Never Far Away (The Never #2)(81)
“Oh really?” Megan said while waggling her eyebrows. “What skills are we talking about and which room are they useful in?”
Ella rolled her eyes at her little sister. “Megan, you just single handedly set the women’s movement back twenty years.”
“Oh, Ella, on the contrary. The women’s movement involves many theories of women taking back their sexual prowess in the bedroom as a way to challenge the dominant alpha male in the relationship. Seeing women as sexual equals is a very relevant and useful tool for the advancement of the equality for women in all realms of society.”
Ella felt her mouth gaping wide open but couldn’t help the astonished look that had taken over her face.
“That’s right, Ella. I know you see me as just some silly twenty-something who might be getting married young, but I am not a delicate flower looking to stand in the shadows of her husband. I use my femininity and sexuality to assess my power, not to diminish it. You do too. You just haven’t realized it yet. Patrick knows I get to be the boss when I want to. In fact, he rather likes it when I become the dominant,” she said as she winked at Ella.
Ella closed her mouth finally and had a moment where she realized that, indeed, her baby sister was not as little, small, or fragile as she might have ever pictured her. She actually kind of admired her sister, and was possibly a little jealous of her and Patrick’s life behind their bedroom doors.
Ella cleared her throat and let out a breath. “Well, Megan, you’ve left me speechless.”
“Come on, Fella,” she laughed, “Let’s go set up the volleyball net.”
As they were finishing with the volleyball net, she noticed cars pulling up the long driveway to the house. She felt the tiny rumble of nerves in her stomach as the thought of meeting Porter’s friends and co-workers. She looked around hoping to spot him so that he could make introductions. As if he could read her thoughts, he stepped out of the front door onto the porch and Ella was, once again, overcome with the image of him and all the rugged sexiness that seemed to emanate from him. He was wearing khaki-colored cargo shorts that came down just to his knee making the large muscles of his calves stand out like boulders. And for the love of all that was holy he was wearing a baseball shirt, white chest with blue sleeves that came down to his elbows. His biceps were straining against the blue cotton and the simple image of him was wreaking all kinds of havoc on Ella’s nervous system. Her lungs weren’t working properly, her legs – useless, even her eyelids had forgotten their purpose so she just stood there – gawking. He continued towards her and she just lost herself watching him. The closer he got, the more rapidly her heart beat and when he was finally standing right in front of her, she noticed the smug grin the was plastered on his face.
His hand came up to cup the side of her face, always making her feel so small with his large hand against her. “You’re staring, Babe.”
She reached up and gripped his shirt in her fists, pulling him closer to her. “You knew exactly what you were doing when you put that shirt on,” she grumbled as she looked up at him.
“Maybe,” he said as he tugged on her ponytail, forcing her to look up at him. “If you’re going to walk around in those shorts, showing off your long and sexy legs, I’m going to wear this shirt. Maybe,” he said as he flipped his nose against hers, “after everyone leaves tonight, I can wrap my arms around you and you can wrap your legs around me.” Electricity shot through her body and concentrated between her legs.
“You’re terrible,” she said as she rested her head against his chest.
“Get it together, Babe. Company is here,” he said, smiling at her, obviously really pleased with himself and the effect he was having on her. She took a deep breath to steady herself and tried to think of really unsexy things and was interrupted by the sound of an angelic voice happily shouting from across the lawn.
“Uncle Porter!”
Ella watched as a little girl ran towards Porter, arms spread wide open, giggling and smiling. When she made it to him he picked her up under her arms and swung her in wide circles, her feet floating out behind her, her stick-straight brown hair flying in the wind created by their twirling. He must have spun her around twenty or more times and all Ella could see or hear was the smiles on their faces and the laughter coming from the little girl. When he finally put her down he was obviously dizzy, but she was anxious for more.
“Do it again!” she sweetly demanded.
“Maybe in a few minutes, Joy. I’m dizzy.”
“Joy, if you break Uncle Porter your sister is going to be very angry with you.” Ella turned and saw a couple approaching she assumed were the sweet girls’ parents. The woman, who looked to be roughly the same age as Ella, held against her hip the most precious cherub-faced baby she'd ever seen. The baby girl gripped her mother’s shirt looking around anxiously, but the tension faded from her face as soon as she laid eyes on Porter. She began reaching for him, opening and closing her fists, asking for him to hold her. He reached over and took the baby with ease, tossed her up in the air, making Ella’s eyes go wide with worry. The baby, however, was having the time of her life, giggling as she flew up in the air and was caught in his strong hands. Ella looked over at the mother, expecting her to be having some sort of panic attack.
“Don’t worry, he won’t drop her,” she said to Ella with a confident smile. “I’m Brook,” she said as she reached a hand out to her. Ella took her hand and noticed that Brook had the softest looking ringlet curls framing her face. She looked fresh, happy, and exuded friendliness. Ella liked her instantly.