Beautiful With You

by Jen Andrews

He was right. It wasn’t too smart of me to take off on my own like that in a country that was foreign to me. I sent him a very honest and heartfelt reply.

  I can’t pretend you’re not there. I can feel you all around me, and part of you is growing inside me. You’re everywhere that I am . . .

  Just the thought of Hannah brought tears to my eyes, so I closed them, and counted to five, letting myself calm down. He wanted to give us everything, and in his mind, I was refusing it. I wanted him, and if he came with money, I would get over it.

  He entered the park a few minutes later and knelt in front of me. It was then that I noticed he hadn’t put shoes on before he left the house.

  “Please come home and we’ll figure it out together. We can work this out.”

  I draped my arms over his shoulders and down his back, my forehead pressed to his.

  “I’m sorry for walking away,” I said softly and kissed his forehead. “You’re barefoot. Why didn’t you put on shoes?”

  He looked at his feet as if he didn’t realize he wasn’t wearing shoes.

  “I saw you through the window when you were leaving,” he admitted. “I guess I just didn’t think about it.”

  I made it several blocks from the house, and he followed me. Barefoot.

  “Let’s go back so we can figure this out,” I said quietly.

  He breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, “Thank you.”

  We stood and walked hand in hand back toward his house. Was I ever going to be able to call his home ours? I hoped I could. Halfway back, my cell began blaring “God Save the Queen” by the Sex Pistols.

  Andy looked at me curiously. “It’s Justin,” I said laughing, so he knew who was calling, and why the ringtone was so fitting.

  “Ahh, I see.”

  “Yes, my queen?” I joked in my worst British accent. “How may I be of assistance this wonderful evening?”

  Justin squealed on the other end of the line. “Zoey? Guess what?”

  He was so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “Um, what’s got you so excited, Justin?”

  I heard Will in the background telling Justin to calm down and tell me something already.

  “We bought a house!” he squealed again.

  “Oh that’s great,” I replied. “Put me on speaker so I can talk to Will too.”

  I put my phone on speaker as well.

  “Zoey!” Will shouted.

  “Hey, Will,” I said, happy to hear my friend’s voice. “Andy is here with me. Tell him your good news.”

  “Hey guys,” Andy said. “What’s up?”

  In unison, they both yelled, “We bought a house!”

  Andy grinned. “Ah, sweet as. Congratulations.”

  Will and Justin laughed.

  “I have no idea what that meant,” Justin said. “But thanks, you big hunk of man, you.”

  The guys and I laughed as Andy turned a nice shade of red. They loved to tease him about how handsome and sexy they thought he was. He was very fond of them too after they had taken him to the hospital after my accident.

  After they begged Andy to explain to them what “sweet as” meant, he told them that it was the Kiwi version of cool or awesome.

  They told us they’d be moving out of the apartment in thirty days when escrow closed on their new place. After we congratulated them again, we hung up and strolled back to the house. Thankfully, Mr. Davies was gone because I could tell that Andy was going to be adamant about talking.

  “Can we sit and talk about this, Zoey?”

  Here we go.

  I was ready to talk, but thought the conversation would go better and be over sooner if I had a distraction for just a bit longer. There was so much to think about, and required time for me to come to terms with the news I’d been given. “Let me make some hot tea first. Are you hungry? I can make something to eat too.”

  In the kitchen, we made sandwiches for lunch. While I sliced up the veggies, I thought about the big fat elephant in the room.

  Ten million dollars.

  What exactly was my issue, other than not being told about it? I couldn’t think of any. We were married, so truthfully, everything that I had was his too. He had more than enough of his own money to last ten lifetimes. The most reasonable choice was to meet somewhere in the middle.

  Fuck . . . I have so many questions. Time to get this straightened out, Zoey.

  He wanted to share all his money, but he needed to know what my terms were going to be.

  “Andy, I still want to work. I love what I do, and I love being a part of my family’s business.”

  “I’d never ask you to quit your job, Zoey. If you want to work, I’m fine with that. In fact, it’s what my parents did, and what I want us to do too. That’s the way they raised us. They worked because they wanted to. All their paychecks went to daily expenses. Food, gas, household bills—basic things like that. The inheritance was to be used for the family. They only used it for big purchases, like this place, their cars, and our schooling. They took advantage of what it could do to enhance our lives, but they did it in a way where we still learned how to be responsible.”

  I understood what he was saying, and it made sense. Why would you have all that money and just let it sit there? It would be pointless not to spend some of it, but it would be stupid to waste it on things you didn’t need.

  “So, what do you want to do with the house here and the money?” I asked frankly as we sat down for lunch.

  I needed to know what his expectations were, and he needed to know mine. We needed to make the final decisions together. I wasn’t just going to do whatever he wanted.

  Marriage was a partnership, after all.

  He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “If you will agree, I’d like to pay off your car and the store. Especially now, since Will and Justin will be moving out, you won’t have the income anymore from their rent.”

  Honestly, I hadn’t thought about that since we’d just received the news that they were moving out. Their rent helped pay my bills.

  “Do you want to pay off the store to be my business partner or pay it off for me?” I asked as he took a giant bite of his sandwich.

  As he chewed, I thought about what I’d asked him. I didn’t want him to pay off the store if he wasn’t going to run the business with me. It didn’t seem right for him to pay it off, then not be involved.

  “Wait, don’t answer yet.” He needed to hear what I wanted to do.

  “If you pay it off, I want you to be on the deed, and I want you to be my business partner. If you don’t want to be involved in the daily business of the store, that is your choice, but I want it to be a fifty-fifty partnership.”

  He nodded. “Fine, I can live with that. What about buying a house for us?”

  That was going to be harder for me to accept.

  “Andy, I love where I live,” I admitted. “Don’t laugh, but I like the fact that it’s on the second floor. To me it feels safer. More secure. I know with you moving in and Hannah coming in a few months, we’ll outgrow it eventually. But for now, can we please stay there?”

  “I love that place too, Zoey. We have lots of good memories there.”

  I started to say something when he covered my hand with his.

  “I have an idea,” he said as his eyes sparkled with excitement. “What if we move into the apartment above the shop, and get your place renovated. With the guys moving out, we’ll have the whole floor above the store to live in.”

  Seriously? I loved the idea.

  “I do believe I married a genius,” I joked as a happy smile broke out over my face.

  “Damn straight you did, Beautiful.”

  “Oh and he’s a little cocky too.”

  He grabbed my hand, and put it on his crotch. “A little cocky, Zoey? Are you sure about that?”

  He was hard and I gave him a little squeeze. “No, Sexy. Definitely not little. However, he is a little pervy.”

  We laughed as I pulled my hand away. “Back
to business, Andy, pleasure later.”

  My wheels started turning about designing and decorating new rooms. I loved the fifteen-foot tall ceilings, the exposed antique brick walls, and the lofty feeling of the apartments. If we combined them, we would have well over four thousand square feet to live in. It would be plenty of room for us, and plenty of room to grow.

  So there I was, agreeing with his proposition.

  “Yes,” I said excitedly. “I love that idea.” And I loved the smile that came over his face when I said yes.

  We were talking, and we were making decisions together. That was good. It was right.

  “Andy.” I had an idea too. “Will you let me make you an En Zed room?”

  He raised his eyebrows curiously and I laughed at his expression.

  “I want to do a room, maybe a family room or something, I don’t know yet . . . but I want the room to remind you of here. Remind us of here,” I corrected.

  He smiled. “What did you have in mind?”

  Boy, my wheels were really turning now.

  “I want to hang yours and your dad’s surfboards, maybe get some All Blacks décor to hang up too. I want to make the room feel like it’s actually in New Zealand. Maybe have some Maori and New Zealand artwork too.”

  “I like where you’re headed with this.”

  I clapped my hands together with excitement. “Oh, and we’ll get a big screen TV to hang on the wall so we can watch rugby.”

  He must have liked that idea, because he high-fived me.

  “I love you, Beautiful.”

  For the next couple of hours, we planned our future. Together. It was wonderful. We talked about coming back to New Zealand every year for vacation. We wanted our children to know this place.

  They would be half Kiwi, after all, as Andy pointed out with a massive grin on his face. He didn’t find it amusing when I told him I wished I knew what the other half of them was, since I had no clue what I was.

  “You’re my girl, Zoey,” he said. “You are beautiful, inside and out, and it’s all that matters.”

  My insides did a little flutter from his compliment. I loved my man more than life itself.

  We sat for so long I was getting uncomfortable sitting on the hard chair. “I’m going to clean up the kitchen, why don’t you go find something to watch on TV.”

  He took our plates to the kitchen as Tamati and Iria arrived home from work within minutes of each other. I fixed them dinner while Andy sat with them, and told them we were leaving in a week to go back to Sacramento. We visited with them while they ate and told them about all our plans for when we got home.

  We even made plans for them to come and visit us the following summer after we moved back into the newly renamed “loft” and after Hannah was born.

  After their dinner, I excused myself to take a relaxing bath. It had been a long, draining day. I fixed another cup of hot tea to take with me, and said goodnight to everyone, then headed upstairs.

  I slid down into the water and sipped my tea while the tub filled. I would miss this tub when we went back to Sacramento. It was huge. Big enough to comfortably seat two people. I thought about getting one like it for the renovation.

  Making a mental note to talk to Andy about it, I finished my tea, washed, and conditioned my hair. I squeezed a large dollop of body soap onto the sponge and rubbed it between my hands to get it nice and sudsy.

  “May I join you?” Andy asked from the doorway.

  “Absolutely.” I loved taking baths with him. They always reminded me of our very first meeting.

  He had recently admitted to me that he liked the way I looked bent over cleaning his bathtub singing “Bad Romance.” And, how much he liked the way my red lacy underwear had been showing above the waistband of my too baggy jeans. At least I knew why he liked the red panties so much.

  He emptied his pockets, then shed his clothes and dropped them into the laundry hamper.

  I scooted forward to let him sit behind me in the tub.

  “Why is the water so cool?” he asked me once he was seated.

  “I’m not supposed to take baths that are too hot because of the baby.”

  “I see.” He took the sponge from my hand and gently washed my back.

  “Can we get a bathtub like this one for our place?”

  “You can get anything you like, Zoey. You don’t need to ask.”

  I reclined against him after he rinsed me off.

  “Okay, but I want you to like everything. You know it’s going to take me a while to get used to this whole money thing.”

  He kissed my shoulder and slowly washed my front. He washed my entire body as we soaked in the tub, then I washed his. I paid extra attention to his feet since he had walked God knows how far with no shoes on because I was being a shit.

  He was crazy-ticklish, so of course, I tortured him the entire time I scrubbed his feet. We ended up with more water on the tile floor than in the tub.

  When we finished our bath, he dried me off starting with my shoulders, and worked his way down my body. He knelt when he reached my belly.

  “You look beautiful pregnant, Zoey,” he whispered as he smiled up at me.

  He finished drying me and kissed my stomach before he stood. I took the towel and dried him off the same way he had done for me.

  Afterward, I sat on the edge of the tub and pulled him closer.

  “What are you doing, Zoey?”

  He knew what I was about to do, but always felt it necessary to tease me about it. I smiled up at him and raked my nails lightly up and down the outside of his muscular thighs.

  Andy groaned when I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the head of his hardening cock. Without using my hands, I took him inside my mouth as he wound his fingers through my wet hair.

  While slowly drawing him in and out of my mouth, I trailed my fingertips lightly up the backs of his thighs, over his ass, then up his back. I pulled him in deeper, as I dragged my nails down his back.

  “Oh . . . fuck. That feels so good,” he said between breaths.

  I pulled my head back so just the tip of him was in my mouth and began pumping him with one hand as I swirled my tongue around him.

  “Ahh, Zoey . . .” he moaned as I stroked him.

  I looked up at him and his eyes flashed open and met mine. His eyes were completely glazed over in ecstasy and it turned me on to see him like that. Knowing it was me who was making him feel so good.

  He loosened his fingers on one hand from my hair and began teasing my nipple. Oh fuck was right. With one simple touch from him, my body was on fire.

  The harder I worked him, and the more he teased my nipple, the more I ached between my legs. Jolts of pleasure traveled downward from my nipple, so I pressed my legs together, intensifying the ache.

  Holy mother of fuck, I was going to come, solely from him touching my nipples.

  I stopped pumping him, took him all the way inside my mouth, and then released him completely. He groaned in frustration. I wrapped my hand around his base and began drawing him in and out of my mouth, sucking harder.

  He ran the flat of his palm over my breast, lightly pinching my nipple between his fingers.

  I pulled him from my mouth. “Mmm that feels so good.”

  Taking him back in, I moaned, moving my hand on him harder and faster. He started teasing my other nipple with his other hand. I slipped my free hand around him and dragged my nails down his back while he tugged, massaged, and squeezed my breasts.

  My body began to throb and tremble. I squeezed my legs together tighter which intensified my orgasm. I whimpered from the pleasure coursing through me, and sucked him further into my mouth. Andy groaned as his orgasm ripped through him. His body jerked slightly, and he came as my orgasm subsided.

  Holy fucking shit. I gently released him from my mouth and swallowed. He took my hands and helped me stand, but I wobbled a bit. He steadied me.

  “Did you just come while you were doing that?” he asked huskily, his voi
ce deep and sexy.

  I nodded as I felt the heat rise in to my chest and face.

  “That was fucking intense, Zoey,” he whispered.

  Yes, yes it fucking was.

  He led me to the bed, where he pulled all the blankets back and tossed the pillows to the floor.

  “Get on your knees facing the headboard,” he growled.

  Oh my. I did as he said because I was anxious to see what he had planned for me. Whatever it was, I knew I’d love it.

  He knelt behind me. Trailing his hand down to the inside of my thigh, he urged me to spread my knees further apart. “Wider,” he whispered, as he kissed my neck and back. He slipped his hands between my legs from behind, and slid his fingers inside me. He slowly moved them in and out.

  I reached behind me, took his cock in my hand, and stroked him. He was already getting hard again.

  It was going to be a good night. I turned slightly to kiss him. His fingers still moving inside me, his other hand came around to cup my breast and he teased my nipple again.

  Oh my, he was good at that. I don’t know if it was a combination of his hands being rough from work, because he was always so warm or just him in general. But, I was on the verge of orgasm again when he pulled his fingers away and backed up.

  “Where are you going?” I demanded anxiously, because I was definitely not finished.

  The next thing I knew, he was lying on his back and burying his face between my legs.

  Yes, I was almost sitting on his face. Holy fucking hell, I was not expecting that.

  I had never been in that position before, and just the thought of it made me burst in to a fit of giggles. I laughed for all of two seconds until his lips met my body and I gasped.

  It felt so fucking good, but I was still a little embarrassed at the position. I didn’t know why, it’s not like he hadn’t done it to me before, just not in that position.

  I chuckled again at the thought, and he stopped.

  “You know, this is supposed to make you come, not laugh,” he joked.

  I laughed again. “I just feel so . . . exposed.”

  After a few moments, I had the nerve to look down at him. I could barely see his head past my belly, which sent me in to another fit of laughter.