Chapter 24
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Van
“Club girls,” I harrumph to myself, drumming my fingers against my steering wheel as I follow Rush through the curves of the compound heading toward his house.
It’s late, and I have my headlights on, and knowing there’s a graveyard around the bend sets a spooky scene.
I feel like I’m a damsel in distress on one of those creepy programs that come on late at night.
“Where the fuck are you taking me, Rush? We should’ve done this during the daytime, this shit is freaky.”
Three minutes later, we pull up to a two-story Victorian style home.
From what little I can see of the front, there’s a wraparound porch with a swing attached, blowing in the breeze.
The turrets on each side of it makes the girl inside of me squeal in delight.
It’s as if he plucked my dream house out of a magazine and set it here to entice me.
You can tell it’s an older house, but both the structure and landscape have been well-maintained and cared for.
Rush takes pride in his house even though he claims to spend more time at the clubhouse than he does here.
As I take in the scenery, Rush grabs Gagey out of the back of the car and has him settled on his chest. “You like it?” he asks, shifting from one foot to the other.
“I love it,” I admit, tossing the strap of my purse over my shoulder and tucking my keys and phone into the side pocket. “It’s beautiful, Rush. Was this what drew you to the land?”
“No, it was the cemetery that had us interested,” he tells me. “The clubhouse and the land attached to it, was a lucky find.”
As he escorts me up the porch and inside, I gasp.
There’s wainscoting and shiplap in the foyer that leads into the main living quarters of the residence.
My Pinterest board has come to life! Every detail of this house matches all of my hopes and dreams. I’ve been collecting photographs of what I wanted when I could afford to purchase a home for me and Gagey and pinning them.
“Was that a good gasp or a bad gasp?” he inquires, laying our boy down on the overly large couch and surrounding him with pillows so he doesn’t roll off. “This’ll have to do until I can get his playpen inside.”
“It was a good gasp, and I can lug the playpen in, as well as our bags, if you want to watch him for me to make sure he doesn’t wake up and crawl over those cushions,” I offer.
He saunters over to me and bops me on the edge of my nose with the tip of his finger, saying, “No, ma’am.
I’ve got this. Take a load off and kick off your shoes, I’ll be back shortly.
” He leans over and captures my mouth with his, kissing me with so much passion that my knees grow weak.
When he pulls back, I notice his breathing has become choppy and his eyes have grown heavy-lidded.
“Set your boundaries, Van. Tonight, I have every intention of claiming you. Heart, body, and soul, I want it all.”
“It’s all yours,” I contend as he does that sexy as sin half lip tilt thing he does that makes my belly flip.
“Not yet, but it will be,” he tells me, caressing my face with his palm. “Be back.”
I watch him waltz away, he’s floating on his feet as he heads through the doorway. “I’m in trouble,” I mention aloud. “Big trouble.”
While he busies himself bringing in our belongings, I check my boy’s diaper and am relieved that it’s still clean. When that is done, I start changing him into his pajamas that I keep in his diaper bag. Thank goodness my boy is a heavy sleeper and doesn’t budge while I complete that chore.
“Where do you want me to set him up for the night?” Rush asks. “I have the master bedroom and through an attached door there’s a nursery. I could put him in there if you’re comfortable with that.”
“That works for me as long as you set up his monitor,” I convey.
“Follow me,” he says, craning his head toward the stairwell. As we climb, I take note of the fact that we’re going to have to invest in baby gates. Gagey is already pulling himself up on things and attempting to walk. I can picture him tumbling down and cracking his head at the bottom.
“We’re going to need to baby proof… everything,” I advise him, stumbling over my words. “This staircase is a hazard.”
“We’ll make a list in the morning and send a couple of the prospects out to pick everything up from the store. Until then, we’ll just keep him with us. There’s a secondary living room up here that I’d like you to check out and see if it’d be a good toy room for him.”
“He doesn’t need an entire living room to store his stuff, Rush. His toys fit in his room back at our old place,” I state.
As he leads me into the master bedroom, he twirls around, raises his brows, and asks, “You do remember Icer and the last time he bought things for little man, right?”
“Uh huh,” I mutter.
“It’s only going to get ten times worse than that now that we’re back home, Van. Indiana plans on talking Zoey into giving up her lease and building a house big enough to hold all of Elodie’s new stuff because they’re running out of room.”
“I was hoping that was a one and done thing,” I acknowledge. “Gagey is growing so fast that most of his things will have to be donated soon. I don’t like Icer spending that kind of money on him to only have to bag it up in a few months and drop it off at a shelter.”
“You take things to shelters instead of consignment shops?” he asks.
“I do,” I confirm. “Preferably a battered woman’s shelter. Those women and kids go to shelters seeking sanctuary with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. It feels good to know that the things I’m giving away go to a meaningful cause.”
“We donate ten percent of our income to the local woman’s shelter in town.
” He walks into the attached room and begins setting up the playpen.
When it’s up on its feet and the enclosure is locked into place, he walks over to the closet and pulls out a fluffy, thick comforter, putting it inside then winding a flat sheet around it, tucking it beneath the hard mat.
My heart melts at the effort he’s putting into making the cot comfortable enough for Gagey to get a good night’s rest. I bounce on the balls of my feet, rocking my boy because he’s getting restless in my arms as he tries to stretch out.
“It’s ready,” he says, coming over to me and lifting Gagey from my arms. He shuffles over to the bed doing some sort of bounce and dip step as he walks.
I follow him over and before he lowers my boy into his bed, I place a soft, gentle kiss on his forehead. Once Gagey is settled, Rush lifts his baby blanket from the stack of things off to the side and lays it over him.
“Thank you,” I say, reaching out for his hand. When he places his palm into mine, electricity flows from him and into me like a shot through the heart. It sends tingles running up and down my spine—the good kind, not the creepy kind. “Did you feel that?”
“I did,” he affirms. “Never felt anything like it before. I bet we’re magical between the sheets.”
“Sparks are gonna fly,” I tease as nervous energy surges through me.
“Why did you just get tense, Van?”
“It’s been a while for me, Rush. And before Gage, I had only had one previous sexual experience with a man,” I disclose. “Before him, it was teenage fumbling’s. I’m not very experienced, most of what I know comes from my time with Gage. What if I disappoint you because I’m lacking?”
“You could never be lacking, Van,” he scolds. “We let our bodies do the talking for us and let our minds take a break. It’s when you overthink things, instead of simply feeling, that you get caught in a web of what if’s and should I’s.”
Feeling ballsy, I say, “Show me, teach me what it’s like to let go, Rush.”
“It’d be my pleasure,” he says, his voice coming out scratchy and full of lust. He lifts me off my feet and carries me bridal style to the bed. When his knees hit the mattress, he slowly lowers me down, hovering over me. “First step, we need to rid you of your clothes.”
“That’s a great beginning point,” I purr, the sound escaping my chest shocking me.
“Then, we’re going to get into the shower to wash the road off,” he continues, which has my heart racing.
He’s going to see me naked. In the shower.
Not in the dim lighting of his bedroom. All of my body insecurities are coursing through me right now.
The slight pooch from having Gagey. The jiggly thighs because my high intensity workouts have devolved into walks in the park pushing Gagey’s stroller.
I might like myself just fine, but the first time jitters have me in their grasp.
“Whatever has that little frown on your face needs to go away,” he instructs. “You’re probably worrying about shit that doesn’t fucking matter, Van, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah,” I retort in a ‘duh’ tone. “What woman wouldn’t when presented with a man who looks the way you do? I cannot compare to anyone you’ve ever been with before.”
“There’s no comparison, sweetheart. You wanna know why?
Because those encounters were for a release.
This is something entirely different. Me claiming you means that as far as my world’s concerned, you’re it for me and vice versa.
While I plan to put my rings on your finger and babies in your belly, you being my old lady carries far more weight.
Because I already see us many years from now, older, with gray hair and wrinkles, as we watch our grandchildren playing.
And trust me, I don’t plan to work out then like I do now, so I’ll likely have what the younger generation is calling a dad bod or some shit. ”
“I sincerely doubt you’ll ever have a dad bod, Rush,” I tease. “Meanwhile, if Gagey is any indicator, my hips will expand with every child I carry and it won’t leave.”
“Just more cushion for the pushing,” he fires back as he scoops me up, with both of us completely naked, and heads into the en suite.
He sets me on my feet and opens the door to the shower stall that looks like the Cadillac of all bathrooms from what I can see so far.
There’s a separate soaking tub that’s massive and I spot the jets in the sides, barely holding back a moan thinking of all the baths in my future.
A built-in set of shelves hold the towels and other linens, while a small door off to the side is apparently the toilet.
But the shower… I have no words. I don’t know what to think of it when I see the multiple shower heads all going. Deep ledges hold various bottles, and I suspect it’s whatever body wash he uses that smells positively divine. All male and yummy.
I’m caught off guard when he takes my hand and leads me into what I’ll forevermore call the rain forest, because the water falls down and surrounds us. “These knobs here will adjust the temperature,” he says as he points them out. “You can also change the water pressure.”
“This is perfect,” I reply, leaning my head back to get my hair wet. I wasn’t planning on washing it today, but fuck it, this decadence needs to be fully enjoyed as far as I’m concerned.
“We’ll put your shit in here tomorrow, and if you need anything else, you’ll let me know so I can get it picked up for you,” he decrees as he grabs a weird looking net thing and puts body wash on it.
“What is that?” I ask, turning around so my back’s facing him when he twirls his finger.
“It’s this crazy ass thing that Issy swore everyone needed to try. She says it’s better than a loofah or some shit,” he says. I nearly moan as his hands stroke across my back and arms. It’s slightly scratchy but doesn’t hurt so I entrust myself to him and just allow myself to feel.