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~Chapter 4: The Proposal~

They had ended up in a posh upscale French restaurant in downtown LA, sat in a private little corner away from prying eyes. Just thinking about how they got here made Evelyn shudder in fear. She didn’t know what she was expecting, maybe a limousine or something similarly grand. She hadn’t been expecting Paul to drive them in an expensive sleek black Jaguar sports car and sped through the entire traffic like a madman. During the entire drive over, Evelyn’s face was pale as a ghost, she clung onto Perse’s arm like a lifeline. It had certainly felt like she barely survived the drive, with how her heart was still pounding like a drumbeat in her chest now. Perse actually had the nerve to laugh at her, the blonde would have glared at her if she had not been too terrified to do so.

When Paul had dropped them off in front of the restaurant and driven off, she had profusely apologized to the tanned woman for possibly hurting her arm by how hard she had been holding onto her. Perse merely chuckled in amusement at the human and winked salaciously, “I am rather well, bunny. If anything, I actually quite enjoyed the contact.” Evelyn blushed, remembering how she had practically seated herself on the other woman’s lap in her fright.

Perse had then conversed with the maître d’ and ordered for them in fluent French since Evelyn could not understand a word of French written in the menu. Evelyn had briefly thought about how pretentious the restaurant was, using a French menu instead of English in an English-speaking nation. On a side note though, listening to Perse speak a foreign tongue was pleasing to the ears and arousing to the blonde.

“Perse,” Evelyn called out when the maître d’ left to place their orders. The older woman acknowledged with a hum. “Is this… a date?” The blonde asked shyly.

With an amused smile, the dark-haired woman asked, “Do you want it to be?”

The blonde blushed brightly, answering softly as if she was afraid the whole world might hear her and laugh at her expense, “And if I say I do?”

“Then this shall be a date,” Perse stated as if it was an irrefutable truth and gave the cute woman a full grin with teeth and all. Evelyn found herself returning the happy grin, she moved her hand across the table to hold hers. Another pleased rumble of the woman’s essence showed her appreciation.

The atmosphere of the restaurant was very intimate, the table they were sat at was hidden in an alcove. The table was covered with a light pink tablecloth and on the middle of the table stood a candle holder with three burning lemongrass-scented candles. The cushioned seat was curved in a horseshoe shape, with red upholstered leather and bracketed evenly with thick wooden bars that were overgrown with vines that gave the impression of privacy. Evelyn briefly wondered whether Perse had specifically selected this table for its romantic intimate setting.

“I’ve missed you, Princess,” Perse crooned in that gentle voice of hers that had the blonde not been sitting down, she would have swooned and fallen face-first onto the floor. Evelyn had never believed in things like love at first sight, it had always come off as children’s bedtime story to her. However, at this moment, she could at least say that she had felt deep attraction at first coffee spill for this woman and the feeling had only been getting stronger the more time she spent with her.

“Me too,” Evelyn answered with a dreamy sigh. The doting smile on the other woman’s face made the speckles of gold and silver in her eyes shine brighter, rivalling those of twinkling stars. Her essence that hadn’t left the blonde woman grew warmer, trying to convey her happiness. Although, the rise in temperature had the younger woman pondering briefly whether the air conditioner had just broken.

A waiter brought forth a huge plate of various entrée samplers. Perse picked up the first entrée in front of her and brought it to the blonde’s lips. Evelyn shyly parted her lips, accepting the food from the woman. The savoury spices of the dish exploded in her mouth and she moaned appreciatively at the taste.

“Oh my god, what was that?” She asked after she had fully savoured the treat. Perse smiled indulgently and whispered, “La Morbiflette.” The blonde’s confused look made her elaborate, “It’s a simple French dish made with onions, bacon, potato, nutmeg and a French cheese called Morbier.”

Perse then stared at the blonde expectantly, it took an embarrassingly long moment for her to understand what Perse had wanted. With a deep red flush that went all the way to her neck, Evelyn scooped up one of the little dishes in front of her with a fork and raised it to the other woman’s lips. The older woman made sure she was staring intently into her eyes as she took the fork into her mouth, sucking gently before releasing it and flicking her pink tongue out to lick her bottom lip sensuously. Evelyn feared that she might pass out being teased by the older woman, she prayed to whatever God who may be listening to her at that moment to let her survive this encounter. She gulped loudly as Perse raised another forkful of a delicate treat to her lips. “This is going to be a long day,” the blonde thought as she parted her lips.

Throughout the meal, they kept feeding each other while chatting amicably and it was concluded with a shared dessert. The foods were exquisite although none compared to the indigo-haired, galaxy-eyed woman she was finding harder and harder to resist.

“So, now that we have a full belly, why don’t we talk about the proposal for your company?” Perse gazed at her as she rested her chin on her interlaced fingers.

She was about to reject the idea when the galaxy-eyed woman stopped her, “Do you think I should do it? Maybe add in a condition of my own while I am at it? Or I should reject it, and make you a counteroffer?”

She looked at Perse curiously, “Why do you want my opinion? And what do you mean by ‘make me a counteroffer’?”

The way she smirked with the twinkling of her eyes made the blonde’s knees weaken. “I was thinking that maybe I will allow your company to work with mine but my condition would be that their newest branch has to be opened in New Hampshire, with you as their branch manager.”

The blonde blanched and went slack-jawed. Before she could think of something to say, Perse continued on, “Or I could refuse their offer and instead make you a counteroffer to join my company, I would give you a better position and higher pay than what they currently give you, but you’d have to move to New Hampshire.”

Evelyn shook her head in disbelief which Perse took as a no, she lifted her forefinger to stop the blonde and gave her another offer, “Or, I could offer to work with your company and they could start a new branch wherever they wanted. However, they would have to relinquish you to my company… Evelyn, I know this is a lot to ask for, moving you across the country all of a sudden, but I would really like to have the chance to get to know you better.”

She gripped the blonde’s left hand with both of hers, “Please take some time to think about it, as long as you need. I just want to have you closer to where I live permanently.” She picked the same hand up with both of hers and kissed the back of the blonde’s hand.

When she was still given no reply, she nearly begged, “I know you are shocked, but please promise me you will at least think about it?” Her eyes held a pleading look, she spoke with the blonde’s hand still pressed to her lips. With each brush of her lips against her hand, shivers raced through her body, raising goosebumps. Still unable to process everything, Evelyn merely nodded her head. A quirk of the lips against her hand let her know that Perse was smiling and with another peck of her hand, she lowered it and led them out of the restaurant.

While they were on their way out, Paul was flirting with the maître d’, whispering a few words to her that made the maître d’ chuckle self-consciously. When he saw the pair leaving, he slipped a massive wad of cash into her hands, asked her to keep the change and rushed to open the door for them.

This time when Paul was seated at the driver seat, Perse gently warned him to drive like a ‘human’. If Evelyn found the phrasing odd, she didn’t mention it, he did drive like a madman before. Perse sat closely beside the blonde, their thighs firmly pressed together and her hands on the blonde’s lap, still holding her left hand in between them.

Evelyn found herself craving the closeness, it wasn’t anything sexual, it felt more like their souls wanting to become one. If this had been someone else, she would have felt smothered by the clinginess of her partner and asked for space. With Perse though, it was different, she felt complete and adored beside her.

Upon their return to the office, Evelyn noted that two hours had passed, she hoped that Mr. Smith would not react too badly. When they entered the conference room, everyone was already seated and their idle chatters ceased. Perse led them to their end of the table by their joined hands confidently. Evelyn blushed, knowing that everyone in the room was watching them and most definitely would have noticed their joined hands. However, Perse did not sit down as she looked out at the people sitting around the table.

“Welcome back, Ms. Enfer. I hope that our city had treated you well?” Mr. Smith stood up and addressed Perse.

“Why, yes, thank you, Grant, it is a lovely concrete jungle.” There was a stretch of silence following her words and everyone waited on bated breath. Perse lived for these tense moments when everyone seemed to anticipate her next words.

Just as Grant Smith was unable to hold it anymore and was about to address the giant elephant in the room, Perse talked over him, “I am afraid I would need to sit on this a while longer. When I have my answer, I’ll have my assistant call you up. I shall be taking my leave now. There is no need to send me off, gentlemen.”

“Would you walk me out, sweetheart?” She whispered the question so that only the blonde could hear her.

She nodded and they began the trudge from the heavily silent room to the car. The human could only imagine how piqued Mr. Smith and the other board of directors were at the moment. They had given such lengthy presentations that lasted the whole morning and then waited two hours for them to have lunch, only to have Perse return for less than five minutes to let them know she needed more time to think.

Finally, they reached the footpath where the Jaguar was waiting in front of them. Perse turned around to face her, their hands still held together, the supernatural placed her other hand on the blonde’s cheek, who instantly leaned into her touch.

“We shall part way here, Evelyn. Please don’t make me wait too long,” she whispered. Her hand slid down the blonde’s cheek to trace her jaw and then she firmly gripped her chin. Evelyn’s heart raced when Perse leaned in but at the last moment, she turned slightly to press her plump lips against the corner of her lips. The disappointment of not receiving a proper kiss was so debilitating that Evelyn nearly sobbed.

When she pulled back, the blonde had almost wanted to whine and pull the tease back for a proper kiss. Almost. She whispered “Happy Birthday Evelyn” into the blonde’s ears then she took a step back and pulled out a card for Evelyn. “Call me when you’re ready to tell me your answer. Or… just call me whenever you want. I would like to hear your voice again. I’ll see you soon, hopefully.” Evelyn reached out for the card, it looked similar to her business card at first glance but instead of her office number, this one held her personal contact information.

With another cheek kiss, she climbed into the back of her car and the human could only watch as Paul drove away with a piece of her heart. She could feel the obtrusive emptiness deeply in her heart, leaving her cold. However, a sudden gust of wind invigorated her with a rush of heat, filling up her heart. She knew she would be alright then; she felt stronger, safer and warmer like a blanket had been thrown over her entire body, or like an angel’s wings had been wrapped around her, cocooning her to provide protection.

As soon as the gust had come, it died off just as unexpectedly, bringing with it an irreplaceable change. The colours in the world were more vibrant, the fragrance in the air was stronger, the sounds were louder. Evelyn felt like she had been reborn in a new world.

Nothing had really changed though, everyone still treated her the same, time still ticked on and the world kept rotating.

That same night, we were standing on the footpath beside the Jaguar. Perse turned around to face me, my left hand held in her right hand and her left hand traced my cheek. I leaned into her touch, wanting to feel more of her.

She whispered against my lips, “Happy Birthday Princess.” Then her fingers pressed firmly against the bundle of nerves between my legs, applying just the right pressure and flicking my bud expertly. She captured my lips when I came, to muffle the scream I was going to release. When I came back to my senses, I was still pressed between her body and the car, but my wobbly legs had already been planted back onto the footpath. My hands were wrapped around her shoulders while hers were on my hips. Her lips moved as she said some words that I couldn’t decipher.

When Evelyn opened her eyes to the glaring sunlight, she groaned loudly at her dream of the irresistible woman. “Happy Birthday, indeed.” She grumbled, annoyed that she had to take a cold shower before work now.