37. Kai
We woke up early again to get on the road to Cali. I wanted to get on the road and put as much distance as physically possible from whoever was watching my family. Mom and Liam left and didn’t tell me where. I know they will let me know as soon as they arrive, but it doesn’t make me less nervous.
It felt good to take care of Cordi last night. I love spoiling her. It’s one of my new favorite pastimes. It makes me even more excited for us to get home so she can see all the baby stuff I ordered.
“We’re here, but I need you to stay in the truck until I tell you it’s okay. Do you understand?”
“I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t understand the reasoning.”
My heart twists. I don’t want to scare her, but it is our reality at the moment. I would do it with or without her here, but it’s even more crucial now than before. Emerson came by yesterday and sent me a text saying everything was fine, but I want to be positive.
“I’m going to unhook the RV. You need to get in the driver’s seat. If I tell you to go, then go. Don’t wait, go.”
“I don’t think you’re trying to, but you’re scaring me.”
I clasp her cheek and kiss her forehead. “No, I’m not trying to scare you. I’m being extra cautious. I’m sure it’s fine.”
She nods and takes a shaky, deep breath. “Okay, hurry back.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
I hate doing this to her. I hate that she even has to think about these things.
“Will do.” I hop out of the truck and unhook the RV. I grab my gun from my waistband and look around the house. Everything is normal. Nothing went off on my phone. Usually, I would act as if there is nothing amiss, but I’m changing my tactics, especially with my wife here.
I open the door to the house, and it smells stale. Which is a good sign, meaning that doors and windows haven’t been opened. I clear every corner, room, and closet. It’s clear. I take a deep breath and return to Cordi. Grabbing the handle of the truck, I swing it open, and she jumps. Reaching around her, I turn the truck off and pocket the keys. “It’s all good, baby.” Her cheeks puff out, and she nods. I grab her hands to help her out of the truck.
She looks at the house. It’s nothing special, but her bright eyes sparkle as she takes in the two-story white adobe finish with light blue shutters. I clear my throat, suddenly nervous. “What do you think?”
She grins and looks at me. “I love it. I can’t wait to see what it looks like on the inside.”
“It’s kind of bland. I’m not here very often, so you can…change whatever you want.” She giggles and reaches for my hand. “What?” I ask her.
She shakes her head, biting her lower lip. “I don’t get to see you flustered very often.”
I blow out a breath and lift my hand to run it through my hair, but I forget my hat’s in the way. She giggles more and takes a step towards the house.
I grab her waist. “Wait, wait, wait, baby.”
“What, Kai? I’m sure it’s fine. It probably just needs a woman’s touch.”
I grin and pull her into my arms. “That’s not what I was talking about,” I tell her as I stoop down to grab her right below her knees.
“Kai—“ she says breathlessly. I lift her into my arms, holding her bridal style as her hands hook around my neck. “Please be careful,” she says.
“I’ve got you,” I grin and kick the door open, carrying her over the threshold. She looks at me instead of the house around us.
“I love you.” She grasps my face and slams her lips on mine. My arms squeeze around her, and I start walking upstairs. “Wait,” she says, pulling away.
My feet stop. “What?”
She kisses me briefly. “I have to pee,” she says, giggling.
I set her back on her feet, making sure she’s steady before I let go. “Down the hall to the right.” She grins and walks off.
While she’s doing that, I work on cleaning and unloading the RV.
“Kai?” Cordelia calls.
“In here,” I yell from inside.
“Oh, let me help you,” she says and goes into our room, trying to carry one of her bags.
I pull it out of her hands. “Nope, you don’t lift anything. The only thing you’re allowed to carry is that baby and your butt up to the bathtub to relax because I know your back hurts. I will take care of this,” I say, gesturing to her packed bags and the groceries we need to put in the fridge.
“Kai, I can definitely carry my backpack.”
“Good to know. Now go,” I tell her, gesturing for the door. She sighs and rolls her eyes.
“I guess if you need me, I’ll be in the tub.” She kisses me on the cheek and strides into the house.
***
After unloading and locking up the trailer, I carry the boxes of baby items I ordered from the garage, where Emerson put them for me, and bring them into the house. Smiling to myself, I climb the stairs to see if she’s still in the tub. It feels like Christmas morning, but it’s not December, and nothing is wrapped. In the master bathroom, Cordelia has her eyes closed and her head tilted back in the tub. When I bought the house, I didn’t remodel much, but I did do the kitchen and the bathrooms. The tub is freestanding and big enough for two people.
I stand there for a heartbeat, looking at her, trying to memorize the picture. Never in a million years did I imagine I would have my best friend naked in my tub at home.
“Are you going to join me?” she asks.
“I’m going to get your water all dirty.”
She laughs and lifts her head. “That’s kind of the point of a bath, babe.”
“Well, in that case.” I reach for the back of my shirt to pull it off, then walk to the other side of the tub and carefully lower myself into the warm water, facing her. It sloshes around and spills over the side. I drain some of the still water before adding more warm water. Cordelia’s eyes trace my every movement as I slide my legs under hers so the backs of her knees rest over mine. Dipping my hand in the water, I grab her foot and start kneading it.
“How do you like the house?” I ask her.
“It’s nice, but there’s no color.”
I shrug and focus on her foot. “I’ll paint it whatever color you want.”
She smiles with her head leaning back against the edge of the tub. I put her foot back in the water and reach for the other. Digging my thumbs in her arch, she moans, and heat thrums through my body. “That feels so good. I love this bathroom, by the way. It’s really pretty.”
“Thanks, I designed it myself.” I move my fingers to the ball of her foot, and she hums.
“Did you do the kitchen, too?” she asks.
“Yep,” I tell her.
“Your mom didn’t help, seriously?” she questions, lifting a brow.
I sigh and drop her foot. “Okay, fine. Mom basically designed the kitchen, but I really did do the bathroom.”
She laughs and sinks further into the water. “Well, I like it. I’ll make it pretty in no time.”
“I’m sure you will,” I tell her. I grab her knees, pulling her closer to me. Her legs bend, so she’s almost straddling me. I put both hands on either side of her belly and rub it gently as she drapes her arms around my neck. I slide my hands from her belly to her lower back and gently massage the muscles.
“That feels so good. My back is so tight.” She moans in my ear, and everything tenses. I’m trying to keep my head in other places, like painting the house and all the baby stuff downstairs, but my wife is extremely distracting.
I feel her smile against my skin. “If you don’t like the house, though, we can move if you want,” I tell her, trying to ignore the heat of her against me.
“No, I don’t want to,” she says, laying wet kisses up my neck and sliding her hand over my chest. “Kai, I don’t care where we are. You are my home.”
My pulse leaps, and I smile into her shoulder. “You are my heart, gem. You always have been.”
She rolls her hips against me, and my hands drop from her lower back to her butt.
“I love you, and I think it’s time for us to christen this house,” she whispers before diving into me. I push her against me, and she whimpers into my mouth.
I grin and kiss her quickly again. “Soon, but I have a surprise for you.”
She leans back, holding onto my shoulders. “A surprise?”
I nod and kiss her neck, helping her out of the tub. I follow behind and grab towels for us out of the cabinet.
After we dry off and get dressed, I take her downstairs to all the various-sized boxes stacked on top of each other in the living room. “I swear, I did not order this many clothes, Kai.”
I chuckle and hold her hand, pulling her towards the boxes. “Even if you did, I wouldn’t care. This is what I ordered…for you.”
“Is it furniture?” she asks, looking at the boxes as she walks around them, draped in her grandma dress.
“Not completely,” I say over my shoulder, grabbing a box cutter from the drawer.
“The anticipation is killing me,” she says sarcastically.
I lean over the box to open it. I don’t know what exactly it is, but before opening it, I stand and look her in the eye. “If you don’t like it, tell me. We can return it.”
“Okay,” she says, drawing out the word. I lean back over the large box and open it, then toss the packaging from the top, revealing a stroller.
“Is this a…stroller?” she says, tilting her head. I pull it out of the box, and she watches me set it up. “It’s so nice, Kai. Thank you.” She smiles, looking at where the carrier goes.
“Ready for the next one?” I ask.
She smiles. “Did you only buy me a bunch of strollers? I didn’t realize you knew anything about baby stuff.”
I laugh and point to the next box. “This one next?” She nods and sits on the couch, tucking her legs under her. I slide the blade across the tape, and it reveals a bunch of diapers. I tip the box so she can see.
“Are those even the right size?” she asks.
I look down at the box and back at her. “Um, I have no idea. I just bought diapers.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “We can look later. Do that one next,” she says, pointing to the one on my right. It’s thinner and wider than the others. I suspect it’s the crib and open it up with the blade.
“It’s a crib!” Cordelia shouts.
I tilt my head, inspecting it. It looks like the one I wasn’t sure about. “Do you like it?”
“I do. It’s cute. Okay, next one,” she says, pointing to the box behind me. I open it, and it’s another stroller.
She frowns. “How many strollers did you order?”
I shrug and look for the other stroller boxes. “Um, three,” I say through my teeth, scrunching my nose.
“Three! How many babies do you think are in here?” she yells, pointing to her stomach.
I pause and look at her belly. “One?”
“Kai!” she yells.
I laugh and toss the other box. “I ordered three strollers.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “That’s too many strollers, Kai. I’d use maybe two at most.”
“Well then, that means we return the one you don’t like the most. No big deal.”
“What’s that one?” She points to the box closer to the door.
I open it and move the packaging. “A car seat and baby carrier. They said it would fit the truck, but we can get another one when we get you a car.” She nods, and I open the rest of the boxes. She gets off the couch and walks around the other boxes that I opened.
“You bought four cribs, Kai. We need maybe two. One for the RV and one for here.”
I shrug and kiss her. “I didn’t know which one you would like more, so I bought all four. One of them is a travel crib. But I realized you might need one of those baby shaker things.”
She barks out a laugh and shakes her head.
“What?” I ask, holding out my hands.
“It’s not a baby shaker,“ she says between giggles.
“But in the video, I saw it moving back and forth, and it was doing this weird, figure-eight thing. I don’t know why all of that is necessary, though.”
She laughs behind her hand and shakes her head. “It’s a baby rocker, Kai, and I don’t think I want one. I need to get a Baby Bj?rn’s instead.”
I stare at her, realizing I have a lot more to research to do. “What is a Bjorn?”
She giggles and wraps her arms around my neck as I place a hand on her stomach. She stands up on her tiptoes and lifts her head. “Thank you, Kai. This is so thoughtful. I love all of it. Although, I don’t know if we need four cribs and three strollers. And…” She looks around at the other boxes. “Two high chairs and three hundred diapers that might take him about six months to fit in. And the eighty bottles… might actually be just the right amount.”
I kiss her again. “You’re welcome.”
“It’s like Christmas morning,” she sighs.
I chuckle and kiss her nose. “That’s what I thought.” I grin.
She hums, pulling herself as close as she can get, and nips my chin. “So we were talking about christening the house…I would like to continue that process.”
“I think that can be arranged. Where were we?”
She hums and kisses me again while lifting her knee to my hip. I grip her knee and hold her lower back, steadying her.
“I think the bed is first,” she murmurs against my lips.
“Mmm, I was thinking the kitchen counter.”
She shakes her head. “I want to be in our bed, Kai. We have room to…move around.”
I grin and pick her up. “Are we about to do some acrobatics, gem? Do I need to limber up?”
She tosses her head back and laughs. “Not quite that much. I don’t think I can do that,” she says.
“Well, we did the research and haven’t tested all the theories yet.”
“I believe it’s high time to test out a few more,” she says as I walk us down the hall.
I sit her gently on the edge of the bed. “A few?”
She grins and pulls her dress up higher. “A few.”
I lean down and grab her face, peppering kisses over her jaw to the center of her chest. I push her back to lie on the bed, and she winces.
“What? Are you okay?” I ask, sitting back up.
She nods and grabs my neck again. “It’s not comfortable on my back.”
“Okay, let’s try this,” I offer, hopping on the bed and leaning against the headboard. I tap my lap, and she crawls on all fours up the bed towards me.
“I don’t know if this is sexy, but it’s what I’m going for,” she mutters, sitting up to straddle my lap.
I grab her hips as she sits down. “You are my wildest dreams, Cordelia. I want you to do something for me.” She drops down, and I rub my hands over her body.
“What?” she asks with open, gentle eyes on mine.
“You are beautiful, Cordelia, pregnant or not. Your body is working so hard to grow this baby,” I tell her, putting my hand on her stomach. “Stop thinking of yourself as anything but amazing, Cordi. You are sexy. You are going to be the mother of my — you’re going to be the most beautiful mama I have ever seen. I love you, that’s all that matters. So don’t be self-conscious around me. I’m kind of obsessed with you, ya know.”
She giggles and puts her nose in my neck. “I’m kind of obsessed with you, too.”
“Trust me then, baby. I love your body, and I’m in awe of what it’s doing.”
“Promise?”
“Always.”