by Tory Baker
I get back to her as fast I can, cleaning her up, then moving the bedsheets. She moves to the center of the bed, I throw the washcloth over my shoulder letting it lay wherever it lands, only then do I get in beside her. Her head finds the crook of my neck, both of us laying in the still of the night and holding one another.
This is where I was always meant to be, with Kori in my arms.
25
Kori
Today is the day for the big event. I can’t wait to see the outcome. I’m hoping a lot of our dogs will find a home before Christmas. We’ve had a lot of feedback, and even the event we created has over two thousand people interested, not even mentioning the ones that said they were coming.
I take one last look around before the festivities start. Nate said he had an errand to run and then he’d be here. I have no idea what errand he could be running on a Saturday, but it could very well be for his company.
Everything is perfect, the dogs are all groomed, and even have either a bow tie for the male dogs or a girl Christmas sweater, well for the female dogs. They look so cute, I squeal in delight.
“Miss Kori?” I hear Colton question. I turn around not bothering to hide how happy I am with how things are looking.
“Hey Colton, is everything okay?” I ask.
“Oh yeah, just wanted to let you know the snacks and drinks are ready to go. We set them up by the reception desk that way the dogs won’t be tempted,” he tells me.
“Thank you, anything you need me to do?” I may be the boss, but I never think of myself as superior. I’m more of a team player than that.
“Everything’s ready, but I’ll uh, uh warn you. Um. Kori, I don’t think you realize how big this is. We have cars already in the parking lot and it’s completely full.” He says with a blush coming across his face. I’m wondering why he’s so nervous. I’ll have to ask Nate if he knows something or someone that could make him blush like that.
“Eeep! That is so exciting, well let’s open the doors and let the festivities begin. Hopefully Nate will be here before too long in case we need another set of hands,” I tell him as we walk with each other back to the front of the building.
Colton wasn’t kidding when he said it’s busy. We’re essentially slammed. Volunteers are walking with potential adoptive pet parents, and some are already filling out forms for their background check.
The next few hours fly by. I look down at my watch and realize the time. I didn’t think Nate would take this long with his errand, it’s enough to make me worry. I take my phone out and send him a quick text.
Hey, I hope everything’s okay. The shelter is doing amazing, can’t wait until you’re here.
I put my phone away and get back to work. Hopefully Nate is finishing up and will be here soon, the need to celebrate with Nate is all encompassing.
We all continue our work and are even able to adopt out quite a few dogs today.
26
Nate
When I saw Kori’s text, I was tempted to text her back, but I knew what would happen if I did. The beans would be spilled, by none other than myself.
I met with the realtor to buy our forever home, it’s part of Kori’s and my plan. Well one we’ve talked about repeatedly. I finished signing the papers, and then I sped out of the realtor’s parking lot getting to Kori as fast as I could.
When I get to the shelter, I’m floored. It’s not just busy, it’s slammed. I couldn’t be prouder of my girl. There’s nothing she can’t do, once she puts her mind to it, it’s a done deal.
I barely make it into the reception area before I see her coming at me, her arms are in the air, her curls are wild and free, but the look on her face. I can’t help but think I was part of the reason her smile seems to be permanently etched on her face these days.
“Nate! This is so amazing,” she squeals as she jumps into my arms. Her legs wrap around my hips, and if half the town, plus neighboring town weren’t here, I’d steal her away and have my wicked way with her, again.
Instead, I slowly lower her to the ground, but not before giving her lips a quick peck.
“I’m so proud of you, Kori, you have no idea, and this is just the beginning,” I say into her ear.
“Gah, I love you,” she says to me and turns to head back to where she was working.
“Love you, beautiful. I’ll go help Colton,” I suggest.
“Oh, that reminds me. I think he may have a girl coming today. He was blushing all kinds of colors earlier today,” her smile is bright and cheery.
“Kori,” I grumble.
“What, I wouldn’t be a good aunt if I didn’t know these things,”
“Arrow to my heart, beautiful. The way you look after him, I couldn’t ask for more,” I respond.
“You don’t ask for anything, though. Now, I’m not asking for all the details, but if he says something, I wouldn’t mind knowing a detail or two.” She gives me a wink and then walks away.
I head towards Colton with my own smile. She may want the details, but one thing is for sure, I’ll be having a talk with Colton. He’s almost at the age of driving and girls may be on his radar, but so is college. His head is back on his shoulders, but still, I want to reaffirm a few things with him.
“Hey bud,” I say when I come up to him. He’s taking two dogs out of their kennel to run in the grassy area.
“Hey, Uncle Nate,” he replies.
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah, I uh…may need to come see you this week at the shop, is that okay?” he questions me.
“I’m always available for my favorite nephew,” he laughs, it’s our ongoing joke. He’s the only one I have.
“I’ll stop by after school then.”
“Sounds good.” We get to work and finish taking out the rest of the dogs so they can stretch their legs.
Today was definitely a success for Sunshine Animal Shelter.
27
Kori
It’s Christmas Eve and we’re getting ready to head to Melanie’s to start celebrating. Nate and I are in limbo with who’s house we stay at each night, sometimes I’ll go to his place, but lately he’s been staying here more and more. He says his place feels less like a home now that we’re together.
It melted my heart to hear those words. I’m wearing a sweater dress with a pair of knee-high boots leaning over the bathroom counter swiping on my mascara, when Nate enters the bathroom.
He comes up behind me, his hands are on my hips, and he slowly lifts my dress up.
“Fuck,” he murmurs when he sees the surprise I have in store for him that was meant for later on tonight.
“Shew you!” I turn around and pull my dress back down around my thighs.
“There’s no way you’re going out without anything on underneath that dress, Kori,” he grunts.
“Yes, I am. There’s a thing called panty lines, and plus, consider this payback for you teasing me in the movie theatre earlier this week.” His eyes are heated as he recollects the moment when he played with me the whole time in the back of the theatre, where no one could see his hands that were up my skirt for the entire two hours.
“How am I supposed to hide this, when all I can think about is that you’re bare?” he questions, as he points to his hard cock. I slowly lick my lips, wanting the taste of him on my tongue, but knowing making him wait will be the best part.
“I guess you’ll have to think about baseball,” I murmur as I pass by him, grabbing my purse.
He follows me as I head down the hall. When I look behind me, I see what he’s wearing, and it takes everything in me not to ask if we can just stay in instead. His black slacks are molded perfectly to his legs, not too loose and not too tight. His white button-down shirt accentuates his defined arms, but what really sets me on fire is how he has the shirt sleeves folded up, showing off his tattoos.
I lick my lips and that’s when I hear him say, “Keep looking at me like that and I’ll flip that dress up and have you right here, right now.” N
ate’s voice is low and husky.
“I’m going, I’m going. Your sister would kill us both if we missed tonight,” I say saucily.
We walk out the door and head for Melanie’s. Our presents are already wrapped and loaded up in the truck. The forecast is calling for a light dusting of snow, so we decided to pack them up earlier.
It takes less than ten minutes for us to reach Melanie’s. We both grab the packages and make our way inside.
28
Nate
The ring is burning a hole in my pocket, not to mention Kori’s other present. She’s probably going to yell and say I did too much for her, but the reality is she does even more for me on a day to day basis. Making sure I have coffee in the morning, bringing me lunch most days if I’m at the shop, looking after Colton and Melanie. It means more than anything money can buy.
“Merry Christmas!” Melanie says as we walk into her house. Kori may have decorated the shelter, but at her home she only put up a tree this year. Melanie though, well it looks like Christmas threw up all over her house. She truly goes all out and each year it seems to be more and more.
“Merry Christmas,” I respond and hug her with one arm, my other one is still loaded down with presents. Kori and I probably went overboard for Colton and Melanie, but she’s a single mom and deserves to not only have a Christmas for Colton, but for herself as well.
I take a step back and Kori squeezes in, giving her a hug as well. We drop off our presents under the tree.
Colton comes barreling down the hallway with a goofy smile on his face. Kori wasn’t too far off the mark when she mentioned Colton may have his eyes on a girl. I gave him the talk, and told him his future is bright, but if he ever feels like he’s floundering, my door is always open.
“Merry Christmas guys!” he hugs us both.
Melanie has a smorgasbord of appetizers ready for us to eat, along with desserts. She decided on not making a huge meal and to enjoy everything she could this year, instead of being cooped up in the kitchen.
Once we eat our fill of food, we head towards the living room. Colton sits on the floor handing out presents to each one of us. Melanie keeps Colton’s from her put back until tomorrow morning, tonight though, it’s for us. I have a feeling I know what Kori will want to do tomorrow.
Colton rips open his presents from us, he received baseball tickets to his favorite team, a jersey for the same team, and Air pods he’s been begging for.
Melanie received a spa day from us and a pair of boots she had been eyeing all season.
When Colton hands me a present from Kori, I give her the side eye. She asked me non-stop what she could give me, and I told her nothing.
“What did you do?” I grumble.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” her smile says it all. I open it and my mouth drops open, it’s a brand-new iPad. One that has service and I can take with me on job sites. She once saw how much paperwork I was having to keep track of and mentioned how much easier going paperless would help. I guffawed, not wanting to spend money on myself, but the little sneak went and did something like this for me.
“Beautiful, I love it,” I make my way to her and kiss her gently.
“It’s your turn now,” I reply as I drop to my knees in front of her and our family. Melanie and Colton adopted Kori before I was even in the picture.
“Kori, make me the happiest man and marry me,” I say. I look up into her eyes, seeing them glistening, she jumps up and down clapping her hands screaming, “Yes, yes, yes!”
I stand up and put my arms around her, we kiss long and hard. Only breaking apart when Colton starts wolf whistling.
“You haven’t even looked at the ring, Kori,” I murmur into her ear.
“I don’t care about the ring, Nate, I just care about you. I love you so much,” she breathes out in a rush.
“Love you, Kori, so fucking much,” I respond.
“Um. Aunt Kori, I think you have one more present to open up,” Colton states.
“What? I have enough, I couldn’t need or want for anything else that’s not already here in this room.”
Colton hands her the box, she takes it and looks at me. Looking none too happy. But I think she’s in for quite the surprise.
“Next year, we’re putting a cap on what we get each other,” she grumbles.
When she opens the box and see’s the papers with her and I listed on the deed, she’s statue still and at a loss for words. I really hope I didn’t screw this up.
“Baby, are you okay?” I question, coming to sit beside her on the couch instead of standing.
“You’ve made every dream of ours come true thus far, I can’t believe it. You’re amazing, you know that? I can never thank you enough for making our dream become a reality,” she drops the papers back in the box and turns into my body. She’s crying her eyes out, and all I can do is hold her and thank fuck that even though she’s crying, they’re tears of happiness.
29
Kori
It’s Christmas morning and I wake up with Nate wrapped around my body, his palm is cupping my breast and it makes me moan.
“Merry Christmas,” he whispers huskily into my ear.
“Merry Christmas, Nate,” I moan, as he lifts my legs and guides himself inside me from behind.
My head drops back on his shoulder as he thrusts into me in a lazy motion. I yearn for more, but I also know like this with the way he’s building me up, it’s going to be more powerful than if it was hard and fast.
He keeps a hold of my breasts from behind, he finds my nipples, and plucks at them. They’re so sensitive when he does this. I swear if he were only playing with them, I’d orgasm.
One of his hands skates down my stomach until he’s at the top of my mound, he teases me. Nate is touching everywhere but where I need him to reach the edge that will have me falling over.
“Please,” I grunt as I rock my hips back into his thrusts.
“Not yet, Kori. I’m taking my time with my fiancée,” he groans.
“I love the sound of that,” somehow managing a coherent thought. He pinches my clit and that’s when I come harder than I ever have before.
Nate grunts and then he’s coming inside me, I can’t wait for the day our lovemaking creates a child. Nate and I decided not to waste any time, if it happens, it happens. I’m hoping it happens sooner, rather than later though.
We both stay in place and enjoy coming down from our orgasm. It’s only when he softens and slips out of me do I start to get up.
But, Nate has other plans. He rolls me to my back, pushes a pillow underneath my ass, and lifts my legs up, holding them in the air.
“What in the world are you doing?” I ask.
“I read in a magazine, if you’re trying to get pregnant this is what you should do,” he responds. His face says it all, he really believes it, and well, I’d do anything to keep that smile on his face.
I keep my legs in the air with the help of his shoulders, as we talk. I ask, “Can we go look at our home today? I know it’s Christmas day, but I can’t wait to look at it, and come up with some ideas.”
“I knew you’d want to, that’s why I kept today open just for us,” with Nate saying that, I roll off of the pillow and head straight to the shower with Nate running after me, our laughter is mingled together. Here with Nate, I couldn’t be any happier.
Epilogue
Nate
Seven Months Later
As soon as we brought our plans into play on rehabilitating our home that was built in the 1850’s, we decided to sell my house, and me move in with Kori. My house probably would have been the better option, but with all of our spare time at “The Grantville” house, it was easier. When I say we purchased the house for a song, I really mean it. It sits on a little over an acre, there’s a lot of the original woodwork, and even the hardwood flooring was still beautifully intact. The electrical wires had to be re-run, the kitchen was restored, and so were the bathrooms. The showstopp
er though, that’s the wrap around porch.
We had a small ceremony for our wedding, our families being small consisting of Melanie, Colton, and of course Kori’s parents. They were so happy to see Kori and I getting married. They didn’t even mind we were doing it so quickly.
Of course, they didn’t know Kori was newly pregnant, and I refused to wait until after the baby was born.
When it came to the house, she was right there beside me every step of the way, even if it was just to hold a tool or bring me lunch.
Though she was not impressed when I made her sit on the sidelines. Sure, she was there when I knew it was safe and there weren’t fumes that could harm her. Kori was in heaven when she got to pick out all of the finishes, paint colors, and then decorating the house.
Now, though, it’s all done, and Kori is six months pregnant with twins. I almost fainted when we heard not one, but two heart beats. She took it in stride and started planning away.
It made me work even harder to get our home finished before they were born or she was put on bedrest.
We’re doing our final walk through before we officially sign off on the house. Kori is ohhing and ahhing.
I’m still in shock that we got it done in half the time frame that was stated originally.
“It’s so beautiful Nate, all of my dreams have come true. You did that for me. I love you, Nate Thomas,” she says.
I take her in my arms, my lips find hers. Our tongues tangle together and when we pull apart, both of us are breathing heavy and I respond, “I love you, Mrs. Thomas.”
