Chapter 53

Paul was startled from a bad dream. His heart was hammering in his chest, and he automatically stretched out his hand beside him, looking for Bella and finding her spot empty. Where was she? He'd already forgotten what it had been about, the dream had left him with daunting fear, and he fought down the panic caused by her not being in bed with him.

He propped onto his elbows, listening and relaxed when he could hear noises from the kitchen. He fell back on the bed, groaning, and rubbed his face. He still occasionally had these irrational fears and anxiety attacks when he woke up in the morning, but thank fuck, not very often anymore and never when he woke up Bella by his side.

He stretched before getting up. He made a quick visit to the bathroom, pulled on shorts he found from the bathroom floor left there the night before, and went silently towards the kitchen area. He had to see what Bella was doing, and he decided to watch before letting her know he was up. He leaned against the wall and watched.

He had to suppress a laugh. Bella was a mess. Her hair was up in a very messy bun. There was flour everywhere; on the counter and her face and neck, on her arms, and even on her bare thighs. She had those woolen socks she always wore on her feet when at home. Her swollen middle was stretching his t-shirt she was wearing. Paul felt his cock twisting when he watched her. She was 31 weeks pregnant and sexy as hell. She would always be the sexiest woman to him, no matter how big she would be.

"Bugger," she swore when raw egg slipped through her fingers and smashed on the tile floor. When she tried to go down to clean the mess, Paul pushed himself off the wall and went to help her.

"Hey baby, let me help you with that." He went to her and grabbing her arm lifted her. He kissed her on the top of her floury head.

"What are you making?" He asked, his eyes full of mirth. This was fucking adorable. She was making him breakfast, but she was just making her usual mess when she tried to do anything more than boil water or make coffee. She aced making coffee, but their coffee machine was gathering dust at the moment since Bella couldn't stand even the smell.

But Bella didn't think it was funny; she started to cry.

"I was … trying to ..." she sobbed, "to make you breakfast in bed, but … but I'm no use in the kitchen." She looked at him with big eyes, tears spilling on her cheeks.

"Oh baby, don't cry. You're doing well," Paul knew that this was her mood swings that were part of his everyday life now, but her crying made him uneasy every time.

"It's your birthday, and I can't even make you a bloody breakfast without messing it up."

"You made pastry out of yourself, and I'm loving it," he whispered and licked flour off her cheek.

Bella giggled and then crashed her mouth on his. Jesus, it was hard to keep up sometimes. But he loved every second. She kissed him, licking his bottom lip. She kissed his jaw, his chest, she lingered on his nipples, causing goosebumps to erupt all the way to his chins and the nape of his neck, and she started slowly kissing her way down his body.

"Baby, you don't... ah..." Paul's words were cut short by Bella's hand grabbing his dick.

"You were saying?" she said, pulling his shorts down and kissing the head.

"Nothing," Paul grunted, "abs-fuking-lutely nothing"

Bella sucked him into her hot wet mouth, twirled her tongue on the head, and sucked again. He entwined his fingers into her hair, leaned back to the counter, and widened his stance. Her hands were pumping the base, and she scraped her teeth along his shaft

"Ah... baby..."

"Shit, damn..." Bella cursed suddenly.

"What is it, baby?" Paul was startled from his lustful haze.

"I got cramp in my calf. Bad one. Fuck that; it hurts. Help me up, please," she groaned in pain.

Paul grabbed Bella's upper arms and pulled her up. Quickly pulling his shorts back on, he pulled her into a hug. She was crying again.

Paul had to bite his tongue not to laugh this time. This was fucking hilarious in the sexiest and most adorable way. His wife was a fucking mess, and he loved it. Her hormones were all over the place, and one could never know what would happen next with her mood swings. Jared had never mentioned Kim being this moody.

"I can't..." she sniffed, "even suck you off anymore."

"I beg to differ, baby. Can't you remember last night? Hmm?" Paul said.

"But this was supposed to be for your birthday."

"It was definitely after midnight, so it was my birthday, alright."

"It was?"

"Uh-hu," Paul answered, kissing the top of her head.

Her shoulders started to shake, and since there was no way of knowing - he had no fucking clue - if she was laughing or crying, he pushed her off his body a bit and lifted her head. She was laughing.

"Oh... My …. God …." she was howling now. She covered her face with her hands and shook her head. And laughed. And laughed. Paul started to crack up. They laughed for a while.

"I'm a total nut job, aren't I?" She finally said after gathering herself, wiping happy tears off her cheeks.

"Nah, you're fucking adorable."

"What was it that you were making?" Paul asked as he turned Bella to lean to his chest and kissed her neck. The bump was getting big, and hugging it between them was getting a bit hard as he wanted to feel her whole body against his.

"Banana pancakes. I cut the banana, as you can see, mixed the flowers, but that's pretty much it, and dropped one egg to the floor. I should have bought one of those shake and bake thingies."

Paul chuckled and kissed her cheek.

"What if you cut the rest of the fruits for the fruit salad and I finish with the pancakes?

"Okay. Since you're up already, it makes no sense for me to make them," Bella sighed and turned her head to kiss the corner of his mouth before moving to the sink to wash her hands.

They worked around the kitchen making themselves breakfast. Paul loved these moments the most, well, it was one of his favorite things they did together, and he loved their kitchen. His ranger fitted there perfectly, and even not being an old machine but only looking to be one, it added to the old charm the place had.

"Was it this week the article was published?" Bella asked.

Fuck. Paul had already forgotten all about it. The trip to Hawaii had been so full on it had slipped out of his mind.

"Yeah, I think it might be even today."

Food and Wine magazine had wanted to make an article about him as a "rising star in the culinary industry", and the interview had been two weeks before they'd left for Hawaii.

Paul had tried to turn down the interview, but his boss had made it clear that Paul was to be featured in Food and Wine if he appreciated his position in Altura, which he did.

The journalist had wanted to interview him both in Altura and in their home, in his kitchen, to see where he did "his magic" in his free time. She had gone crazy after seeing their home and the kitchen with an old-looking ranger, and their home was going to be featured in the story as one of the coziest yet elegant homes the journalist had ever visited.

She had wanted to interview Bella as well, but she had declined, not wanting to be taken photos of, she'd still been recovering, and Paul felt better that way. Bella and their unborn child were mentioned in the story though, the journalist had laughed that it was better to let the readers know that he wasn't a bachelor waiting to get women lining up to eat his food; they would do it; nonetheless, Sylvia, the journalist had snorted. That was why Paul's boss hadn't given him a choice to give the interview or not; it would bring in more paying customers. And Paul didn't mind as long as they let him make the food, and that's all.

Paul wasn't as excited as one should expect to be featured in a big magazine, but being someone who wasn't keen on getting unwanted attention, he just wasn't, not at all. But even he could not deny it would surely make his name known and help with his career. He just had a bad feeling about the whole publicity thing, which was irrational bullshit, of course. Bella was excited for him, though.

It was a sunny early June morning. They set the table on the terrace and carried their food outside, and sat down to eat. Paul's herb garden was crowing, and the scent of fresh basil filled their nostrils.

"Is it still okay that we go for dinner with my dad and Paula tonight? Not too boring for my sexy 24-year-old husband?" Bella asked, nuzzling into his chest after they'd finished their breakfast.

He wrapped his arms around her and breathed in the scent of her green tea shampoo. Paul had made her promise him that she would never change the brand she used. He was addicted to the scent.

"Sure I am. And Sam and Sarah are coming tomorrow, so we can go for a few beers if we wish."

"Yes, they leave right after Sarah ends her meeting. It's a great thing that she can work from home; otherwise, Sam would have to think about moving away from La Push. Do you think he ever will?"

"I don't know. He is a rez rat to the core. He complains about living there but moving out would scare the shit out of him."

"Yeah. Sarah seems to be happy there, though. And she loves Miss S."

"And she loves her. Aiponi called me the other day and told me how Sarah had taken her to Forks to have her hair and nails done. She was happy as a clam."

Bella sighed contentedly. "Should we go out for a little walk? I want to buy you a coffee, and we can go to collect Ailani's picture from the studio. She texted me in the morning, saying it was ready for pick up.

They left the house and went first to the park. They liked to sit close to the kid's play area and just watch the families who spent time together. It wouldn't be long before they would be there doing the same thing.

Paul sat on the bench, and Bella laid down so her head was on his lap. It was a nice sunny spot under the big maple tree.

"Read to us," Bella asked and handed him a much-read copy of The Cat in the Hat.

"Sure, baby," he said.

Bella loved it when he read to her, or them as she was sure Little B could hear it.

Paul opened the book and started to read.

"The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So, we sat in the house All that cold, cold, wet day.
I sat there with Sally.
We sat there, we two.
And I said, "How I wish
We had something to do."

Bella's eyelids started to look heavy, and after reading a few more pages, she fell asleep. Paul chuckled and closed the book. He brushed the string of hair off Bella's face and placed his fore and middle fingers first on his lips and then on hers.

In these moments, he couldn't understand how fucking happy a man could be. It was insane how unbelievable his life had turned out to be. Two years ago, he'd been getting wasted every weekend; what the hell, he'd been wasted most of the nights during the week too, fucked around and constantly got into stupid fights. It all had changed when he'd met Bella. It still amazed him how he'd been so sure that after one look at her that she was meant to be his, he'd known they were made for each other.

Bella had turned his life upside down and made it better in every possible way. Now he had her; they would be parents in two months, and he had a fantastic work he loved. All this was because of her. He shuddered to think where he might be now if they hadn't found each other. He might not even be alive.

He looked at Bella's sleepy relaxed features. Her face was still tanned from the Hawaiian sun. What a trip it had been; apart from what had happened with Renée, their holiday had been fucking amazing. Paul was sure they would live in Hawaii at some point in their life. He loved the heat, the sun, and the nature was fucking surreal with all the green tropical lushness. And Bella had been so happy to be back there. He would find work there without any problems, and after Bella got her degree, working as a marine biologist would be satisfying.

Yeah, at the age of 24, Paul Lahote was the happiest man alive.

AN:

Some fluffy times, not much more in there. This is just what I want for these two.

It's good to hear there are still readers with me. Thank you for your comments.