"Blake, are you sure you don't need any help in there ?" Tori called through the closed door to rue spare bedroom that they had decided would be the baby's room.
"No, no I got it!" He said, Tori winced as she heard another crash, followed by Blake uttering a few choice curse words.
He had been working on the baby's room for almost two weeks, the baby could arrive any minute, it was time to call in reinforcements. Tori blew out a sigh of relief as she heard the front door open.
"We heard you could use some help." Cam said as he, Shane, Dustin and Hunter met her in the living room.
"Thank God you're here, Blake's never been the handyman type." She said with a laugh.
"Say no more!" Shane said as she made to follow them to the baby's room.
"Ohhhh no you don't, you're staying right here, Blake agreed to our help on one condition, that we preserve the surprise. " Hunter said.
"Ugh ... fine." Tori said in frustration as she lowered herself down on the couch and turned on the TV.
It took the whole day, but the guys finally emerged, tired and dirty but satisfied.
"Thanks, I couldn't have done it without you.
"That is the understatement of the century. " Cam said dryly.
"Can I see it NOW?" Tori said from the couch.
The boys grinned at each other. "Now you can see it." Blake said with a grin as he helped her up.
Tori was in awe as she walked in. The bed was gone, in its place was a crib, with a small dresser and a changing table. There were motocross and surfing posters decorating the walls.
"Oh my God, guys! I love it!" She said as she hugged all of them.
"Now all that's left is for this little guy to get here!" Dustin said as he pointed finger guns at Tori's stomach and shot them like guns.
"Yeah well ... I'm 39 weeks tomorrow, the doctor says everything is fine, he's turned into the proper birthing position and everything, he's just in no hurry to come out, I guess!" Tori said as she rubbed her very prominent stomach.
"Its all good, Tor, he'll come out when he's ready, just be patient. " Shane said with a grin.
"That's easy for you to say, you don't need help getting up from the couch or getting out of bed!" She said with a dry laugh.
"Touche." Shane replied with a laugh.
"Do you really have to go?" Our baby could be here any day now!" Tori said, her eyes shimmering with tears.
"I know, Tor, but we need money too and for that I need to work. And this gig is a good one, I'll be making twice what I was as a rider. They want me to scout this young kid in Canada, I'll be back before you know it." He said as he pulled her close and kissed her sweetly.
Tori, however had other ideas. She put her hands on either side of his face kissed him passionately as her hands wondered south.
"Oh God Tor, why do you do this to me?! The car will be here any minute to take me to the airport!" He said, his voice heavy with lust.
"He'll have to wait." She said as she pulled him towards the bed.
Blake looked forlornly out the window of the charter jet.
In the seat across from him sat Janis Strong, five foot eleven, with the body of a model and legs that went on for days. He chuckled to himself as he thought about how jealous Shane and the others would be once he told them who he was sharing the plane with.
"Penny for your thoughts?" She purred as she slowly crossed one leg over the other, her dress that hugged her flawless figure in all the right places rode up JUST enough to lend a tantalizing peek at her goddess like legs.
"Hmm?" He said, her voice snapping him out of his reverie.
"I said ... what are you thinking?" She asked, slightly annoyed, clearly she wasn't accustomed to not being the center of attention, especially from men.
"I was just thinking about my wife, we're expecting our first kid, you know, she's due any day. I was just thinking how I want to get this over with as quickly as possible so I can hopefully get back to see the birth of my first kid." he said, his tone flat and to the point as he crossed his arms over his chest and held her gaze with a stony one of his own.
He had been around the Factory scene for long enough to know what women like her were after, so he was going to waste NO time setting her straight. He was no idiot, it knew full well that his reputation would have women chasing after him, but for him, there was always only one woman in the world, ever since the moment they met all those years ago at Storm Chargers.
"Excuse me, Miss Strong? Mr. Bradley? We'll be landing soon, we're going to be descending through a bit of a snow storm so the Captain requires that you stay in your seats and fasten your seatbelts." The flight attendant said.
"Great." Blake muttered to himself.
After quite a harrowing decent and landing, they finally taxied to the terminals.
As soon as he was able, he called Tori, not surprisingly, she picked up on the first ring.
"Blake! thank god! I saw on the weather that there was a bad snow storm hitting Vancouver, I was so worried!" she said.
"It was pretty gnarly, but we got through it. I will say I understand why most motocross is run inside up here." Blake said, watching out the window at the driving snow as he waited for his bag.
"It's hard to believe it's almost May, I am just glad I'm not doing the driving to the hotel." He added as he collected his bag.
"So ... miss me already?" He said.
On her end, Tori laughed in spite of herself, she could picture him wearing that mischievous lop-sided grin of his.
"I missed you the minute you walked out the door." She replied, her voice dropping to a seductive purr.
"Jesus, Tor, you're gonna get me all hot and bothered right here in the middle of the airport!" He said, his voice heavy with unfulfilled desire.
"When you get back, I'm so going to ..." Blake swallowed hard as he listened to her explain in explicit detail all the naughty things she was going to subject him to upon his return.
"Thank god, there's my driver!" Blake said as he trotted up to a man holding a sign with his name.
"Get me to the hotel ... NOW ..." Tori heard him command the driver.
"...so I can ... take a cold shower." he hissed into the phone, so they only Tori could hear."
"Do you know how much it turns me on to know how easily you get turned on by me?" she said, not even bothering to hide the arousal in her voice.
"God Tor, you're killin' me." he said as he screwed his eyes shut.
"At least wait until we're alone." He replied.
Tori blew out a breath. "Fine." she replied.
Blake's awoke to his phone's alarm chiming in his ear, instinctually, his arm moved to what would be Tori's side of the bed only to find it cold and empty.
'Oh yeah, that's right.' Blake thought sadly, Tori wasn't here, she was over a thousand miles away, ready to give birth to their child any day. He hated this, being away from her, he hated missing even a moment with her, especially now. But ... his child was the reason he had to come here, kids were expensive an he wanted his son to have the life he never had, and in order to do that, he had to make money ... and he was getting six figures a year for this gig, almost as much as he was making when he was riding.
"Ackley Mercer, it's nice to meet you." Blake said as he shook hands with a kid who didn't look more than eighteen years old.
The pleasure's all mine trust me. I couldn't believe it when they told me who I was going to be meeting with, you're the greatest rider in recent history" Ackley said.
"Well ... I don't know about that ..." Blake began as he handed him the paperwork for the contract.
"I don't even need to read that fine print stuff, I'm game, where do I sign up?" Ackley said.
Blake smiled nostalgically, he remembered feeling this exact same way when he was first approached by Factory Blue.
"I know you're chomping at the bit, but you really should read this over." Blake advised him.
"Why? ultimately, I'm gonna sign it anyway, right?" Ackley replied, Blake chuckled in spite of himself, he couldn't argue with that sentiment.
"All right, hotshot, then put your money where your mouth is." he said with an amused grin as he playfully tossed the contract at him.
Young Ackley Mercer wasted no time in scribbling his name next to the 'X'.
"It's a pleasure doin' business with you, I think you're gonna have a bright future in motocross." Blake said as they shook hands once more.
Believe me, the pleasure is all mine!" Ackley replied.
On the way back to the hotel, Blake dug out his phone.
"Janis, book me the first flight home ... now." He said, not even bothering to hide the agitation in his voice.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Bradley but all flights have been grounded due to the storm." She said over the line.
"Well figure something out, my wife's due with our first child any day for god's sake!" He barked into the phone.
He didn't even wait for her to answer before he hung up on her.
He was going to get back to see the birth of his first kid ... by ANY means necessary.
