Passion's Instinct

Forty Nine

Hayden

I got home late the next night, back from the game. As soon as I opened the door and crept into the house, Natalie lunged herself onto me and knocked me over, sending me crashing to the ground with her on top of me.

"Natalie!" I whispered, laughing. Sharp pains shot through my tailbone. "I think you broke my tailbone," I commented.

"Don't be silly," she said, climbing off of me and helping me up. "Where's your coat?" she asked, pulling at my t-shirt. "Aren't your arms cold, Hayden?"

"Well, I'm inside now." I took her face in my hands and kissed her. "I missed you so much, babe. How were the kids?"

Natalie rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Horrible."

"Aw, I'm sorry, Nat." I let go of her and slid off my shoes. "How can I make it up to you? What do you want? Chocolate? A day at the spa, I mean... what else do women do?"

Natalie laughed and laced her arms around my neck, looking up at me. "Nothing. It's alright, Hayden. I've just about gotten over it. And yes, I'm sure."

"If you say so." I leaned down, kissing her brow bone.

"So, how was winning?" Natalie asked, beaming.

"Great. Just like any other time we won."

"Yeah. Well, I missed you."

"I know, I missed you too. Home was all I could think about while I was gone."

Natalie skimmed her fingers over my lips and I laughed. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"I don't know. I love your smile. And your lips. And just... you."

"Good. Because I love everything about you too."

***********************************

"Rex! Rex, get off the couch, dog!" I scolded.

Recently, our puppy had been misbehaving. Badly.

He would eat off of the table when we turned our backs, chew the furniture and clothes, track mud in the house, and... the list goes on.

And now, he was curled up on the couch, looking guilty as ever.

Once I yelled at him, he sulked away to lay in his crate.

I groaned and flopped down on the couch where he was laying before, picking up a magazine from the side table with Natalie on the cover, flipping through it.

A lot of times I would ask myself why I looked at magazines with her on it, just because I saw her everyday and knew her well enough to know what would she would say in her interviews. I guessed it was because I loved her so much.

Nah, there was really no reason.

It was early morning, and I was tired. Natalie was up all night nauseous and miserable.

I could already tell this was not going to be a good pregnancy again, but I was hoping for the best, because no one wanted the same experience we had when she was pregnant with Sawyer.

"Hayden," Natalie's voice called. She sounded completely exhausted; it was even written in her tone.

"What's up?" I asked, pulling myself off up from the couch and walking halfway up the stairs.

"Remember my parents are going to be here in a few hours."

"Okay." I walked down the stairs, but turned back around again. "Hey, are you alright, Nat?"

"Yes. Thank you, babe."

"Yeah, sure."

I walked back downstairs again, and as soon as I set foot on the hardwood floor, the doorbell rang.

Natalie's parents, I was sure.

I walked over and opened the door, and sure enough, there were Natalie's parents, standing across from me.

"Hey," I said, smiling. "Come on in." I let them in and closed the door behind us. "Well, you're early."

Shelley, Natalie's mother, laughed. "Well, long story short, we got the flight time wrong. It was much earlier than we expected."

"Got it."

Natalie's father shook hands with me and pulled me into a hug. "It's been a while," he said.

When he let go, I stood back and nodded. "Yeah. Well, you're looking great, Avner."

"Thank you. I haven't had any issues for the past year or so now. Just every once in a while, I go to the cardiologist to get checked out, but that's all."

"Great." I shoved my hand in my pocket and ran the other through my hair. "Why don't you guys have a seat? I'll go get Natalie."

They nodded and retreated to the living room, and I scooped up the magazine I was reading earlier, tossing it on the kitchen counter.

After trying for ten minutes to get Natalie to come downstairs, she finally came down and greeted her parents. On my way up, I caught the beginning of their conversation, which I became interested in quickly.

"Natalie, I caught hold of a sneak peek of your next photoshoot for Dior," I heard Shelley say. "Is Hayden going to be okay with how much skin you're showing?"

"Mom," Natalie groaned, "you're always so nervous about that. It's just a little bit of back."

"I just wanted to make sure you'd checked with him first."

"He'll be fine with it."

"Well, Natalie, I've always told you to be careful with that. There can be some strange men out there --"

"Mother, I'm twenty-eight years old, I think I can determine that for myself now."

"Well, you shouldn't be doing that new commercial. You don't want another man touching you, do you?"

"Mom. He's barely going to be touching me. It's a one-second scene."

"A one-second scene where another man kisses your neck, yes!"

At that, I could hear my heartbeat thumping hard. Kissing her neck? Hopefully Shelley was just exaggerating.

"His lips don't even touch me, Mom. I'm not lying. Anyway, he's just some random commercial actor that has nothing for me. He has a girlfriend. Plus, Hayden trusts me. He knows I'm not going to let anything bad happen."

"You'd better be right about that, Natalie. Be faithful to your husband."

That was the last thing I heard before I walked upstairs to go get the kids. If it was true, what Shelley said about that commercial, I was going to hunt that guy down and give him a serious talk. I got it that we were actors, and I wasn't one of those overprotective husbands or anything, but I wasn't going to let some random guy touch Natalie just for a stupid commercial. Nope. That wasn't happening.

I would get to him and strangle him first.

So wherever you are, random dude, watch out.

I'll take care of you the right way, I promise.