Chapter 28
Presley
The sound of the clicking of my heels fills the parking lot as I make my way up the steps toward the front door. The minute I pull it open, I feel the cold air fly out. “It's hotter than balls out there," I say, taking off my sunglasses.
"Well, considering someone has been balls deep inside you for the last two days." Clarabella snickers from behind the reception desk. “You should know."
I roll my eyes and try not to laugh at her stupid joke. “You trying to tell me no one was balls deep inside you?"
"We don't have sex every night." She rolls her eyes, and I know she's lying.
"Well, well, well." Shelby comes out of the kitchen with a coffee cup in her hand. “Look what the cat dragged in." I laugh at her because for the past two days, we've been hunkered down in Bennett’s house, neither of us wanting to step out of our cocoon. But today, he had to run into the office, and I figured I would come in.
"This dress cost two hundred dollars." I look down at the light pink, flowered one-piece dress I'm wearing. Every single pair of my pants got too tight for me, so I've been in dresses. “So there is no one dragging anyone."
"If he's not dragging you." Clarabella gets up and walks around the desk. “He's not doing it right."
"Are we going to discuss anything else but sex?" I walk toward my office, and both my sisters speak at the same time.
"No." I can't help but laugh.
"Well, I'm not discussing the sex, but I will say that I feel so liberated." I put my purse down in the chair and walk over to the desk.
"Oh, God, if she starts singing 'I am woman, hear me roar.’" Clarabella sits on the couch facing me. “I'm going home."
"I am not going to sing anything." I roll my eyes at her.
"So why do you feel so liberated?" Shelby asks as she sits next to Clarabella, who leans over and grabs her coffee cup to take a sip.
"I have no idea." I shrug. “Maybe because I'm not keeping the secret that I'm in love anymore."
"It wasn't a secret,” Clarabella says. “And if it was a secret, you suck at keeping secrets.” All I can do is glare at her. “Do you guys not have anything else to do today?”
“No, actually,” Shelby says, grabbing her coffee cup back from Clarabella. “It's been a quiet week. We don't even have any scheduled appointments."
"Great," I say, clapping my hands and grabbing the phone. I dial the number and wait for the man to answer. “How is my favorite brother-in-law?” I look over at my sisters, who just look at me, wondering which one I’m talking to.
Luke laughs. “Yeah, right. What can I do for you?”
“Would it be possible to order lunch for two?” I ask him.
“Hey, baby!” Clarabella yells from the couch, and Luke laughs even harder.
"Is the lunch for my woman?" he says, and I put my finger in my mouth and fake vomit.
"It's for your woman's pregnant sister and her man," I say and look over at my sisters, seeing them shake their heads and laugh.
"I'll fix something up," he huffs. “Come by at eleven." I look at my watch and see that it's just after nine. "Tell my woman if she joins you, I'll give her something special."
"Eww," I say and hang up while he laughs. “He said if you go there, he'll give you something special." She smirks at me.
"Where are you taking lunch?" Shelby asks, and I smile at her.
"I thought I would surprise Bennett and take him on a picnic." I watch my sisters’ faces in shock.
"Whatever you do,” Shelby says, “leave your phone in the car." She closes her eyes, and I can't help but laugh. A while ago, she had a picnic with Ace, and well, one thing led to another, and by accident, she butt-dialed us in the middle of her adventure. Needless to say, there was enough panting and moaning for us to get the gist of it.
"I still have that voice mail saved,” Clarabella says, and Shelby hits her. “It's called leverage."
"Okay, you two, I need for you to get out so I can do all my work for the week in two hours." I shoo them with my hands. I leave a little bit after eleven, and when I walk into the restaurant, I see Luke behind the bar.
"My favorite sister-in-law." He laughs, and I take out my phone from my purse.
"Can you say that again while I film you?" I ask him, laughing, and he walks around the bar grabbing the picnic basket from one of the stools.
"Here you go." He hands me the basket. “Everything is in there."
"Look at how pretty this is," I say, holding it up and checking it out. “It's very Wizard of Oz," I say of the brown wicker basket.
"It's Shelby's. She got it when she had that picnic with Ace." He rolls his lips when my smile turns to disdain.
"Eww." I cringe. “They probably had sex on top of this."
Luke throws his head back and laughs. “And let's hope she's the only one," he teases. “Also, I don't want it back." Now it's my turn to laugh as I wave goodbye to him and walk out of the restaurant. I make my way over to Bennett's office, and when I park my car, my stomach starts to flutter as I pull open the door. I've never just shown up at his office in the middle of the day, let alone to take him out to lunch. My feet move before I chicken out and get back into my car.
My palms get sweaty as I smile at the receptionist and ask to see Bennett. Maybe I should have called before I came in, I think to myself. My stomach feels like it’s going to throw up when I hear shoes coming toward the area. He smiles big when he sees me, and all the nerves I had before are gone. He's wearing dark blue dress pants with a white button-down shirt with the collar open. His hair looks like he just ran his fingers through it, and his eyes light up. He's everything. "Well, this is a surprise," he says to me, and I take two steps to him and kiss his lips, surprising him. I've never, ever kissed him in public before. I mean, minus a couple of drunk kisses in the bar or at the car when he was driving me home.
But out in the open? Never. “I thought we could have lunch together," I say softly. “I mean, if you aren't too busy."
The smile on his face says it all. “Well, isn't this a coincidence since I'm free."
My face fills with the same smile that is on his face now. “Well, isn't this my lucky day," I say to him.
"Come on back while I close up a couple of things." He motions with his head as we walk down the hallway. My hand itches to hold his, but by the time I've talked myself into holding his, we are in his office.
"Where is Andrew?" I point at the desk out in the empty hallway.
"He's off for the week," Bennett says, grabbing a couple of folders. “We all are. I just had to come in and sign a couple of things."
"Well, now isn't that a coincidence." I tilt my head to the side. “I'm off also."
He comes to stand in front of me, and I look up at him. “I wonder what we can do with our time off." He tilts his head to the side.
"I hear naked Sunday is really fun," I joke with him as we walk out of his office, and my hand slides into his. His eyes go down to our hands. “Is this okay?" The burning in my neck starts, and I think that maybe we should have talked about this before I just went and held his hand. "It's fine." I smile as I take my hand out of his. But he's quick to grab my hand back, and his fingers slip between mine. “We don't have to hold hands."
"You're right, we don't," he says, pushing open the door to outside, “but I want to." He picks our joined hands up and kisses my fingers. “Now, are we taking your car or mine?"
"We should take mine since the food is in there." I point at my car, and he stops walking.
"You picked up food already?" he asks, surprised.
"Well, yeah, I thought it would be nice to have a picnic." I shrug. “It's okay if you don't want to eat the food. We can go anywhere."
"A picnic sounds nice," he murmurs softly, stopping and grabbing my face in his hands. “Now give me the keys," he says right before he bends to kiss my lips. "I like when you surprise me at work."
I throw my head back and laugh at him, grabbing my keys from my purse. “This is the only time I've surprised you at work."
"I know.” He grabs the keys and walks around the car with me, opening the passenger door for me. “And I like it." He slams the door and walks around to the driver’s side. He gets in, starting the car, and then adjusting the seat. "So where to?” he asks as he puts on his seat belt.
I give him the directions to a little spot that I found when I was doing a tour with another bride. It's very secluded and right next to a stream. The heavy, dense trees block most of the sun, making it cool. He grabs the basket of food while I grab the bag with the blanket and pillows. He slides his hand into mine as I navigate through the grass toward the secret passage. “Isn't this pretty?" I ask him as we stop.
"I've lived here my whole life, and I've never been here," he says, and I smile big, grabbing the blanket and placing it on the ground. I kick off my heels, then toss the pillows on the blanket. “It's so peaceful." He kicks off his own shoes while unbuttoning the cuff at his wrist and rolling up the first sleeve and then the next. He sits on the blanket and leans over to kiss me.
"So I have to know." I get up on my knees and go over to the food basket. “Good surprise, or don't-do-it-again surprise?" Opening the basket, I check out the different types of sandwiches that Luke made.
He laughs at me, grabbing me by the hips and pulling me to him. I straddle his legs, sitting on him. “This is the best surprise," he assures me, pushing my hair back to see my face. “I mean, not the best surprise." I gasp. “I think the best surprise was waking up with you riding me." I roll my eyes. “Or with my dick in your mouth." He rolls his lips. “No, actually, the best surprise was you telling me you love me." He kisses my lips. “But this is high up there."
I put my hands on his chest. “I was way out of my comfort zone." I swallow. “And to be honest, I almost ran out of the office while I was waiting for you."
"Thank you." He kisses me softly. “For doing this."
"You're welcome." I'm about to kiss him when I feel a little kick, and my mouth and eyes open. “The baby just kicked." I grab his hand and put it on my stomach, really hoping that he can feel it. "Why don't you kiss me again?" I tell him. “It usually gives me butterflies in my stomach."
"I give you butterflies." He smiles, his voice going soft.
"You always gave me butterflies," I admit to him, leaning in and kissing his lips softly. “It's like the first time all over again," I say, my lips on his through a smile, and then I feel the kick again and so does he.
"Oh my God." He gasps, looking down at his hand on my stomach. “I felt it." He places his other hand on top of mine. “I felt it." He moves his hands now and holds my hips, lifting me off him as he sets me next to him so he can bend his head and talk to my stomach. “Hey there, it's me, your dad." He places both hands on my stomach. “Sorry I haven't been around the past couple of weeks."
"It's your mom’s fault," I cut in and tell the baby. “She’s had her head up her a—" I'm about to say ass and then rethink it. “Her butt." I shrug. “But it's fine now."
"It's more than fine." He kisses my stomach. “Now, I'll get you and your mom fed." He looks over and grabs two sandwiches out of the basket. “Oh, there is apple juice."
"That's mine," I say, grabbing the juice from him. “He put a beer in there for you."
I unwrap one of the sandwiches and see that I got the turkey one. “What do you have?" I look over at him, and he unwraps a ham one. “I don't want that one," I say, shaking my head, and he laughs.
"Well, then, lucky for me, this is the one I wanted." He takes a bite as he grabs the brown bag, and when I look inside, I see that it's homemade chips. “Are you really off for the rest of the week?"
I nod my head, taking a bite of the sandwich. “What do you want to do?" I ask him, and he just shrugs while he chews.
"Don't care as long as you’re there," he says, and I smile.
"If we are going to go back to your place, I'm going to need to stop and get some clothes from my house," I inform him, and my stomach forms knots when I think about what I really want to ask him.
"We can stay at your house also," he says, looking at me. “Whatever you want."
"What if I don't want to have two houses?" I ask him and take a bite of my sandwich before I just blurt out everything instead of going slow.
"What do you mean?" he asks me, and I look up at him.
"I mean, what if instead of having two houses"—I take a sip of the apple juice, putting the back of my hand against my forehead—“we have just one?” My hand starts to shake. “Forget it, it was a bad idea." I ignore the way my heart is pounding in my chest and put down the sandwich because right now, all I want to do is vomit.
"You don't know this," he says softly, and my eyes fly up to his as he puts his food down beside him. “But the night you ended up in the hospital, I was going to ask you to move in." My hand flies to my mouth. “I had all these flowers at the house, and I was going to make you dinner and well…"
"I would have said no." The words come out, and he just smirks at me. “And not because I didn't want to but because I was..."
"I know," he says. “Trust me, I know." His legs prop up, and he rests his forearms on them. “These past couple of days." He looks down and then looks up. “Have been everything." I smile because they really have been.
"It should have been like this all along." I wipe the tear that has escaped. “And I'll forever be sorry that I did that to us."
"It's our story," he says. “It's the way it had to be. I'm not going to lie." He chuckles. “I did expect to wake up and find you gone this morning." I smile sadly. “I'm really fucking happy you were in my arms."
"I'll be in them for as long as you want me there," I say, and he pulls me to him.
"Yes," he says, and I tilt my head. “Let's have one house." I can't help but smile, and the tears come even if I wanted them not to come. "The question is, which house?"