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When I meet him on the walkway, he bends his tall half down and kisses me as he greets me, “You look beautiful, love. I could eat you up.” He smirks as he takes my hand, and he leads me to the car, opening my door for me.
No driver this time. It’s just Silus and me on our own little date night.
I buckle my seatbelt as I wait for him to walk around the front end of the car and get in beside me. He left it idling, though no music plays. We’re on the road within the next minute, and I can’t help but smile as we drive past the same houses Max and I grew up around.
“Where are we going tonight?” I ask him, slow to drag my gaze off the scenery and land it on Silus.
God, even his side profile is hot. The man might be a bit old for me, but I don’t mind. He hasn’t started to gray yet, but I bet if he does, he’ll look even sexier. I wouldn’t mind some flashes of gray in that black hair of his.
“About that…” The car rolls to a stop at a stop sign, and Silus leans over me to open the glove compartment. He pulls something out of it and drops it on my lap. “Put this on.”
I pick up what he dropped on me, and as the long, black fabric dangles from my hand, I frown. “Is this… a blindfold? Silus—”
“Put it on.” When I make no moves to do that, he adds, “If you don’t, I will be forced to put it on for you. This is a kidnapping, love.” He says that last part so off-handedly, it takes a moment for it to click in my head.
A kidnapping? Oh, he’s got to be kidding me.
“You are not kidnapping me,” I tell him. “I’m going with you willingly.”
The look he gives me shuts me up. The man radiates intensity without even trying, and I get a hint of that intensity when he whispers, “It’s one final kidnapping, for old time’s sake. Now stop being a brat and put it on, Thea. I’ll have to punish you if you don’t comply, and that would make us late.”
If anyone else would’ve called me a brat, I would have a few choice words to say. As it is, he didn’t say it meanly and I know well enough by now that Silus enjoys my feistiness. So, I give in, because at this point what else can I do?
“Fine,” I mutter. “You’re lucky I love you, you jerk.” I lift the blindfold and tie it around my eyes, blocking out everything. The only thing I can see is the thick blackness of the fabric before my eyes. “Don’t know why it’s a secret where we’re going.”
“Obviously, you’ll see. It’s going to take a while to get there, though, so if I were you, I’d relax and enjoy the ride,” Silus advises as he sets a hand on my knee, bunching up my dress in the process.
Hmm. It’s going to take a while to get there? Color me curious.
I guess moving furniture and painting is tiring, because I doze off. The secret to early afternoon naps is, apparently, a blindfold. I don’t know how long I nap, but when I jerk myself awake I don’t feel Silus’s hand on my knee anymore.
“Silus?” I wait a few seconds but get no response. “How long was I asleep?” Another moment passes. “Silus? If you don’t answer, I’m taking off the blindfold.” A threat to ruin the surprise of wherever he was taking me—although, maybe we’re there already. Who can say how long I was asleep?
My fingers untie the blindfold from behind my head, and as I set the fabric down on the center console, I’m greeted with a sight I don’t expect. In fact, I’m so stupefied by what I see around the car that my mouth falls open.
I fumble to get out of the car, and the moment my flats hit the dirt a gentle breeze caresses my face and whips at my hair. Silus has his hands in his pockets, his ass leaning against the hood of his car as he stares out at an unfamiliar horizon.
Why can’t I believe where we are? We’re not in the city anymore. To my left, to my right; all there is… is grass. Grass and no houses.
What the…
I move to stand beside Silus, staring at the distance much like he is. Gentle rolling hills, the outline of trees a few acres away, and I think I spot a pond a good distance off. Above us, the sky is no longer blue, exceptional pinks and oranges taking its place, the colors illuminating the clouds in the sky as the sun sets on the horizon.
“It’s beautiful,” I murmur.
Silus wraps an arm around me, his hand curling around my waist as he replies, “It is.”
A minute passes as I take in the serene sight, the clean air, and all the nature surrounding us. Eventually, however, I have to ask: “Where, exactly, are we? I thought we were going to dinner.”
“We are. In a way.” Silus pushes off the car, and as he does so he takes my hand into his. “There is something I want to show you, first. We’re two hours away from the city. I know it’s not as far as you’d like, but this way we can still be relatively close in case my brother needs me.” He says all this as he pulls me off the car and leads me around it—and that’s when I see it.
An old farmhouse, two stories tall, surrounded by overgrown flowerbeds. The wooden siding needs a fresh coat of paint, and it looks as though some of the railing on the wrap-around porch needs to be replaced.
But, even so, it’s beautiful. It’s so beautiful my breath catches and I dig my heels into the dirt, at a loss for words. I must not have seen it when I got out of the car, too busy staring at the back of Silus’s head.
“What… how did you—” It seems I cannot finish any question. My words fail me as Silus squeezes my hand. Is this a dream? It has to be, because there’s no way this can possibly be real.
“It’s amazing how fast things are approved when your offer is all cash and you don’t have to finance a thing,” Silus says, as if it’s no big deal he’s admitting to buying this place in all cash. “Forty acres, with a nice pond, too. House needs a bit of work, but I figure that way we can make it our own. The old owner wanted to downsize, and she couldn’t refuse the offer I made her.”
