My Heart Is Yours

Chapter 108

"Welcome to my home away from home!"

Maine stepped inside a very bare looking two bedroom apartment. The apartment was spacious. The living area only had a 32" LCD TV and a sofa bed. At a corner wall was a floor to ceiling bookshelf which was about half the size of her own bookshelf in her room.

"I'd always wondered where you hid your books," she said as she approached the bookshelf. Sure enough, she saw all the titles of the books that she saw him reading whenever they were together, as well as the books he'd bought. Richard was walking behind her, observing her every move.

"You've seen how small our bookshelves are back home," Richard explained. "I needed a bigger shelf space especially for the books I've brought from New York. I've only kept our Star Wars books, Hardy Boys, Dune and Harry Potter back home. The rest are here."

"How long have you had this place?" She asked as she checked out the kitchen. It was a pretty decent size with complete kitchen appliances, including a dishwasher.

"About a year after I started working," he answered. "I have two other studio type units that I had rented out. Je's one of the people renting out the unit. And have you met Paul? He's the one renting out the other one."

"Wow!" Maine exclaimed. "How much is a pilot's salary anyway? You have three apartments, yet you still live with your parents?"

Richard chuckled and replied, "it's the perk of having Rick and Catriona Faulkerson for parents. As the son of the chief architect and the head interior designer of the building, I had a huge discount on the downpayments. Je and Paul are paying off the mortgage for the studio units. So I'm just paying for this. Utilities are dirt cheap since I only use this as a halfway house."

"No wonder you don't have anything in your ref," she giggled as she opened the refrigerator door in the kitchen and found only a pitcher of water inside.

"Well," he replied. "That's about to change in six months."

Maine felt Richard's arms wrapped around her waist, her back to his chest. His hands rested on her stomach as he pulled her to him. He started nuzzling her neck, then she felt his lips pressing on her exposed shoulder.

They had a very successful dinner the previous night when they announced to their parents about their engagement. As expected, Mary Anne and Rio were ecstatic. They started making plans for the wedding, with Rick and Ted reminding them every now and then whose wedding it was, and that the couple's opinion mattered the most.

Maine and Richard just let their mothers be, since they didn't have a solid plan yet. They only know that they want to get married in six months time. They were open to their mothers' suggestions but would interject when they both didn't like the idea.

The night ended with half of the wedding plans done and both mothers were satisfied with the outcome. The couple were just grateful that they wouldn't have a problem with their respective inlaws.

It was before they got separated that night when Richard told Maine that he had another surprise for her the next day. So she found herself with Richard that afternoon entering an apartment complex in BGC.

Maine sighed and turned to face him. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him to her in a searing kiss that earned her a deep throated groan from Richard.

He reluctantly ended the kiss and heard a whimper of protest from Maine. He sighed again, then rested his forehead on hers.

"Before we go any further," he whispered. "I just want to know. Do you like the place?"

"I haven't even seen the bedrooms yet," she replied as she pulled away to sit on the sofabed.

"One room is bare," he said. "The other one only has a bed and a closet."

"How big is the bed?"

"Twin."

"Your bed in Laguna's a double," she said. "And this sofabed looks like a queen."

"That's why I sleep here," he said with a smile. "Sam uses the bed whenever Pat kicks him out of their unit. Otherwise, no one sleeps there."

"We would need a bigger bed."

"So, you like the place?"

"Temporarily?" Maine replied unsure as Richard sat beside her. "I would still want a house of our own. Maybe still in Laguna. Somewhere not too close to our parents but not too far either."

"Whatever you want," Richard said as he pulled her to him in a loose embrace and kissed her temple. "I'll look around for some properties that we might look into. Mom would know the good places."

Maine cuddled closer and replied, "we would need to make this place livable in the meantime."

"What do you have in mind?"

"We would need a bigger bookshelf, for starters."

"We could use the spare room as a reading room of sorts," he suggested. "We could move that bookshelf there and add another one? Then add comfy seats so you could spend hours there with no problem."

"Let's move that twin bed of yours in that room," Maine said. "At least we can make good use of it there."

"We barely fit in my bed at home when we read," Richard said. "How could we be comfortable reading on a twin?"

"Who says anything about reading?" Maine smirked and suddenly crawled on his lap. She sat with her legs on either side, straddling him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his own arms wrapped around her waist.

"Well," Richard smirked as she started kissing his neck. "There's my little vixen."

"Only with you, my Home."