“That sounds…great,” she says, but she can see there’s more, and she’s right.
“But that’s with maybe ninety percent of the money. The other ten? Well, I already spent it.”
“On what?” she says, knowing I’m finally getting to the best part.
“Our engagement celebration in the Seychelles.”
“But we’re not engaged.”
“We are now,” I say, dropping to a knee and taking out the small black box I had hidden in the bed frame.
Her hand starts shaking even more now, but I’m not looking at her hand. I’m looking at her eyes, feeling all the pride in the world at my ability to make her look so damn happy, overwhelmed with happiness actually…because that’s exactly how she makes me feel, every second of every day since I tracked her down and made her mine, just one week ago.
“I don’t have some fancy speech or anything because I’m not a fancy guy. That and I don’t want to waste another second where you’re not mine. Just say yes.”
“Yes!” she says, and I immediately slide the ring on her finger.
A perfect fit, just like the two of us.
I stand and pick her up, spinning her around the room, even feeling a tear from her cheek fall right from her face to mine.
“It’s raining happiness,” I say, as I stop spinning and kiss her hard as I transition from spinning her to carrying her in my arms to our bedroom.
I can’t get my shirt off fast enough and neither can she.
Our mouths are all over each other’s faces when suddenly she bursts out with, “My brother!”
I grumble and make my way back into the living room, only to find the call was disconnected.
I smile. “That’s right. He doesn’t have anything more to say about us, does he.”
“What’s going on in there?” Charlize hollers from the room.
“Nothing. Your brother was just…kind enough to offer us some time alone to celebrate.”
“That’s nice of him,” she says. “So how about you get back in here and we celebrate.”
I smirk. “Yeah…how about that.”
I make my way back into the bedroom and find her already naked, staring at the ring on her finger.
“It’s huge,” she says.
“And just as important no people or animals were harmed in the discovery or the process of making it into what will now be on your hand…forever.”
“You know what I love about you?” she says, motioning me over with a come-hither movements from all of her fingers, on both of her outstretched hands.
“Some of the billions of things I love about you?”
“That you’re so caring of others all the time.”
“Not always,” I say.
“I’ve never seen it.”
“When it comes to you I’m greedy as hell. I don’t care what anybody thinks about us, because you’re mine and that’s all that matters.”
“All that matters,” she repeats.
“Forever,” I say as my lips come crashing down on hers possessively, claiming my sexy safari partner, the ring on her finger a reminder that from this point forward the journeys that we take through life, we’ll take together. Forever.
“Forever,” she agrees. “Always.”
EPILOGUE
Charlize
Three weeks later
“Wow. There it is.”
I feel the super fine sand between my toes just as I feel his fingers interlace with mine.
“It’s just like the guidebook said,” Hunter says.
Our eyes both lock on the half mile stretch of sand in front of us knows as Anse Lazio. It’s been called the world’s best beach, and for good reason.
While most of the tourists are over at the famous Anse Source D’Argent, taking Instagram pictures with the rocks there, Anse Lazio doesn’t sport a single rock or piece of coral. It’s as pristine a beach as you can find, with water so clear you can easily see all the fish swimming around you.
“I’m not sure if I want to just stand here and take the sight of it in, or actually walk across it or even go for a swim.”
“It’s like we’re standing inside of a computer screensaver, isn't it?” Hunter notices.
I laugh and snap back to reality, throwing my arms around him.
The place is completely deserted and we have a full hour before we get to watch the sunset right from this same spot, alone, as holidays are meant to be spent…at least this kind of holiday.
We slowly make our way across the sand and get our snorkeling gear on.
“What are you doing?” Hunter growls.
“Honey. A place as beautiful as this, you have to do it naturally,” I say as I untie the back of my triangle top.
“Wait!” he says, raising a hand.
He walks back away from the shore a bit searching for people who might be lurking underneath the shade of coconut trees.
I just shake my head and laugh, but I wait, not wanting to upset him.
He goes back to the backpack, which held our snorkeling gear and removes a pair of high-powered binoculars often used by snipers.
Another head shake from me.
He scans the beach before returning the binoculars to his bag and walking to me.
“I guess it’s okay, but why don’t you get in up to your neck before removing your clothes.”
“Better to be safe, right? I might get a bee sting on my booty.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” he says, still scanning the area for other people.
I laugh, slap him on the behind and take off running toward the water.
He follows me in and when I’m in deep enough I remove my suit and hand it to him.
He quickly carries it back to the bag, drops his shorts and runs into the water.
“Hey!” I say. “So I can’t do it, but you can?”
“I’m worried about the guys, not the women. Plus it’s just some guy’s hairy butt. Nobody wants to see that.”
“I beg to differ!” I say, quickly dropping underwater and snorkeling over to him, my hands together above my head like a fake shark fin, just the way little kids do in swimming pools all across the world.
I take a chomp out of his booty and from his position he’s easily able to slap mine.
The water and his big hand make it sting, and I’m so ready for him to take me right here and right now. I couldn’t care less about hygiene or any of that other stuff in this moment.
I wrap my legs around him and he walks into deeper water, as we kiss all the way.
“Any deeper and we’re in over our heads,” I say when we get as deep as we can go without him swimming.
“I was in over my head the minute I laid eyes on you a month ago back in Kruger National Park.”
“Awww,” I say, pulling him in tight for a hug. “Do you really think so?”
“Maybe not over my head, but definitely over the moon.” He pauses. “What’s up with me and my word choices these days?”
“It’s called being in love,” I say, tapping him on the nose.
“I’m definitely that.”
I take in a deep breath, readying myself for what comes next.
“So…I was reading a review of this place on some travel website called Thrillest. The woman who wrote the review said the water color here is what they call in the nursery painting business ‘seafoam.’”
“Nursery painting business? Is that a real thing?” he asks.
“I guess we’re going to find out soon enough,” he says, taking the verbal bait I gave him in the exact direction I hoped he would.
“I guess we’re going to find out soon enough,” he repeats quietly as his brow furrows. Suddenly his eyes open wide and he stares right at me. “Wait a second! You mean?”
I nod. “Yep!”
He hugs me harder than he ever has before and then I feel our bodies drop into the water, his lips quickly finding mine.
We roll once or twice like it’s a dream, and that’s exact
ly what this last month has felt like.
A few seconds later my butt seems to have found his thighs, his knees bent and quickly he explodes off the bottom sending us both through the water and into the air almost like we’re two whales, fused together.
He lands on his back, in shallower water than we started, taking a big breath of air and pretending that he’s floating and acting as my life raft at the same time. I don’t even think of mentioning that I know his feet are touching the bottom just behind me.
I want to live the fantasy too.
He guides us back to the shoreline, lying on his back as we have a pretty hot and heavy make out session before stopping for a quick second as the sky just starts to turn pink.
As much as we want each other, we don’t want to miss what we came here for.
“Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better,” he says.
“I just found out the day before we left. I wanted to wait until our vacation was officially underway before we started celebrating.”
“Every moment with you is a cause for celebration.”
I pull myself up into his lap, kissing him hard before turning back around and taking in the sunset, and then kissing him again.
When we arrived there was an hour before sunset and now it’s already started. How in the world did an hour pass already?
I have no idea, but then again this last month has completely flown by, and I know why.
Because that’s what happens when you find the one person on this planet that is right for you more than any other, and the same for them.
With a global population approaching eight billion, to call what we have a miracle would be more than an understatement.
“You know what else is amazing,” I say.
“You’re joking me? You’ve got more good news? Tell me it’s twins,” he says with rapt attention.
“No, silly,” I say, feeling so much love from this man who when I told him I had more good news he immediately thought of more children in our near future. “Last year The Seychelles brokered a globally groundbreaking deal that allows them to swap millions of dollars in sovereign debt for protecting nearly one third of its ocean area.”
“Conservation,” he immediately replies.
“Yep, and The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is one of the investors on the deal.”
His jaw hardens and his mood quickly changes. “Don’t tell me you find that guy attractive.”
“The guy with the man bun and dad bod? Never. You know I’ve only got eyes for you.”
“Good,” he says as his hands grip me possessively. “Because I wouldn’t trade one second with you for a lifetime with all those Victoria’s Secret models in his past.”
“Come on. That can’t be true.”
“To me it’s as crystal clear as the waters surrounding us. If a man finds the one why would he ever keep looking? He’s giving up a lifetime of family for what? Hedonistic adventures? Not only that I’d bet it’s not enjoyable. If it was he wouldn’t keep jumping from woman to woman. If he found one incredible woman, like me, he’d want to go as deep with her as he could, connecting on all levels for the rest of his life, and build a family and teach them the same virtues.”
I pause, reading the expressions on his face. “You really believe that don’t you?”
“There’s nothing to believe. It’s an absolute fact.”
I wrap my arms around him and my body melts into his.
I’ve met women with beautiful men who say they just pray their guys don’t open their mouths and ruin the pretty picture that they are.
And I’ve met women with smart guys, who can barely lift one of those home delivery bottles of water let alone lift a woman, pin her to the wall, and give her the kind of passion she deserves.
Oh how rare it is to find a man who can check off both boxes, and even more rare that he’s the only man in the world you’ve ever had eyes for.
And the best part is I’m sitting on his lap, in paradise, with an engagement ring that he gave me just a few short weeks ago on my hand.
Life is good and only getting better. And with more celebrities getting involved in marine and animal conservation, the world’s becoming an even better place in a lot of ways, especially one to raise kids in.
Our kids.
I’m just as excited about the future and being with him as he is with me.
“I love you,” he whispers into my ear.
“I love you,” I say, the last of the days warm rays of sun on my back and a slight breeze brushing across me too, but when you find the right man for you, the only man, the wind always seems to be at your back.
And I can’t wait to celebrate our love when we get back to the hotel, but I already know we’ll be starting right here, in this position, as the water laps over us, any second now.
I feel his hand slide down my back as he grabs my ass firmly.
Yep. Right on time, as I expected. ;)
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Hunter
Ten years later
“This one just opened her eyes a couple days ago,” our oldest son, Henry, says as he pets the ten day old lion cub in his hands.
The other kids from his class at school ooh and aah as he allows them to come forward one at a time and “introduce” themselves to Lourdes, as we’ve named the newest addition to our lion sanctuary.
What started out as a lion rescue for circus lions has only grown. We’ve gotten so big that Hollywood has come calling asking for our help in films where they need lions and or exotic animal handlers on set.
Over the last ten years we’ve even branched off to include cheetahs, often those that were found clinging to life in the wild, and even leopards. When it comes to big cats we’re the people to see.
And although we’ll allow our son to handle an extremely small lion, no way will we allow our children direct contact with the full grown versions, or even ones much bigger than a few weeks old.
We love our children and would never put them in harm’s way. That being said, having Henry lead this demonstration allows the other kids his age to connect with our animals in a way that they wouldn’t if an adult was giving the presentation.
A big part of what we do is education, and the earlier we can get kids in to see the joys of being friendly and kind to all animals, the better. Granted we’re talking about wild animals here, even if they’ve previously been subjected to circus work. We always point out the dangers first, and then move quickly into how to love and respect animals of all kinds, shapes, sizes, and ages.
Speaking of which, there’s no creature on this planet that I love more than the mother of my five children…the woman who literally brings out the animal in me damn near every minute of every day.
“Yes, Annemarie,” I say acknowledging one of his classmate’s raised hands. “First of all, thank you for hosting this super Saturday, or should I say Caturday.”
The entire group can’t help but smile at this ten-year-old girl’s command of the English language.
“You’re welcome.”
“I just wanted to know if you might be including giraffes or zebras or maybe even rhinos here at your sanctuary sometime soon.”
I look at my wife. I’m going to let her take this one.
“Aloha Annemarie,” she says taking a step forward, and verbally letting Henry’s classmate know she’s also a big fan of alliteration. “Right now we only have plans to work with big cats. We prescribe to the ‘do one thing and do it well’ philosophy, and we humbly hope we’re able to do just that…not to mention there are some incredible people who work with giraffes, zebras, rhinos and a lot of other animals here in South Africa, most just right here around Cape Town.”
“Really?” she says, her eyes lighting up.
“Definitely,” I say, stepping in. “If enough people are interested you can let Henry know and I can make a few calls and one weekend we can look into another field trip like this.”
Possessive Hunter Page 7
