Becca
The sound of loud knocking woke from my sleep in the middle of the night. I wasn’t exactly sure at first where the hell the noise was coming from, but as soon as my mind focused, I realized soone was pounding on my front door. Glancing towards my clock, I groaned seeing it was close to 5:00 in the morning.
“What the f*ck?”
Sliding from my bed, I wrapped my robe around and made my way downstairs where the persistent knocking continued. The person on the other side was relentless in their endeavor to piss off for waking up at this hour.
Looking through the peephole, my heart stopped for just a mont. There on the other side of my door was Neal. His hair was disheveled as if he hadn’t been sleeping. Not to ntion he was wearing sweats and a T-shirt, a duffle bag in hand. “What the hell...” I muttered to myself as I opened the front door.
His gorgeous eyes locked with mine, and as they did, he stepped into the apartnt, pressing his lips against mine as he shut the door behind him. The movent took my breath away, but I wasn’t complaining. Instead, I lted into him.
“God, I missed you,” he whispered softly, leaning his forehead against mine.
“Neal... what are you doing here?” Looking up into his eyes, I tried to understand why he was here. The last thing I knew, he had a eting this morning and was supposed to be flying out of town.
“I ca to see you. Are you not happy to have here?”
“No, that’s not what I ant.” I laughed. “I’m very happy to see you. But I thought you had a eting this morning, and you were supposed to go out of town.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“... But you decided not to go?” I asked when he didn’t elaborate further.
“You’re more important to , Becca.”
I was confused about what was running through his mind. Neal had always been so guarded in a way, but right now, it was as if all his walls were down, and I was seeing him for the first ti.
Vulnerable. Broken.
Running my hand across the soft touch of his skin, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. It didn’t take a genius to figure sothing was bothering him, but deciding not to press the issue anymore, I kissed him gently. “Let’s go back to bed.”
Nodding his head, he picked up into his arms, causing a sound of surprise to escape as he carried up the stairs towards my bedroom. “Neal, what are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” He grinned as he continued on his parade.
“You don’t have to carry . I can walk.” I laughed.
“I know.”
Raising a brow, a smirk fell over my lips. “You know, but you don’t care?”
“Essentially,” he replied as he pushed open my bedroom door, and carried towards the bed, laying down gently. “I will take care of you.”
I wasn’t sure what his admission was about, but before I could ask, he stripped off his shirt, causing a pink tinge to cross my cheeks before he slid off his sweatpants, standing in my room in nothing but tight boxer briefs. His sculpted legs, and well defined—package—on full display.
“Not tonight,” he whispered as he climbed onto the bed and pressed his lips against mine. “You need to rest. Growing a baby requires lots of rest.”
I wasn’t sure what had co over him or why he had driven hours to get to my place, completely rejecting all the things he had to do today, but I was too tired to argue with him. Too tired to contemplate what was going on.
It was best just to wait till morning, and as I snuggled into the crook of his arm, I felt a sense of safety pass over I hadn’t had before. A sense of security that made my heart warm, and my mind clear of the fog it once held before.
********
I wasn’t sure what ti it was when I finally woke up, but the streams of filtered sunlight streaming through my curtains let know it was morning. Stretching in my bed, I glanced around, realizing I was alone. I was almost certain Neal had been here with .... Did I dream up the entire thing?
Sliding from the bed, I made my way towards the bathroom to freshen up, and as I stepped inside, I saw his toiletry bag on the counter. I hadn’t dreamt the entire thing. Neal had really co to in the middle of the night... but where was he?
Finishing in the bathroom, I made my way downstairs, only to stop halfway gazing into the living room where Neal sat with a cup of coffee and his laptop. He was typing away intently, his eyes never looking up, and it amazed how he could have passed for a college student himself.
“Good morning,” I said softly, causing his eyes to gaze up at from his laptop, a smile spreading across his face before he quickly stood up and cleared the space between us.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he said as he pressed his lips against mine. “Are you hungry? I made pancakes.”
“You cooked?” I asked with a wide grin and a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, Becca. I can cook.”
Rolling his eyes, he smirked at as he made his way towards the kitchen and quickly plated up so food. I wasn’t honestly sure how to react to this because I had never seen him act like this before. “Are... you okay?”
“Yeah, why?” he chuckled. “Do I look like sothing is wrong?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I smiled at him. “You drove hours to get here in the middle of the night, Neal. Can you bla for thinking that sothing is wrong?”
He hesitated his movents before slowly turning to slide the plate of food towards . There was no way he couldn’t see what I was talking about, and as his eyes t mine, I knew he knew it. “I just wanted to see you.”
He was hiding sothing, but whatever it was lurked beneath his gaze. As if he wanted to tell , but was unsure if he could. Reaching across the counter, I placed my hand upon his and smiled at him. “I’m glad that you ca, because I missed you. But I can tell there is sothing else going on... just know that when you’re ready to tell , I’m here to listen.”
Neal’s face went blank for a mont before clearing his throat. “Do you want orange juice?”
Changing the subject.
“Yeah sure. That sounds great.”
Watching him walk around the kitchen, I dug into the food he’d made and was surprised how great it tasted. Lately I was lucky if I could manage a few bites of food with this morning sickness, and yet I was able to clear my entire plate.
“So I think we should talk about sothing,” Neal finally said, speaking up after monts of silence. “We need to talk about us–about the baby–the future.”
I hadn’t been expecting him to walk to talk about these kinds of things. As far as I knew, we weren’t together, and the baby wasn’t his. It was mine. So hearing he wanted a future or wanted to talk about the future confused .
“Okay...” I replied hesitantly as he walked around the bar. Slowly, I turned on the bar stool, only to find his hands resting on the sides of my thighs as he stood between my legs.
“I know Jas may be the father of your child, Becca. But I don’t want you to feel like that ans we can’t be together if you want to be with .”
His admission took aback. We had never talked about being together in full detail before, but hearing him say this touched and brought tears to my eyes. “We aren’t even technically together.”
Smooth, Becca. I internally groaned at myself.
“Yeah, I know.” He smiled sweetly, “but I want us to be.”
With parted lips, I gasped. “You do?”
“Yes.” His hands slid over the side of my face gently. His body leaned into mine as he brushed his lips against . “I spent a few days away from you, and I realized I didn’t like it. I want to spend everyday with you.”
I had waited forever for soone to say these things to . None of the guys I had ever been with made feel the way Neal did, and even though a part of wanted to jump at the opportunity, I knew I couldn’t rush into things.
It wasn’t just I had to think about now.
“I want that, too, but I don’t want to rush things. We need to make sure that this is what we really want. I don’t want either of us to think down the road that we should have waited.”
My words sounded almost like a rejection, which wasn’t what I was trying to do, but I didn’t want him to think I would jump right in with two feet.
To my surprise, though, he smiled at as he kissed again. “I thought you might say sothing like that, and I agree. We can take things slow and see how it goes. But I want you close always... if you accept that.”
“What do you an?” Furrowing my brows, I tried to understand what he was saying. The statent having been able to an a lot of things confused .
“I’m saying that I want you to move to New York to live with after you’re done with exams.”
“What?!” I exclaid with shock. “Neal, I have to do my—” Holding his hand up, he cut off and smiled.
“I know. You have to do your internship and you will.” He smirked. “You will be my intern. I actually need help in that departnt anyway, and you will have your own office. Be close enough to , and you can even travel with overseas.”
The offer was sothing I hadn’t been expecting, and honestly, it was an amazing offer.
He wasn’t trying to rush things, but he was also allowing us to spend more ti together while also taking my schooling into consideration. I knew very well Jas, at one point, had offered for to go down there, but I also knew that he wouldn’t have actually let intern.
At least with Neal, he would let do my job.
He knew how important my education and future was to .
“Promise you won’t try to pay for everything all the ti? That you will still let be independent?”
Soft laughter escaped him as he cupped my chin, pulling closer. “I wouldn’t change who you are for the world, Rebecca.”
“Okay... let’s do it.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)