Baby Love(56)

"Absolutely," she said.

I picked Gina up after lunch and we drove out to the house in DeKalb County. She had been there with me before several times but it was nearly finished with the exception of the flooring and final trim. We toured the house and Gina marveled at the layout.

It was two-story with a partial walk-out basement. It was approximately 3500 square feet. The master suite upstairs was in Gina's words 'to die for.' Our room had a working fireplace, 'his' and 'her' dressing room/closets and a master bath that had a sunken Jacuzzi tub, double marble showers, double vanities and 'his' and 'her' enclosed commodes.

The horse barn was nearly finished. Trey was making arrangements to have Derringer and a couple of other horses brought out after the first of the year when we moved in. Gina had promised to help me furniture shop after Christmas.

I asked Trey at dinner that evening about the possibility of buying out Ian's interest of the Sanctuary.

"Are you crazy? Absolutely not Tylar. Do you realize that restaurants and night clubs are the most risky types of investment? Aside from that I can't imagine being in business with Gina. Dumb idea baby."

"But just think about. . ."

He cut me off with his usual, "End of discussion Tylar."

Sometimes Trey's closed mindedness really pissed me off. He hadn't even given me the courtesy of pretending to consider it before he gave a definitive 'no.' So much for it being "our" money I thought.

Perhaps I could find another investor. I really hated to see Gina lose that club. She needed something to occupy her time and the social environment there was therapeutic for her.

I was folding clothes in the laundry room when it dawned on me that I could be an investor without Trey. I had put all of the money that I had cleared from the sale of the house and furnishings in Radcliff into my own savings account, along with the money I had earned from the dressage competitions, the left-over money from the sale of my car and the ten grand I had received from Maggie's previous employer.

I went to the bedroom and got my savings passbook out of my underwear drawer. I had over $200,000 in my savings account. I had offered to buy the furnishings for the new house with it. Screw that. Gina was more important. I smiled at my ingenuity. I put my passbook back in the drawer. I would tell Gina the good news tomorrow while Trey was at work. She and I were going to be partners.

I finished up in the laundry room and went to check on Preston. She was in her swing in Trey's office, chewing on her pink rubber clothespin. She smiled when she saw me, dropping her toy and holding her arms up for me.

Trey was typing away on his laptop. He looked up as I lifted her from the swing. He was trying to figure out whether I was pissed at him for blowing off my suggestion about investing in the club. I decided to keep him guessing.

"Do you want a bath Preston?" I asked, totally ignoring Trey.

She still had slobber on her chin from chewing on the toy. She grinned at me; I headed out the door with her.

"Tylar?" Trey called after me.

I stepped back into his office and glanced over at him.

"Oh I see. This is how it is going to be now," he stated simply.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to get the silent treatment aren't I?"

"I have no clue as to what you are talking about Trey. I simply finished my chores for the day and decided to bathe my daughter. Is there something you need?"

"Don't let me keep you," he replied frowning.

I bathed Preston and dressed her in one of the new nightgowns Susan had bought for her. She was six months old now and I had started her on pureed bananas which she loved, along with pureed carrots and peas. This had reduced her need to nurse in half. I still enjoyed nursing her before bedtime.

I cradled her against me in the rocker and unfastened my nursing bra. She latched on to my nipple, nursing gently as I rocked her back and forth. This had become one of my most favorite times of the day. She fell asleep in my arms. I kissed her forehead and gently placed her in the crib. She loved sleeping on her tummy now. I pulled her blanket up around her and her thumb found her mouth as she slept.

Trey was still in his office. He was talking to someone on his Blackberry. I only heard the tail end of the conversation where he told someone he would see them this weekend.

I showered and climbed into bed. I had fallen asleep by the time Trey finally came to bed. He was still damp from his shower as he curled up next to me.

He wrapped an arm around me, pulling me close to him. I felt his warm lips as they kissed the nape of my neck, my shoulder and my cheek. He gently nibbled an ear lobe. I hoped he didn't think we were going to have make-up sex. That was not going to happen.

His hand lowered to my hip as he pulled my nightgown up, his fingers pushing past the elastic of my panties and plied the folds of my sex gently.

His warm lips continued to kiss my neck moving toward my throat as he rolled me towards him. I could feel myself getting wet for him. Damn!

His mouth found mine as he drew me to him, kissing and tracing my lips with his tongue. I fought not to respond. I lost.

I laced my arms around his neck pulling his face closer to mine as our tongues danced together in a passionate kiss. I felt his hand move to lower my panties and he lifted me up to take them completely off. He pulled my nightgown up and over my head. He had come to bed naked.

He moaned against my lips. My body was responding to him and it pissed me off. I loved Trey but he had really hurt my feelings this evening with his fist-pounding tactics at dinner. He had made me feel subservient in a way; as if I didn't have a say or a vote in our household or investments. He had been the one who only last week insisted the money was "ours" and not "his." I supposed it was "our" money until I wanted to spend some of it.