50 Shades of Drake 5 and 6

Chapter Nine

    What we've tried so far is just the tip of the iceberg? Destiny wondered, her eyes locked on Aubrey's. What else could he possibly be into? Then again, she remembered that out of all of he shelves of toys Aubrey had at his disposal back in Toronto, they hadn't used many. There had been a lot of them that went unused - maybe he planned on changing that.

    Carlos sashayed past them in a skimpy pair of bikini briefs and cooed, "Meow," as he walked past Destiny. "Or should I be saying meep, meep, since apparently I ride the short yellow bus?" He cackled.

    She scowled at him as he made his way towards the patio doors leading into the house. Then she turned and watched Sadie run up to Aubrey.

    Pink floaties were secured around Sadie's arms.

    "Careful," Destiny cautioned. "It's dangerous to go running when there's water on the ground like that."

    The little girl's steps slowed. Her curly pigtails dripped with water as she moved to stand beside Aubrey's chair. "When are you going to swim?"

    He shaded a hand over his eyes and peered towards the water. "I don't know if I'm going to swim today."

    Her mouth dropped open and formed a little "O." She grabbed his hand and tugged on it. "But you have to. It's really fun, and Grandpa is going to make a really big jump."

    "Not if grandma has anything to say about it," Destiny told her.

    Sadie continued tugging on Aubrey's hand. When that didn't seem to work, she set to climbing into his lap.

    With a sigh, he held his arm up to keep her from falling. "I might go in later."

    "You should go in now," Sadie urged.

    "Des!" Jasmine called over. "You have to come in!"

    Destiny and Aubrey glanced at each other. Reading the look in his eyes was impossible. There were so many mysteries that those deep brown pools held. But seeing him hold Sadie and lean in close to her while she showed off her floaties touched her and reminded her of the question Aubrey had asked her on that fatal night in front of his condo. She distractedly reached across her torso and stroked the ring finger on her left hand.

    Aubrey sensed the movement and shot a look at her. His eyes lowered down to her left hand, and his brows drew together, but he didn't say anything. Another moment later, he didn't have the chance to, because Sadie was talking his ear off again, pushing him to get in the pool with her.

    "All right, all right," he said, lifting her off of his lap and setting her on the patio beside his chair. He swung his legs over and stood up. "Are you coming with us?" he asked without turning to look at Destiny.

    While still stroking her ring finger, she looked up at his heavily tattooed back. "I'll join you guys in a little bit."

    He bent at the waist and picked Sadie up. Then he turned towards Destiny.

    Her heart leapt into her throat. All of a sudden, she wasn't just remembering the very important question he'd asked her the night of Brian's untimely demise. She was remembering the dreams Aubrey had told her about, the dreams he'd had about their future together, a family that they had. He said that the dreams seemed real, she thought now, watching him carry Sadie to the pool's edge. Then not too long after he had a dream about our family, I did, too. And it had seemed so real. They were dreams that she still had, to this day. Sometimes she cried when she woke from them; they were so beautiful that she wanted them to be reality. But she knew that before having a family with him, there were some things that she - that they both - needed to work through. This new life for them in Calabasas was supposed to help with that.