Post by Jen on Aug 18, 2006 14:46:13 GMT -5
Chapter 29
“Don’t you peek!” Gus said as he got out of the car and rushed over to Harley’s side to open the door for her and help her out of the car.
“Ready?” he asked and when she nodded, he removed the blindfold from over her eyes.
“Wow!” she exclaimed as she looked up at his finished house. She hadn’t seen it since mid-September after they got back from Chicago when Gus made her promise not to come to the house so he could surprise her when it was completely finished. “Gus, it’s beautiful!” she breathed when she saw the stone front of the house behind the large porch that spread across the front.
“It’s empty,” Harley said after he led her into the house and she saw the empty living room.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to pick out furniture yet, so most of the rooms don’t have anything in them,” he explained. “Let me show you around,” he said and took her hand. “This is the foyer, obviously. Coat closet back here. Stairs. Down that hallway is a half bath, the den and a family room and it leads to the kitchen. I’ll get to those, but first, this is the living room. I figured the TV would go over there and then have the couch and some chairs or something, I don’t know yet, you can help me figure that out. But this is my second favorite room in the house, come here,” he said as he led her to the back corner of the living room where there was an opening in the wall that led to a small room. Against one wall of the smaller room was a fireplace.
“I thought this could be the adults only room, well you know. I was thinking it would just have a couch or a loveseat in it. No TV, no nothing, just a romantic, quiet room for us,” he explained.
“I love it,” she smiled and snuggled into his chest. “Continue, I want to see which room is your favorite.”
He took her back into the living room and through an entrance to the dining room, without a table and then into the large kitchen with the countertop they picked out at the home store.
“This kitchen is so great! There’s so much counter space and room to walk around. It makes me wish I could cook!” Harley teased.
“Well, there is a very nice bar area where you can sit and enjoy a glass of wine while you watch me cook,” he replied.
“Works for me!”
“This door goes outside to the back yard. And in there is the laundry room, and there’s a door in there that goes into the garage. And that door is for the basement. That and the den and family room aren’t anything special, so let’s go upstairs,” he said and pulled her up to the second floor.
“Ahh, knowing you, this must be your favorite room. And it’s the only one that has furniture,” Harley laughed as he pushed open the door to the master bedroom.
“Yeah, I took the liberty of doing this room. How did I do?” he asked.
“You did great, it’s beautiful! Very sexy and romantic but still somewhat masculine. And this bed is huge!”
“Come here and lay on it, you’ll never want to leave,” he said as he pulled her over to the king-sized bed with him.
Harley sat down on the edge of the bed then laid back with her head on the pillow. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. I think you have an ulterior motive here,” she teased.
“You may be right,” he nodded as he joined her and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.
“This is amazing Gus. You did a great job.”
“Yeah, it almost feels like home.”
“Almost?” she asked.
“Uh huh,” he nodded and they both got quiet. “I know you’re not ready yet, and that’s okay, but I want you and the boys here with me. That’s an open invitation and whenever you can accept it is okay with me,” he finished.
Harley didn’t reply, but buried her face into his neck, kissing him, “Thank you,” she finally said and they laid silently together for a few minutes before Harley spoke up.
“I think there are more rooms for me to see,” she said.
“Yeah, but first I want you to see the bathroom,” he said and pulled her off the bed and into the master bath attached to the room. To the left of the door was a double sink vanity with cabinets on either side.
“Back there is the toilet and a walk-in closet,” Gus pointed out. “And well, obviously, that’s the shower.”
“That’s the biggest shower I’ve ever seen!” Harley exclaimed when she saw the double shower.
“I know. It wasn’t exactly a necessity, but what the hell?” he replied. “And…the tub,” he added as he turned her around so she could see it.
“Oh Gus…”
“You said you always wanted one,” he said. “I really, really wanted the big whirlpool tub, but when I saw this, I knew it had to be here. So the whirlpool is in the main bathroom.”
“This is just amazing and I haven’t even seen the whole house yet,” Harley said as she ran her hand over the edge of the tub.
“Well, you saw the most important room,” he replied.
“The bedroom?”
“Oh yes, the bedroom. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” she nodded.
“Yeah? How much?” he asked as he pulled her over to him.
“A whole bunch,” she answered as she started to unbutton his shirt.
“If you think this is good, wait until you see the walk-in closet. With one wall of shelves for shoes,” he added.
“Oh baby, you’re talking my language now,” she laughed and pulled him back into the bedroom with her.
“Shoes…purses….” he mumbled into her neck and she moaned before they laughed together.
“Gus,” she said and he lifted his head and looked at her. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said before he covered her lips in a deep kiss and lowered her onto the bed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I love this bed,” Harley sighed as Gus attached his lips to her neck after they made love. “Or maybe I just love the company,” she added with a smile.
“The bed is nice too,” he said when he pulled away from her and supported himself above her. “I like your skin against these sheets.”
“What?” she laughed.
“Your skin is very light against these sheets. I like it, it’s sexy,” he explained.
“You’re getting turned on by your taupe sheets?”
“No, I’m getting turned on by the naked lady in my sheets,” he teased and kissed her. “Don’t you ever notice the color contrast of things? Like you and these sheets?”
“You mean like your dark skin and that white sweater of yours? Why do you think it’s my favorite?” she asked with a smile.
“So you know what I’m talking about.”
“I do,” she nodded.
“Do I need to put on the sweater to turn you on?”
“Nope. It would just be another obstacle to getting you naked,” she teased and pulled him back down beside her in a kiss.
“Okay, before we get distracted in here, how about showing me those other rooms?” she said and he rolled off of her.
“Alright, come with me,” he said as he got off the bed and put on a pair of track pants and she wrapped the sheet around her and followed him out into the hall where he showed her two other rooms.
“And this is the last one,” he said, leading her into a third extra room.
“Wait, there are three bedrooms and the master up here?” she asked and he nodded. “Why so many?”
“Well, you know…” he sighed, “so the boys can each have their own room.”
“And the third?”
“I don’t know, whatever you use a spare bedroom for. Storage, expansion…” Gus shrugged innocently.
“What kind of expansion?” she asked and he mumbled something as he walked out of the room. “Honey,” she said as she stood in the doorway and he turned around and looked at her. “Family expansion? For a baby?” she asked.
“Well, yeah. I mean, I think this would make a good nursery, there’s a lot of light coming in and they say that’s good for babies, right?” he asked.
“That’s what they say,” she nodded.
“Forget it, I just never changed the plans, but I know that’s not something you’re interested in,” he said and went back into the master bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.
“You know that, huh?” Harley asked as she knelt behind him. “Let me tell you something you don’t know. Last month, when I was feeling sick, I took a pregnancy test, but it was negative.”
“I know,” Gus said quietly.
“What?”
“I know you took the test and I know that it was negative.”
“How?”
“I found the test in the garbage,” he answered.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Gus, do you think I didn’t tell you because I was happy? That’s not it at all. I didn’t tell you because I was devastated,” she sighed and rested her chin on his shoulder. “When I first thought I could be pregnant, I was terrified, I was. I didn’t think it was the right time to have a baby, I didn’t know if you even wanted kids, I didn’t know if I wanted more kids, but when I saw that it was negative, I realized that I did want to be pregnant. So that’s why I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to get your hopes up and then disappoint you. I know how that feels and I didn’t want you to feel that way, so I didn’t tell you.”
“You were really upset?” he asked quietly and felt her nod into his shoulder. “You didn’t act like it, you seemed fine when you came back to bed and…when I found out you took the test, I thought you were just happy you weren’t pregnant,” he explained.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I know what it felt like to see that negative result and I didn’t want you to go through that,” she replied.
Gus turned around and wrapped his arm around her waist before he kissed her, “Are we okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” she nodded.
“So, what does this all mean? I mean, do you want to have a baby?” he asked.
“Right now? No, I don’t. If it happened, it would be great, but um, I think it would be better if we waited, you know…” she answered.
“Yeah, I know. I agree. But you do want to have a baby? I mean eventually?” he asked cautiously.
“I would love to have a baby with you….eventually,” she smiled and he pulled her into another kiss.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I think we have officially christened the master bedroom. Multiple times,” Harley laughed later that evening as she leaned back against Gus in the bathtub.
“I would have to agree,” he said and kissed her neck as he ran a sponge up her arm. “So what do you think of the house?”
“I think it’s beautiful. I’m impressed, you did a great job with it. Of course it will be better after there is furniture!”
“We have the bed, what else do we need?” he teased.
“Not a whole lot,” she replied as she turned around between his legs and kissed him deeply. “When are you going to finish the house?”
“Probably after we get back from the wedding next weekend,” he answered.
“So you’ll still be staying at the boarding house?” she asked.
“Depends. Why?”
“Well, I’ll have the boys all week since we’ll be gone next weekend, so we probably won’t get to see each other a whole lot,” she explained.
“That’s okay, I get you all to myself starting Friday for three whole days. You, me and an amazing hotel room on Martha’s Vineyard,” he replied.
“Sounds great. I’m glad David decided to get married there and not D.C., Martha’s Vineyard is so much more vacation-y.”
“And we definitely need a vacation. And time alone.”
“Definitely,” she nodded. “I can’t wait to meet David. I just hope he’s not too busy to spill some secrets about you to me,” she teased. “I want to know all about your college days.”
“You know all of my secrets,” he said.
“Really?”
“Really,” he assured her.
“Well, maybe I can at least see an old picture of you. Let’s see, that would have been the…early nineties…I would kill to see what your hair looked like!”
“Oh please, don’t remind me!”
“I promise it can’t be worse than my hair back then,” she laughed.
“I’ve seen pictures of you from then. You were beautiful. Crazy hairdo and all,” he said and she smiled and kissed him.
“Sweetheart,” she began, “did you have a mullet?” she asked, trying not to laugh.
“Hey, those were very cool back in the day,” he said defensively and she couldn’t hold back her giggles anymore.
“I have got to see a picture of that!”
“Well…just promise me you won’t think any less of me. And I hope I look better now than I did back then.”
“I have a feeling that you have never looked sexier than you do right now. Because right now,” she said as she slid her hand down his wet chest, “you look unbelievably sexy. My preference is you naked, of course, but I can’t wait to see how good you look in your tux.”
“I do clean up nice,” he said. “Speaking of which, I haven’t seen your dress for the wedding yet.”
“And you won’t until Saturday night,” she replied.
“Why is that?”
“Because I want you to be surprised! And I want you to see it for the first time and not be able to keep your hands off of me all night so I can get you all worked up and reap the benefits when we’re alone.”
“I don’t think I’ll be taking my hands off of you all weekend. Dress or no dress. I’m expecting it to be a very memorable weekend,” he said and pulled her back down against his chest.
“I can’t wait,” she said, nuzzling his neck and linking her fingers through his in the warm water.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Don’t you peek!” Gus said as he got out of the car and rushed over to Harley’s side to open the door for her and help her out of the car.
“Ready?” he asked and when she nodded, he removed the blindfold from over her eyes.
“Wow!” she exclaimed as she looked up at his finished house. She hadn’t seen it since mid-September after they got back from Chicago when Gus made her promise not to come to the house so he could surprise her when it was completely finished. “Gus, it’s beautiful!” she breathed when she saw the stone front of the house behind the large porch that spread across the front.
“It’s empty,” Harley said after he led her into the house and she saw the empty living room.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to pick out furniture yet, so most of the rooms don’t have anything in them,” he explained. “Let me show you around,” he said and took her hand. “This is the foyer, obviously. Coat closet back here. Stairs. Down that hallway is a half bath, the den and a family room and it leads to the kitchen. I’ll get to those, but first, this is the living room. I figured the TV would go over there and then have the couch and some chairs or something, I don’t know yet, you can help me figure that out. But this is my second favorite room in the house, come here,” he said as he led her to the back corner of the living room where there was an opening in the wall that led to a small room. Against one wall of the smaller room was a fireplace.
“I thought this could be the adults only room, well you know. I was thinking it would just have a couch or a loveseat in it. No TV, no nothing, just a romantic, quiet room for us,” he explained.
“I love it,” she smiled and snuggled into his chest. “Continue, I want to see which room is your favorite.”
He took her back into the living room and through an entrance to the dining room, without a table and then into the large kitchen with the countertop they picked out at the home store.
“This kitchen is so great! There’s so much counter space and room to walk around. It makes me wish I could cook!” Harley teased.
“Well, there is a very nice bar area where you can sit and enjoy a glass of wine while you watch me cook,” he replied.
“Works for me!”
“This door goes outside to the back yard. And in there is the laundry room, and there’s a door in there that goes into the garage. And that door is for the basement. That and the den and family room aren’t anything special, so let’s go upstairs,” he said and pulled her up to the second floor.
“Ahh, knowing you, this must be your favorite room. And it’s the only one that has furniture,” Harley laughed as he pushed open the door to the master bedroom.
“Yeah, I took the liberty of doing this room. How did I do?” he asked.
“You did great, it’s beautiful! Very sexy and romantic but still somewhat masculine. And this bed is huge!”
“Come here and lay on it, you’ll never want to leave,” he said as he pulled her over to the king-sized bed with him.
Harley sat down on the edge of the bed then laid back with her head on the pillow. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. I think you have an ulterior motive here,” she teased.
“You may be right,” he nodded as he joined her and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.
“This is amazing Gus. You did a great job.”
“Yeah, it almost feels like home.”
“Almost?” she asked.
“Uh huh,” he nodded and they both got quiet. “I know you’re not ready yet, and that’s okay, but I want you and the boys here with me. That’s an open invitation and whenever you can accept it is okay with me,” he finished.
Harley didn’t reply, but buried her face into his neck, kissing him, “Thank you,” she finally said and they laid silently together for a few minutes before Harley spoke up.
“I think there are more rooms for me to see,” she said.
“Yeah, but first I want you to see the bathroom,” he said and pulled her off the bed and into the master bath attached to the room. To the left of the door was a double sink vanity with cabinets on either side.
“Back there is the toilet and a walk-in closet,” Gus pointed out. “And well, obviously, that’s the shower.”
“That’s the biggest shower I’ve ever seen!” Harley exclaimed when she saw the double shower.
“I know. It wasn’t exactly a necessity, but what the hell?” he replied. “And…the tub,” he added as he turned her around so she could see it.
“Oh Gus…”
“You said you always wanted one,” he said. “I really, really wanted the big whirlpool tub, but when I saw this, I knew it had to be here. So the whirlpool is in the main bathroom.”
“This is just amazing and I haven’t even seen the whole house yet,” Harley said as she ran her hand over the edge of the tub.
“Well, you saw the most important room,” he replied.
“The bedroom?”
“Oh yes, the bedroom. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” she nodded.
“Yeah? How much?” he asked as he pulled her over to him.
“A whole bunch,” she answered as she started to unbutton his shirt.
“If you think this is good, wait until you see the walk-in closet. With one wall of shelves for shoes,” he added.
“Oh baby, you’re talking my language now,” she laughed and pulled him back into the bedroom with her.
“Shoes…purses….” he mumbled into her neck and she moaned before they laughed together.
“Gus,” she said and he lifted his head and looked at her. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said before he covered her lips in a deep kiss and lowered her onto the bed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I love this bed,” Harley sighed as Gus attached his lips to her neck after they made love. “Or maybe I just love the company,” she added with a smile.
“The bed is nice too,” he said when he pulled away from her and supported himself above her. “I like your skin against these sheets.”
“What?” she laughed.
“Your skin is very light against these sheets. I like it, it’s sexy,” he explained.
“You’re getting turned on by your taupe sheets?”
“No, I’m getting turned on by the naked lady in my sheets,” he teased and kissed her. “Don’t you ever notice the color contrast of things? Like you and these sheets?”
“You mean like your dark skin and that white sweater of yours? Why do you think it’s my favorite?” she asked with a smile.
“So you know what I’m talking about.”
“I do,” she nodded.
“Do I need to put on the sweater to turn you on?”
“Nope. It would just be another obstacle to getting you naked,” she teased and pulled him back down beside her in a kiss.
“Okay, before we get distracted in here, how about showing me those other rooms?” she said and he rolled off of her.
“Alright, come with me,” he said as he got off the bed and put on a pair of track pants and she wrapped the sheet around her and followed him out into the hall where he showed her two other rooms.
“And this is the last one,” he said, leading her into a third extra room.
“Wait, there are three bedrooms and the master up here?” she asked and he nodded. “Why so many?”
“Well, you know…” he sighed, “so the boys can each have their own room.”
“And the third?”
“I don’t know, whatever you use a spare bedroom for. Storage, expansion…” Gus shrugged innocently.
“What kind of expansion?” she asked and he mumbled something as he walked out of the room. “Honey,” she said as she stood in the doorway and he turned around and looked at her. “Family expansion? For a baby?” she asked.
“Well, yeah. I mean, I think this would make a good nursery, there’s a lot of light coming in and they say that’s good for babies, right?” he asked.
“That’s what they say,” she nodded.
“Forget it, I just never changed the plans, but I know that’s not something you’re interested in,” he said and went back into the master bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed.
“You know that, huh?” Harley asked as she knelt behind him. “Let me tell you something you don’t know. Last month, when I was feeling sick, I took a pregnancy test, but it was negative.”
“I know,” Gus said quietly.
“What?”
“I know you took the test and I know that it was negative.”
“How?”
“I found the test in the garbage,” he answered.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Gus, do you think I didn’t tell you because I was happy? That’s not it at all. I didn’t tell you because I was devastated,” she sighed and rested her chin on his shoulder. “When I first thought I could be pregnant, I was terrified, I was. I didn’t think it was the right time to have a baby, I didn’t know if you even wanted kids, I didn’t know if I wanted more kids, but when I saw that it was negative, I realized that I did want to be pregnant. So that’s why I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to get your hopes up and then disappoint you. I know how that feels and I didn’t want you to feel that way, so I didn’t tell you.”
“You were really upset?” he asked quietly and felt her nod into his shoulder. “You didn’t act like it, you seemed fine when you came back to bed and…when I found out you took the test, I thought you were just happy you weren’t pregnant,” he explained.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I know what it felt like to see that negative result and I didn’t want you to go through that,” she replied.
Gus turned around and wrapped his arm around her waist before he kissed her, “Are we okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” she nodded.
“So, what does this all mean? I mean, do you want to have a baby?” he asked.
“Right now? No, I don’t. If it happened, it would be great, but um, I think it would be better if we waited, you know…” she answered.
“Yeah, I know. I agree. But you do want to have a baby? I mean eventually?” he asked cautiously.
“I would love to have a baby with you….eventually,” she smiled and he pulled her into another kiss.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I think we have officially christened the master bedroom. Multiple times,” Harley laughed later that evening as she leaned back against Gus in the bathtub.
“I would have to agree,” he said and kissed her neck as he ran a sponge up her arm. “So what do you think of the house?”
“I think it’s beautiful. I’m impressed, you did a great job with it. Of course it will be better after there is furniture!”
“We have the bed, what else do we need?” he teased.
“Not a whole lot,” she replied as she turned around between his legs and kissed him deeply. “When are you going to finish the house?”
“Probably after we get back from the wedding next weekend,” he answered.
“So you’ll still be staying at the boarding house?” she asked.
“Depends. Why?”
“Well, I’ll have the boys all week since we’ll be gone next weekend, so we probably won’t get to see each other a whole lot,” she explained.
“That’s okay, I get you all to myself starting Friday for three whole days. You, me and an amazing hotel room on Martha’s Vineyard,” he replied.
“Sounds great. I’m glad David decided to get married there and not D.C., Martha’s Vineyard is so much more vacation-y.”
“And we definitely need a vacation. And time alone.”
“Definitely,” she nodded. “I can’t wait to meet David. I just hope he’s not too busy to spill some secrets about you to me,” she teased. “I want to know all about your college days.”
“You know all of my secrets,” he said.
“Really?”
“Really,” he assured her.
“Well, maybe I can at least see an old picture of you. Let’s see, that would have been the…early nineties…I would kill to see what your hair looked like!”
“Oh please, don’t remind me!”
“I promise it can’t be worse than my hair back then,” she laughed.
“I’ve seen pictures of you from then. You were beautiful. Crazy hairdo and all,” he said and she smiled and kissed him.
“Sweetheart,” she began, “did you have a mullet?” she asked, trying not to laugh.
“Hey, those were very cool back in the day,” he said defensively and she couldn’t hold back her giggles anymore.
“I have got to see a picture of that!”
“Well…just promise me you won’t think any less of me. And I hope I look better now than I did back then.”
“I have a feeling that you have never looked sexier than you do right now. Because right now,” she said as she slid her hand down his wet chest, “you look unbelievably sexy. My preference is you naked, of course, but I can’t wait to see how good you look in your tux.”
“I do clean up nice,” he said. “Speaking of which, I haven’t seen your dress for the wedding yet.”
“And you won’t until Saturday night,” she replied.
“Why is that?”
“Because I want you to be surprised! And I want you to see it for the first time and not be able to keep your hands off of me all night so I can get you all worked up and reap the benefits when we’re alone.”
“I don’t think I’ll be taking my hands off of you all weekend. Dress or no dress. I’m expecting it to be a very memorable weekend,” he said and pulled her back down against his chest.
“I can’t wait,” she said, nuzzling his neck and linking her fingers through his in the warm water.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~