Across Two Divides, by Sol Crafter – Chapter Three

Title: Across Two Divides
Author: Sol Crafter
Genre: mm relationship
Character: Nicholas Underwood/David Jacobson, Christian DeLongeria/Julianna DeLongeria, Frankie Beauregard
Rating: Mature
Read Chapters One and Two HERE

Summary: Nicholas Underwood and Christian DeLongeria are in Seattle on business. While there, they go to a party at Frankie’s house where Nicholas is introduced to David Jacobson for the first time. Events develop. }

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 CHAPTER THREE
-NICHOLAS & CHRISTIAN-

“Ugh, why is the sun so bright?” Nicholas covered his face with his hands and tried to burrow back into the bedclothes, but Christian wouldn’t let him. “You are the worst man in the history of all men.”

“Thank you, I’ll take that as the compliment you surely meant it to be.” Christian hauled him out of bed and half-walked, half-dragged him toward the bathroom. It made Nicholas feel like a ragdoll.

“You suck so much,” Nicholas groaned as Christian turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature. There was nothing Nicholas could do but to strip off his pajamas and stumble inside, the spray of water forcing him to truly wake up. And he’d been having such nice dreams too.

“Reality sucks,” he muttered.

“What did you say?” Christian called, his voice muffled by the shower door.

“Nothing.” Nicholas stuck his head under the water and just stood there, letting it spread over his face and down his shoulders to the rest of his body. It seemed as though waking up became harder and harder with every passing year until it had become a battle of wills for him to crawl out of bed and face the day.

Finally he reached for the shampoo and began washing his hair. There were lots of bubbles and the shampoo smelled of apples and some kind of mint, though it was refreshing rather than overwhelming.

Outside of the shower he could hear the sounds of Christian moving around the bathroom and he couldn’t help being soothed that he wasn’t alone. Being afraid had become such a part of his life that he could only take the comforts as they came, and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the best thing in his life was Christian.

From the minute they had first met, he’d instinctively known that Christian was going to be a part of his life forever, and that was simply the way it was. He’d never questioned it, and though Christian had tried to hold himself back, it was completely natural that they would become the best of friends.

“Are you brooding in there?”

Nicholas jumped a little at the sound of Christian’s voice. “No?”

“There’s no time for brooding today. We have a lunch date with Ronald from Richardson & Dewickey today, remember?”

Nicholas groaned. “Do I have to be there? That guy gets a little handsy after a couple of drinks, and he never has a meal without some drinks.” He reached for the soap and the washcloth Christian had left for him.

There was a dull thud and the outline of Christian’s body was leaning against the glass shower door. “I already said that you’d be there, so he’s expecting the both of us. I won’t let him molest you.”

“Promise?”

“Of course I promise, darling. I will be your knight in shiny armor and keep the bad man from impinging your honor.”

Scrubbing under his arms, Nicholas rolled his eyes. “You sound like a douche commercial. Please stop.”

Christian laughed and pushed away from the shower door. “I like how you always call it how it is.” He padded out of the bathroom to dig through Nicholas’ luggage for an appropriate outfit. Today was not a day for Nicholas’ usual sweater vest and blazer ensemble.

He chose a pair of black slacks with a narrow silver pinstripe design, a white dress shirt with a dark blue collar and cuffs, and a blue tie with with silver stripes. He arranged the outfit on the end of the bed before going to the hotel phone and calling to order a carafe of coffee and bagels with cream cheese and lox. There was another hour and a half before their lunch date and there was no reason they should show up with rumbling stomachs and hunger-induced bad attitudes.

That done, he went to the couch and sat down, pulling his tablet across the table and onto his lap. He pulled up the files he’d been looking through earlier and used the stylus to make a few changes here and there, marking up the PDF with bright red. It made him feel good to see his alterations being made in real time. His ePad automatically updated to the company servers every few hours so there was never a single moment when he was out of touch. The secretarial staff always made sure his work was given top priority and he appreciated that.

He frowned a little and added a memo at the bottom of the PDF: “Mandatory drug testing tomorrow.” There was no way Greg Standard wasn’t on drugs. Not if he really thought any of his suggestions were in any way a viable working plan.

Christian slashed through a few more lines, then gave it up as a lost cause when he heard the sound of the shower sliding open. A few seconds later there was the sound of the sink faucet running as Nicholas brushed his teeth.

Christian took it as an excuse to close out the file and toss the tablet back on the table–it was an ePad Gen 4 put out by DeLongeria Enterprises and had been built to last. He always made sure his products didn’t wear out. The only time a consumer had to buy new wasn’t because the old had broken down, but because the next generation of products were that much cooler.

There was a decorous knock along with a voice calling, “Room service.”

Christian rose gracefully to his feet and stalked over to the door, opening it to find the same girl from yesterday. Her long brown hair had been braided today, a few wisps escaping around her forehead.

“Good morning, sir.” She gave a cheerful smile. He’d already proven his reputation as a great tipper.

“Good morning,” he said politely. Nicholas didn’t like it when he was rude to people, seeming to take it as some kind of personal affront. “You can just set that down on the table there.” He held the door open and stepped out of the way.

“Yes, sir,” she said, hurrying over with her cart to set down the covered dish and the tray holding the carafe of coffee, the sugar bowl, and the creamer of real cream in the middle of the table. “Can I do anything else for you today, sir?” She cocked her head cutely, giving him a smile.

“That’s all right. We don’t need anything else.” He led her back to the door where he slipped her a twenty dollar bill. She took it with a bright grin and nearly skipped down the hallway once she thought she was out of his line of sight.

Christian shook his head. “I don’t think I was ever that young.”

“What was that?” The bathroom door opened and Nicholas strode out with a towel wrapped around his waist. He’d already shaved and styled his hair, and other than his bare chest and legs he looked as though he was ready to face the rest of his day.

“Nothing,” Christian said. “Come and eat.”

Nicholas glanced at the clothes on the bed, then down at himself before shrugging and taking a seat at the table. “You’re lucky I’m hungry. I know the reason why you wanted me to eat before I dressed.”

“And why’s that?” Christian lifted the cover off the bagels and began preparing Nicholas’ coffee just the way he liked it.

“Because you think I’m a complete slob and you probably think there’s no way I could eat without getting it all over my clothes.” Nicholas didn’t sound upset, just matter-of-fact. He pulled a bagel onto the small plate Christian handed to him and began slathering both halves with cream cheese before adding the thin strips of salmon. He took a bite, making obscene noises in his throat that Christian couldn’t help rolling his eyes about.

“Must you make those animal sex noises?” Christian passed Nicholas his coffee, then began making his own cup. He breathed in the aroma of the hot coffee, the steam rising up in ghostly curlicues.

“What other sounds am I supposed to make?” Nicholas gestured with his bagel as he talked. “There’s practically a sexual experience going on in my mouth.”

“That’s disgusting.” Christian was laughing though, and Nicholas couldn’t resist a victorious smile as he continued making his happy eating noises. There was nothing like a bagel to make the world better.

“It’s practically like a metaphor about life.” Off Christian’s confused look, Nicholas shrugged and pointed at his bagel with his free hand. “It’s a circle with a hole in it. It’s like the meaning of life.”

“I’m still not getting that.” Christian raised an eyebrow. “Maybe a clearer explanation is what’s called for.”

Nicholas shook his head. “Yeah, no. I don’t do that. I just come up with the idea of something, you’re the one that’s supposed to make everything work.”

Christian snorted and bit into his own bagel, his eyebrows rising in appreciation. “That’s one good bagel.”

“Damn right that’s a good bagel,” Nicholas said, “they’re the whole reason why I booked our stay at this hotel. They always have the best of everything. Not like the crap you like to buy.”

Christian rolled his eyes at Nicholas’ good-natured grousing. “Fine, I’ll find out where they get their ingredients and I’ll change up our grocery service a little.”

“Awesome,” Nicholas said in exaggerated tones, his mouth shaping the words humorously. “Awesome to the max.”

“You need to stop doing that,” Christian said. “It stopped being funny about five years ago.”

“You’re very wrong. That will always be awesome. Awesome to the max.” Nicholas sipped his coffee and made an appreciative murmur. “So, what are we going for today? Super professional? Casual best buddies? How are we going to work Ronald?” There was disdain evident in the way he said the man’s name, leaving no doubt about exactly how much he didn’t like Ronald Edelstein.

“You don’t need to do anything,” Christian said. “I wasn’t all that happy about the way he treated you last time we met. You just come and enjoy the meal and I’ll handle him. Just hold onto your icy disdain.”

Nicholas grinned at him. “I can do that. Icy and disdainful are two things I pull off really well.”

“You bet you do,” Christian praised. “We’ll have lunch, I’ll bring out the new contract changes, then we can do some site seeing afterward. We might even be able to get in some shopping time if you really want to.”

“Why do you always do that? I’m not the one that loves to shop. That’s you.” Nicholas finished his bagel, then gave the other half of Christian’s a begging glance until Christian sighed and passed it over. “Thank you.”

“Hurry up. We don’t want to be late. That’s always so rude.”

“I honestly don’t know why you have to care so much about what other people think.” Nicholas hurriedly crammed the last bite of bagel into his mouth and slurped down his coffee. “I need to brush my teeth again.”

“One of us has to care about appearances.” Christian sipped his own coffee, savoring the rich flavor. “Besides, the sooner we get done with Ronald, the sooner we can find you a nice outfit for your date tonight.” He gave a truly obnoxious grin at Nicholas’ groan.

“Thanks for reminding me,” Nicholas growled. “You always know how to make everything better.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Christian said. “I thought you liked David. That’s the impression you gave anyway.”

“I do like him,” Nicholas said. “I’m just not sure if this is the right time for me to be dating anyone, that’s all.”

“What do you mean?” Christian asked.

Nicholas looked a bit shifty, avoiding Christian’s laser-like gaze in a not-very convincing manner. “He’s very nice, but we’re not going to be in town very long. Just long enough for him to get his heart broken or whatever.”

“He seems like a nice guy,” Christian said, “if a little tightly wound. You don’t think you could benefit from some therapeutic sex? I’m sure if you made sure he understood that it wasn’t serious he would be willing to go along with anything you wanted.”

“That’s kind of the problem,” Nicholas said. “You saw him yesterday. He seems like the kind of guy that wouldn’t once even think to tell me ‘no.’ That kind of thing freaks me out; that’s how people end up getting hurt.”

“No one’s going to get hurt,” Christian promised. “I will keep a lookout and make sure nothing gets too out of hand.”

Nicholas clasped his hands under his chin and blinked his big blue eyes. “My hero.”

Christian grabbed a paper napkin off the tray, crumpling it up in his fist before bouncing it off Nicholas’ head. “You think you’re much cuter than you are.”

“No I don’t.” Nicholas flashed that dimple he only brought out in emergency situations and Christian groaned at the pure charm of the look. There was no way anyone should rightfully look that completely butterless; it just wasn’t fair to the normal people of the world.

“You’re awful,” Christian said. “Hurry up and go get ready so we can get out of here.” He glanced at his watch, knowing that at least one of them should keep track of the time, and Nicholas was not fit for the task. “Hopefully Ronald won’t be as odious as he was last time.”

“If he is, I’m sure you’ll teach him better.” Nicholas hopped up from his chair and headed back toward the bathroom to rebrush his teeth.

Christian sighed and began tidying up the table as he waited for his turn. Nicholas was anal about oral hygiene and there was no way he would ever let anyone that hung around him use a breath mint instead of a full round of flossing, brushing, and mouthwash. It was something Christian had long since become used to and rather appreciated whenever his dentist gave him that “I am very proud of you” pat on the shoulder.

“You’re utterly ridiculous,” Christian muttered, then had to smile a little.

* * *

-DAVID-

He always went to the later, more relaxed Sunday morning service. Nobody was in a rush to get out so they could watch football on TV and there wasn’t as much impatient shifting and moaning. Plus he was already fairly relaxed having completed his exercise routine before coming to church and he was able to sit completely still and enjoy Minister Brown’s sermon.

After church he went to IHOP with the After Church Club, as they called themselves, and allowed himself a giant stack of pancakes with whip cream and strawberries piled on top. He felt like he deserved something a bit special today.

“Why are you in such a good mood?”

David gave Lucy Halberton a slight smile. She was a forty-something year old widow that had one boy in college and a daughter in high school and she still permed her brassy red hair as she had since the 80s–he’d seen the pictures, and they were proof that she’d only gotten better looking with age. She was a cheerful woman that loved going to church and saw the After Church Club as the high point of her week.

“Well?” She raised a shaved brow at him, not willing to give up on her question.

He shrugged. “I’ve got a date later tonight. I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

“Really? Is it with anyone we know?” Corinne Donnelly asked, her interest caught. She was one of the biggest gossips at church, though she never meant to cause anyone any difficulties.

“No, I met him the other night at a friend’s party.” David couldn’t help flicking his eyes across all their faces as he spoke, checking for any signs of latent homophobia, though he didn’t see any. They were a good group of people and he was pretty sure they were okay with his sexuality, though it never hurt to keep an eye out. “We went out to lunch yesterday and we’re having dinner tonight.”

Corinne made a soft squealing sound. “How exciting. Is he good looking? I bet he’s good looking.”

“Well…” David thought of Nicholas and had to duck his chin to hide his blush. “He’s very good looking. I’m surprised he’s willing to go out with me. I can’t help feeling lucky.”

“What’s his name?” Lucy asked. “Tell us everything!”

Looking at his group of church friends, David felt the warmth of their presences around him. They were a great bunch of people and he was grateful he’d taken up their offer that first time to join them after the service.

He’d always liked the sense of community he got from attending church. It was one of those things he’d carried with him since he was a kid and his uncle took him to the Korean church. It had felt strange at first, to be one of the only white people amongst a whole congregation of Asians, but they’d welcomed him with open arms and he’d had some truly great experiences with them. They’d fed him delicious food after the service–he still remembered the taste of cold soba noodles on a hot summer day with thin slices of cooked beef and a cut hardboiled egg. The food had looked like something out of a magazine and he’d never tasted anything so good before then. He remembered the touch of one of the women’s hands on his shoulder as she told him in broken English that she hoped he liked going to their church and that they all hoped that he continued to come to church with them because he was a “nice, good boy.”

Ever since then, he’d ceased to see church as some kind of horrible chore and he’d begun to see it as the best part of his Sundays. He enjoyed listening to the verses and singing the songs. He liked volunteering and helping people make their lives better. He liked knowing that God was there for him and loved him. And he thanked that Korean church he’d only gone to a handful of times for filling his life with grace and showing him that church didn’t have to be awful.

David looked at his church friends, a group of people that he never would have met in his everyday life. He shrugged and ate his pancakes, and while he did that he told them in between bites about how happy he was to have met someone like Nicholas.

“I never realized that love at first sight could be real, not until it happened,” he said. “I saw him, and it was like there was this glow around him that only I could see, and he was so beautiful and just, I don’t know, kind of put together? There was so much about him that I just couldn’t ignore. One look and he filled me up.”

Lucy gave him a concerned look. “Don’t you think you’re going a little overboard about some man you just met?” She glanced around the table at everyone else. “Does anyone else think that maybe it’s going a bit fast?”

“Pish posh. When I met Henry he was the handsomest man I’d ever seen before. I fell for him the first time we ever met. We were married twenty-five glorious years.” Clara Tenney was the oldest member of their group. She had curly white hair and a lined face, but there was a bright twinkle to her brown eyes and her smile was a glossy slash of coral pink lipstick. “There were lots of other women chasing around after him, so I couldn’t hesitate a second or he would have been scooped right up.”

“Still,” Lucy said, giving Clara a slant-eyed look the old lady didn’t seem to notice, “you be careful. You look like you’re tough, but you’re nothing but jelly inside. You can’t let yourself get taken in.”

“What does that mean?” David asked.

“You don’t let people in easily, but when you do you really hang onto them. It’s very great of you, but it’s also the way that people get hurt.”

“I’m not going to get hurt.” David tried to look and sound as confident as he could. “Nicholas is a really great guy, but if it doesn’t work out,” he shrugged, “it doesn’t work out.”

Lucy gave him a doubtful look, but before she could say anything else their server reappeared in her inappropriately high-heeled shoes and delivered the pitcher of raspberry iced tea they’d ordered for the table. David could only be glad of the interruption because he really didn’t want to be talked out of liking Nicholas, not when he really thought things might work out.

He dug into his pancakes and let the conversation shift and change around him. It was a relief when they stopped talking about his potential love life and turned to talking about the party they were planning for Valentine’s Day. There were going to be fun activities for the children and the adults were going to be dancing and singing and having a good time. It already sounded like it was going to be better than last year’s Valentine’s Day party, which had been turned into somewhat of a debacle due to poor planning, which was why the After Church Club had taken over this year. They had plenty of ideas and the drive to see things get done.

David enjoyed his breakfast and threw in a few suggestions here and there, and for a little while he was able to put his upcoming date with Nicholas out of his mind. Otherwise he was going to be a nervous wreck by the time seven o’clock came around.

* * *

-NICHOLAS & CHRISTIAN-

Nicholas was relieved to find that lunch with Ronald Edelston wasn’t as completely terrible as he’d worried it would be. Christian monopolized the meeting and Nicholas was able to enjoy the food and the relative decadence of the restaurant. And when it was all over and Ronald left with his copies of the contracts, Christian wore a lazy smile and there was a definite air of quiet success around him.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Nicholas said, letting Christian lead him from one shop to another.

“We got what we came for, so that’s a win.” Christian fingered the sleeve of a silky looking blue shirt, then released it with a a moue of distaste. He really enjoyed shopping, but he was a man of discerning taste and sometimes he was even worse than Nicholas’ mother Imogene when it came to picking and choosing. He could spend a whole day shopping and only purchase a handful of things and call that a success.

“Why can’t we just order things off the Internet like regular people?” Nicholas groaned, then smiled to show he was teasing. Christian’s look of outrage had been vaguely frightening, though Nicholas would never say so. “You know all my measurements. Can’t you just pick out a bunch of things? Why do I have try everything on?”

“Because you should always take pride in looking your best.” Christian tugged his sleeve and Nicholas let himself be pulled through the welcoming doors of L’Americano Couture. Even the air inside seemed different, and not just because it was loaded with the scents of expensive cologne.

 

By the time Christian allowed them to return to their hotel, they were both carrying several large shopping bags and Nicholas was enjoying his “good little shopper” reward of two scoops of chocolate frozen yogurt with hard, tiny sprinkles scattered brightly over the whole mess.

“How you can eat that, I do not know.” Christian shook his head. “It’s freezing outside and you’re eating frozen yogurt. You’re going to give yourself frostbite or something.”

“You’ll take care of me, won’t you?” Nicholas fluttered his eyelashes, then used the tiny red spoon to take another bite of his frozen yogurt, wincing a little at the cold. “If I become a frosty snowman, you’ll melt me with your hot hot heart and take me to a far away tropical island where we will lounge around sipping Mai Tais and eating coconut innards and delicious, delicious shrimp.”

“You hate Mai Tais.” Christian nodded to the doorman as they breezed passed, heading straight toward the elevator and ignoring the looks they received from the staff.

“Yes, but I love shrimp so much that I can drink a bunch of Mai Tais if it earns me delicious shrimps.” Nicholas fluttered his eyelashes, then laughed and ducked out of the way of Christian’s swiping hand. “Careful, you could give me brain damage if you hit too hard.”

“You already have brain damage,” Christian muttered fondly.

He strode forward, cutting a path through the crowd of people blocking up the lobby–it looked like some kind of beauty pageant was about to take place considering all the pretty girls in matching tee shirts and their handlers. He moved quickly and didn’t let anyone stop his progress, making sure that Nicholas stayed close to him and didn’t get left behind.

They hurried to the elevator and managed to squeeze on board. There were three teenaged girls huddled against the corner, giggling in a truly obnoxious manner. Christian kept his eyes averted even as they kept trying to capture his attention, then he was fairly obvious about scratching his right cheek with his left hand, letting his wedding ring be on full display. One of the girls gave a disappointed groan, but they didn’t stop their whispering and hair tossing as they looked at him and Nicholas.

Christian glanced down to meet Nicholas’ amused eyes. “Don’t,” he warned.

Nicholas pouted, but he didn’t do whatever mischief had been building up behind his eyes and Christian could only be grateful. “You ruin all my fun.”

They shuffled out of the way to let people on and off the elevator before the doors finally opened on their floor and they stepped out. Christian couldn’t help but to feel as though the oxygen had been returned to his lungs; there was something unpleasant about the close press of warm bodies and the stale breath of strangers that had always grated on his nerves. “We’re getting a couple of bodyguards.”

“Why?” Nicholas asked, leading the way toward the double doors of their suite.

“So we don’t have to deal with overfilled elevators or annoying people,” he said. “I’ll have a couple of real hard asses chosen for us, guys that no one is ever going to think about facing.”

It had been suggested to him before that he consider hiring some kind of personal security, but he hadn’t wanted to give into the pressure. As he got older, though, his desire to keep Nicholas safe from the world at large grew larger and larger, encompassing everything, and if having bodyguards made him feel more secure, then that was what he was going to do.

It wasn’t as though it were a secret that Nicholas was his weakness. There’d been threats made against Nicholas before, and Christian had nearly gone insane with the mindless rage that had filled him as he handled those men and women in the manner they deserved–as squealing vermin begging to be destroyed. There was no room in him for any kind of softness when he was facing those kinds of people.

“What’s with that look?” Nicholas used his key card to open the door and hustled inside with his handful of bags.

Christian smoothed his expression. “What look?” He gave Nicholas his warmest smile. “Are you ready for our daily video chat with Julianna?”

Nicholas tossed the bags on the floor next to the retro-style floral print couch and checked his watch. “Oh, it’s later than I thought. She’s probably going to yell at us for keeping her waiting.”

“She loves to wait.” Christian set his bags down with more care, then sat down on the couch next to where Nicholas had sprawled himself. He leaned forward to pick up his ePad, his fingers slipping smoothly over the screen as he made the connection. There was barely any wait at all before Julianna’s face appeared on the screen, her smile gentle and luminous. “Hello, dear,” he said.

“Christian, you’re late,” she admonished, though she sounded fond. Her shoulder length black hair had been tamed with the use of a dark brown tortoiseshell colored plastic headband and several glossy black barrettes. Her almond-shaped eyes were filled with warmth and affection as she gazed out at him. “I was almost giving up that you were going to call today.” Her voice was sweetly accented, though she was completely comfortable in her own skin.

“We just got back to the suite now,” he said, his lips quirking up. “Nicholas insisted that we go shopping.” He slanted a sideways glance at his friend.

Nicholas lightly shoved his shoulder, then leaned over so he would appear in the small picture-in-picture cube. “He’s lying to you! I would have never gone shopping if he hadn’t dragged me with him kicking and screaming. I feel dreadfully violated.”

Julianna’s rich laughter came through the ePad’s speakers. “He does enjoy his shopping, doesn’t he? I have a whole closet full of shoes that he’s forced on me.”

“You poor dear,” Christian mock-cooed, “we must have gone five rounds before you let me buy you each pair.” He hooked an arm around Nicholas’ shoulder and pulled him closer against him as he settled back against the couch, propping the ePad against his knee. “How’s the bun in the oven?”

“She’s missing you,” Julianna said. Her ePad must have been propped against her desk to show the upper half of her body; he could see her hand resting against the gentle swell of her belly, her fingers massaging circles. “We both are.”

“We’ll be home soon,” Christian said. “If we get this all wrapped up now, then we can be there for the birth and not have to go anywhere until after the baby’s first birthday.”

“I get to be there, right, when little Blobby’s born?” Nicholas asked. He leaned his head against Christian’s chest, seeming to listen to his heartbeat. “And we’re going to name her Nicolette?”

“‘Nicolette?'” Julianna raised her eyebrows. “We might have to discuss baby names again.” There was a little crinkle to her nose suggesting the name was not her favorite.

“We’ll be going over the baby names list again,” Christian assured her. “You just take care of Blobby until we get home. It won’t be very much longer.”

“I’m waiting for you,” she said, her eyes saying that she meant both of them. “The baby is doing well and everything seems to be going good with the company. You just enjoy your last bit of freedom before the baby is born.”

“And once that egg gets hatched,” Nicholas beamed brightly, “we’ll make sure you get to go on a responsibility free vacation. Just eat a bunch of vegetables and don’t strain yourself, okay?”

“I will be careful.” Her finger kept moving over her stomach and there was an almost glowing light to her eyes. Pregnancy really seemed to work for her and she was nothing but beautiful. She had retained her slim figure right up into the fifth month, then suddenly there was the baby pressing out her belly; her arms and legs had remained slender and graceful and she still wore the leggings she favored, though now they were mostly paired with large tee shirts and sweaters. Nicholas liked to press his ear against her belly and listen to the ocean sounds of the baby shifting around and around in her watery home, and Christian liked watching him enjoy the future member of their family so much.

“We got you some great presents,” Nicholas said. “Not just things for the baby either, I promise.” He waggled his eyebrows playfully. “There might even be some shiny jewelery for you, though I don’t want to give anything away.”

“I’ll be waiting for you both to come home,” Julianna said. “Not just because you bought me presents either. Now, tell me all about Seattle and everything that you’ve been doing there.”

Christian sat back and listened to his two most favorite people in the world chatter with each other and couldn’t help the feeling of contentment that went through him. He’d worried that they weren’t going to get along at first, but Julianna was a very smart woman and she’d fit into his life with a strange seamlessness; she and Nicholas had gotten along like old friends from the first and he was no longer surprised by them.

He didn’t know how it had happened, but his life had become something incredibly good. A beautiful wife, his best friend, and a company that was growing and expanding and taking over more industries with each passing day. He didn’t know what else he could ask for.

He curved his arm tighter around Nicholas, drawing him closer against himself, and thought that maybe all he needed to be completely happy was to see Nicholas with someone to love. Someone as understanding and wonderful as Julianna.

/CHAPTER