Hearts Aligned (Eternal Love #1)

by Cheri Marie

  “Agreed,” he says.

  “Okay, I’m on my way to Ari and Ashlan’s now. I will call you after I get there and assess the situation.”

  “10-4,” he says and hangs up.

  I pull up at Ari’s, I take a deep breath as I climb out of the car and prepare for what I am about to encounter. I walk up to the door, ring the bell, and wait. Ari answers the door, instead of inviting me in she steps out. I look into those incredible green eyes and I can tell immediately she’s pissed. Fuck, what did I do? Damien is going to fucking owe me, especially if this causes problems with me and Arianna.

  “Hey baby, is everything okay?”

  “Not exactly,” she says sharply.

  “Is this about Ashlan and Damien’s fight?”

  “What do you know about it?”

  “I know that my best friend is about to lose his mind because he thinks he lost his girl when he thought he was doing the right thing,” her face softens a little.

  “Call him,” she says. I look at her puzzled.

  “Call him, I want to hear it from him. I also want to let him know that if we help him fix this and he fucks it up I will personally ruin his pretty face,” I laugh at her and she gives me an evil look. I throw my hands up in surrender and dial his number. He picks up on the second ring.

  “Hey L. Did you talk to her?”

  “Damien?” I hear him whisper, 'shit'.

  “Hi Arianna, is she okay?”

  “If her sitting on my couch with a bottle of wine, a pint of chocolate ice cream, and crying her eyes out is her being okay; then yes I guess she is just fucking peachy.” I give her a look telling her to cool it.

  “Ari, please believe me. I swear to you, I did not provoke that girl to kiss me. I was just walking to the bathroom to take a piss and she grabbed me. I didn’t even have time to react. As soon as she kissed me I pushed her away. I love Ashlan, I would never hurt her. Please tell her I would never,” I hear him choke back a sob, my jaw drops. I have never heard him like this before. This is a side of Damien I have never seen. I lean over and whisper in Arianna’s ear so Damien can’t hear me.

  “Baby believe me when I say I have never in the 10 years I’ve known Damien, heard him like this. I promise you he’s telling the truth,” she sighs, I can see it on her face, she believes him.

  “Okay Damien. I’ll talk to her. Give us a half hour and then come by. Bring flowers, she likes roses. It will help.”

  “Thank you Arianna.”

  “You’re welcome. Just please don’t make me regret it, I don’t want to have to hurt that pretty face of yours.”

  “I won’t, see you soon,” he says and hangs up.

  “I guess we should get inside and talk to Ashlan then?” I ask Ari.

  “Yes, but only after I properly greet my amazing boyfriend,” she reaches up and kisses me. I pull her body tight against mine and my body ignites at the feel of her. She breaks away from me breathless.

  “Let’s go help our friends so we can go to bed,” she winks at me. Her words speak right to my groin, I grab her hand and pull her through the door behind me. We walk into the living room where Ashlan is sitting on the couch. She’s a mess and I instantly feel sorry for her. Arianna sits down next to her, she grabs Ashlan’s hand, placing it between hers.

  “Ash, look at me.” Ashlan looks up at her and I can see where the tears have stained her cheeks. I believe Damien, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to knock his ass out.

  “I talked to Damien. Honey he’s a mess, just like you are. I believe with all my heart he told you the truth. He loves you and you two need to talk and work this out,” Ari says to Ashlan.

  “I just don’t know Ari, I don’t know. Are you sure?” she asks with a little hope in her voice.

  “Yes, I’m sure. Talk to him Ash. He’s on his way here,” I watch Ari as she comforts her friend. She is so compassionate, it’s one of the things I love about her.

  “Okay, I’ll talk to him,” Ashlan finally says. I hear a knock at the door; it must be Damien. I head out to answer the door while Arianna continues to comfort Ashlan. I open the door and I almost don’t recognize my friend. He’s as much of a mess as Ashlan.

  “You okay bro?”

  “Yea, I’m fine. Is she okay?”

  “Well… she’s finally stopped crying and she’s agreed to talk to you.” I hear foot steps behind me, I look over my shoulder and its Arianna and Ashlan. I step to the side. Ashlan walks toward Damien with her head down, he steps inside and caresses her face gently, forcing her to look up at him.

  “I’m sorry...” he says to her. Pulling her into him he wraps his arms around her. I close the door behind Damien, Arianna and I head up to her room, leaving them to talk and work things out.

  We climb into bed and I pull Arianna into my side, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her on the head.

  “I hope they work things out, they’re really good together,” I say to Ari.

  “Me too,” she says. As much as I wanted to make love to my girl, we just lay there holding each other as we drift off to sleep.

  I’m sitting at work, completely distracted lost in thought. When Arianna and I met, I was in a bad place in my life. I was ready to end it all. When Arianna came into my life, it was like I was seeing the world in a different light. Never in my entire life had I thought about settling down, getting married. We’ve spent so much time together getting to know each other intellectually, physically and spiritually. She’s caring, smart, thoughtful, sassy, funny and undoubtedly beautiful. Some of the obstacles we’ve faced have been built to break us, but we still stand strong. After seeing the mess that Damien and Ashlan were last night, it opened my eyes to the possibility that if I’m not careful I could lose Arianna forever; that’s not a risk I’m willing to take. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, hell I’ve been thinking about it since the first day we spent time together.

  I think it’s time I ask her to marry me.

  I don’t want to do the usual proposal where you go to dinner or something and unexpectedly get down on one knee. I want it to be special because she’s very special to me. I think I know how I’m going to do it, but I’m going to need some help. First things first though, I’m going to need to get the ring. I grab up my phone and click on Damien’s number.

  “Hey L, what’s up?”

  “Hey Damien, is Ashlan still with you?”

  “Yea, do you want to talk to her? Is everything okay? You sound a little panicked?”

  “No, I’m fine. I need you and Ashlan to meet me in the historic district, on the corner by the movie theater.”

  “Ookay.... are you sure everything is okay?” he asks a little apprehensive at my eagerness.

  “Yes D, everything is fine. Just please meet me there in thirty minutes and tell Ashlan not to tell Arianna that you two are meeting me.”

  “Okay man, see you soon.”

  “See you soon,” I hang up, grab my keys and head out of the office. I head in the direction of the historic district. I feel my phone vibrate, I look at the caller ID and it's Arianna. I pick it up.

  “Hey baby.”

  “Hey my love, how’s work?

  “Work is good. I have a meeting I have to attend in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Oh ok, I’ll let you go then so you can get back to work.”

  “Is everything okay?” I ask her.

  “Yea, everything is fine. Work is slow today and I was thinking about you, so I decided to call and see how work was going.”

  I pull up at the corner and Damien and Ashlan are already there. They look at me puzzled. Damien is about to ask what the hell is going on but I hush him. Pointing to the phone, I mouth that it’s Ari and he nods his head in understanding.

  “Okay baby, they just came in to get me for the meeting. I have to go, I’ll call you after I get out of the meeting. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” she says as she hangs up.

  I slide my phone into my
pocket and climb out of the car.

  “Okay spill it, what was the big emergency that you needed us to meet you here immediately?”

  “You’ll see, follow me.” I turn and head towards the jewelry store I bought Arianna’s necklace from, Damien and Ashlan follow along behind me.

  We reach the jewelry store and I open the door allowing them to walk in ahead of me. When I walk in behind them, the owner greets me with his thick Italian accent.

  “Ahh Mr. Holt, it’s good to see you.”

  “Is it ready?” I ask him. I glance at Ashlan and she’s staring at me, a crease between her brows with a questioning look on her face. Apparently it hasn’t clicked in her head as to what is going on here.

  “Absolutely, here it is,” he grabs the small ring box from under the counter and hands it to me. I open it up and look at it. It is stunningly beautiful, more so than I had expected. It’s a princess cut diamond ring, set in yellow gold. Around the outer edge there are small blue diamond accents. I glance over at Ashlan and it’s finally registered. She's jumping and clapping her hands happily. I look at Damien and his jaw is on the floor, obviously he hadn’t quite caught on either until now. I laugh at him. I turn the small box around so they can see it.

  “What do you think?” Ashlan’s eyes widen.

  “It’s gorgeous!” she’s almost in tears.

  “Do you think Arianna will like it?” I ask as tension builds. What if she doesn’t like it? What if she says no? Nerves and doubt are starting to build. I take a deep breath and shake it off; I am going to do this.

  “Are you kidding me Landon? She is going to love it!”

  Relief floods over me, I trust Ashlan when she says she’ll love it. They’ve been best friends for years so of course she would know what she likes. I turn to Damien.

  “What do you think? Do you think I’m crazy?”

  “Of course I think you’re crazy!” Ashlan slaps him. “Geez woman let me finish,” he says to her before looking back at me, “of course I think you’re crazy but you and Arianna are practically made for each other. You’re good for her and she’s good for you. I’m happy for you man,” he pats me on the back.

  “Thanks bro that means a lot.”

  “So what’s the verdict?” the owner asks.

  “It’s perfect. I’ll take it.”

  “Okay then,” he rings me up, I pay and then we’re out the door.

  “So how are you going to propose?” asks Ashlan.

  “I already have it all figured out, but I’m going to need help from both of you, Kat and Xavier too.”

  “No worries, anything you need, you got it.”

  “Thanks guys, I really appreciate this.”

  “Not a problem,” Ashlan winks at me.

  Work is slow today, even with Landon’s interruption, I was able to get a lot done yesterday. We’re holding the first food drive to help families with Thanksgiving this coming weekend. I’m excited and I think we will have a great turn out. I put up ads everywhere I could think to put one. I hit every grocery store, corner store, big businesses; literally everywhere. Christopher has agreed to help me out, he’ll be at the drop-off spot with me. I haven’t told Landon that I’m working over the weekend yet. I hope he doesn’t have any big plans for us.

  It’s three in the afternoon and Landon hasn’t called me back yet. He must have got stuck in that meeting longer than he expected. I pack up my desk and head home. I arrive home and no one is there. What the hell is going on, where is everyone? I shrug to myself, whatever, guess I’ll enjoy some quiet time in the Jacuzzi. I go up to my room and change into my bathing suit. Heading back downstairs I toss my phone on the counter and turn on the radio. I leave the slider open and climb down into the warm water. I sigh in relief, it’s so relaxing. I sit down, leaning my head back against the edge; I close my eyes and just be.

  I hear someone clear their throat and my eyes fly open. Landon is standing in the doorway of the slider watching me.

  “Well don’t you look nice and relaxed?”

  “I am, I mean I was until you just scared the hell out of me.”

  “I’m sorry baby, do you mind if I join you?”

  “Sure, as long as you promise to keep your hands to yourself,” I wink at him.

  “All I can do is try, but no promises because you look exceptionally delectable in that bathing suit,” he winks at me. I wave him off and he goes to change. I lean back closing my eyes again. A few minutes later I feel him climb into the water. I feel the light brush of his hand against my leg. I open one eye and he’s right next to me.

  “No, no, no!” I shake my finger at him, “back to your side of the Jacuzzi.” He slides over and I close my eyes again. Next thing I know, I’m being grabbed up and pulled astride him. He places his hand at the nape of my neck and his lips are on mine. I break away from him and scowl.

  “You aren’t very obedient, how did you ever make it in the Marines?”

  “I’m only disobedient when it comes to you. I can’t help it, you’re so irresistible.”

  I swear he knows exactly what to say and when to say it to make me turn to putty in his hands. He grins at me, running his hands across my thighs, around to cup my ass. I know that look in his eyes.

  “No, I mean it, don’t even think about it. Ashlan and Damien can walk in at any time and I hardly want them walking in on us having sex.”

  He releases me and I move back across to the other side of the Jacuzzi. We sit there for a while just staring at each other, testing each other’s willpower. We know who will win this battle.

  “What time is it? Are you hungry? I can cook something…”

  “Oh yes, I’m hungry but not for food.”

  “Calm yourself, horndog. I’m hungry so I’m going to make something to eat.” I climb out of the water and wrap a towel around myself. I walk into the kitchen, opening the freezer, I try to decide what I want to make. When I close the fridge, I’m startled to find Landon standing behind the door.

  “Seriously? Are you trying to kill me today?”

  “Of course not, life would no longer be worth living if you ceased to exist.” I wrap my arms around his neck and give him a light peck on the lips. He kisses me back and then steps out of my arms.

  “Let me cook for you.”

  “Okay, thank you baby,” I take a seat at the breakfast bar and watch Landon dig through my cabinets and fridge. When he’s finished he has angel hair pasta, butter, herbs, steak and Brussel sprouts. He grabs pans, putting them on the stove; he turns the stove on to heat up.

  “So what’s for dinner chef?” I ask him with a smirk.

  “Today miss, we are having a delicious steak, seasoned to perfection, along with butter and herb pasta and some Brussel sprouts.”

  “Mmm… sounds delicious. What’s for dessert?”

  “You are,” he winks at me.

  I can’t wipe the silly grin that has spread across my face from his witty comebacks. He places a bottle of wine and two glasses in front of me. I pop the cork and pour us both a glass. I take a long sip, it’s cool and delicious. I take him his glass.

  “Thank you pretty lady,” I curtsy to him and go back to my seat. Now he’s the one wearing a silly grin on his face.

  “What are you grinning about there chef?”

  “Just pictured you in a maid’s outfit when you just curtsied, I think I just added that to my list of fantasies.”

  “You have a list? Should I be scared?”

  “Oh yes baby, be afraid be very afraid,” he winks at me again and I just shake my head at him. He finishes cooking; fixing us both a plate he places them on the breakfast bar and takes a seat next to me. The food is delicious. We eat and talk about how our day went. When we're finished I gather the dishes up, taking them to the sink to wash them. Landon comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder while I clean the dishes.

  “I have to tell you something…” he whispers in my ear. My gut wrenches. A
million different possibilities are running through my head.

  “What do you have to tell me?”

  “So, today I was thinking about how hard you work your ass off to take care of everyone around you. I decided I wanted to do something special for you.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I may have called and paid off your car.”

  “Are you serious?” I say through gritted teeth. I turn in his arms to look into that beautiful face. I can feel the anger building inside me.

  “Yes, I’m serious. It isn’t a big deal.”

  “Isn’t a big deal Landon? I still owed like thirteen thousand dollars on my car!”

  “It’s just money Arianna, you can’t take it with you when it’s your time so why not spend it on the people you love? Why is it such a big fucking deal that I wanted to take some stress off of your plate? A man is supposed to take care of the woman he loves and if I want to take away some of your financial burden then I am going to fucking do it!” he snaps at me.

  “Landon, look I appreciate the fact that you wanted to help me out, and you want to take care of me but you are not going to be paying for things that are my financial responsibility. I have never depended on anyone and I am not going to start now. I don’t believe you would ever do it, but I will never give someone the power to say, 'you wouldn’t have that if it wasn’t for me.' I built my business, bought this house, and WAS making my payments on my car all on my own. Yes, I struggled but that is a part of life.”

  “You shouldn’t have to fucking struggle Arianna,” he thrusts his hands in his hair in frustration, “you deserve the fucking world and everything in it. I want to give that to you.” I take a deep breath and try to calm myself before I respond; I don’t want this to turn into a big blow out. There is no way in hell I will let him win this argument. Once I’ve calmed myself I place my hands on either side of his face and look into those hazel eyes I love so much.

  “Landon, baby, listen to me, I really need you to hear me right now. I am not going to budge on this issue. I don’t want to fight about this. I am not a damsel in distress that needs prince charming to sweep her off her feet and make everything better. I’m a queen who needs a king that will stick by my side, even when times get rough, and work to build the empire that we both deserve.”