Paxton's Promise (24 page)

“I figured we could stay around here. Since the sun will be setting soon, we can walk up to one of the piers and back. If Rage isn’t watching us, I’m pretty sure he’ll find out what we did very quickly.”

“Oh, dear God, I can only imagine what you’re going to make me do,” I laughed. “Well, let’s go, the suspense is killing me.” I was clueless, but also scared with how this was going to provoke Rage. This wasn’t a game.

Paxton had a blanket set out beside the cooler, so I carried it while he handled the cooler. Once out of the back door, he locked it up and even locked the gate when we exited. We were going to be walking along a beach and we wouldn’t be close by to see if anyone tried to get in. If Rage got into my apartment, there wasn’t really anything stopping him from getting into Paxton’s home.

Reaching the beach, Pax found a spot and stopped. “Let’s set our stuff down and take a walk. We should be able to make it to the pier in thirty minutes or so.”

Smiling, I spread our blanket on the sand, and he set the cooler down on top of it so it wouldn’t blow away. “Sounds good to me. Lead the way.” I held out my hand and he took it, pulling me in the direction of the pier. I could see it in the distance, but it was still a good little ways away.

Hand in hand, we strolled up the beach, letting the cool water rush across our feet. “I bet Ashleigh misses the ocean,” I mumbled more to myself than anything.

“Probably, but she’s happy with Ryley. If you’re happy with who you’re with, I believe you can be happy anywhere.” He squeezed my hand. “There’s something I want to tell you.”

Furrowing my brows, I gaped up at him. “Uh-oh. Is this a ‘we need to talk’ moment? The way you said it makes it sound like I’m going to get pissed.”

He chuckled lightly and kept walking. “Ashleigh hasn’t told you that we talk, has she?”

“What do you mean
talk
? When?” She never told me anything about talking to Paxton.
Sly she-devil.

“A couple times. For example, before we got started, she said you and I acted like her and Ryley did before they got back together.”

“So this was her way of helping me?”

Lifting my hand, he kissed it and smiled. “Helping
us
, sunshine. She was the one who kept telling me you were interested. Why do you think I pushed so hard?”

“I don’t know,” I teased, “maybe it’s because you’re a stubborn ass.” I elbowed him in the side and he laughed.

“That’s part of it, but I’m not the type of person to give up when I want something. Neither are you. She wanted to help you like you helped her and Ryley. I admire that in you, Gabriella. You love your friends and you protect them. There aren’t many people in the world that are like that.”

“Well, I know of one person like me,” I said, turning to face him. We were finally at the pier and there were tons of people around, but all I could focus on was him. It was as if we were the only two people there. Backing myself against the post, I pulled him to me and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You’re just like that too. It’s not something you let everyone see, but it’s there. I’m just glad you let me in. If not, I don’t think we’d be here right now.”

The wind blew a strand of hair in my face and he gently brushed it away. “I knew what I needed to do for you to see me. It was a sacrifice I had to make, which brings me to what I need to say next.”

He leaned over and kissed me, but it wasn’t chaste. I felt his need and his desire pour into my body, as if he was giving it to me. But most importantly, I felt his love. He might be scarred by the darkness he’d given in to once before, but he needed me and I sure as hell needed him. I couldn’t imagine these days without him.

When he pulled his lips away, he rested his forehead to mine and kept his gaze on me while he pulled my hand down away from his neck. I didn’t even ask what he was doing until I felt the cold metal slide down my finger.

Paxton got down on his knee. Wide-eyed, I gaped at him with my mouth wide open like a fish. Was he really proposing to me? Gasps erupted from the crowd of people around us. My heart thundered rapidly in my chest and I almost gave in to the hype, until I remembered this had to be his plan . . . the thing to drive Rage over the edge. It all made sense. If he thought Paxton and I were going to get married, he’d know we were serious; that I was definitely unattainable.

The flock of people closed in around us, taking pictures and videos. I even heard Paxton’s name being murmured across the crowd. They knew who he was. Holding my hand in his, I looked down at the ring and my eyes watered. It was gorgeous, but it wasn’t really mine. This was all fake. It was shiny and bright with diamonds all across the band, but the center stone sparkled in a majestic blue color, like the ocean.

“I love you, Gabriella Reynolds. I know we haven’t been together long, but I’ve known what I wanted ever since the day I first saw you. Witnessing your love and passion for the things you do and the people you love encouraged me to do the same. It’s because of you I want to be a better man—that I
am
a better man. I don’t think I can ever let you go.” Then his hand squeezed mine and his green gaze penetrated straight through to my soul. My knees grew weak and I held my breath. I knew what was coming next.

“I want you to be my wife, Gabby. Tell me you’ll say yes.”

“Yes,” the ladies around us prodded. “Say yes.”

Paxton chuckled, but never swayed his eyes from mine. “What do you say, sunshine? Do you think you can put up with me for the rest of your life?”

“If she doesn’t, honey, I’ll be more than happy to,” an old lady shouted.

“Yes,” I cried, nodding my head. “The answer’s yes.”

Jumping to his feet, Paxton picked me up in his arms and twirled me around. The crowd cheered and screamed in delight as we kissed and held each other. Everyone who walked by gave us their congratulations and well wishes. As far as proposals went, it was pretty damn epic.

After the excitement died down, we started on our way back down the beach to his house. I tried not to stare at the ring on my finger, but it fit perfectly, like it was made for me. “I have to say, you did that very convincingly,” I confessed. “You definitely had me believing it.”

Paxton smiled, looking down at the sand. “I’m pretty sure Rage will find out about it if he doesn’t already know.”

“The ring is beautiful. Is it a sapphire?” I asked, holding my hand up. It twinkled as the last rays of the sun shone across the water.

“Actually, it’s a diamond. It was my mother’s.”

I gasped, holding my hand over my heart. “Oh my God,” I breathed. We finally made it back to his house, but his mood had shifted. “Paxton, we need to get inside so I can take it off. I don’t want anything happening to your mother’s ring.”

I expected him to laugh and shrug it off, but there was no humor in his face when he gazed down at me. I shivered when he took my face in his hands. “I like it where it’s at, Gabriella. If you want to take it off that’s fine, but I think it looks good on your hand. Besides, we’re engaged now. We need to act like it.”

“So what exactly do engaged couples do?” I teased, lifting up on my toes. I bit his bottom lip and sucked it between my teeth.

Groaning, he pressed his body to mine and I felt his cock respond. “I can think of a million things.”

About that time, both of our phones rang, slicing through our tension. He looked down at his and I looked down at mine. “Who’s calling you?” I asked.

“My cousin. You?”

“Ashleigh,” I laughed. “So how long do we need to play this off?”

“For as long as you want, sunshine.” He kissed me quickly and answered his phone.
For as long as I want?
How was I supposed to handle a question like that? Being prepared, when I answered the phone I held it away from my ear knowing Ashleigh was going to squeal. Needless to say, she did.

“Hey, Ash,” I greeted once her screams died down. “How are you?”

“How am I? How are
you
? There are videos going around everywhere of Paxton proposing. How the hell did that happen?”

I watched Paxton as he talked to his cousin and when his eyes met mine, something changed. We took a step without meaning to, and it was both scary and exhilarating. Life was never going to be the same.

“Ashleigh, to be honest, I’ve never been better. I love him.”

“See, I knew you were hot for him. And now look at you happy lovebirds. You can live happily ever after.”

Little did she know, our lives weren’t a fairy tale. We were stuck in a hell that I could only pray we’d get out of unscathed. Until then, I had to pretend all was okay.

“Yes,” I murmured. “Our own little fairytale.”

THE WHOLE EVENING was spent talking to people on the phone and hearing everyone’s congratulation spiels. My brother even called, but I wasn’t ready to talk to him. He wouldn’t understand and I couldn’t tell him about the mission we were working on. For now, I had to keep him in the dark, just like everyone else.

Thankfully, by ten o’clock the calls had slowed down and we both had time to take a quick rinse off and change clothes. I opted for a pair of pink pajama shorts and a white cami, which Pax loved. He groaned when his phone started to ring again, so he shut it off and threw it across the room. I wished I could do that to mine, but I just couldn’t. Grabbing my brush off the bathroom counter, I sauntered into the bedroom and sat down beside Paxton on the bed. The wind did a number on my hair, so I took a deep breath and started brushing out the knots.

“I knew the news would travel, but I didn’t think it would go that fast.” Paxton shook his head. Taking the brush from my hand, his fingers lingered over the ring for a moment before trailing down my arm.

Gently, he stroked the brush through my hair and my breath hitched. It felt so good. Even more so when he brushed the hair off my shoulder and placed his lips on my bare skin. “What did you expect?” I whispered huskily. “You’re Paxton Emerson, a sexy as hell fighter every female would give up just about anything to be with.”

“Would you give up everything to be with me?”

My eyes fluttered closed as his fingers worked through my hair and then down my back. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you.”

Deftly, he slid his hands up my shirt and reached around to my breasts, squeezing them. My breasts felt heavy and sensitive as he rolled my nipples between his fingers, pinching them to make me squirm. “Do you want something, Mr. Emerson?”

“You . . . only you.” Laying me back, he came from behind and covered me with his body. He traced my lips with his tongue and pushed his cock against my center. “It’s only ever going to be you.”

The second his lips touched mine and I closed my eyes, my damn phone rang. Paxton froze against my lips and groaned, sliding off of me so I could get it. “This is really starting to piss me off,” he grumbled.

“Tell me about it.” But when I peered down at the phone, I knew I had to take it. “It’s Scar,” I said. Paxton bolted upright, his expression hard when I answered the phone. “Yeah.”

“Yeah, is right,” Scar countered. “You know, I told you to calm it down with Reaper, but you just couldn’t do that could you?”

“I agreed to three fights, not to change my whole life around. You don’t own me,” I spat. Paxton’s nostrils flared and he clenched his hands into tight fists. He was itching to have it out with Scar.

“I may not own you, but there’s still one more fight you owe me. Rage wanted to bring you in tonight, but there wasn’t enough time to plan.”

“Tomorrow then?”

“Yes.”

He hadn’t mentioned anything about Paxton fighting, so I assumed it was something he didn’t want known. I had to play it off. “Good, I can beat the next fucker down and you can get the hell out of my life. Then Rage can kiss my ass and go stalk somebody else.” I would rather him stalk me than some helpless woman. All in all, they needed to be stopped.

“Same time, same place. Don’t be late.” The line went dead.

Snarling, I stared at my phone. “What a jackass.”

“What did he say?” Paxton inquired.

I set my phone down on the nightstand and laid back. “He didn’t say anything about you. I guess it’s supposed to be a surprise.”