Toni had changed into a pretty yellow sundress with white polka dots on it. The bodice was snug to her breast, causing a bit of cleavage to show in the halter top style. She pinned her hair up in a cute, sophisticated style that Mia helped her with. She put on her white sandals, and then applied a small amount of lip gloss. Toni wasn’t big on makeup or jewelry, but she added the thin cluster of gold bangle bracelets to both wrists and hoped she could stall explaining the marks or perhaps not have to explain at all to the men. She felt better after talking to Leo, and him confirming that she did the right thing, and that he would get things started on the order of protection. He promised not to tell their uncle, for the time being.
She was getting nervous again, as she looked at the clock on the wall in the back office. She wanted to take a cab to meet Stone and Emerson, but they insisted on picking her up. The moment they arrived at Bliss, her fear and reservations turned into excitement and arousal. Both men looked simply stunning in their designer jeans and light colored T-shirts. Their muscles were even larger than she imagined them to be, and was that a tattoo peaking from Stone’s shirt sleeve?
“Wow. Baby, you look gorgeous.” Stone took her hand and spun her around. She pirouetted in a circle for his perusal and Emerson smiled.
“I don’t know how you do it. But you get more beautiful every time I see you.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. She felt her cheeks blush then heard her staff make their comments.
“Okay, we’re going now. Are you sure you have everything under control?” Toni asked Tina and Mia.
“Yes, ma’am. You three have a great time. The weather is perfect, and no storms are in sight,” Tina said then winked. Stone took Toni’s hand and Emerson opened the front door for them to leave. Toni was surprised to see the fancy Range Rover parked out front. Stone ran to the driver’s side, and Emerson opened the back door for her. She got in and immediately noticed the bouquet of pink and purple amaryllis orchids and roses.
“Oh my God, these are gorgeous.” She gently touched the bouquet.
“Those are for you,” Emerson said as he turned in his seat to look at her. He smiled and she smiled back then noticed Stone looking at her in the rearview mirror.
“We thought you might like the various pink colors in the flowers,” he said.
She smiled. “Oh. I hate pink.”
“What?” they both asked.
She stared at them a moment and they appeared very upset. Then she laughed. “I was only kidding.”
Stone shook his head. “That will cost you, baby.” He stepped on the gas to beat the light. They headed toward the seaport and the marina where the boat was.
Emerson turned in his seat. “There’s something you should know about Stone, sweetie,” Emerson stated.
“What is that?” she asked.
“He likes to be in charge all of the time, and he doesn’t like to be tricked.”
“Really? What does he mean by ‘it will cost me’?” she asked, finding the whole conversation humorous.
“We’ll get to the rules later.”
“Rules?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry. We’ll explain on the boat. There’s a crew handling everything now. As soon as we arrive, we can relax and just enjoy the evening.”
“A crew? Who the hell is this friend of yours that owns the boat with the crew?”
Emerson cleared his throat.
“One of our bosses. But he likes us,” Stone said, and she leaned back and wondered what these two men were up to.
The moment they arrived, parked the car, and headed toward the largest yacht in the place, she knew that this was going to be a memorable evening.
She held on to Emerson, hugging his arm as he escorted her down the docks.
“This is the first yacht I’ve ever seen close up, never mind been on.”
“Don’t look so scared. You’ll be fine,” he told her, as Stone greeted the crew and they helped Toni board the yacht.
* * * *
Stone had informed the crew that they were to call them by their first names and not refer to them as boss or anything. They were also to say that the boat belonged to Jett and Flynn Greyson, their good friends. It was just another little white lie, but hopefully they could share more about themselves sooner than later.
Stone watched as Emerson opened the bottle of wine, poured the glasses, then handed one to Antoinette.