Damaged Goods

Chapter 11- Unexpectedly Expecting?

The relief Aria felt hearing Marcus say they were almost to the beach house was palpable. They'd had an awful last couple of days and she prayed she would be able to sit on the sand and relax to the sound of the waves lapping at the shore. In her frantic packing she wasn't sure if she'd brought a suit or not but she was confident there would be a tourist shop selling some nearby.

They pulled into a driveway just outside of Mobile, secluded away from neighbors and right against the beach. The house was standing on stilts in case of high tide or flooding, a large staircase leasing up to a wrap-around deck. The entire thing was something you'd read about in novels the way the sun hit the waves, the salt and pepper sand lined the water for miles and boats roamed through the open water shrimping and enjoying their day in the sun. This felt more like a vacation than relocating for protection!

"This is astounding, Marcus!" Aria exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm glad you like it, wait until tonight when we have a real Gulf dinner," he replied. He adored the way her eyes lit up at the view of his home and the mention of food. Her smile was contagious and despite their predicament, Marcus found himself grinning right back at her. He knew they weren't out of the woods yet, but it might buy them some time coming to the Gulf. He knew it wasn't going to be easy protecting Aria, but he'd die trying.

"Show me inside please!" Aria practically begged. She looked adorable when she did that, batting those long eyelashes and pouting her lips.

"How could I ever say 'no' to a face like that?" Marcus prompted. "After you milady."

The inside of the house was just as breath-taking as the outside. It appropriately had an ocean theme going with seashells in jars, nets hanging from the walls and blue, green and tan walls to represent the water. The kitchen had an open-floor plan and exposed the living room via a wet bar. The building had high vaulted ceilings and giant windows giving off a great view of outside. This was heaven on earth to Aria.

She raced through the house, room to room, admiring everything it had to offer. Marcus just sat back and chuckled, shaking his head. He was glad she seemed to be making herself at home and just left her to it while he brought their bags inside. By the time he'd brought everything inside, Aria had finished her grand tour and was seated on the couch just admiring the view out the windows.

"How do you feel about seafood?" he asked cautiously. If she had an allergy or something they would be in trouble because most of the cuisine here consisted of fish and shrimp.

"Sounds great!" she said.

They set off into the kitchen and Marcus got out a large stock pot filling it with water and Creole seasoning. She sat back idly watching him bend over to get the pot and resisted the urge to grab a handful of his tight tookus. He threw in some halved ears of corn on the cob, kielbasa, shrimp and spices. Then he covered it with a lid and stood back to let it cook.

"We've got about an hour, what do you wanna do?" he asked suggestively.

"Oh, I've got a pretty good idea..." she agreed. For the next forty-five minutes they entertained themselves in the bedroom then the next fifteen keeping busy in the walk-in shower. Aria had never been so satisfied or starving by the time the hour was up and they sat down to eat. Rather than pouring bowls of food for them, Marcus drained the liquid out of the pan and wrapped the table in Saran wrap. Once the liquid was gone, he poured the food out over the table for a real-life buffet. Aria had never had shrimp so fresh, and the spicy Creole seasoning gave it that perfect kick to get her taste buds tingling.

She moaned as she popped a piece of kielbasa into her mouth and Marcus smiled. "That good huh?" he asked teasingly.

"Oh you have no idea. This is fantastic! If you're this good at everything you cook, expect to be my personal slave from now on." she groaned.