Chapter 4

"They're here Daddy." announced Ellie excitedly as she ran into her parent's bedroom but her bright smiled immediately faded when she saw the open, packed holdall lying on top of the king

"Are you going away again?" she asked sadly as her bottom lip pouted at her father.

He smiled at her affectionately from the opposite side of the room. "I'm afraid so sweetie but I'll be back in just a couple of days."

Ellie huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, taking no solace in the shortness of his trip. "I don't like it when you're gone." she said. "Can't Grandpa let you stay here?"

Paul chuckled and walked over to the bed. The mattress dipped under his weight as he sat down on the edge and his hand reached towards his daughter. "Come here."

Ellie clambered up and sat on his lap letting out a long sigh. "I just miss you Daddy."

"I know. And I miss you, Jake and Mommy too. But I've got to go to work. You know that, don't you?"

She pressed her lips together and nodded her head. "I know. And it is pretty cool having a famous Daddy. All the kids like me at school."

Paul laughed and kissed the top of her head inhaling the faint scent of her strawberry shampoo. "I'm sure they like you for more reasons than that."

"Well Brad says I throw a mean ball for a girl."

"Brad is right. Just ask the kitchen window."

Ellie giggled as Paul playfully poked her in the ribs. "That was an accident Daddy. I told you."

"I know."

He scooped her up in his arms as he got to his feet and adjusted her weight.

"Well, we'd better get down there before Mommy comes looking for us."

Ellie nodded as Paul left the room and carried her towards the stairs.

"Jamie is pretty cool, Daddy. I think I like her the best and Chloe just cries. Jakey doesn't cry like that."

Paul grinned as he listened to her. However his grin quickly faded as he walked into the living room and saw the picture in front of him. For some reason it completely unsettled him and he wasn't sure why until he took a moment to figure it out. The guy who must be Mark held Jake on his knee as he sat beside Stephanie on the sofa. They appeared to be looking through one of their photo albums but that wasn't what ticked him off. What ticked him off was Mark. The guy couldn't get any closer to his wife if he tried. In fact he was practically sitting on top of Stephanie, that's how close he was to her. Then there was his line of vision and the fact he was practically leering at his wife's breasts.

"Daddy's here!" Ellie announced proudly.

Paul placed her down to the floor and she ran across the sofa as Stephanie looked up and smiled brightly at her husband. She noticed the way he was staring at Mark and it was less than friendly but she decided to ignore it. Instead she put down the album and stood up. Mark quickly followed her.

"Mark, this is my husband Paul. Paul, this is Mark."

Mark shifted Jake to his left arm and held out his right hand. "I'm pleased to meet you Paul. Stephanie's told me a lot about you although she failed to mention how huge you were."

Paul gave Mark a small smile as he took the hand offered to him. "It helps with the line of work I'm in."

Jake immediately started to squirm as he realised it was his Daddy standing in front of him. His chubby arms shot out and he squealed to get Paul's attention.

Mark laughed at Stephanie. "He sure likes his Daddy, huh?"

"Of course he does. Jake is Daddy's little boy."

He held out Jake to Paul. "There you go buddy. Go see Daddy."

Paul took Jake in his arms and his son nestled into his chest. He smiled knowing exactly what it meant. "Are you tired little man?"

Stephanie walked across and stroked Jake's cheek with her hand. "I guess he is. I suppose it is his nap time."

"I'll take him upstairs and see if he'll fall over." Paul offered and smiling at Stephanie, he made his way upstairs with Jake in his arms. He softly kissed the top of his head and breathed in his familiar baby smell.

"We don't like Mark, do we?" he hushed into his soft cheek.

Jake garbled as he lay him down in his cot. Paul smiled as he smoothed back his son's hair from his forehead.

"Do you want Daddy to beat him up?"

Jake smiled as if in agreement but within a second his eyes started to close and his smile faded. Paul placed his finger in son's hand and the corner of his mouth curled upwards as he grabbed on to it and quickly fell into a deep slumber. As the baby's low even breathing began to fill the room, Paul lingered by the cot feeling no hurry at all to leave the nursery. In fact he was tempted to hide out here until that jerk Mark left his house.

And while he knew he was being ridiculous, he couldn't help himself. There was just something about the guy he didn't like. And it wasn't the fact he'd caught him ogling at his wife. Sure, it had pissed him off but he was well aware that Stephanie was a beautiful, sexy woman with an incredible body. God knows, he'd memorised every single inch of her and it wasn't the first time he'd caught some guy checking her out. And honestly, it wasn't an issue with him. Looking was a natural instinct as far as he was concerned and at the end of the day, he trusted Stephanie and he was completely secure in their relationship. It was just Mark he didn't trust and he was well aware how pathetic that sounded especially when he barely knew the guy. And right at this minute, he was in no hurry to rectify that situation. Instead Paul pushed all thoughts of Mark from his mind as he glanced affectionately at his son content to just stand there and watch him sleep…………

"You've got a beautiful family Stephanie. You really do. Paul is one lucky guy."

"Oh I'm the lucky one." Stephanie smiled as she stood up to clear away the coffee cups from the table. She was completely unaware that Mark's eyes followed her intently as she walked through to the kitchen. That was until Ellie stood in front of him and diverted his attention.

"My daddy is a wrestler. He's Triple H." she announced proudly.

"Is he? I've never heard of him."

Jamie, a slender built girl with a pretty face, came over and nudged Ellie. "My dad doesn't watch wrestling but I do. I think your daddy is cool Ellie."

Ellie beamed happily at her new found friend. "You do? Is he your favourite wrestler?"

Jamie offered her a small reluctant smile. "Not really. I like HBK."

"Oh I like Shawn too. He sometimes comes over to our house, you know. Maybe you can meet him."

Stephanie walked in and smiled as she heard Jamie shriek loudly at the top of her voice. Mark grinned in her direction.

"I hear you have a famous husband. I didn't know."

"My daddy is the best. He kicks ass." exclaimed Ellie.

Stephanie looked at her daughter with a stern expression on her face. "Ellie! You know you're not allowed to say that."

"Now Steph, you can't have a go at our daughter, not when we've always encouraged her to tell the truth."

Stephanie whirled round to see Paul standing smirking behind her. "Nice to see you've decided to join us after all."

Paul lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "It took a while for Jake to settle, that's all. He must have been excited about meeting our new neighbours"

Stephanie narrowed her eyes in a discreet warning to her husband hearing the sarcastic lilt to his tone before she turned back round to smile at Mark and sat down on the sofa.

"Daddy, can we show Jamie the gym?" asked Ellie as she and Jamie stood in front of Paul. "She likes Shawn and I told her he hangs out there sometimes."

Mark stood up and interrupted the conversation before he could reply.

"Jamie, we need to go honey. Maybe you could see it another time."

Jamie scowled at her father. "But Daddy, can't we stay?"

"I said no, Jamie. Chloe needs to get fed and changed plus Grandma is coming over for dinner, remember?"

Jamie pouted as Mark picked up Chloe who was sleeping in her carry seat.

Stephanie smiled at him. "Well, thanks for coming over."

"Thanks for inviting us. I'll pick Ellie up in the morning if that's okay?"

Stephanie nodded. "That's fine and thank you. It helps a lot especially when I've got Jake's doctor's appointment"

"No problem." He called out to Jamie as they walked to the front door. "Come on Jamie. It's time to go."

As they reached the front door, Mark turned to smile at Paul who was standing watching him with Ellie by his side.

"Bye Paul, bye Ellie. It was nice to meet you."

Paul raised his hand in a wave and watched as they walked out the door.

As soon as Mark was out of sight, he turned straight round and walked through to the kitchen with Ellie hot on his heels. She tugged on his pants to get his attention and whispered to him.

"I don't like Mark Daddy. I don't want him to take me to school."

Paul sighed softly. "I don't like the thought of him taking you to school either sweetheart but if that's what Mommy has agreed then you'd better do it."

Ellie scowled and stomped her feet. "It's not fair."

"What's not fair?" asked Stephanie as she walked through to the kitchen just in time to overhear her comment.

"I don't want to go to school with Mark, Mommy. I want you to take me. You always take me."

"But sweetie, Mark offered to take you at the same time he takes Jamie. It was really nice of him. Plus it helps me out especially with Daddy being away."

Ellie said nothing and stood looking at the floor.

"Ellie, why don't you go and play, honey. Mommy needs to talk to Daddy."

"But can't I stay in here and draw?"

"No. I need to talk to Daddy about grown-up stuff so I want you to go to your room. It won't be for long."

Ellie looked at Paul who nodded his head. He watched her run off before turning to look at Stephanie. He could tell by her face she was obviously pissed off at him about something. It didn't take a genius to work out what that something was.

"I can't believe how rude you were today. What the hell is up with you?"

Paul sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I just don't like the guy, okay."

Stephanie looked at him and shook her head. "Why? You don't even know him."

"And I don't want to. The guy is an ass!"

She snorted in disbelief. "That's really mature of you Paul! It's nice to know you've got a valid reason there."

Paul scowled at her and shook his head angrily as his fingers raked in frustration through his long blonde strands. "You want a reason? Okay. I'll give you a damn reason. The guy makes my skin crawl and you know what else? I didn't like the way he was looking at you. Hell, he was practically sitting on top of you when I came downstairs with Ellie. He couldn't get any closer to you if he tried. I don't like him at all and I don't trust him."

"You're being ridiculous Paul. The guy was just being friendly. Grow up and stop acting like some stupid jealous teenager."

"Jealous? You think I'm jealous of that jerk?"

"Well if you're not, you're certainly acting that way."

Paul scowled in annoyance and Stephanie sighed, hating that she was fighting with her husband especially when he would be leaving in a matter of hours. Then she would be counting the hours until he was back home again, missing him and wanting him back in her arms. Suddenly she regretted her accusation and she crossed the short distance between them, placing her hands on his chest as her big blue eyes looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, baby. I don't want to fight but don't you see? You've got nothing to worry about. Regardless of how any guy may or may not feel about me, I'm in love with you Paul. No other man could hold a candle to you. Not in my eyes and how could they?"

As the gentle heat of her touch worked its way through him, Paul's lips tugged into a smile as he pulled Stephanie to him and kissed the top of her head. He felt her snuggle into his chest as his chin rested on her soft brown strands.

"I'm not asking you to like our neighbour Paul but will you just give him a chance? For me? It's just so lonely for me when you're gone and it might be nice to have an old friend around. Someone I can actually have an adult conversation with."

Paul sighed as he released her and stood back. He was tempted to suggest that if Stephanie was so desperate for conversation, she could call him or even her mom. But as he saw the pleading look in her ocean blue pools as she stared up at him, he reluctantly nodded his head. God knows he could never refuse her anything. He never had and he never could.

As Stephanie wrapped her arms around him and hugged him to her once more, Paul closed his eyes and held her tightly. As his big hand rubbed her back tenderly, he knew he still hated the idea of that jerk hanging around his wife but he had had only agreed for Stephanie's sake plus he didn't want to spend the last few hours he had at home arguing about that creep. But one thing was for sure, he'd be keeping an eye on Mark and making sure he had no obvious intentions towards his wife. Sure, he trusted Stephanie completely but he would never ever be able to trust him. After all, he was a guy himself. He knew how guys worked and it was obvious to him Mark was attracted to Stephanie. He could see it a mile off and as far as he was concerned, that made Mark a threat to him and Paul took that kind of threat seriously. He took it very seriously indeed.