my hand away from Louisa’s grasp and ignored her calling my name.

I had to find her, to check and see that she was okay. The crowd had moved toward the middle of the room where the dance floor had been set up. Taking a different door on the side, I slipped out into the cool night. The threat of rain hung in the air.

“What an ass!” The deep timbre of a man’s voice boomed. “Your dress is never going to be the same, Nica.”

Nica? Was that a shortened version of Veronica? I preferred her full name. I moved closer, hiding behind a topiary. The pulse in my neck thumped madly.

“I know. And it’s my favorite, too. Are you sure I can’t have it dry-cleaned?” I remembered the sweet tone of her voice from earlier. This time, there was a hint of sadness in it. I wanted to walk over there and kiss the frown away.

“No, hon, ‘fraid not. You can try to hand wash it but be very, very careful. It’s real vintage.”

Her laughter suspended in the air like sleigh bells on a wintry night. I committed it to memory. One day, I would elicit those sweet giggles from her, among other sounds.

“Real vintage? Is there such a thing?” she asked.

“You know what I mean. Well, I’d better get in there before Pyotr gets wild with the vodka. You coming in?”

“I will in a few. I just need to breathe for a bit.”

Through the spaces between the leaves, I saw the tall bartender wrap Veronica in his arms. “We’re so proud of you. Last-minute, and you came up with this amazing event.” He kissed the top of her head. How I ached to do that.

“Thanks, Gerard. Seriously, thanks for tonight. I couldn’t have done it without you guys. I’ll be back in, straight to the kitchen. I wanna raid those unserved desserts.”

As I pressed against the plant, the leaves rustled. The bartender and Veronica looked up. I cursed at myself. And when the man, Gerard, said, “I think you should come in now. It’s not safe here. There might be
perverts
in the bushes,” I cursed myself again.

Veronica took his advice, tilting her head to the side to check on the intrusion. Me. They walked back into the ballroom, leaving me cold and angry at myself for losing that first chance of alone time with her.

And it was my last and only chance that night.

When I returned to the gala, a hand gripped my arm. Cynthia Benjamin greeted me with a wide smile on her face. She was as close to an aunt as I could ever have. “Cynthia!” I kissed both her cheeks.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here. Who was the lucky lady?” Cynthia asked, flattening the lapels of my jacket.

“I was
unlucky
enough to say yes to Louisa Marie Alfonso-Parker.” Cynthia hissed. “Yes, I know, I know. It was better than the alternative.”

“Which was?”

I wasn’t ready to admit that I’d accepted because I didn’t want to be alone. Misery sure loved company. “I’m not entirely sure. You’re a bit late to the party.”

“Fashionably late, my dear. We had some issues with Isobel. I swear that girl will be the death of me.” She rubbed her temples, trying to ease thoughts of her rebellious teen daughter.

“You just think that because your firstborn is near perfect. Speaking of whom, has he told you?”

“Yes—” She clapped her hands together. “—and we can’t be happier. I’m glad the decision came from him. Although I have a feeling I have you to thank as well.” She patted my chest.

“It was all Jake’s idea.” It had been. My best friend, after several years of being the fascinating, talented doctor he was in some other part of the world, had decided to return to California to be closer to his family. “Build roots,” he had said, “fall in love. Start a family.” Just two nights ago, while on the phone with him, I’d thought he’d lost his mind. I thought he’d contracted dengue fever and had been completely delusional. Jake and I had approached life like a game, always competing to see who would end on top, even when it came to women.

Two days ago, he’d confessed that he’d been exhausted and lonely, and searching for a real purpose, for true happiness. Despite his love for what he’d been doing, something was missing from his life. It was time for him to grow up, and he had advised me to do the same. I’d laughed at him but regretted not telling him that I had been feeling quite lost as well.

Until tonight.

“We’re so proud of him.” Cynthia’s words brought me back from my recollections.

“As am I.” And that hit me harder than a brick wall. I immediately zeroed in on Veronica, huddled behind the bar, sneaking a bite of something into her mouth.

Evelyn had advised me to stay clear of Veronica, because I wasn’t the right man for her. I could be. I could turn myself into someone Veronica would be proud to call hers. It didn’t matter that her vintage dress was old; she cherished it, which meant she wasn’t enamored by glitz and glamour. I’d witnessed enough men—wealthy, good-looking, of different pedigrees—approach her throughout the night, and all she did was politely smile at them and walk away.

She wanted romance.

She wanted happily ever after.

She wanted true love.

I could be the man to sweep her off her feet. And I knew how to start.

After excusing myself from Cynthia, I searched for Santiago.

Before the event ended, I walked out of the grand ballroom without Louisa’s arm wrapped around mine, with my own new venture, and my thoughts filled with a goddess in a black vintage dress, Veronica—the woman who would turn my life around.

H
ow could
I ask him to go, while at the same time ask him
not
to go? Maybe I could figure it out later, when he looked less sexy.

I blew a raspberry that fanned the hair on my forehead.

Like that was ever going to happen. Levi, less sexy? Never with a capital ‘N’!

Not when he had on black Armani boxer briefs that left little to the imagination, his glasses, and nothing else. Problem was, I didn’t have to imagine. I could pull those down, past the tattoo on his hip, and take a nice, long peek at his...

“Did you say something?”

Eyes up!
“What?” I propped my elbows on the mattress.

Levi peered over his glasses. He’d totally caught me, red-handed and dirty-minded! I cleared my throat and dragged my eyes back to what I was reading: some hoity-toity Sweet Sixteen event details.

Levi snapped his book closed and set it aside. He reached for me, ghosting the pads of his fingers along my spine, pushing my shirt up and off. Then he blew warm breath from the small of my back all the way to the nape of my neck.

I was drowning in desire. How could I work with him around?

“You wanted to ask me something, sweetheart?”

“Hmmmm...” Closing my eyes, I hummed at the vibration of his voice behind my ear. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, but you have that look.”

“What look?” A look of want? Of fire-coated desire? I screwed my eyes tighter when he pushed my bra strap off one shoulder and peppered kisses on my skin.

“All you have to do is ask me, my sweet, sweet love.” He punctuated those words with flicks of his tongue along my neck.

“I didn’t say... I... Levi, you gotta stop or I... Please let me finish.” I panted in between words, while Levi trailed those kisses down my back to one side of my ribs.

Then he stopped. Completely. And leaned away from me.

Looking over my shoulder, I gaped at him. He sat against the headboard, grinning. “Why did you stop?” I protested.

He shrugged and cocked his head to one side. “You told me to.”

I pouted. Reaching forward, Levi tilted my chin up, tugged my bottom lip and leaned in for a quick kiss.

“Now, ask me.” He sat back, arms crossed over his chest, and had that sexy smirk on his face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Trying to ignore him, I glared at the paperwork before me.

“Veronica, you are a horrible liar.” Levi added a chuckle. He wrapped his arms around my waist and propped his chin on my shoulder.

I clicked my tongue, feeling like I’d already lost this battle and I might as well give up. “What makes you think I’m lying?”

“For one, you can’t even look at me.” I stared at him over my shoulder and then narrowed my eyes to prove a point. Yet, he continued. “And…your mother called me today.”

I disengaged from him, turned to face him and sat on my heels. My head swam from my quick change of position, but I shook it off. “She what?” My voice raised an octave higher.

“Relax, love, she asked me if I’m going home for Thanksgiving with you.”

That sneaky little she-devil! No wonder she’d bugged me with so many questions about Thanksgiving dinner this weekend.

“She thought it was time to meet the man
schtupping
her daughter. Those were her exact words, by the way.” Levi’s shoulders shook with laughter.

I huffed. It was so like my mother to go behind my back like this. Time for plan B. Ducking my head, I flipped innocently through the pages of work beside me. “You don’t have to come. It’s just a boring dinner with my mother and my sister. Nothing huge. Maggie might not even be there. For the last two years she’s gone to her boyfriend’s for the Holidays.”

“Oh, but she said everyone will be there this year, and they’re all eager to meet me.”
Damnit Mother!

I crawled seductively to him, batting my lashes and licking my lips, and straddled his lap. “Or...” I trailed a finger from the hollow of his throat down to the center of his deliciously toned abs. “We can just forget all about it and stay here all…weekend…long, without any disruptions.” I peered up at him from under my lashes, caught my bottom lip between my teeth and let my finger wander further south.

His attention panned to that last bit. I let go of my lip and licked the center of his slightly parted lips. He moaned and tickled my sides. I bucked on top of him.

“Nice try, you little nymph. We’re going. Unless you’re too embarrassed to introduce me to your family?”

“Embarrassed? No, not at all. I’d love for you to meet them one day…someday—”
Never
. “—It’s just...”

Worry filled his blue eyes.

“My mother isn’t the best cook. We might end up eating sandwiches…which, for her, is still a stretch.”

His expression changed into something more relaxed. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. I told her I’ll bring wine. I’ll bring a case so we can gargle with it if the food is thoroughly inedible.”

He didn’t know how likely it was that would happen. Clearly, he’d thought about this and determined it was a great idea. It was impossible to win when he’d already made up his mind. “Okay, fine, you can come.”

“I love it when you say that.” Levi nuzzled my neck, pushing my hair off to the side.

“Pervert.” I playfully slapped his naked chest and tilted my head so he could access more sensitive areas.

“What are you bringing?” he asked against the apex of my shoulder and neck.

Now, that was the million-dollar question. Levi still had no idea of my lack of cooking skills. I mean zero. Nada. Zilch. I could eat food, I could serve it, but I could not cook it.

“What I bring every year, Rice Krispie squares with Reese’s Pieces.”

He stopped nibbling on my earlobe and looked at me straight on. “What are those?”

I chuckled. “What do you mean what are those? What do you think?” He shrugged. Oh my god. “You don’t know what Rice Krispie squares are! Oh you poor, rich, sheltered man.”

“I could take a wild guess that they’re made out of rice.”

“Not rice, rice cereal. And butter and marshmallows. They’re super good. I pretty much grew up eating them.” Wrong! I grew up eating those and only those. “I’ll make extra to keep here for snacks.”

“All right. Sounds delish. Speaking of snacks...” His fingers made their way up my back, and underneath my bra clasp. I swatted at his arms. “No. I have work to do. Go read your book.” I reached for my paperwork. He took it from me and threw it on the floor. I gasped. I would have protested louder, but Levi showed me some other more pressing matters.