2

It was all roses, dripping in diamonds
Sipping on champagne
She was all uptown, wearing that white gown
Taking his last name

Carrie Underwood

The morning sun shone through the windows and bathed the apartment in a warm, golden light. I grinned as I inhaled the familiar scents of our little home. I'd been away so long being back felt like a happy dream. It looked like nothing had changed since I left; clean, lemony scent still wafted out of the somehow still organized kitchen, the plasma screen was still set to the same news channel, a happy fire blazed in the little fireplace across from the modern black couch. The only difference was a sweat shirt tossed carelessly over a kitchen chair.

I had missed this place; after over a month away working with my business partner in Costa Rica on a new hotel we were planning to build, I was beginning to think I'd never make it back. My whole body ached to the bone from the long hours of sitting in hard, upright airport chairs waiting my plane to be ready to fly home and being cramped into an airplane seat. My trip had been made worse by the fact that I was coming home on one of the worst travel days in the year, but it was worth it to be home a little bit early than I had thought possible.

Careful not to make any noise, I pulled my bag all the way inside the door behind me and gently closed and locked it back. Sneakily, I took two cautious steps forward before the floor creaked underfoot. I stilled as a noise sounded from the living room. The noise soon dissolved into snoring, and I knew I was safe.

The grin on my face grew as I pulled off my shoes and tiptoed into our living room. I excitedly followed the sound of the snoring to the couch and my lazy boyfriend. In typical Han fashion, he was sprawled on the couch sound asleep. One hand was in an open Doritos bag that was sitting in his crotch, and the other was dangling off the edge of the couch beside his beer on the coffee table. His black hair stuck up at random angles and his long bangs covered his eyes. His head was lolled at an awkward angle with his mouth hanging wide open. It was obviously affecting his airways; he was snoring like a freaking chainsaw.

I dropped to my knees beside him and gently brushed his cheek with my fingertips before sweeping his hair away from his forehead. His face scrunched in discomfort as he tried to move away from the feeling. I giggled and kissed his forehead. His eyelashes parted after a minute and I found myself staring into his bleary dark eyes.

"Ellie?" He whispered in confusion as he raised his non-Dorito bag hand and stroked my jawbone as if he was trying to make sure I was real. After verifying that I wasn't a dream, he let his hand fall. "You're early."

"Merry late Christmas." I murmured quietly. "I'm sorry I couldn't get back in time."

He hummed in response as he pulled his hand out of the Doritos bag and wiped the orange nacho cheese powder off on his pants. The only sound between us was the crinkle of cellophane as he plucked the bag off of his lap and dropped it to the floor.

"When did you get here?" He asked sleepily as he sat up and pecked me on the cheek before he wrapped his arms around me in a clumsy hug.

"Just now." I answered as I wrapped my arms around his built torso and buried my face in his neck. "I missed you. It's the first Christmas we haven't spent together."

We had been together for five years. Our first Christmas had been spent in a hospital because Han had shattered his hip in a car accident. The next two were thankfully uneventful ones. Last Christmas was another story entirely; we had broken up earlier in the year because I caught him cheating. We got back together in mid-November right before I became the target of the Russian mafia. We spent that Christmas counting money that we had stolen from him after we knocked him out of power in the Russian underworld.

That wasn't a typical holiday, but then again, we weren't typical people.

Han kept his past in the shadows, but, from what I had gathered, he was apparently a smart thug that got involved in some things during high school. He traveled to South America where he met Dominic Toretto. They pulled several jobs together before he split and headed for Tokyo.

I was the daughter of a crack whore and a drug runner/thief. I left my native Puerto Rico when I was nine for America after my mother died. I lived with my dad until he died when I was almost seventeen, a month to the day after we buried my half-brother. I was approached at his funeral and told that he had accepted a job in Japan to get my stupid uncle out of trouble with a Yakuza loan shark. When I refused to take the job myself, I was drugged and snatched away to Tokyo.

When we met, it was far from a fairy tale. At that point, I had pretty much given up and resigned myself to a short life of running drugs before I was either murdered or sold into prostitution. He was a ladies' man that, for some reason, had a little bit of a soft spot for me. He did whatever he could to help me get out from under the thumb of the Yakuza boss, Kamata. He had arranged a way out of the country for me, but the night I was supposed to leave, Kamata found out about some of Han's side deals. Han's car was wrecked by Kamata's nephew and I was beaten half to death.

When we finally escaped and made it to Colombia, he had a shattered hip, broken femur, and a whole laundry list of other injuries. I had five broken ribs and a massively swollen face, and we had almost no money. Somehow, we managed to heal, scrape a decent profit out of a little garage, and build a life together. Everything was amazing, until we got Dom's call to go to Rio.

In the middle of pulling the Rio job, our relationship split apart at the seams. Frayed tempers flared one night before we had to meet the team. We stayed apart as much as possible. I was walking back to where we were staying alone through the dark streets when I saw him slipping into a house with Gisele, a team member that had had her eye on Han the entire time. Crushed, I ran home, grabbed my clothes, and broke into a hotel so I didn't have to stay with him.

As much as I blamed him for our break up, he wasn't the only one at fault. After we had gotten settled in Colombia, I had found an old account that my dad had hidden. I used the money to open a very profitable casino in Italy with my godfather. I never breathed a word of it to Han until I used it as ammo during the fight we got into the next day. I left him for what I thought was forever the night before the job after I got an emergency phone call from my family in Moscow.

After pulling a job on the Russian mafia, I took over my half of the business. I was absolutely miserable, so my godfather sent me off across Europe looking for a city to expand to. I settled in Madrid and began building a night club. It was in Madrid that I finally started getting over Han and settling down.

All of the progress I had made in getting over him came to a screeching halt when I saw him again with Gisele. The chemistry between us was still there, and, despite my every effort to deny it, the magnetic attraction hadn't dimmed a bit. Han and Gisele's relationship dissolved, though they remained friends and continued running jobs together. We got back together just in time for the Russians to catch up with me.

Yep, Cinderella and Prince Charming we were not. Bonnie and Clyde was much more accurate.

"How was Costa Rica?" Han asked as he pulled me into his lap.

"Hotter than the ninth circle of hell in the summer." I answered.

"Drama queen." He deadpanned as cupped a hand on my face and pulled me in for a kiss.

"At least I don't taste like Doritos." I shot back as broke apart. He smirked and I found my lips back on his. I allowed him to deepen the kiss despite the Dorito breath. After a few minutes, just sitting on his lap wasn't enough, so I slung my leg over his hip and settled down on top of him. His large hands moved up to grip my hips. It would have quickly progressed into a lot more, if my phone didn't start ringing in my back pocket.

Han groaned in annoyance as he pulled away, leaning back on the arm of the couch. I swore as I grabbed for my phone. I glanced at the caller id quickly before answering.

"Hello?" I bit my lip to contain a moan as Han started moving his hands up and down my waist under the hem of my shirt, rubbing his thumbs in slow circles against the bare skin as he went. I had definitely missed this kind of contact.

"I take it you made it home then." Miles, my business partner drawled lazily.

"I did. I just made it back." I answered as I ran my finger around the collar of Han's soft, white t-shirt. His breath caught in his chest.

"I need you back in a few months to finalize everything. Surely gangster boy can part with you for that long." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm. He was kind of like my godfather and had hated Han from the very beginning after I refused to leave him broken in the hospital to run back to Mile's hotel in Costa Rica. He was very slowly warming up to him; I could tell because that time he didn't include a death threat to Han at the end.

"Oh, next time he's coming with me." I informed him as I hung up and dropped my phone on the coffee table. "I missed you." I told Han as soon as the phone hit the table.

"I missed you too." He replied as he leaned up, obviously eager to continue where we had left off.

"Come on." I interrupted as I gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Let's go to bed. I could use a nap after all of those flights." I grabbed his hand off of my hip and unstraddled him. With a smirk, he pulled himself off the couch and allowed me to lead him towards our bed.

I looked back at him when we were almost to the door. A mischievous smirk spread across his face. I quirked a questioning eyebrow at him and he shrugged nonchalantly in response. Deciding to ignore it, I turned back around to open the door, only to have Han let go of my hand, and sweep me up bridal style.

My shriek of shock turned into an amused laugh.

"I take it you missed me then?" I asked as I reached down and turned the handle for him.

"You have absolutely no idea." He replied as he stepped in and slammed the door behind us with his foot.

Z

"It was so aggravating; he did everything he possibly could to irritate me and make my life hell. Then the stupid hurricane popped up. You'd think with that many square feet in a five star hotel that I could find a way to avoid him, but no; that never worked. " I continued as I flopped on the end of the bed and kept running a comb through my hair that was still wet from the shower. "The sunsets were so amazing, though." I added as an afterthought.

The corners of Han's mouth were almost imperceptibly turned up in amusement as he watched me ramble on about the people I met and how many times I'd threatened to strangle Miles. I had left for what was supposed to be a month long planning trip to build a hotel in Cancun with my dad's old team member and my business partner. My stay was extended for another two weeks due to a series of delays and a massive storm that came up suddenly. I had been there for Han's birthday, but I had missed Christmas and almost didn't make it back today for New Year's Eve.

Han had considered coming, but he didn't mix well with Miles, so he decided to stay. I knew he wasn't exactly bored here by himself; his birthday present was a beaten up, old Aston Martin DB5 from a junkyard and parts money to fix it up. I had to pry him away from his new baby to get him to drive me to the airport.

"How's your car?" I asked when I realized that I had begun to repeat details.

The corners of his lips pulled up into a real smile as he reached over to my side of the bed and stole my pillow. The muscles in his arms and chest flexed as he fluffed it and put it behind him, propping up against the head board. The movement made the sheets slide even further down his naked torso until it clung just below the curve of his hip bone.

"It's beautiful. Looks just like the James Bond car." He stated sleepily.

"You've already finished it?" I asked. He nodded.

"I'll show you tonight." Even though he was staring up at the ceiling, I could still make out the gleam in his dark eyes. He was more excited about this than I'd seen him in a long time. My heart sank; I didn't want to put a damper on his excitement, but all I wanted to do was lay in that bed next to him and not get out for a week. I was exhausted.

"I was hoping we could stay in tonight." I told him gently. "Just stay out of the crowds, relax, catch up." His small, full mouth pulled down into a frown.

"It's New Year's Eve in Madrid." He deadpanned.

"I know. I've had a long couple days." I reminded. His chest rose and fell as he tried to contain a sigh.

"Just get back in bed with me for a few hours and rest, and then we'll go grab dinner and watch the fireworks. You won't regret it." He suggested as he pulled my pillow from behind his head and tossed it back on my side.

"Do you know how crowded this city is?" I asked incredulously. "In order to actually get dinner, you would have had to have made reservations last month."

"Just trust me." He muttered, sliding further under the sheet and settling down for a nap. With a sigh, I tossed my comb on my nightstand and joined him under the blankets.

"Your car better be worth it." I mumbled. The last thing I saw as I drifted off was his lopsided, sexy smirk.

Z

"Ellie, we need to leave soon." Han called through the bathroom door.

I sighed as I finished dabbing a bit of power on my nose; it was almost starting to peel from all of the sun I had gotten when I was hiding from Miles on the beach. I double checked all of my dark curls in the mirror until I was satisfied that none of them needed to be touched up. Considering how exhausted I felt, I didn't look bad. I had lined my big brown eyes and dusted on a shimmery eye shadow. I had had to put concealer on all of the sunburnt spots on my straight nose and my pointed chin, but over all, it was hard to tell that I had rolled out of bed and thrown on the least amount of makeup possible.

I had seen Han ironing a nice button up, so I had grabbed a red, body hugging mini dress. If I was going to be fighting the skanks off of him all night, then I was going to make sure he had to warn some guys off of me.

"I'm ready." I called as I opened the bathroom door with a little more force than necessary.

Han's back was to me as he rummaged through a dresser drawer. Starting at the noise, he turned around to glance at me before shutting the drawer and grabbing his blazer off the bed. The jerky movement was unusual for Han; everything he did was usually smooth and graceful.

"You look beautiful." He told me quietly as we started heading for the front door.

"You don't look so bad yourself." I shot back flirtily. His lips pulled off his white teeth in a smile.

We stayed in a comfortable silence as we walked down the carpeted halls and into the old elevator. A few seconds after the steel doors shut, I felt the pressure of Han's arm around my waist. Unconsciously, I moved closer into his body heat. He kept his arm around me as we strolled through the lobby and out onto the street.

Excited crowds lined the sidewalk already. The people ranged from families of tourists to drunk college kids in skimpy outfits that looked like they'd been bar hopping already. A heard several different languages being spoken all around me.

Han's hand slipped to the small of my back as he steered me through the swarms towards the garage a block away from the apartment. Crowded places made me very unhappy, but the excitement of the people was spreading to me. I started to feel giddy all the way to my travel weary bones. That was a sign that I was going to be delirious with exhaustion all night, get bitchy at Han at some point half way through dinner, and then pass out in the car on the way home so deeply that Han would have to carry me up to the apartment, but not even that dampened my spirits.

"How long until the fireworks?" I asked Han as he unlocked the garage door and held it open for me.

"Just enough time for dinner." He answered smoothly as he gently pushed me in and closed the door behind us.

My jaw dropped when I saw the Aston Martin sitting beside Han's Lexus; it had come a long way from the rust bucket I had had towed to the garage. Its silver curvy body had been polished until it gleamed. The chrome bumper on the front had been replaced and was dent-free. Everything looked seamlessly original, but I knew that wasn't true. Han had done an amazing job with it.

"It's beautiful." I told him as I reached out to touch the cold metal.

"Wait til you see how it runs." He told me proudly as he strolled past, pulling his keys out of his pocket as he went. A grin spread across my face as we both slid into the little coupe.

It started without a hitch the first time he turned the key. His face was still in a neutrally happy expression, but I could feel the same pride radiating off him that he had for his Nissan Silvia in Tokyo. Seeing him this happy made a wide grin spread across my face.

"Ready for the best dinner you've ever had in Madrid?" He asked as he hit the garage door opener. Light from the street flooded the garage as it began to rise.

"As much as we eat out at the best restaurants in Italy and Madrid, you're going to have to try pretty hard." I challenged. A smirk pulled at his lips.

"We'll see."

Z

"Where the hell are you taking me?" I asked me as he pressed the elevator button for the roof. He had taken me to a random building and dragged me straight into the elevator. Had I been with anyone but Han, I might have been getting nervous. "I hate surprises and this not a restaurant." I continued when he ignored me.

"No faith." He muttered. I huffed and leaned back against the elevator wall. I was starving and I was about to reach the bitchy phase of exhaustion. If he didn't get me to a restaurant quickly, then he was about to be in for a rough night of sarcasm and eye rolls.

Or not, seeing as how he was just as much of a smartass as I was and twice as good at cold shouldering people. He was annoyingly well prepared to handle my mood swings and I tended to get over them when someone handled all of my bullshit.

The elevator doors opened up and my annoyance dissipated. The roof was a terrace, overlooking one of the cities many plazas. Lights had been strung up the place to provide the perfect amount of lighting. A table with two place settings was sitting in the middle of the space. An elderly waiter was standing nearby pulling a bottle of champagne out of an ice bucket.

"Oh my God." I stated blankly. "This is beautiful."

"I had this planned for my mistress, but since you're home early-"He trailed off in a joking tone. I tore my eyes away from the table and punched his bicep. He chuckled and wrapped his arm around me. "Come on."

"How long have you had this planned?" I asked incredulously.

He shrugged. "A while."

"Han, it's too—" I began.

"Don't say much." He cut me off. "You've been worried about business bullshit for weeks; let me take care of you for one night."

I sighed as I sank into the chair the waiter pulled out for me. I had been completely consumed in planning this new business venture for months; letting go of all of the stress was good for me. I still couldn't believe that Han had planned a rooftop dinner where we would have an amazing view of the fireworks; I didn't know what to do with myself when I was the reason for so much fuss.

"Okay." I told him as I decided to just go with it. I picked up my champagne glass. "To the new year." I toasted him.

"To the new year."

Z

"When did you get so good at dancing?" I laughed Han spun me back to him and put his hand back on my waist. After our fabulous dinner was through and the waiter was thanked and dismissed, I had demanded that Han dance with me. He had rolled his eyes at me, but he did it anyway.

"It's almost midnight." He told me as he stopped his movements.

"How close?" I asked him.

I was having more fun than I had in a long time. I could feel the flush from the alcohol and the laughter spreading across my cheeks. Han was decidedly more composed than I was, but he still looked like he was enjoying himself.

"Two minutes." He replied as he pulled me towards the edge of the roof, stopping to unplug the lights along the way.

"What's your resolution, Han?" I asked him as we leaned on railing. Because I was so short, the rail was annoyingly chest height.

"Haven't decided yet." He answered as he looked at his watch. "One minute now. Am I going to get my New Year's kiss when midnight hits?" He joked.

"Not if it gets in the way of me watching the fireworks." I teased back. He chuckled, obviously expecting my answer because I had told him the exact same thing the year before.

Below us in the massive crowd, the countdown started. I pressed my hands on the railing and bounced up on my toes as I waited for the countdown to reach zero like it would somehow allow me to see better. Han steadied me by stepping behind me and wrapping his strong arms around me as the countdown hit zero.

I leaned back against Han as the first few rounds of fireworks started popping off. I found myself laughing as the excitement of the crowd below became infections. Their howls of drunken joy could be heard from the streets several stories below. Han's callous fingers trailed over my hands. I intertwined my fingers with his and let him play with my fingers without looking away.

I had seen the fireworks from my balcony the year before, but I had forgotten how beautiful it was. The explosions of light and color across the Madrid skyline had me captivated. I felt like a small child seeing something shiny. It was borderline embarrassing how excited I was to watch the show, but I didn't care.

My attention was quickly pulled elsewhere when I felt a cold weight settle on my left hand. My chin jerked downward as I pulled my hand out of Han's grip and held it out in front of me. I inhaled sharply at the shock of what I was seeing. My knees went weak and I was suddenly glad he was holding on to me.

The fireworks sent sparks of light off of a massive diamond set on a thin band. Several small diamonds on the band also sparked in the light, but they had nothing on the center one. It was beautiful. It was huge without being clunky on my skinny fingers. It looked feminine and dainty and medium-sized house expensive.

"Oh my God." I finally choked out. He chuckled and leaned down so his lips were almost at my ear lobe. I would have shivered at his hot breath if I hadn't been in such shock.

"Does it fit?" He asked cockily.

"You know the answer to that." I answered numbly as I watched the light reflect of the stone. It was such a perfect fit it looked like the band had been made exactly for my finger.

"Is that a yes then?" He pressed. His light, arrogant tone gave away the fact he already knew; he was just making me say it.

"A yes to what?" I asked, trying to pull up an equally arrogant smirk, but I was so close to hyperventilating it wasn't working. I wasn't even sure why I was hyperventilating; joy, excitement, the fact that I was now responsible for not losing something so expensive, the sheer terror at the thought of planning a wedding.

"Eliana Gonzalez, will you marry me?" He asked. I turned in his grip and craned my neck to see his face; something difficult to do when I was a foot shorter and chest to chest with him. He leaned down and I could see the smirk threatening to pull up the corners of his lips in the firework light.

"Yes, Han Lue. I will, but I really don't want a wedding." I admitted bluntly, still in too much shock to realize I had almost ruined a beautiful moment. Han seemed to be expecting that answer because he chuckled lightly and wrapped his arms around me tighter.

"Then we elope."