Chapter 14

"God-damn-it!"

Paul yelped out in pain as he got half-way down the stairs. He sat down on the step, holding up his bare foot in front of him to inspect it. There was nothing there apart from a tiny red mark on his toe but it was sore nonetheless. It had obviously been caused by whatever the hell it was he had just stood on. As his eyes scanned the plush carpet for evidence of the offending object, he saw the white sparkle out of the corner of his eye. Brushing his damp hair behind his ears, he reached over to pick it up and saw it was one of the diamond stud earrings the kids had given Stephanie for her birthday. He shook his head and smiled as he stood up from the step. Just before he'd taken his shower, he'd heard Stephanie tell Ellie to take better care of her things after she had lost yet another piece of furniture from her toy doll house. It looked like his wife needed to listen to her own advice. He placed the earring in the pocket of blue denim jeans and seeing the living room was empty, he made his way into the kitchen.

He found Ellie was in there sitting at the kitchen table, her curls covering her face as she scribbled away furiously at the piece of paper in front of her. He walked across and as he leant over her shoulder, he ruffled her hair affectionately. "What ya making there, toots?"

"A fairy castle." Just then, her head snapped up and she whisked the paper away from under her. "Daddy! You're dripping water all over my picture."

"I'm sorry Miss Ellie." Paul chuckled and kissed her hair before walking across and opening the cupboard in front of him.

"You should get Mommy to dry your hair. I never drip when she does mine."

Paul chuckled and turned round to see his daughter scribbling away again. Her tongue peeked out in the corner of her mouth as she moved the brown crayon back and forward across the page. She loved drawing and for her age, she was pretty damn good. She had obviously taken after him when it came to her artistic abilities and deep down, that made him proud. She took after Stephanie in so many other ways that it was nice to know there was something of him in their daughter.

"Speaking of Mommy, where is she?" he asked.

"In her office on the phone with Grandma Linda."

Ellie looked up to see her father produce the cookie tin from the cupboard. He opened it up and popping one in his mouth, he held the open tin out to his daughter. She jumped down from the table grinning from ear to ear as she reached into the tin, pulling out the chocolate chip treat.

"Won't we get into trouble again? It's nearly dinner time."

Paul shook his head as he swallowed the cookie, reaching in the tin to retrieve another one. "Nah. Mommy will be on the phone for ages yet. She'll never know." He grinned as he placed the tin on the counter behind him. "Plus Daddy's gonna be smart this time and wipe your face to get rid of the evidence"

Ellie giggled as she bit into the biscuit and chewing away happily, she made her way back to her drawing. Paul looked down at his black t-shirt and brushed away the crumbs which had fallen with his hand. Suddenly he realised someone was missing and he furrowed his brow as he looked around the kitchen floor.

"Ellie, if Mommy's on the phone, where's Jake?"

Ellie shrugged her shoulders as she finished chewing her cookie. "I don't know. He was here a minute ago."

Paul felt slightly alarmed that there was no sign of their son but then again, he wasn't too worried. After all, he had to be in the house somewhere. The question was, where? As Paul turned round to face the back door, he noticed the door to the utility room was slightly ajar. He made his way across and as soon as he opened the door, his question was answered. In the middle of the floor was an upturned basket of laundry and sitting in the middle of it all was Jake. His back was turned to Paul and by the way his hand was up at his mouth, it appeared he had found something to chew on. Smiling, Paul walked over to where his son sat and he knelt down on the floor in front of him. As soon as he saw his father, Jake smiled and began to babble revealing his green mouth and lips. Paul was unable to control his laughter as he took hold of his son's hand and attempted to pry the green crayon from his fingers.

"Yuck Jake. You can't eat that. Give it to daddy."

Jake squealed in protest as his chubby hand clutched the crayon even tighter. His little button nose scrunched up as he started to shriek at the top of his voice.

"Damn! For a little guy, you're pretty strong. And loud."

Eventually Paul managed to get the crayon out of his hand. However, this prompted Jake's tears and he started to cry. Paul immediately felt bad and he straightened himself up before bending down to pick up his son. He noticed that a few tears had fallen and Paul balanced Jake in one arm while brushing away his son's tears with the pad of his thumb.

"Oh no little guy. Is that real tears I see?" Paul kissed his cheek as he walked back into the kitchen. "Come with Daddy. I've got something that will cheer you up."

Jake was still crying as he walked over to the counter. Paul sat him down and holding him with one hand, he reached across for the wipes which were kept on the shelf above it. He pulled one out and began to wipe the crayon from his son's mouth which only prompted him to cry even louder.

"What's wrong with Jake, Daddy? Why is he crying?"

Paul looked across towards his daughter. "I found him eating a crayon." Once he had finished cleaning up Jake, he threw the wipe down on the counter and held up the crayon in Ellie's direction. "Is this yours?"

Ellie jumped down from the table and stormed across towards Paul with a scowl on my face. "Jake shouldn't be eating my crayons. He'll ruin them."

As he handed the crayon to his daughter, he looked at her sternly. "Well, if you don't want him to eat them, don't leave them lying around then. Put them back in their box."

Ellie crossed her arms across her chest as she pouted at him before turning around to walk back to the table, the crayon clutched firmly in her hand. Paul smiled. She reminded him so much of Stephanie when she did that. It was really uncanny how much she resembled her at times. He turned his attention back to Jake, who was still crying. His face was wet with his tears and he had dribbled onto his little white and navy striped polo shirt. Paul reached into the cookie tin to produce a biscuit which he held in front of him. As soon as he realised what was in front of him, Jake immediately stopped crying and he let out a couple of shaky breaths as his little hand reached out for the biscuit.

"Num, num."

Paul adjusted his son's navy sock which was half-way down his foot and smiled as he saw Jake ram the cookie into his mouth. "You like that, don't you?"

Paul ruffled his hair, glad that his son appeared to be much better after yesterday. He had been relieved to wake up this morning and find his temperature had dropped and he hadn't been sick again since his little episode at the airport. Judging by the way he was chewing on his cookie, Jake was feeling just fine.

Paul smiled at his son as he reached across for the biscuit tin again. He called out to his daughter as he rummaged in it. "Hey Ellie, do want another one before Mommy gets off the phone."

"She most certainly does not!"

Paul's head shot up at the sound of Stephanie's voice. As he looked round, he saw her standing beside Ellie, watching him with her hands on her hips. Although she pretended to have a scowl on her face, Paul could see the laughter in her eyes.

Ellie giggled as she started to put her crayons back in the box. "Daddy, you're in trouble again."

Paul stuck his tongue out his daughter. Stephanie walked round behind him while his attention was focused on Ellie and reached round to grab the tin from his hand.

Paul shook his head as he watched her put the lid on the tin and place it back in the cupboard. "You're a cold hearted woman Stephanie. Imagine denying your husband a tiny little cookie."

Stephanie laughed as he pouted at her with a pitiful expression on his face. She playfully pinched his cheek. "Don't give me the puppy dog eyes Levesque. They won't work."

Her attention turned to Jake who was making good work of his biscuit. She bent down towards him to peer at the green marks that she had noticed on his faded denim jeans.

"What's this?"

"That would be the crayon Jake decided to eat. But don't worry. I took it off him before he could get really stuck in."

Stephanie clicked her tongue in disapproval as she lifted up her son. He babbled something before continuing to chew. "Ellie, what have I told you about leaving things lying around?"

Ellie pouted as she jumped down from her seat, her picture held firmly in her hands. "But Mommy it was an accident. I didn't know I'd done it."

"Well just try and take better care of your stuff, okay? A bit of crayon could have come off and Jake could have choked on it."

Ellie sighed. "Okay Mommy. Can I watch a movie now?"

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders. "You could. But how would you like to stay overnight at Grandma Linda's instead?"

"Yay!" Ellie grinned as she picked up her box of crayons from the table. "Will Declan be there?"

Stephanie nodded her head. "So I want you to be a good girl and run upstairs to start getting your things together, okay? I'll be up in a minute to help you."

Ellie ran out of the room and as Stephanie turned round towards her husband, she saw him watching her with a smirk on his face.

"What's up with you? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.

Paul lifted his left shoulder in a shrug as he reached into his pocket and retrieved the earring. With a cocky look on his face, he held it between his two fingers holding it up in front of him. "I just think you've been a naughty girl Steph. I mean, there you are telling off our daughter for being careless and leaving things around when you've been doing exactly the same thing."

He held out the earring towards her and laughed as he heard her gasp and feel her earlobe with her hand.

"I didn't even know I'd lost it. Where did you find it?"

"It attacked my foot on the stairs." Paul placed it in her hand as he playfully clicked his tongue at her, shaking her head. "You need to stop being so careless Stephanie otherwise I might just feel the need to throw you down and punish you."

As Paul smirked and looked into her eyes, Stephanie felt her stomach flutter at his obvious seductive tone. It was amazing the effect he still had on her even with a few simple words. But then again, he did have a damn sexy voice. She smiled to herself as she thought of the night she had planned ahead. She closed the short space between them and placed her hand on his chest. She could feel the warmth of his skin through the material of his t-shirt.

"You can save that for later once you've dropped the kids off at Mom and Dad's house."

She flipped him a wink before making her way out of the room with Jake, deliberately swinging her hips in a seductive manner. Before the door closed behind her, she looked back to see Paul standing with a wide grin on his face. She laughed to herself as she made her way up the stairs with her son. It was good to know she still had that kind of effect on him too.

As Paul pulled in to the driveway, he couldn't help but glance over at the various cars which were parked outside the house across the street. He sighed softly as he drove the car to the garage eventually switching off the engine. As he got out and began to walk to the house, he couldn't help but think about how Mark could be feeling and what he was going through right now. God knows it would rip his own heart of his chest knowing that tomorrow he would be saying his final goodbyes to his daughter, his own flesh and blood. It just didn't bear thinking about and he was just so grateful he wasn't in that situation. But Mark was and Paul was dreading being there at that graveside tomorrow. He didn't like funerals at the best of times but when a child was involved, it seemed to make it all the more difficult and terribly sad. Because it just wasn't meant to be that way. You weren't supposed to outlive your children.

Paul's heart was heavy as he opened the front door. But his spirits lifted and any thoughts about the funeral began to slowly slip from his mind as he heard the music that was playing softly in the background. It was Stephanie's favourite song and one that they had danced to at their wedding. As he pushed the door shut, he smiled, realising his wife was definitely up to something. The candlelight flickered casting shadows across the dimly lit room and there were two large cushions placed in front of the burning log fire. They never usually lit the fire. At least not when the kids were here. Only the kids weren't here. They were at Vince and Linda's. He'd just dropped them off half an hour ago as per Stephanie's instructions. Leaving his wife all alone to come up with this.

"You're home."

Paul looked up and felt his breath catch in his throat as Stephanie crossed the room towards him. He found his blood rushing that little bit faster as his eyes drank in the sight of the woman in front of him. Stephanie looked breathtaking in the candlelight. Her hair was pinned up with only a few loose curls framing her face. All she wore was her red silk lingerie that barely covered her. Christ. His wife really was a freaking goddess. As she got closer, the light fragrance of her perfume invaded his senses and Paul closed his eyes briefly, inhaling her scent and feeling his body responding to the beauty standing in front of him. The woman he loved more than words could ever say.

"I missed you."

Paul's eyes opened on hearing her soft admission. Her ocean blue orbs sparkled as they watched him intently. Stephanie trailed her finger painfully slowly down his chest until she reached the waistband of his jeans. She stopped and tilting her head to the side, she looked at him seductively.

"So, do you like what I'm wearing?"

Paul could only nod his head. His mouth was dry and he found himself unable to form any words. And even if he did, he wasn't sure they would be exactly coherent. This incredible creature in front of him completely wrecked him. Paul watched as Stephanie began to sway her body to the music in the background. Her fingernails toyed temptingly with the taut muscle of his stomach as she danced. Paul suddenly felt extremely hot and quickly removed his leather coat. Smiling at her husband, Stephanie brought her arms up and wrapped them round his neck. As she pressed her body against him, Paul swore she was trying to kill him.

"Dance with me," she whispered.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closely to him. Her skin felt deliciously soft and hot to the touch as his palms moved over the smooth bare expanse of her back. Paul's head rested against Stephanie's as their bodies slowly moved to the music. He placed a soft kiss on her temple burying his face in her hair. The strands felt soft as silk as they brushed against his face and he breathed her in deeply. God, she was incredible and he wanted her so badly. In fact he couldn't remember a time when he didn't want or crave her constantly. Paul shifted his head and glanced down at his hand which rested against Stephanie's back. The small diamonds on his wedding band sparkled in the candle light and he smiled as he thought back to their wedding day. He remembered how happy and excited he had felt, proud knowing Stephanie was now his wife. It was all his dreams come true and he recalled thinking at the time that he never could have imagined loving someone so much or being so happy. But seven years on, he knew that his feelings for Stephanie ran so much deeper than he had ever dreamt possible. She was his lover, his best friend, his soul mate. She was everything. And it was because of her and his children that his life was so fulfilled. He was happy. He was content. He was just really damn lucky.

As the song came to an end, he dropped his head, kissing her bare shoulder. Stephanie tilted her head down to meet his. Their eyes briefly met for a second and his heart pounded in his chest as her lips slowly moved towards him. She whispered "I love you" softly against his mouth then began to kiss him slowly, unhurriedly. As Paul kissed her back, he threaded his fingers through her hair pulling her closer, pressing her body tight to his. It fit perfectly almost like she was made for him and he liked to believe she was. Because no one else had or would ever come close. It was and always would be Stephanie and he could spend a hundred life times kissing her like this and it would never be enough. He would always want more. He would always need her.

Parting his mouth a little wider, Paul began to deepen the kiss and kissed Stephanie passionately and a little more urgently. He could feel his desire for her coil in the pit of his stomach. His tongue searched for hers, brushing over it and tasting her over and over again. Stephanie's soft moans encouraged him as his hands dropped from her hair to roam desperately over her back. His right palm cupped her ass. Paul lifted her up in one swift movement never breaking the kiss as his other hand snapped open her bra. Stephanie wrapped her endless legs around his waist.

"God, I need you." she mumbled into his mouth as she tangled her fingers in his hair.

Paul carried her over to the cushions on the floor by the fire. The kiss was momentarily broken as he lay her down and Stephanie shivered lightly as she watched him. The flames from the fire softly flickered across his handsome face as he slid the straps of her bra from her shoulders before tossing the scrap of material to the floor.

"You're so beautiful baby." he whispered as he lowered his head.

His wet tongue flicked over her nipple. Stephanie hissed as the weight of his body pressed against her once more. She instinctively arched her body into him as her fingers crept under his shirt, lightly scraping over his back. As his mouth moved over her breasts, Stephanie had to admit she felt beautiful, or at least she did with Paul. The way he would kiss her or touch her, it almost felt like he was worshipping her sometimes. He actually made her feel pretty incredible about herself. He made her feel like a woman; the woman who loved him and the woman who needed him so much right now.

"Paul."

His name fell from Stephanie's lips. As a log cracked in the hearth behind them, she cradled his head lifting his face to hers. His brown eyes smiled back at her, the emotion inside mirroring the words he whispered into her mouth before his lips found hers once again.

"I love you too."