Forty-Three
Porter
“Stay out here,” I said, opening the back door from the garage to the back yard. “I’ll get Ash.”
Nico chuckled. “Sure thing. Anything else, Portsy? Maybe you should put me to work. Start the grill or something.”
“Don’t be a wise ass. Just stay out here a moment.”
Nico did as I asked, laughing and shaking his head as he stepped past me.
When he was out, I quickly jogged to the door that would bring me inside. “Hey, Ash?” I called out. I dropped my hockey bag in the mudroom and walked in.
“Living room!” she yelled back. “Sorry, I’m just finishing…”
I was in the living room and looking over her shoulder before she could finish her sentence. On her lap was her sketchpad.
I knew she drew, but she didn’t do it often. She said she preferred the camera to her pencils these days.
On her sketchpad was a sketched back, female, but only half. And on that half, was a beautiful design made up of four simple scrolls with similar Maori designs that could be found in my sleeve. Down the spine, was a series of diamonds, filled with the Maori design. The entire design took up only the left side of the sketched back, and was simple in the way that the small scrolls only graced under the shoulder, and over the hip, leaving plenty of skin bare from ink.
“That’s beautiful, Ash.”
She didn’t look up from her pad, finishing up the last of the scrolls. “I scheduled it with yours.”
“Awesome. When?” I leaned down to rest my forearms on the back of the couch, watching as her pencil moved over the paper.
“Thursday. I’m going to drop off this design, and one for your bracelet, tomorrow.” She stopped moving her pencil and held up the pad in front of her face, tilting her head as she studied it.
Content, she leaned forward, uncrossing her legs, and placed the pad on the coffee table. “Sorry, I meant to be ready.”
She stood and turned toward me, the couch between us. She was in one of my shirts again—not one that she already claimed—and her legs were seemingly bare.
Damn bike shorts she liked.
My eyes fell to her chest, certain that, at the very least, she wasn’t wearing a bra.
“Nico’s here,” I finally said, bringing my eyes back to hers. I couldn’t help but grin cockily as a blush filled her cheeks.
“Shit,” she mumbled, crossing her arms and making for the bedroom. I chuckled, following her.
I stood in the doorway, watching as she went into her closet. Out, my shirt she’d and the bike shorts she’d been wearing were tossed, and eventually she came out too, this time in leggings and an oversized, off-the-shoulder t-shirt.
Really, she didn’t look much more made up than she had in her other outfit, but what did I know?
“You should have told me he was coming with. I said tonight, for dinner,” she said pointedly. When she stepped close, I reached out to pull her in the rest of the way.
“I have a surprise for you,” I answered her instead. I brought my lips to hers for a brief kiss, but ‘brief’ never was in the cards for us.
Her hands splayed over my chest and I moved my lean-to into my full height, bending toward her as I pressed my hands to her lower back. Her tongue was the first to make contact, but my mouth quickly opened and allowed her access. It wasn’t long before there was some tent-action going on down below, and I knew, as badly as I didn’t want to, this had to stop.
For now.
We could revisit this later.
Shit, we had the rest of our lives to revisit this kiss, again and again.
I sucked on her lower lip before pulling away. “Surprise,” I reminded her. I let my hands dip down first, though, grabbing a handful of her ass and loving the slight shriek she gave.
Asher reached for my hands, pulling them from her, but folding her hand into mine instead. “Show me.”
I took her back into the living room, to the sliding glass door that brought us to the backyard. “Close your eyes.”
She lifted a brow at me but did as I asked.
I pulled the door open and found Nico. I pursed my lips out in a “shh” and he nodded. The surprise was, thankfully, quiet.
Helping Asher out of the house and down the back porch, I kept my hand on her back. “I know we didn’t really talk about it. Hell, we didn’t talk about it, but…” I motioned for Nico, who walked over quietly.
“Alright, Ash. Hands out,” Nico said, causing her to jump.
“Keep your eyes shut,” I told her, not wanting to ruin the surprise.
“I forgot he was out here,” Asher mumbled, but held her hands out all the same.
Nico transferred the surprise from his hands to Asher’s…
And her eyes flew open.
“Oh, my God,” she said quietly, her arms moving so she could hold the large puppy better. “Look at its paws!”
“He’s a Leonberger,” I told her, grinning. The furry golden dog with a dark facial mask, was going to be a monster when he was done growing, but Leonbergers were known for their affection. Maybe not the best dog to get for first-time dog owners, but I was excited as fuck anyway.
“They’re like little lions,” Nico said, pulling out his phone and showing Asher a picture of the pup’s parents.
Her eyes became wide as she looked over at me. “He’s going to be huge!”
“What do you want to name him?” I asked, reaching out to scratch behind the pup’s ear.
“We’re keeping him?”
“Of course, we’re keeping him.” I was a little offended that she would think otherwise.
“Well,” she said, lifting the pup up under his arms, looking him in the eye. “We need a name fit for a king.” The pup wiggled in Asher’s hands and licked her nose, causing her to laugh. “Okay, okay, we’ll think about it.”
Asher
I cuddled into Porter’s side, listening as the puppy—who was much larger than any puppy I had ever seen before—snored in his crate near our bedroom door.
“Leo,” Porter said and I shook my head.
“Not original.”
“George.”
My brows dropped even though I grinned. I pushed up against his chest so I could look down at him. “George?”
“It’s kingly.”
I shook my head. “No. No George.” I settled back into him.
“Alright, she who has said no to everything I offered. You have better ideas yet?”
Throughout the afternoon and early evening, the two of us, with Nico’s help, had been bouncing around names for the pup, but nothing fit.
“He needs a good name,” I said.
“I’ve been trying,” Porter grumbled. I smiled and pressed my lips to his bare chest.
Guy went to bed every night hoping to get lucky.
And usually, at some point in the night, he did.
“Caine,” I offered.
Porter was silent for a long moment. I lifted my head to look down at him. “Yeah?” I asked.
Finally, he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I think Caine works.” His grin was wide. “Hey, we came up with our first name. And it wasn’t entirely painful.”
Our first name.
Which meant…
He foresaw us naming more…things…in the future.
And after the briefest moment of panic, I realized…
I wasn’t completely terrified of the future.