“For real. Let’s make a living library.” I hunch up my shoulders and drop them. “I think it is a great project.”
“Okay, but I’m not hiring a designer; I’m an artist and a baby plant momma. I want to build it.”
I smile. She is going to be an exceptional mother. I desperately want to say that to her, kiss her and hold her, but I’m not breaking the spell we have going.
“I’ll go grab my laptop and we can start looking for what we need.” I hand her the pot and she takes it with a weak smile. “Okay. But can we have something to eat?” She rubs her tummy. “I’m so hungry.”
I stop and turn back to her. Jesus, my heart is going to burst, and I rub my chest. “Absolutely. What do you feel like eating?”
She holds the plant and looks up, her shoulders dropping, and she has that wistful look on her face. “Pancakes with maple syrup and crispy bacon.” I can see the drool from where I stand, and I chuckle. Then she points at me, all serious now, “Lots of bacon.”
I give her the two-finger salute. “On it.”
I head to my office and grab my laptop and a notepad. I’m digging through the drawers looking for pencils when Carlos comes sneaking in, looking over his shoulder.
He is practically whispering. “Where is Izzy?”
I close one drawer, open another one, and look at him. “In the library. Why?”
“What the hell was that this morning? Was she going to kill me? What’s with the butterscotch? I don’t understand who is butterscotch.”
I find two pencils and close the drawer and put them on top of my laptop, the notepad, and picked it all up and I smile at him.
“I’m butterscotch. We had a few words last week and she, in her anger, called me a butterscotch smelling asshole. So, I’ve been giving her something every day with butterscotch in it.” I laugh now and Carlos is looking at me like I’m nuts. “Pissed her off so badly that she came in this morning and was going to kick my ass, but guess what? Now we’re building a living library with all her plants. Who knew?”
Carlos blinks, and then blinks again. “You are either the smartest man I know or the craziest.”
I punch him in the shoulder. “Smartest. She’s in our home; loving up her plants, which she calls her babies, so if you want to keep your head, just go with it. She will work on a project with me, and she will be here every day. It’s great.”
I walk out, head to the kitchen, put our order in with Rose, and head back over to the library.
She is still moving her plants around and talking to them quietly. I move to the couch and pull up the coffee table close, flipping the lid up on my laptop to start it up. I put the pad and pencils down.
I sit back and watch her. She is oblivious to me sitting here watching her coddle her plants. I turn sideways and rest my arm on the back of the couch, my head in my hand. This is going to be the bridge we need. Something we do together. It will be ours, not mine or hers.
Rose comes in and sets the huge platter on the table beside me. She smiles and leaves us, and Isabella stops, and her nose takes in a big sniff.
“Ohhhhh, bacon!” Isabella sets the plant down and heads over to the table, where she pulls out a chair. She doesn’t wait for me either; she just fills her plate and crunches on a strip of crisp bacon, like it’s a piece of celery, slowly disappearing between those berry-colored lips of hers.
“So good.” She mumbles as she chews. I pull out my chair and sit, putting a pancake and a few strips of bacon on my plate. I watch her slather maple syrup all over her pancakes and take the biggest piece I’ve ever seen a woman eat. She stuffs it in her mouth and the syrup drips on her chin. And without thought, I wipe it with my thumb.
She stops, and so do I, my hand inches from her lips and we stare at each other. Fuck it.
I put my thumb to my mouth and suck off the sweetness, saying, “You’re right, so good.”
I wink and start to eat. She smiles with her mouth full, and I watch her polish off a platter of bacon as she goes over what she would like to see for her plants. I take a sip of my coffee and watch her draw out her plans for the library, she really is a genius. Rose cleans up, we sit on the couch side by side looking at companies and equipment she will need. It has been a great morning and not what I had expected when I woke up today. Rose brings us a light lunch and we eat, still discussing the library and laughing over my lack of knowledge about anything that requires soil.
It’s late afternoon when she decides she wants to go home and I walk her out to the patio, giving her Angelo’s letters to read.
“Take your time, read them when you're ready and if you have any questions, I'm here to answer them.”
Isabella takes them, she looks up at me, her cheeks turning pink, and she bobs her head.
“I will. I don’t think I'm ready right now if that’s okay with you. This is all a lot right now and I'd like to get my head straight before I add more confusion to it.” Isabella backs down one more step and I follow, not wanting this day to end. Isabella gets shy, trying her hardest to hide it, but it’s so damn cute. She takes the last step down and turns to leave and then turns backto me and waves.
“Good night, Alexander.” Taking the last step down I watch her scurry across the yard to her door. She opens it and then closes it slowly, smiling at me as she closes it softly.
I rub my dick and move it out of the way. I want more. My body moves before I think better of it and my hand is knocking on her door, and she slowly opens it. Her face is flushed, and she looks confused, and so goddamn adorable. She is talking, but I can’t hear a word, and then I’m kissing her, like full on, no holds bar, kissing her.
