Fairytale Come Alive (Ghosts and Reincarnation #4)(116)
Author: Kristen Ashley

Prentice and Mikey again stared at her before looking to each other then Prentice looked back at Elle and walked to her.

Once he arrived, he pulled her loosely in his arms and informed her cautiously, “He’s gone.”

“Good,” Elle replied then asked, “Should we take this in the other room now? I can unwrap the furniture while you and Mikey finish the decals.”

Prentice’s arms gave her a little squeeze and both his head and voice dipped low when he said, “Elle, baby, what happened outside –”

“Is over,” Elle interrupted him. “It’s Christmas Eve and he’s had five minutes of it, he doesn’t get anymore.”

“So you’re okay with what happened out there?” Prentice asked.

“No,” Elle answered. “But I didn’t show up on my ex-husband who hates me’s doorstep to act like a selfish jerk then be sent packing, he did. He has to deal with that. I don’t. And you said he’s gone so it’s over, I’m moving onto princess castles then to bed then Christmas.”

After making her declaration, she held Prentice’s beautiful every-colored eyes as they held hers. Then she watched his eyes smile. Then she lost sight of them when his head dropped and her eyes closed when he touched his mouth to hers.

When his head came up, he muttered, “Right, let’s get this done.”

“Yes,” she smiled and gave him her own squeeze, “let’s get this done.”

“We’ve got a plan,” Mikey cut in, moving toward the sheet of sticker decals that would adorn the princess castle with printed stone and abundant flowers. “Sally’s castle then bed. I’m beat. And sleep means waking up to Bella’s breakfast casserole and the moment I taste that high-calorie extravaganza cannot come soon enough. So, chop chop!”

Elle transferred her smile to Mikey, Mikey returned it, she gave Prentice another squeeze, he returned it then he let her go and they chop chopped.

* * * * *

“Baby,” Prentice said softly as Elle wandered out of the bathroom and into their room, ready for bed.

“Yes?” she answered, her eyes going to him then her brows drawing together because he was in his pajama bottoms but he was also wearing a sweatshirt and a thick pair of socks.

She was in a short, silky, lacy nightie and she felt comfortable. The heat was turned down at night; Prentice set the automatic timer on the thermostat to do it so the house could get chill, although she wouldn’t really know because by that time Prentice was using a variety of ways to warm her up. But, considering he knew they’d have a late night, he’d turned off the automatic timer and only turned it back on when they’d finished the castle, said their goodnights to Mikey and headed to bed.

The air hadn’t even gone cool yet.

“Are you cold?” she asked right before he tossed a pair of his thick socks to her.

She bobbled them then caught them.

“On,” he ordered then strode to the closet and disappeared.

Elle stared at the socks in her hand. Then, slowly, her head turned so she could look out the windows to the moonlit sea.

Then her heart started racing.

Prentice took her out there on occasion, not often but it happened. Sometimes he’d take a bottle of wine for her and his whisky, they’d sip and stare at the sea, each in their own thoughts, doing this mostly silently.

She loved it when he did that, she loved the quiet togetherness, the sea their view, comfortable in each other’s company without words.

But something told her tonight, knowing she was tired, Christmas less than an hour away, he wasn’t in the mood to sip whisky and stare at the sea with her back tucked to his front, his arms around her, her head resting on his shoulder.

It was something else.

And tomorrow was Christmas so that something else could be something else.

Prentice exited the closet with one of his thick, wooly sweaters.

“Pren –” she started.

“Socks on, Elle,” he interrupted her.

She stared at him for another moment. Then she bent over and pulled on his socks. When she was done, he was close and he pulled the sweater over her head. It was huge and covered her from neck to thigh, well past her nightgown but it left her legs bare. Even with her legs bare, the minute she shoved her arms through the sleeves, Prentice grabbed her hand and led her out to the balcony.

Heart still racing, Elle didn’t argue or resist.

She followed.

He closed the door behind them and guided her to the railing before he stopped them and guided her into his arms.

She tipped her head back to look at his face in the moonlight and the illumination from the soft lamps lit on either side of the bed that were coming through the windows of their room. When she did, she saw he was already looking down at her and she noted he looked serious.

She opened her mouth to speak, knowing he had to feel her heart beating against his chest where it was pressed close but she didn’t utter a peep.

Because he spoke first.

And when he did, it was to ask, “You’d throw yourself in front of a bus for me?”

She bit her lip as she tried to control the beating of her heart. This was an impossibility so she answered, “Well –”

That was all she got out before Prentice spoke again.

And when he did, this time it was a thick, hoarse whisper, “You’d throw yourself in front of a bus for me.”

She would and he knew it. He knew it and she knew that he felt that knowledge burrow deep and he liked it.

Elle felt tears stinging the backs of her eyes, her body melted into his, her arms tightened around him and she whispered back, “Yes, Pren, though I hope I never get the chance.”

A short, sharp laugh escaped his throat but that was it before his head dropped and his forehead came to rest on hers.

Then he said in his soft, low, sweet, beautiful voice, “You know I love you.”

“I know,” she replied just as soft but probably not as sweet and beautiful.

“You love me,” he declared.

“With everything I am,” Elle confirmed, his eyes closed slowly and his arms squeezed her tight.

Then they loosened, his eyes opened to look into hers and that voice kept coming at her. “And you know I want you in my life until my last breath.”

Her heart tripped over itself.

“Pren.” That was all she could get out, she could say no more and Prentice didn’t give her a chance.

He pulled slightly away at the same time he reached behind him to wrap a hand around her left wrist. Then he shifted it between them as his other hand went to the pocket of his pajama bottoms. The next second he was sliding a large diamond ring on her finger, the diamond brilliant, gorgeous and huge but the setting was simple, unadorned, the luster, brilliance and size of the diamond the only thing it needed.