Never Far Away

by Anie Michaels

  “You’re terrible,” she said still trying not to smile.

  “I’m amazing. Let’s go,” he gestured towards the doors. Once they were inside he found his mother and walked over to her and handed her the flowers as he placed a small kiss on her cheek. “Thank you for hanging out with Ella today. I appreciate it.”

  “Porter, these are beautiful,” she said as she buried her nose in them, taking a big breath in. “But you don’t have to get me flowers for spending time with Ella. I love Ella. I wish I could spend more time with her. Besides, we had a fabulous time today.”

  “It’s true,” Ella said as she plopped down on a stool on the other side of the bar. “Your mom and I spent the entire day talking about you. It was very educational.”

  “There’s absolutely nothing my mom could have told you that I wouldn’t have told you anyways. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

  “Maybe not, but I liked getting your mom’s perspective on a lot of things about you. Don’t worry, Babe, I’m teasing. I still love you just as much as I did this morning,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him.

  “Ella,” his mother jolted them from their banter. “Do you still have that list we made?”

  She reached down and patted the front pocket of her jeans. “Right here. Thank you for helping me make it.”

  “What list?” Porter asked.

  “It’s just a list of things I need to buy and make for the cookout for the 4th. It’s the day after tomorrow,” Ella reminded him. He knew exactly when the 4th was. He was looking forward to the cookout they had planned. A day to relax with friends and not worry about work or any of the craziness that seemed to be following them around.

  “Do we need to go to the store tonight?” He asked, really not looking forward to going any place other than home. He really needed to be alone with her, wanted to feel her beneath him and use his hands to hold on to her.

  “Nope,” she said, looking pleased with herself. “Megan is going to come by tomorrow and we’ll go while you’re at work. Megan, Brittany, and Sarah all rented a beach house for a few days and Megan is going to come down early to help me get ready. Then after they close Poppy, Brittany and Sarah will come down too. They’re all really looking forward to it.” Porter was relieved that they could head home, but tried not to let it show.

  “Well, Mom, thanks again for everything.” He placed a kiss on his mother’s temple and turned to Ella. “You ready to go home?”

  She smiled at him. “Always.” She got up and went to his mom and wrapped her up in a big hug that made him smile even wider.

  “Thanks for such an awesome day, Tilly. And thanks for lunch too.”

  “Always,” his mother said, repeating Ella’s words back to her. They smiled at each other and then Ella headed towards him with her hand extended to him. He took it and led her out the door of the restaurant and to his truck. He helped her in and then jumped in himself. He looked at Ella sitting in the passenger seat, shook his head at her, and patted the bench right next to him, signaling her to move over. She grinned, but did as he asked. Once she was buckled she leaned into his side, nuzzling his chest.

  “You smell like wood, and soap.”

  “One of the perks of the job,” he said.

  “It’s ridiculously sexy, Porter.”

  He leaned down and kissed her gently before he started the truck and took them home.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ella

  Ella was pretty impressed with the culinary skills she had pulled out of her back pocket in the last two days. It wasn’t complicated French cuisine, but the spread her and Megan had prepared for this cookout was no small feat either. Her and Megan had just finished setting up outside and Ella stood back to admire their hard work.

  Picnic tables that, of course, Porter had built stood proudly in the middle of his large front lawn, draped with red checkered table cloths. Atop the tables were different varieties of red, white and blue foods. Strawberries, blueberries, and sliced bananas, cups with layered jello in them topped with whipped cream, deviled eggs dyed with food coloring, sugar cookies. They even had blue tortilla chips with salsa poured over a brick of cream cheese. They had basically prepared enough appetizers to feed an army and were leaving the main course of hot dogs and burgers to the men who insisted on running the grill. Patrick and Porter could stand in front of the hot grill all they wanted and she was fine with that. She wanted to sit in a lounge chair drinking the red sangria that Megan had found a recipe for.

  “Well, Fella, I think we did pretty well. This is my first themed party and I am really impressed with our skills at the moment.”

  “I agree. It looks great. Just don’t forget that we’ve got a lot more skills that are useful outside of the kitchen,” Ella said, trying to sound like the older and wiser sister she was.

  “Oh really?” Megan said while waggling her eyebrows. “What skills are we talking about and which room are they useful in?”

  Ella rolled her eyes at her little sister. “Megan, you just single handedly set the women’s movement back twenty years.”

  “Oh, Ella, on the contrary. The women’s movement involves many theories of women taking back their sexual prowess in the bedroom as a way to challenge the dominant alpha male in the relationship. Seeing women as sexual equals is a very relevant and useful tool for the advancement of the equality for women in all realms of society.”

  Ella felt her mouth gaping wide open but couldn’t help the astonished look that had taken over her face.

  “That’s right, Ella. I know you see me as just some silly twenty-something who might be getting married young, but I am not a delicate flower looking to stand in the shadows of her husband. I use my femininity and sexuality to assess my power, not to diminish it. You do too. You just haven’t realized it yet. Patrick knows I get to be the boss when I want to. In fact, he rather likes it when I become the dominant,” she said as she winked at Ella.

  Ella closed her mouth finally and had a moment where she realized that, indeed, her baby sister was not as little, small, or fragile as she might have ever pictured her. She actually kind of admired her sister, and was possibly a little jealous of her and Patrick’s life behind their bedroom doors.

  Ella cleared her throat and let out a breath. “Well, Megan, you’ve left me speechless.”

  “Come on, Fella,” she laughed, “Let’s go set up the volleyball net.”

  As they were finishing with the volleyball net, she noticed cars pulling up the long driveway to the house. She felt the tiny rumble of nerves in her stomach as the thought of meeting Porter’s friends and co-workers. She looked around hoping to spot him so that he could make introductions. As if he could read her thoughts, he stepped out of the front door onto the porch and Ella was, once again, overcome with the image of him and all the rugged sexiness that seemed to emanate from him. He was wearing khaki-colored cargo shorts that came down just to his knee making the large muscles of his calves stand out like boulders. And for the love of all that was holy he was wearing a baseball shirt, white chest with blue sleeves that came down to his elbows. His biceps were straining against the blue cotton and the simple image of him was wreaking all kinds of havoc on Ella’s nervous system. Her lungs weren’t working properly, her legs – useless, even her eyelids had forgotten their purpose so she just stood there – gawking. He continued towards her and she just lost herself watching him. The closer he got, the more rapidly her heart beat and when he was finally standing right in front of her, she noticed the smug grin the was plastered on his face.

  His hand came up to cup the side of her face, always making her feel so small with his large hand against her. “You’re staring, Babe.”

  She reached up and gripped his shirt in her fists, pulling him closer to her. “You knew exactly what you were doing when you put that shirt on,” she grumbled as she looked up at him.

  “Maybe,” he said as he tugged on her ponytail, forcing her to look up at him. “If you’re going to wal
k around in those shorts, showing off your long and sexy legs, I’m going to wear this shirt. Maybe,” he said as he flipped his nose against hers, “after everyone leaves tonight, I can wrap my arms around you and you can wrap your legs around me.” Electricity shot through her body and concentrated between her legs.

  “You’re terrible,” she said as she rested her head against his chest.

  “Get it together, Babe. Company is here,” he said, smiling at her, obviously really pleased with himself and the effect he was having on her. She took a deep breath to steady herself and tried to think of really unsexy things and was interrupted by the sound of an angelic voice happily shouting from across the lawn.

  “Uncle Porter!”

  Ella watched as a little girl ran towards Porter, arms spread wide open, giggling and smiling. When she made it to him he picked her up under her arms and swung her in wide circles, her feet floating out behind her, her stick-straight brown hair flying in the wind created by their twirling. He must have spun her around twenty or more times and all Ella could see or hear was the smiles on their faces and the laughter coming from the little girl. When he finally put her down he was obviously dizzy, but she was anxious for more.

  “Do it again!” she sweetly demanded.

  “Maybe in a few minutes, Joy. I’m dizzy.”

  “Joy, if you break Uncle Porter your sister is going to be very angry with you.” Ella turned and saw a couple approaching she assumed were the sweet girls’ parents. The woman, who looked to be roughly the same age as Ella, held against her hip the most precious cherub-faced baby she'd ever seen. The baby girl gripped her mother’s shirt looking around anxiously, but the tension faded from her face as soon as she laid eyes on Porter. She began reaching for him, opening and closing her fists, asking for him to hold her. He reached over and took the baby with ease, tossed her up in the air, making Ella’s eyes go wide with worry. The baby, however, was having the time of her life, giggling as she flew up in the air and was caught in his strong hands. Ella looked over at the mother, expecting her to be having some sort of panic attack.

  “Don’t worry, he won’t drop her,” she said to Ella with a confident smile. “I’m Brook,” she said as she reached a hand out to her. Ella took her hand and noticed that Brook had the softest looking ringlet curls framing her face. She looked fresh, happy, and exuded friendliness. Ella liked her instantly.

  “Hi, Brook, I’m Ella.”

  “It’s nice to finally meet you. My husband and I have been waiting for a while for this. We were starting to think that maybe you didn’t really exist,” she said laughing.

  “Are you kidding?” She heard Porter say from behind her. “I couldn’t imagine this perfection,” he said eyeing her. Ella rolled her eyes and saw that Brook was doing the same thing.

  “Ella, this is Brook, Matt’s wife. Matt works on my team. I've told you about him. He’s my second in command, so to speak. Ah, here he comes.”

  Ella looked to where Porter’s eyes led her and saw a man walking towards them holding lawn chairs in both of his hands, somewhat struggling with the awkwardness of the large chairs, but with a determined look on his face.

  “Leave it to Porter to invite us over for a cookout but require manual labor in exchange for food,” the man said once he had put the chairs down at their feet.

  “Matt, this is Ella,” Brook said.

  “Nice to finally meet you,” he said shooting Porter a grin, as if he knew something she didn’t.

  “Likewise,” Ella answered hesitantly.

  “Uncle Porter,” Joy said softly while pulling on the hem of his shirt.

  “Yes?”

  “Is this the girl my mom says you’re gonna marry?” Brook immediately grabbed her daughter and placed a hand over her mouth as the girl smiled, knowing she’d said something she shouldn’t have.

  “You.” Porter said pointing at Matt. “Keep your women in line,” he said with a smile.

  “Hey,” Matt said holding up his hands as if in surrender. “I’m outnumbered three-to-one. Even the little one holds more rank than me.”

  Porter knelt down next to Joy, still holding on to the baby who looked right at home in his arms, and pinched her nose. “Joy, this is my girlfriend, Ella. She is very special to me and if you don’t behave I might have to throw away the cake we made for you.”

  Joy’s eyes went wide and a smile spread across her face. “I’ll be good,” she said excitedly and then ran away to play with the volleyball net.

  “I swear, eight-year-olds have the biggest mouths and no filters. I’m sorry if she embarrassed you,” Brook said to Ella.

  “She’s fine,” Ella answered. Her eyes were still drawn to the chubby-faced beauty clinging to Porter’s arms, obviously a baby after Ella’s own heart. “Who is this little girl?” Ella asked motioning towards the baby with the perfect blonde curls coming down the nape of her neck.

  “This is Faith,” Porter answered before anyone else could, his eyes shining with obvious love for the baby. In that moment, Ella definitely felt her ovaries start to work overtime. The ache that seems to form in some mythical place in her body where babies lay waiting to be made squeezed her heart. Who would have thought that this strong man, who had no siblings, and seemed to lead such a solitary life, loved children? And they seemed to love him back. “I’ve worked with Matt since I started my business. I watched these two get married and have these beautiful girls. I’m their honorary uncle,” he said with pride that radiated outwards, her ovaries clenching again. She hadn’t been prepared to watch him sweetly interact with babies all day.

  “Your family is beautiful,” Ella said to Brook.

  “Thanks, we like them enough,” Brook joked as Matt laughed. It was obvious she was in love with her children and Ella enjoyed the laid-back attitude she exuded, hoping one day to get some parenting pointers from her. She had a feeling they could be great friends.

  Another car pulled into the driveway and Porter handed the baby back to her mother, much to Faith’s dismay. He kissed her curly hair as he handed her off and then took Ella by the hand to meet his mother at her car.

  “Hey, Mom. We’re so glad you could make it,” Porter said as he took some bags from his mother’s hands.

  “It’s the nation’s birthday. I’ll be damned if I’ll sit behind a bar and serve drinks all day.” Ella laughed, constantly entertained by Tilly’s antics.

  “Here, Ella, you might want to put this in the fridge.”

  “Ok, sure. What is it?” Tilly turned to her placing a round dish in her hands.

  “My cheesecake,” she said, smiling up at her. Memories flooded Ella’s mind, bringing her right back to her and Porter’s very first date. Tilly’s cheesecake. Ella could feel the flush coming over her face as she tried to push away the images of Porter nearly taking her on the couch in his living room. Ella cleared her throat and tried to act nonchalant as she took the dessert from Tilly.

  “No problem,” she squeaked. “I’ll just go put this away.”

  Ella hurried into the house, walking past the very couch that was being featured in her memory, set the cheesecake down on the counter, and tried to remain cool. She startled when she felt hands wrap around her waist from behind.

  “Whatcha thinking about?” Porter asked right into her ear, doing nothing but stoking the flames she was trying to extinguish. The teasing tone of his voice made it obvious he knew exactly what was on her mind.

  She cleared her throat. “Your mom brought cheesecake,” she said, trying to sound like she was talking about the weather. “She wanted me to put it in the fridge.”

  “Hmm,” he said as he nuzzled into her neck. “My mom makes the best cheesecake.”

  “Yes,” she groaned, trying to agree with him, but sounding more like she was enjoying the attention he was paying to her body. “I remember.”

  “Maybe having people over to our house was a bad idea,” he said as he nibbled along her shoulder.

  “Why?” She asked as s
he let her head fall to the side, thoroughly enjoying the feel of his mouth on her skin.

  “Because all I really want to do is take you upstairs and bury myself in you.”

  “Porter,” she rasped out, trying to hold back the urge to turn around and open herself up to anything he wanted to do to her.

  “Yes, Baby?”

  “There are two small children in your front yard,” she said and immediately felt his mouth halt. “And your mother.”

  “You make a strong argument,” he said as he placed one more small kiss on her neck and stepped back from her. “But you best prepare yourself for what you’ve got coming to you later,” he said, smoldering.

  “And what’s that?” She said, leaning against the island in the kitchen, very aware that she was taunting a caged tiger.

  “Oh, Ella, if you have to ask, I haven’t done my job properly.” He stepped up to her again, his hard body pressed all the way up against hers, his hands braced on the counter behind her. His mouth came dangerously close to hers as he placed a kiss on the corner of her lips. “I’m going to fuck you until you scream my name as you come,” he placed a kiss on the other side of her mouth. “And then,” he pulled back and looked her in the eyes. “I’m going to do it again.”

  She swallowed the large lump that had formed in her throat and let out a pant of breath that had been caught below it. “Lucky me,” was all she could manage. He laughed out loud and shook his head.

  “I think the girls from your store pulled up a second ago. You should probably come outside and say hello.” He said as he brushed away a strand of rogue hair that had escaped from her pontytail.

  “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  He smiled at her, knowing exactly why she needed to cool down.

  “Ok,” he said and placed a kiss on her forehead before he headed back towards the door. Ella turned around and faced the cheesecake again. Contemplating for only a moment, she finally took a knife and cut out a generous slice. She put it on a plate, covered it with a bowl, and hid it in the back of the fridge, fully intending for it to be for her and Porter later that night after everyone else left to go home. It felt sneaky and sexy all at the same time. She finished up in the kitchen and went back outside to greet all their guests.