Never Giving Up (Never #3)(36)
“You’re amazing, you know that?”
He shrugged. “Just trying to take care of my baby momma.” He led me over to the stack of blankets and helped me sit which, in reality, turned more into a lean because there weren’t enough blankets in the world to make my ass comfortable on a hardwood floor. But I found a comfortable spot and relaxed, taking in the view of the fireplace and the sun setting outside of the French doors that led to our room’s balcony.
“We’ll have to get some nice chairs to put out there so we can enjoy the sunset when it’s warm.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said as he poured me some cider.
We talked throughout the meal, making plans for the house, decorating ideas, plans for the yard and the property. Somehow I had talked him into getting some animals. Nothing too crazy, maybe just some chickens and a goat. What was the point in having all this property if we weren’t going to use it? He laughed at my logic and just made me promise I’d wait for at least a year before obtaining any animals.
The food was delicious and simple. He’d brought strawberries and pretzels with hummus, and I smiled when he brought out the celery sticks with peanut butter because I’d been craving those every night for nearly three weeks. He was a smart man.
“I didn’t give my mom enough notice for cheesecake, but I did get these brownies at a bakery in town.”
“Shut. Up.” I said, nearly drooling over the brownies he hadn’t even managed to unwrap yet. What was it about chocolate and pregnancy? For just one split second I had an image in my mind of wrapping a soft, warm brownie around a stalk of celery with peanut butter on it. It sounded like the most delicious thing on earth, but I knew in the back of my mind that anyone not growing a person in their belly would think it weird. So I kept my craving to myself, vowing to try it one day while Porter was at work. When he finally handed me a brownie, it was just as warm and soft as I had imagined it to be and I couldn’t help the overtly sexual moan that escaped my lips as I chewed.
I heard Porter startle, choke and cough, having inhaled a piece of his brownie. “Damn, Ella,” he said between sips of cider, trying to clear his throat. “You can’t make noises like that right now.”
“Why not? This brownie is absolutely orgasmic.”
“Because it’s not fair. No respectable man would have sex with his six month pregnant wife in a house with no furniture, and when you moan like that it makes it impossible for me to think about anything besides, well, that.”
“Sex?” I asked with a smile.
“Listen, what I’m imagining doing to you is more than just sex.”
I swallowed loudly. “Oh.”
“Yeah. So cool it with the moaning.”
“Well, why don’t we bring some of these brownies home with us later and then we can both get what we want.”
His eyes grew dark and he leaned in towards me slowly. “And what is it that you want, Mrs. Masters?”
I closed the distance between us, placing my lips right over his. “I want more brownies, but this time I want them . . .” I pressed my lips into his, kissing him slowly, but firmly. I pulled away just enough to look in his eyes. “With milk.”
It took him just a few seconds to take in my words, but eventually he threw his head back and laughter filled the room. His laughter quieted although he continued to chuckle as he started cleaning up our picnic. “I can provide you with milk,” he said, still laughing.
“Are we headed home?” I asked as I finished folding the last of the blankets, piling them up against the wall.
“I’ve got one more thing I want to show you,” he said, plopping some pillows down on the mound of blankets. He took my hand and interlaced our fingers, leading me out of the room and down the hallway. He stopped at a door just a few down from ours which I knew, based on the blueprints and plans we made, was to be the nursery. He gave me a shy smile and then opened the door.
Surprise was the first emotion I felt when I saw the room, but surprise soon morphed into overwhelming love and appreciation for the man standing beside me. I looked at him, again with tears brimming my eyes. I stepped farther in the room, both my hands coming to cover my mouth, trying to hold in the cries I knew were coming.
The walls were painted to look like a sky, only not the sky you’d see from the ground, it was as if you were sitting on clouds. White, cotton ball-looking clouds lined the entire room, ending at about waist height, giving way to a deep dark blue sky, complete with metallic stars painted in all different sizes all over the room. The most impressive part, however, was the ceiling. I looked up to see thousands of tiny lights shining down and twinkling. Some lights were bigger and brighter than others, making it look absolutely realistic.
“Porter how did you do this?”
“Well, I commissioned a local artist to come and paint the clouds and stars, and then the guys and I installed these fiber optic lights in the ceiling. It was pretty fun actually. We got to be a little creative and actually try to make it look like a starry sky. Plus I figured it would make a pretty good nightlight for the baby. There’s a dimmer on the wall and you can make the stars as bright as you want.”
“It’s so beautiful,” I said, wiping my eyes.
“You’re not mad?”
“Mad?” I asked, turning to him with a shocked expression on my face. “Why in the world would I be mad?”