Page 28 of Sensual Surrender (The Serafina: Sin City 2)
Chapter 19
Ellie waited as her computer shut down before pushing back from her desk. Even though it was Sunday, she’d decided to come in and get some work done. Mainly that had involved answering the hundreds of emails she’d received for those few days where she’d just disappeared. After they were sure that De Luca and his crew were under arrest and the charges were sticking, Wyatt had told everyone she’d been sick with a terrible flu. So now she had a bunch of flowers and balloons lining her office.
Which made her smile.
She really did love working here. But more than anything she loved Jay. So much that it filled her until she wanted to tell everyone how wonderful the feeling was. Which she knew was stupid. But now that he knew about her past and didn’t judge her, all that fear she’d had before was just gone. He loved her for exactly who she was. After everything they’d been through together she knew without a doubt that Jay was the kind of man to be there for her through the good times and the tough ones. Just as she would be there for him. Always.
He’d wanted her to work from home today but she’d known exactly how that would have gone. She wouldn’t have gotten a single thing done.
As she grabbed her purse, her office door opened, surprising her. This floor was private to her, Wyatt and the security staff, and she knew Wyatt had taken the night off to spend it with Iris. Since the security personnel rarely needed her, she was surprised when Vadim stepped inside. She’d thought he would know their boss was off for the evening. “Hey, V, Wyatt’s not here.”
“I know, I came to see you.” His voice was soft, nonthreatening and still, the man made her nervous.
“Okay.” She stayed where she was, purse in hand.
As if sensing her hesitancy, he half-smiled and took a step back toward the door, putting more distance between them in a clear attempt to put her more at ease. “I saw on the news that Santa Claus visited Vegas early Thursday morning.”
Ellie knew what he was referring to but wasn’t sure why he was bringing it up. Iris, Wyatt, and Hayden must have guessed what she and Jay had done—anonymously donating the money to various non-profit organizations, not the other thing—but no one had said a word because nothing needed to be said. “Yeah, me too.”
V stood there for a long moment as if trying to find the right words and she wondered if some of her anxiety around him had more to do with his lack of social skills than anything else. Finally he cleared his throat, almost nervously. “It was good what you did…” He trailed off in that odd way of his, shrugging.
She still thought he was a bit intimidating, but she smiled and stepped out from her desk. “I’m heading out. Want to walk me to the elevators?”
Smiling, sort of, he nodded and opened the door, stepping out before her. Now she realized he definitely wanted to put her at ease and this must be his way of showing it. Limited social skills she could deal with, especially since he’d gone above and beyond to help her. Sure it had been at Wyatt’s asking, but he still hadn’t had to do it.
“So the real jewels are back in place?” she asked, making small talk.
“Yeah, oversaw them being moved from the vault to the display myself. Security’s even tighter now. They won’t be here much longer anyway. The museum is taking them back.” He was hard to read, but sounded pleased about that.
“I bet De Luca was pissed to find out the jewels he got were fake.” To know that his own man had betrayed him.
V just grunted a sound of agreement.
Tadeo Bejar was testifying against De Luca for not only being the mastermind of the jewel heist but for a whole mess of other things including drug and human trafficking. He hadn’t admitted to tipping Kevin off, but the cops were pretty certain that was why Kevin had run the way he had. No one could prove it though and since Bejar wasn’t a threat to her, Ellie didn’t really care. Kevin wasn’t going to be a threat to anyone ever again. The cops were still looking for him and she felt bad about that since they’d never find a body, but there was nothing to be done. The police assumed he’d gone on the run and would attempt to escape to Mexico and that assumption was fine with her.
After saying goodbye to Vadim she got into the elevator and pressed L for lobby. She’d left her rental car with valet earlier because the thought of walking to and from the parking garage alone had made her nervous. She knew Kevin couldn’t hurt her, but after what had happened in the desert, she still felt raw and vulnerable and yeah, scared. Being back at home with Jay eased most of her lingering fears, but she wasn’t naïve enough to think they’d go away overnight.
It belatedly registered that the elevator had gone up instead of down. Frowning, she pressed the L button again but the doors opened on one of the top floors and stayed there. She depressed the button a couple more times but nothing happened. “What the heck?” she muttered to herself. She’d have to call maintenance or take another elevator because she wasn’t walking down a bazillion flights of stairs in her heels.
Stepping out into the tiled area, she paused at the sight of a big white sign with a red arrow drawn onto it. Underneath it said ‘This way, Ellie’. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight, a slight smile tugging at her lips.
Was this Jay’s doing? It had to be. She headed in the direction of the arrow toward the entrance of one of the hotel’s viewing floors. After she walked through the open glass doors, she immediately spotted a small round table with candles, a bottle of champagne chilling on ice and two chairs set right next to one of the ceiling-to-floor length windows. This floor was for tourists to be able to view the entire city
, but it was closed after a certain time.
“Jay?” she called out, stepping farther into the expansive, open room, butterflies dancing in her stomach.
Music filtered over the hidden speakers and it took her a moment to realize it was the first song they’d ever made love to. Not from the first time they’d been together, because there had been no music then, but she remembered this playing one hot evening when Jay had gotten frisky and they hadn’t gone directly home after work. Instead they’d been a little adventurous in his truck in the private parking garage. And this song had been playing. How had he even remembered that? And where was he?
She slowly strode toward the table, the bright lights of the city glittering in every direction she looked. Sometimes the hotel catered events up here and the only place where he could be was the small kitchen galley in the middle of the room. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to find him or… Jay strode out one of the swinging galley doors a moment later, his expression intense.
“Hey,” she managed to rasp out.
“Hey, yourself.” He swallowed hard as he approached, almost faltering. It was so out of character, she wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“What is all this?” she asked, her voice shaking. She thought she might know, but didn’t want to hope.
His green eyes flashed against the outside lights as he stopped in front of her. For a moment it appeared as if he would reach for her hips in that all too familiar way of his, but instead he went down on one knee—and her own just about buckled. Clearing his throat, he held up a small blue box and flipped it open to reveal a sparkly solitaire emerald-cut diamond. “After everything we’ve been through together, I hope you know by now that there will never be anyone else for me. Marry me, Ellie.”
