Entice Me

Chapter Twenty

As they went through the safety instructions Louise’s nerves began to set in. She was so excited yet nervous at the same time. Her dream was to fly in a hot air balloon one day and that day had arrived. Ray hopped in and put out his hand for Louise to take. He then pulled her into the box. Flames lit up inside the top of the balloon and off they went.

It did not feel rocky, more as though as if they were gliding. Obviously it was going very slow, but that made it all the more wonderful. They flew over the tops of trees and saw nature in a whole new light. Louise felt so small amongst it all. And felt a feeling of peace wash over her. She could tell Ray was thoroughly enjoying the ride as well. Louise’s nerves had diminished and she stood at the edge of the box that held them in and looked down below.

As they descended down, the wind blew through Louise’s hair. She felt safe and laughed at herself for being so nervous at the beginning. To undertake this radical adventure together made Louise feel like they could accomplish anything. Ray had one more surprise up his sleeve, dinner. The restaurant held an intimate setting and displayed tables with fancy white table cloths covered with rose petals. Candles were lit everywhere. “Ray this is beautiful, thank you.”

“Louise you are beautiful, you make the world I live in more beautiful. I am sorry for working so much of late. I could have been spending more time with you. I promise you, I will always put you first before anything else. Life is an adventure and I want to experience it with you.” He leaned over and kissed Louise tenderly. No further words were needed. Today was perfect.

#

Valentine’s Day had arrived, everywhere you looked there were love hearts dangling down from store ceilings. Grace could not help feel a little bit excited that Mr Perfect may have planned something romantic, perhaps an engagement ring? Soon she would be humming to the tune, ‘here comes the bride.’

Grace brought her thoughts back to work. After Ray left the company, Grace had considered appointing a partner, someone she could trust and who would be competent in the role. Grace asked her assistant to organise a job advertisement to be placed on their website. It would be interesting to see what level of applications would be submitted. As she slaved away at work, Grace glanced at her watch; it was after seven at night. Grace had hoped to leave at a relatively normal time today.

Grace looked at her work load and really believed she would need to be here all night just to get the day’s work completed. Grace jumped at the sound of her phone ringing and then quickly answered. “Hello lovely, I don’t want to sound like a stalker, but where are you?” Isaac asked and then added, “I miss you.”

“Oh you are so sweet; to be honest I shouted my colleagues a visit to a local strip club. Hope you don’t mind?” Grace teased.

“Oh you are a naughty girl,” Isaac laughed.

“Actually I am more boring than you think. I'm still at work and perhaps even camping here all night.”

“I love camping,” he said in a cheerful tone.

“That’s very funny.”

“Yes, I do consider myself to be quite a comedian.”

“Remind me Isaac, what is your job again?”

“To be the best housewife and chef I can be.” They both laughed in agreement.

Mr Perfect was a great chef and cleaner. He did all the cooking and cleaning which suited Grace fine.

“So cutie-pie when will I be seeing you next?”

Grace paused to look down at her ever growing paperwork. Isaac took this as opportune time to convince her to come home. There would always be work, Grace thought. Plus she wanted to focus on the greater things in life and that was spending quality time with the man she loved.