Page 43 of Pull
Grinning on his mouth, I murmur, “I love you for loving me like this. You’re perfect, you know that?”
He slides his hand up my chest. “Yea right.”
“No, I’m serious. You are. You’re pure perfection, Ryan Harper-Lockwood. I’m beyond lucky.”
“Shut up or I’m going to pull you onto my dick right now,” he growls through a smirk and I chuckle.
“What’s stopping you?” I kiss his jaw, down to his pulse.
When he doesn’t respond, I peek up at him to find him biting his lip, some sort of excitement he’s barely able to contain radiating from his gorgeous face. My brows zip together in confusion.
At that moment, Jess waltzes into the room, making almost exactly the same face as Ryan. She nods at him, and he back at her.
I sit up slowly. “What’s going on?”
“Ethan’s down for his nap,” Jess mumbles, practically vibrating where she stands.
“Let’s go out to the shed,” Ryan starts pushing on my chest until I climb off him.
“Why?”
“Could be fun,” Jess shrugs. “We haven’t hung out there in a while.”
Ryan gets up, holding out the hand that isn’t holding an apple for me to take, which I do, though still skeptical as hell.
“What about Ethan?” I ask while Ryan tugs me along, following Jess through the house, toward the back.
“He’s sleeping,” Jess says, opening the door in the kitchen that leads to the deck. “I’m bringing the monitor. We won’t be long.”
Ryan tosses his apple in the trash, practically pushing me along, out onto the deck. We descend the stairs to the backyard, wandering past our rose bushes, and the lemon tree that’s still going strong, toward my shed. Also known as theultimate man-cave. More than even the basement, this place is still my special haven, though there’s now an area of the room for Ethan’s playpen and a few toys.
We don’t have the same freedom we had for the last few years anymore. Now that Ethan’s here, we have to beonconstantly, which is when having two partners comes in handy. We agreed when Ethan was born that we’d work as a unit with him, and make everything even amongst the three of us. So if Jess and I need some alone time, Ryan will watch the baby, or if they need alone time, I’ll do it. The only time it gets a little complicated is when we all want alone time together, the three of us.
But there are no shortage of people willing to babysit, between Marie, Jess’s sister, her best friend Rachel, or Laura, my sister-in-law. The ladies have got us, which is much appreciated. Ethan’s still young, but he’s also a really low-maintenance baby. Life has changed, but we adapt.
Apparently, we’re good at it.
We get to the shed, but Jess doesn’t go to the door. Instead, she walks around the back. And immediately I notice something is different.
There’s a stone path.That’s new…
“Where’d this come from?” I ask, but they both ignore me, dragging me around to the other side of the shed, which is sort of secluded, between our property line and a bunch of trees. I’ve always wanted to do something back here, but I couldn’t decide exactly what.
As soon as we’re on the far side, my eyes widen, damn near bugging out of my head.
There are lights strung up in the tree branches, and a full stone patio with an elaborate hot tub built into the middle.
The thing isamazing. I’ve never seen anything like it. The hot tub’s not huge, but clearly big enough to fit three people comfortably, which is all we need. It’s lit up inside, shining blue light which isn’t that visible since the sun’s still out. But I imagine this will lookinsaneat night.
There are plants and shrubberies set up to surround the edges of the patio, which serve as a barrier of sorts, for some privacy I’m guessing. As we walk closer, I notice how intricate all these details are… Cup holders for drinks, little fire enclosures, probably for when it gets cold. And the stonework is beautiful.
I’m stunned.How in the hell???
Finally tearing my eyes from the hot tub, I glance at my husband and wife, who are clutching onto each other, wearing massive, elated smiles as they stare at me in suspense.
“You guys did this…?” My voice comes out soft and hesitant because…wow. I’m blown away.
They nod frantically and whisper, “Happy anniversary.”
