Chapter 4
Kara looked quite startled as she quickly tried to hide how happy that made her feel. Seeing her startled look AJ began to apologize, but she interrupted him, "What's not to like, Admiral? You listened to my tale of woe, you were extremely kind to me, and now, here you are with dinner. Let's just eat, all right? I'm starved," she said, with just a glint of a tear in her eye.
AJ held out her chair and watched as she opened the various dishes he had brought. Not knowing what she liked he had brought a few different selections figuring the leftovers would last her for several days.
"You have enough food here to feed an army, Admiral," Kara told him.
"You mean a Navy don't you Commander, but since neither of us are on duty, do you think you might call me AJ?"
"Only if you will call me Kara, Adm… um… I mean AJ."
The Admiral smiled at that, "Yes, Ma'am… I mean Kara," he said with a gleam in his eye.
Kara was having a hard time believing what she was hearing and seeing in her own apartment! A two-star Admiral was sitting at her dinner table giving every indication that he was interested in her. Kara had not felt attractive for a long time being in the condition she was in. It was hard to believe that this sexy, incredibly handsome, man might truly be attracted to her.
At Kara's hesitation, AJ added, "I know you have a lot on your plate right now Kara, I just thought maybe you could use a friend."
"You can never have too many friends, AJ," she said with a catch in her voice, "I would be glad to count you as one of mine."
"Wonderful," he replied.
As they ate, AJ's face turned a bit pale when she came back from the kitchen with sweet pickle relish and proceeded to spread it over her ravioli. Noticing his look she said simply, "Cravings!" and went back to eating. They continued to eat and chat until they finished dinner. However, AJ made sure to not look at Kara's plate again.
"Let's get the table cleared and you can give me the grand tour." AJ said with some relief as she finished the last bites of her food.
"The place is not that large. The only rooms you cannot see from here are the bedrooms and the bathroom. That is the beauty of an open floor plan."
"Well, how about showing me the nursery then?" AJ asked.
"Okay, but I have to warn you it's not completely finished yet. I thought I would have energy to finish it once my maternity leave started last week, but with getting the Ramsly's letter and my feet aching all the time, I don't have it done." Kara told him as they walked to one of the closed doors off of the hallway.
She opened the door to a large bedroom painted a soft yellow. There were a few pictures on the walls of Winnie the Pooh characters, a dressing table and a crib. The other crib was still in parts propped up against the wall along with a couple of other large items still in packing boxes.
Kara gave a small laugh and said, "See I told you things were not quite ready." When AJ didn't reply, Kara turned around to see what he was doing only to find him rolling up the sleeves of his uniform shirt. "Admiral, what are you doing?" she asked.
He moved past her into the room and picked up the instruction book lying on the floor with the screwdriver next to the unassembled crib
"AJ," he gently reminded her. "I am going to put this crib together and unpack these large boxes for you."
"No you are not!" exclaimed Kara. "You are a guest here and not here to work! Please AJ give me the screwdriver and come back into the living room," she said as she tried to take the tool from him.
"Woman, do not come between a man and his tools!" he smiled at her as he sat down on the floor. "Listen, Kara, you're eight months pregnant, do you really think you should be doing these things this far along in your pregnancy? And what are friends for anyway? Why don't you go and make us some coffee and let me get on with this?" he asked as he squinted at the instructions.
"Oh! I threw all the coffee out! I love it and if it were in the house I would be drinking it. But since it makes both the babies and me jittery, it had to go. I have a large selection of teas and some diet soda," Kara offered.
"Tea would be fine," AJ replied, already in the process of fitting two of the largest pieces of the crib together.
"Shall I get your glasses for you too, they're in your jacket pocket, right?" She had noticed that he was squinting at the instruction book.
"Yes, please. They say the eyes are the first thing to go, but I swear that the print just keeps getting smaller," AJ grumbled.
Kara had been out of the room for only a moment when she returned with his glasses, "I forgot to tell you that none of the tea I have has caffeine. If that's ok, what flavor you would like?"
"I have enough caffeine at the office that I think I can get along without more tonight. As for flavor, whatever you like best is fine with me."
"Ok, be back in a few minutes then."
AJ had the crib halfway together when the aroma of peaches reached him. He looked up to see Kara enter the room with a tray containing two large blue mugs that said "Go Navy" on the side. She sat down on the floor next to him, surprisingly graceful for someone carrying the extra weight she was. The tray was on the floor between them when he saw that on the other side of the mugs were the names "Kara" and "Jerry".
Kara saw him looking at the names and said, "I hope you don't mind using Jerry's mug. These are the only ones we, I mean, I, have that are not dainty and tiny," she said with a trace of sadness.
"Not at all, as long as you're ok with it." AJ picked up Jerry's mug and added a spoonful of sugar from the bowl on the tray. Sipping the steaming hot liquid he said, "This is very good, Kara, thank you."
"I am glad you like it, AJ."
He sat his tea down and went back to work on the crib, Kara got up and started to put the clothes and other things she had bought for the babies into the drawers of the dressing table. A little more than an hour later the work was finished.
AJ looked at his watch and gave a soft, reluctant sigh, "Well I guess I should get going, and let you get some rest."
"Oh please stay a bit longer and have some desert," Kara pleaded as they left the nursery together. "I mean you went to all the trouble of making that wonderful dinner, the least I can do is slave over desert." He followed her into the kitchen where she went straight to the freezer and began pulling out cartons of ice cream. "Let's see we have Double Fudge, Mint Chocolate Chip, Mississippi Mud Pie, and Death By Chocolate, which would you like? I can recommend all of them."
"I sense a theme here," AJ teased with a grin. "I have never tried Mississippi Mud Pie or Death By Chocolate, so it would have to be one of those two."
While he was looking over the choices, Kara got out bowls and spoons. She grabbed one of the two that he had mentioned and put a scoop into the bowl. Giggling she took the other choice out of his hands and added a scoop from it to the same bowl. "Then you must have both! And so will I!" she told him with a laugh.
"I see your plan now! You couldn't get me high on coffee so you plan on doing it with ice cream." AJ smiled at her as he said that, letting her know he was kidding. They both sat down on the couch, Kara turning sideways face him.
"You discovered my evil plan!" she declared with a grin. Kara took a spoonful of her ice cream into her mouth and closed her eyes, sighing in delight.
AJ looked on in surprise at the intense pleasure she got from her chocolate fix. While her eyes were still closed, he snuck his spoon into her bowl and stole a bite. "Yours looked like it tasted much better than mine," he explained when she opened her eyes in surprise.
With a devious gleam she replied, "I'm sorry, I just can't take your word on that. I need to have proof," she said as she dived towards his bowl with her spoon outstretched.
Seeing this action AJ quickly maneuvered his bowl out of her reach. "Oh no you don't!" he said. "On the other hand, I might be willing to discuss a trade."
"Trade? But you have eaten more of yours than I have of mine!" she argued. Kara pretended to lose interest in his bowl so he would let down his guard. However, AJ's SEAL training kept him on the alert, he did not have long to wait. Once again she made a play for his ice cream, failing to notice that she had left her own bowl unprotected. He grabbed her bowl. She tried hard not to let go, but lost her balance and fell over into his lap.
Kara stared up into his chocolate brown eyes and knew they were sweeter than any ice cream she had ever had. AJ gazed down at the woman who had just fallen into his lap and the beautiful green eyes that were now looking up at his. The pull of them was magnetic. All Kara's thoughts stopped in that heartbeat of a moment. She felt a connection to AJ that she had not felt with anyone other than Andi and Jerry before. In that moment, she felt more complete than she had in the last eight months.
Caught up in the moment AJ leaned down towards her, gently brushing her hair from her face. The pull between them was irresistible. Without realizing what he was doing AJ lowered his head towards hers until their lips met in a sweet tender kiss.
To be continued…..
