Chapter 17
Ellie
Monday morning I am getting ready for work in Cole’s apartment.
I don’t know how the hell everything in my life is completely different than it was just a few short months ago.
Cole asking me to meet his mom last night was a shock, then him asking me to move in with him was even more unexpected.
I think I nearly fainted right in the hallway of my apartment.
I should call my parents soon and tell them about everything going on, especially since our relationship seems to be changing so quickly.
They should come up and meet Cole too, since it seems that we are in that part of our relationship already.
I make a mental note to call Mom later and see if they can visit.
I drop my towel and go to put on my bra and panties when Cole walks into the bedroom from the bathroom.
He still has a towel wrapped around his waist, and my gaze makes its way up and down his body.
I finally reach his eyes, and his are glued on me.
He strides over to me and pulls me to him, wrapping his arms around me.
“See something you like, Ellie Girl?” he says just before kissing me.
“Maybe, maybe not,” I tease.
He swats my ass. “Get dressed before I take you back to bed right now and we don’t make it into work.” He laughs.
Reluctantly we get dressed and then go into the kitchen for some breakfast and coffee. All the steps feel so domestic and come naturally to both of us. Every time he passes me, he kisses me. We finish our breakfast, gather our things for the day, and head to work.
“You do realize this is going to get everyone talking, right?” I say just before we step out of the car in the parking garage.
“What do you mean?”
“We rode in the same car, walked in at the same time, we can’t stop glancing at each other, and we are going to leave at the same time in the same car. Every employee will be talking about this. I just want you to be prepared.”
“OK, we will sign the employee relationship form before we do anything else this morning, and then they can say whatever they want,” he says. I am shocked. I figured everyone talking about us would bother him.
We are walking up to the building, and he reaches over and grabs my hand. I look up at him.
“Let’s really give them something to talk about, Ellie Girl.
” He continues to hold my hand all the way up to our floor, and when I walk toward my office, he pulls on my hand and drags me into his office and shuts the door.
“Sit,” he commands me, and fuck, I love when he gets all bossy.
I practically run to the chair and sit down. I look up at him, and he’s smirking.
“Good girl.” He walks over to his computer. Please don’t take this any further, I think to myself. I won’t be able to control myself.
He taps away at his computer for a minute, and then his printer starts printing.
He grabs the papers and comes and sits beside me.
He writes something and then hands the paper to me.
I look down at it, and it’s the employee relationship form.
He’s filled out his portion. I take the pen and fill out my portion.
He takes the form back to the printer and faxes it out.
He comes back over to me, leans down right in front of my face, and says, “Now I can do this.” And he kisses me. I will never get tired of his man’s mouth on me. “Maybe we can go get lunch together today?” he asks as he backs up and goes to sit at his desk.
“Yeah, that would be nice. I’ll let you know when I will be free.” I get up and walk to my office.
When I get there, I look at my schedule for the day, and for the first time, it’s mostly empty.
I am finally getting caught up with everything that was behind before I started working here.
I text Cole when I’m free for lunch, and then I realize I have a bit of free time, so I call my mom now.
I really need my family to meet Cole considering how quickly our relationship has been progressing.
“Hi, honey!” Mom answers. Hearing her voice makes me realize how much I really miss her and Dad.
“Hi, Mom. What are you and Dad up to today?”
“Oh, we have just been busy tinkering on things around the house. Nothing fun planned for today. What about you, Ellie? How is work going?”
“It is going great. I really like my job, especially now that I seem to finally have caught up with things here.”
“That is great, honey! You know, we sure do miss you.”
“That’s why I was calling. I was wondering if you and Dad would want to come visit sometime soon. I have met someone, and I’d like you to meet him.”
“Oh, Ellie! We’d love to! Let me see what your father wants to do, and then we can let you know! So, tell me more about this man!”
“He’s great, Mom. He’s my boss. I tried to resist anything happening with him, but we just have this amazing connection. He has been so good to me, Mom. I’m really excited for you and Dad to meet him.”
“Ellie, I’m so glad! He sounds great. We can’t wait to meet him!”
“I have to get going. I have a bit of work I have to get done. Just let me know when you are coming.”
“All right. Talk soon. Love you!”
“Love you too, Mom.”
Now I need to figure out how to break the news of the baby when they arrive, and that thought makes my anxiety soar.
Cole
A few hours and meetings later, Ellie and I are leaving to go to lunch, and everyone in the office is staring at us.
I’m glad they all know she is mine, but my skin is itching that they know so much about our personal lives.
We finally reach the restaurant down the street from the office and take a seat.
“So, I talked to my mom this morning, and I invited them to visit soon. I would like for you to meet them, and I thought we could tell them about the baby too,” Ellie says.
“That’s great. I’m sure you have been missing them. I can’t wait to meet them. While were talking about it, I was thinking we could invite my mom over on Wednesday for dinner so you could meet her.”
“That sounds good! I can’t wait to meet her, Cole.”
“I will give her a call later and see if she is free. How has your day been?”
“It’s been good. I am nearly caught up, which is a huge relief.”
“That’s great! But I don’t care about work, I care about you.”
“Oh. Well, I’m good, I guess.” She laughs lightly.
We talk for a while before I get distracted by how beautiful she is. I swear, every time I look at her, I fall more in love with her. I really should tell her how I feel about her.
“I was thinking maybe I could cook us dinner tonight,” she says, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“That sounds good. What are you going to cook?”
“Well, I can either cook some lo mein, some alfredo, or some chicken and veggies.”
“Oh, lo mein sounds sooooo good!”
“Then that’s what we will have.” I smile. “Are you ready to head back to work?”
“Yeah, if we have to,” she jokes as we stand up to leave.
We get back to work, she goes to her office, and I go to mine. I have about fifteen minutes before my next meeting, so I take the time to call Mom.
“Well, look who it is calling me,” Mom answers.
“Hi, Mom.”
“What is my handsome son up to today?”
“Just working, I had a few extra minutes, so I wanted to call you and invite you over for dinner Wednesday. Are you free?”
“I would absolutely love to come have dinner with my son!”
“Actually, it won’t be just me.”
“Will my Jordan be there?” she asks, causing me to smile. I love how she has always treated him like her own.
“No, it will be my girlfriend.” She is so quiet for a moment that I think we lost connection. “Mom?”
“I’m sorry, I think I am having a stroke. I thought my player of a son just told me he has a girlfriend,” she jokes.
“No, no stroke, Ma. I have a girlfriend now, and I want you to meet her.” I laugh.
“Oh, Cole. I’m so happy for you. She must be one special girl for you to want to bring her around me.”
“She really is great. I know you’ll love her, Mom.”
“I can’t wait to meet her.”
“So, we will see you Wednesday? I have to get to a meeting.”
“Yes, I will be there. Love you, Cole.”
“Love you too, Ma.”
So many things are changing for Ellie and me.
I cannot wait for her to meet my mom and for me to meet her parents.
Hopefully, I can convince her to move in with me.
Waking up with her this morning and getting ready for our day together was the highlight of my day.
I want her to be there when I wake up every morning and fall asleep next to me every night.
Later, after we get home from work, I start cooking dinner.
I’m glad Ellie wanted lo mein, because that’s one of my favorite meals to cook.
I finish cooking, and she gets out dishes for us.
We sit down and start eating. I think about telling her how I really feel about her, and then I chicken out.
I’ve already told her I want her to move in, and she’s meeting my mom in two days.
I can’t ambush her with this now; it would just overwhelm her even more.
So I decide to wait. We spend the rest of the night in front of the TV, relaxing and learning more about each other before we head to bed.
As we fall asleep, I think about how our first full day “living together” went so smooth. It’s like everything seems to be falling into place and Ellie was meant to be here all along.