His Absolute Proposal: An Illicit Billionaire Love Story (Elise, #3) by Cerys du Lys Page B

either.
    How long would he be imprisoned?  Would it be a short sentence?  A few months?  No, I doubted it.  Longer?  Years?  Decades...?
    I could visit him, I thought.  I would want to, but I knew it wouldn't be enough, either.  Sitting in a chair while speaking to Lucent from behind a thick sheet of glass, each of us watching the other, him in bright orange prison garb.  I wouldn't even be able to touch him.  I just wanted to touch him.  I just...
    We were clean.  The shower was off.  I didn't want to leave.  I didn't want to go outside.  Stay with me, Lucent.  I pleaded with him with my eyes.  Please don't go.  If we don't leave the bathroom they'll never know we're here.
    Someone knocked on the bathroom door.  This was it.  The end.  Nothing more.  I'd started writing our story the other day, and I hadn't even managed to finish it all, except apparently it was over.  What more could I do?
    "Asher?" a female voice called out through the door; it was Jessika.  "There's a police officer here.  Officer Dean Thompson.  He thinks that Lucent and Elise might be hiding in here.  He wants to look around.  I'm... uh... I'm just a little nervous, though.  You know, all that's going on?  I asked him to wait until you were done in the bathroom, so..."
    Asher answered her.  "Alright, honey.  I'll be out in a second.  I'm sure everything's going to be fine."
    Lucent squeezed me tight, holding me against him.
    "Miss Tanner," he said.  "I love you."
    "I love you, too, Lucent," I said.  "But you're going to go to jail.  I don't want that.  I don't know if I can keep loving you like that.  I want to.  I want to think that I can be strong and... but I won't be able to see you.  I know that's selfish.  I'm sorry.  I do, I love you.  I didn't mean what I just said.  I won't stop loving you.  I can do it, I promise.  I'll visit you as much as I... as I..."
    Lucent let out a soft, quiet laugh.  "Shh, no one's going to jail.  Let's dry off and get dressed.  We're going to be fine."
    "I don't know how you can say we're going to be fine," I said.  "We're not going to be fine.  There's a police officer here and he's going to arrest you."
    "Do you trust me?" he asked.
    "I do trust you," I said.  "But it's just that..."
    "No," he said.  "No 'buts,' Miss Tanner.  Except for your delightfully smooth and pert one."
    For emphasis, he gave my rear a quick smack.  I really didn't know how he could be playful at a time like this.  It frustrated me, because I wanted to hold him and squeeze him and hug him and not let go.
    "Do you trust me?" he asked again.
    "Yes, I trust you."
    "Then believe me when I say we're going to be fine.  In an hour or less, we'll be walking out of here and by tomorrow we'll be enjoying ourselves on a beautiful beach in Aruba."
    "Do you promise?" I asked.
    "Yes.  But first we need to dry off and get dressed."
    Asher cleared his throat.  We hadn't exactly been quiet, so he heard all of what we were saying.  I blushed, embarrassed all of a sudden.  I didn't think I should be, though.  I meant everything I said, but, um... it was just private, you know?  I still meant it, and I didn't necessarily mind if someone else knew, but it was private and for Lucent.
    "I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news," Asher said from the opposite side of the shower curtain.  "There's no towels in here, though.  Jessika and I used one yesterday, but looks like that was it.  It's in her bedroom."
    "This leaves us in difficult predicament, now doesn't it?" Lucent said.
    "Not really," I said.  Yes, this was good.  I needed a distraction, no matter how slight and small it was.  Coming up with a solution to this minor problem kept me from thinking about Lucent being arrested and going to jail.
    "Do you trust me, too, Lucent?" I asked him.  I wiggled around in his arms until we were standing face to face instead of my back to his chest.  I was clean now, though it was mostly his doing.  We