lady-meatball - Tumblr blog

lady-meatball · 2 days ago

Text

K & LT- 'Oh Luke...'

Part 7 of K & LT's second book, 'You Are In Love (K&L's Version)

Luke and Katie touch down in Paris, and Luke lets his romantic side take the lead to show Katie just how much he loves her as they kick off their first holiday together, her birthday.

This is a work of fiction inspired by my latest muse.

Word count- ~5.4k

Disclaimers- Tooth rotting, heart melting fluff (I'm back on my bullshit); talk of pregnancy; monogamous couple having (physically) unprotected sex

MINORS DNI/18+ ONLY

“Oh, Luke…” was a sentence that Luke was rapidly coming to realize he would never tire of hearing, especially when it came out of Katie.

In the span of eight-ish hours, he’d heard her utter that two word sentence over and over again, each time melting his heart and making him fall for her all over again.

The first time Katie had said it, their flight was descending into Paris.

Katie sat in the window seat, he in the middle, her face practically smashed into the glass as the lights of the city became more pronounced and the Eiffel Tower became clear.

“Oh, Luke!” She had exclaimed, her hands blindly groping for him as she watched the tower grow larger, more clear. Her hands found his wrist and forearm on the arm rest, squeezing him excitedly before tugging for him to look out the window with her. “Luke, it’s so beautiful! Look at the glow! That's really Paris down there…WOW!”

The view…the view meant little to him, it was one he’d seen countless times flying in and out of Paris over the years, let alone all the trips into the city as he grew up…no, the only view that concerned him was watching her as she saw it for the first time.

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” Luke smiled, loving the fact that he’d been the reason her smile was so big, her excitement so pure. Unable to help himself, Luke agreed, smiling inwardly at the double meaning of what came spilling out of his mouth as he got to see the world through her eyes and falling in love with her all over again, “It’s a view I never get tired of seeing, darling…”

The second time Katie had said it was once they landed, went through customs, made their way to the rental car desk and began navigating the streets towards Paris’ most famous monument.

Katie once again had her face practically against the glass, taking in all the sights and sounds, marveling at the architecture as one Arrondissement gave way to another, the Seine snaking its way through the city as Luke navigated the surface streets in the early evening traffic.

He had parked the car in one of the few spots available in the Parc du Champ des Mars, leading Katie to cross the road to get photos of her in front of the Eiffel Tower, of them both posing for selfies, and to observe the best unimpeded view possible before the cold sank too deep into their bones.

The sky was currently clear, meaning the temperatures would plummet without the cloud cover to insulate and being outside for too long would be foolish without adding significant layers of clothing to each of their persons.

“Oh, Luke…” she said in a barely audible whisper, tone awestruck and reverential as Katie stared down the manicured lawns of the park to the tower jutting high into the air, glittering in the crisp night; a smile curled the corners of her mouth, little puffs of steam escaping her as she took everything in, “...in case I forget to tell you later, thank you.”

The park was almost exclusively theirs, only a few other people seemed stupid enough to be out braving the cold.

“You’re welcome, love…” He smiled as he snapped photos of her in profile, backlit from the street lamps illuminating the park, “Although, wanting to share your first visit to a city that means so much to me is a little selfish…but other than that, this entire weekend is all about you! You don’t need to thank me.”

“Yes, I do…” Katie laughed softly, turning to pin him with a soft-eyed gaze, “...because nobody has ever done anything like this for me. You must have spent a fortune…”

“Every pound and pence has been worth it, darling…don’t worry about it.” He told her, phone in hand, as Luke recorded her as she lifted her right hand, pointing out little things she noticed, her commentary, wanting to capture this moment for years to come…especially the moment she turned her face towards him, a bright, beaming smile only for him.

“Oh, Luke…” sighing, Katie reached out to take his left hand, “...I love you!”

“I love you too.” He answered, capturing her smile as it grew into a grin that reached her eyes before tapping the button to stop the video.

Slipping his phone into his jacket pocket, Luke drew Katie into his body, arms hugging her tightly to his chest for a rare moment that the Eiffel Tower was solely theirs in the chilly night, taking full advantage of the fact nobody else was around by stealing a kiss under the universal symbol of romance. Katie melted into him, sighing his two favorite words once more…

The visit to the Eiffel Tower was a quick one, with a promise that they’d return again in the daytime for more pictures when it wasn’t so cold.

Once back in the car, Luke wound his way further East, pulling the car into a parking spot along the street lining the Seine.

He heard his new favorite sentence four more times in the course of the next hour-first as he helped Katie out of the car and she caught a glimpse of Notre Dame Cathedral in the distance, the second…ten minutes later as they were sat at the table in a corner of the small Bistro des Augustin's and handed menus, the third…thirty minutes after that when she had her first taste of boeuf bourguignon and the fourth…fifteen minutes later when a chocolate soufflé was placed between them.

He would hear those two little words over and over and over again as they made their way out of the city, driving East into the French countryside on their way to Chessy; it was after eight, well past dark as he navigated the roads and with snow having fallen the week prior, his attention was firmly fixed on driving safely in the traffic on the expressways.

The little glimpses of the countryside the headlights illuminated allowed Katie to see little flashes of how beautiful this particular part of France was, but as signs of Disney approaching became more and more pronounced, her excitement grew.

He steered the car to follow a labyrinth of streets, roundabouts and intersections before turning onto a road surrounded by tall trees, creating a forest around them before the hotel appeared, and Katie let out a gasp of shock, her left hand flying to cover her mouth while her right hand once more clasped his wrist in surprise as she took in the sight before them…

While looking into booking this trip, Luke had first considered the Disneyland Hotel, for the proximity to the parks main entrance but after hearing Katie’s stories about growing up in the Sierra Nevada mountains, so close to Yosemite National Park and the sequoia forests that covered those mountains…he knew he had to reserve their room at the Sequoia Lodge.

He knew she missed home, her family, and this was the closest he could come to giving her those things, so without hesitation, he booked the room.

She had tears in her eyes as he slowed to a stop at the vestibule, he put the car in park, turned off the engine and turned to face her in the passenger seat.

“Oh Luke…” Katie said on a choke, otherwise speechless as she took in the trees around them, a familiar looking aesthetic in the lodge style architecture of the hotel, the rocks and boulders scattered all around in the landscaping. “…how are you REAL? This…it’s like I’m back home, like we’re in Yosemite almost!”

Chest swelling with pride, Luke reached across the center console, wiping away the tears from one eye with his thumb, then the other before his hand molded to cradle her face.

“This…this is familiar, this is ‘home’-“ Katie laughed in wonder, pointing at the rustic lodge, the forest, shaking her head in disbelief at the sight before her, “-this is the most at home I’ve felt since I left America…you gave me a slice of home! And I get to share it with you…oh, Luke!”

No, he’d never tire of hearing her say those two words while looking at him as if he’d hung the moon, the stars and painted the entire Milky Way just for her.

“It’s not much…” He said with a shy smile, tracing her cheek again, pouring all the love he felt for her roiling to a boil inside him into that tender touch, “…but I know you’ve been unbelievably homesick, love. I know you miss your family terribly, especially now, through the end of the year with your birthday and Christmas coming up…until we can make a trip and you can show me all these wonderful places you grew up experiencing, this will have to tide us both over. I told you I’d make sure you knew you’d be fussed over for your birthday, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, you did, didn’t you?” Katie laughed again, her hand covering his against her cheek. They shared a smile as the bellhop appeared at the window, knocking softly to get their attention…

She uttered those three syllables once more as they stood at the check-in desk a matter of minutes later; her head was on a nonstop swivel as she scanned the lobby, observing all the details that had been incorporated-the rock work and redwood accents making up the entryway, the Craftsman style architecture, the Native American headdresses on display and the vast array of Christmas decorations covering every available space, making the atmosphere warm, cozy and festive while he checked them in, making sure to speak only French to keep the upcoming surprises a secret…

And once they had made it to their room, the door secured and locked behind them, suitcase unpacked and finally relaxing after a whirlwind evening, Katie breathed the sentence, slightly exasperated, as a knock sounded on the door, revealing a hotel cast member pushing a room service cart with an ice bucket chilling a bottle of champagne, two flute glasses. and a silver dome covering the berries he’d ordered be sent up upon checking in.

“What’s this?” Katie asked once the staff member slipped out of the room, coming to stand next to the cart with a raised brow.

“Something special…” Luke grinned, crowding in close behind her, arms wrapping around Katie’s waist, his lips pressing a kiss to her cheek before adding, “I was planning on waiting until tomorrow night…but I don’t want to waste what’s been a pretty perfect night…it’s your birthday weekend, our first holiday away, your first trip to Paris AND EuroDisney…I figured this was the time to forego the condoms…unless you don’t want to…?”

“Tonight?” Katie asked, leaning back into his body, her hands resting atop his arms, “I was beginning to think you were going to say our first time without condoms would be at your parents for Christmas, Luke…-” she laughed, teasing him with a wry smile over her shoulder at him which earned her a squeeze around the middle, “-...and just what did you have in mind, with the champagne and berries, Thompson?”

“I figured I’d hedge my bets that you’d say yes to my suggestion by plying you with bubbles and feeding you berries either in the bath or in bed…” He flirted, swaying their bodies from one foot to the other, his lips making a lazy trail along the curve of Katie’s shoulder, up her neck and back down, taking playful nibbles along the way to drive his point home. “You’re the birthday girl…you get to choose.”

“Oh, Luke…you really are setting the bar impossibly high for every birthday from here on out, you know that, right?” She asked, voice slightly breathless as he started the path up her neck again.

“That is a challenge I’m willing to set for myself, Kay…” He chuckled against her neck, knowing they both were thoroughly enjoying the sudden turn of events, happy little sighs of encouragement coming Katie as he continued nibbling love bites along the column of her neck, Luke growing more and more hard with each sound she made. “Well, Birthday Girl…what would you like to do?”

“You said there was a bath?” Katie asked, curious and intrigued. Katie’s small flat only had a shower, and the bath in his flat was only big enough for one adult, and their legs would need to be bent in order to submerge their torso…the tub in this room was large enough for them both to soak comfortably, he had made sure of that when booking the reservation for their mid-sized ‘suite’.

Luke’s face broke into a wide smile, “Yes, I most certainly did…would you like to soak in a tub where all of your body can be in the water at the same time?”

“Oh, Luke, that sounds heavenly…” Katie sighed dreamily, melting into him further.

Less than ten minutes later, Luke sat on the side of the tub, topping off the flute of champagne Katie held while reclining in the steaming water. She was a vision, a Siren in the water…his Venus yet to emerge from salt and sea foam as she sipped her bubbles and sent coy, teasing smiles up at him.

“Aren't you going to join me?” She asked with a mischievous smirk. Her legs moved in the water, drawing his attention from her face, down along her body but not before he took a beat or two to appreciate all his favorite parts…”All this space, it’s getting rather lonely in this pool…”

He chuckled as he set the bottle back into the ice bucket and plucked a few of the ripe raspberries from the large bowl; he dipped one berry into a smaller bowl of whipped cream and offered it to Katie, who sat forward, happily accepting it with her mouth open, a sight that went straight to his cock, especially when he felt her tongue lick his fingertips clean of the little bit of residual cream.

“I’d rather not boil my skin off, love…” Luke teased, loving the sight before him-her dark hair piled loosely atop her head, little curls springing free with the steam rising off the water as Katie sank back into the tub, submerging up to the tops of her shoulders as she sipped the icy cold bubbles with a little smirk. “I’ll climb in once the water’s no longer scalding hot. Enjoy your soak, I’ll be back in a little while.”

True to his word, Luke came back into the bathroom after another ten minutes, sauntering into the room wearing only a smile.

“Budge up…” He grinned, standing at the side of the tub, pouring himself a glass before topping up Katie’s and nodding his head towards the opposite end of the bath to allow him space to join her.

Katie did as she was told, a rarity he thought to himself, and he climbed in, taking up her position reclining back against the sloped edge of the tub.

Katie drifted back to him, settling against him, her head tipped back to rest on his shoulder as his arms wound around her, holding Katie close.

Quiet and intimate in the low light, they relaxed in the tub, enjoying the peaceful little bubble the room made, allowing their bond to weave together more fully with whispered conversations and gentle touches as they relaxed, lounging in the water.

“Tell me something, Luke.” Katie said softly after quite some time of contented silence, her fingers tracing the length of his forearms, crossed over her chest and shoulders. He could see she had her eyes closed, not tightly, but just enough to tell she was relaxed and felt safe in his arms.

“What would you like to hear?” He asked, pressing a kiss to her temple, his legs cradling her hips as he shifted to stretch, earning a hum from her when his groin brushed her arse. “Truth or confession?”

“Whatever you want to share, Luke…” Katie told him, voice still soft and quiet, going on to add with a smile curling her lips, “Something big, something small, something silly or stupid…it doesn’t matter, I just want to know you better, babe.”

“Alright…but you’ve got to share something as well…let me think…” Luke sighed, letting the first thing that came to mind spill from his lips, “My favorite color has always been blue, until about roughly six months ago, when my favorite color suddenly became green…Hunter green, Sage green, Olive green…all the different shades of green that make up the color of your eyes.”

Katie shifted in his arms, tilting to the right so she could level him with a shrewd but searching glance; he offered her a sheepish and entirely honest smile in answer, along with a nod of his head to confirm his confession, “Darling, why do you think I hold eye contact with you longer than anybody else? Why do you think I want you to keep them open when we make love? Kay, I love the color of your eyes…”

“Oh, Luke, really?” She asked, unbelievingly. It made his heart ache to know that Katie still had doubts in terms of his attraction to her, his love for her…”No one has ever told me that, I mean, yes, I’ve heard they were a pretty color before, but never has anyone gone ga-ga over my eyes before, Luke…not when my boobs are the first thing anybody sees.”

“I won’t deny…those were the first thing I saw when your swimsuit photos were splashed across my television, and your body. But the day we met, in front of the lifts at Netflix for the table reads, the first thing that caught my attention once you turned to greet me was your pretty green eyes that seemed to stare straight through me, as if they knew me down to my very marrow already, and that gentle smile that spread over your face when your eyes met mine…Darling, I was a goner…”

“That smile was caused by my realizing it was YOU who had sent me that card…” Katie admitted, twisting her body to face him as her lower abdomen rested against his groin, her arms caging his torso to hold herself level with him. “You weren’t the only one, you know, to have fallen hard? Yes, I may have fought my feelings-” Luke laughed loud and heartily, arms pulling Katie closer for a tight hug and a kiss before she backed away to continue, smiling at him widely, “-BUT, if we’re being honest…you looked at me with this softness in your eyes as it clicked in your mind who I was and was supposed to be playing that when that beautiful, wide smile spread across your face, reaching your eyes, Luke…I was yours, whether I knew it or not, let alone acknowledged it!”

That same smile made an appearance now, spreading across his face as they stared deep into each other's eyes, centimeters apart, lounging in the tepid water.

“And now, you’re mine, naked in the bath and seducing me!”

Head tipping backward, Luke roared with laughter. After a long moment, Katie joined him in laughing, he spoke up, “And you said you NEVER get seduced! A challenge I HAPPILY accepted! One of these days I’ll have to make good on my promise to seduce you over fish and chips and a pint at The Grapes…”

“Yes, you will!” Katie teased back, her face lowering to kiss a pattern over the spray of freckles covering his right shoulder, up towards his neck and jaw; the effect had his body reacting instantly, growing harder against her lower belly which pressed closer. Her kisses stopped just shy of his ear, Katie’s voice so soft as she whispered, asking, “Are you nervous? About what we’re going to do, once we get out of the tub?”

He could hear her nerves in the question, Katie’s hesitation about the step they were about to take in their relationship.

His arms left their position, folded across Katie’s back to pull her away from his body just far enough to make her look at him, his hands framing her face as he tried to telegraph every drop of what he felt into his next words, imploring she believed him wholeheartedly as he confessed, “Baby, WHY would I be nervous, when this is something we’ve done countless times before? The only difference is the lack of a scrap of rubber between us? A condom doesn’t change how I feel about you, what I feel for you…the fact you went out and acted proactively for us both, for our relationship in wanting to get your own form of contraception means more to me than a jimmy! You wanted me to be a part of that decision, you wanted my opinion, you wanted to make sure we’re both on a similar page in what we want for the future…why should I be nervous about making love to you? But more importantly, WHY are you nervous?”

She licked her lips, biting the bottom one shyly before answering, her hands now splayed over his chest, where his heart hammered away waiting for her answer, “Part of me still thinks this is too good to be true, Luke…part of me still wonders what it is you see in me that makes you stick around. And once we get rid of the condoms, once it’s just you and me and the birth control ring…that’s, well, that’s a really big step.”

“Kay, are you happy? With me?” Luke asked gently, thumbs caressing her cheekbones in featherlight passes. Katie nodded, answering with a soft but genuine ‘yes’ which made his smile grow-he knew the answer, but saw she needed to be pulled back from the edge of the precipice of overthinking, so he did what he’d learned to do, metaphorically take her by the hand and lead her back to somewhere safe…”Katie, you’re right, this IS a big step in our relationship, but it’s the right one, one we’re both excited to take…darling, I’m not nervous, because you’re my entire world, and more importantly, I love you.”

The tension evaporated off her at his confession, though her brows knit together, pinched with emotion as she stared deep into his eyes. Luke could all but hear the gears turning in her mind as he watched her with a gentle, earnest expression.

“What if I get pregnant?” She asked quietly a long moment later, a hint of worry in her voice as well in her eyes.

Her hand that rested over his heart surely could feel the sudden surge in which it beat at her question, but the uptick in speed was only one part surprise, the remainder an alarming amount of thrill as Luke met her gaze with a lazy, boyish grin, his hands now caressing her whole face with tender touches, “Then…I guess we have a baby, sooner than anticipated, but not entirely by surprise! I thought you wanted children, love?”

“I do…” Katie reassured him, but sheepishly added, “...maybe not right away, but someday…”

“Fine, that’s fine…we can take extra precautions when we have to, if you want…until you’re ready.” Luke reassured her, adding his own small confession, “I think I rather want to enjoy having you all to myself for a while before we bring any tiny Chaos Goblins into the world, but when we do, Darling, I think I want one that looks like you, or at the very least, has your lovely green eyes!”

“Charmer…” Katie teased, pressing into his body for a kiss which he happily gave her. The mood had shifted with that kiss, the promise of what was to come blanketing them both as the kiss deepened and Katie let him know she was ready for more. He could feel her face break into a grin against his mouth as she asked, “Wanna go practice?”

He didn’t need to be asked twice…Luke helped Katie stand, climb out of the tub, they toweled off quickly and roughly before making their way back to the King sized bed, holding hands and stealing glances at each other with small, knowing smiles.

Katie stopped at the edge of the bed, facing Luke and he reached up, hands working to remove the tie securing her hair in the top knot, but when he struggled to remove it without tangling his fingers with her hair, Katie helped him, giggling as he withdrew and shaking her hair out to cascade down, the steam from the bath having turned her dark locks curly.

The sight before him, of Katie nude, pink and damp from the tub with her curves on display and hair wild with curls as she watched him with a smirk of amusement, Luke would never grow tired of this sight…and then she stepped into his body, pulling his face to hers for a kiss so hungry it took him by surprise before he felt her hands push him to fall backwards onto the mattress.

“Oh! You’re in a rare mood tonight, aren’t you, baby?” Luke laughed as he pushed up onto his elbows, staring up at Katie with brows raised high as she joined him, crawling over him to straddle his hips, making sure to avoid his rock hard cock which bobbed with each breath he took, twitching and jumping in anticipation of joining in on the action about to start. “While I LOVE this side of you wanting to come out to play, darling…I had other plans for tonight…maybe we put a pin in THIS for later?”

“I thought you wanted to ‘practice’?” Katie laughed, tracing her fingers down his chest, along his abs, swirling a teasing loop around his belly button before slipping lower to tease the stretch of skin low on his belly.

“Oh…I always want to ‘practice’...you should know that by now!” Luke grinned, his right hand halting Kaite from venturing further south by pushing his fingers through hers, calling for her to look him in the eye as he explained, “But you mentioned wanting this to be a special occasion, since we don’t have many firsts left individually or as a couple that aren’t life altering firsts-” Luke cleared his throat as he gave Katie a pointed look, making her smile down at him and blush, “-so I thought maybe we start slow and make it last? A much as I love to fuck you, I thought maybe tonight we make love? That’s what the champagne and berries were for…to set the mood.”

Katie moved off him, crawling up the bed to lay back against the pillows, Luke moving to watch as his modern-day Venus moved, inviting him to join her with a smile that made his heart ache and his cock throb.

Arms lifting to welcome him into her body, Luke settled into her like so many countless times before, Katies arms folding behind his neck and across his back as her legs linked at the ankles against his arse, holding him as close as possible without being inside her.

“Better?” She asked, nuzzling her nose to his, her right hand cradling his skull, fingers buried in his hair as her left hand skated over his suddenly hot skin.

Nudging his nose into hers, Luke hummed his approval before his mouth dove for hers, lips parting to seek permission to deepen the kiss with his eager tongue which Katie welcomed without hesitation.

Funny, nearly six months ago, he would have only dreamed of moments like this (and had…oh, he had in those early days!), and now here they were, tangled together on their first weekend holiday, a somewhat distant future vaguely sketched out ahead of them to navigate towards and about to take another step towards that future…the weight of the moment sank in, and Luke needed to confirm that they both were ready to move another step closer to what waited for them, speaking up after losing track of how long his tongue had been mimicking what he’d planned to do to Katie’s body, “We don’t have to…if you’re still nervous, I’ve got condoms…”

“Oh, Luke…” Katie sighed, dreamily, drunk on his kisses and squirming under his body, her hands greedy to touch as much of his body as possible, never stopping skating over his back, his sides, his neck, his face, even his arse, as she touched the tips of her right hand to his face, making him look deep into her eyes, molten emerald and golden threads surrounding the fathomless black pools of her dilated irises where he saw his woman ravenous for him. “...make love to me, just you, please.”

He crashed his lips to hers, hand pushing into the mess of dark curls fanned over the pillow to hold her head still as Luke lost the battle he’d been silently fighting all night.

Katie gasped in surprise at this sudden attack, arms caging him in close once more, one hand mirroring his hold on her by burying in his hair, her legs squeezing his waist in encouragement.

“I have another confession to make…” Luke growled low in his chest, mouth against Katie’s, panting between kisses; he lost track of time, not sure if that latest string of explicit kisses had lasted a minute or ten. “...you’ve said two words over and over and over again tonight…nearly twenty times, in fact. ‘Oh, Luke…’ is quickly becoming my favorite sentence.”

That had a wide grin spreading across her face, her hand playing with the curls in his own hair.

“And I plan on hearing you repeat it many more times tonight before we’re through…” He grinned, shifting his hips to let her know he was ready if she was.

Katie nodded, her nose rubbing along his as she consented; reaching between their bodies, Luke guided himself home, both of them hissing at the sensation and knowledge nothing separated their bodies now before Luke pressed close, sinking into her with a groan of pleasure, which she echoed.

Katie gasped, her hands clutching his back and shoulder, fingers digging into his flesh as her body accommodated his, a soft, panted, ‘Ohhhh, Luke…’ escaping her lips as his pelvis sank into hers until fully seated.

“You feel so good…” Katie sighed, smiling at him at the same moment Luke panted, smiling the crooked smile he only wore for her in moments like this, when his heart threatened to explode with love and desire for her.

“Are you sure you don’t want any happy little accidents right away? Because I make no guarantees, love…not when your cunt was made for my cock?” He joked, but only to a certain extent…

“What happened to wanting me all to yourself for a little while?” Katie teased, her body squeezing his member in a ripple of muscle that had his eyes crossing and rolling back into his head, which made her laugh, the vibration felt throughout her.

It took a moment for his brain to restart the function that allowed him to speak coherently, but eventually, Luke answered, “That was before I knew what it felt like to be balls deep in you without latex separating me from every delicious millimeter of your tight, wet cunt, love…let’s just say that ‘Happy Little Accidents’ are a gamble I’ll willing to make every time you let me fuck you from now on…”

“You’re serious…” Katie said, glancing back and forth between his eyes, realization dawning on her that he had only been partially joking a moment ago. This time his smile was soft, tender as he nodded in affirmation. Katie’s jaw hung open slightly before her lips curled into a Cheshire Cat worthy grin, “...you’re entirely serious right now, Luke…you want to have babies with me.”

“Glad to see you’re catching on, Darling!” He laughed, pressing forward to kiss her silly. Her response was another rippling squeeze around him, and on instinct, Luke withdrew his hips, grinning into the kiss at Katie’s whine of disapproval when his cock slipped free of her body to start all over again.

She purred into his mouth as his body broached hers, stroking shallow thrusts at first to slowly work Katie higher and higher until she was chanting his favorite sentence on breathy pants next to his ear as she came undone the first of many times to come that night…

@avenger-nerd-mom @tvjunkie08 @bloggingfromherbed @miss-cap21

#k&lt #k&lt smut

1 note · View note

lady-meatball · 18 days ago

Text

K & LT - 'Rhythms of Domesticity'

Part 6 of K&L's second book, 'You Are In Love (K&L's Version)'.

Autumn rolls on, and Katie and Luke settle into their relationship, talk about serious topics, start establishing traditions, and prepare for the upcoming Holiday season.

This is a work of fiction inspired by my latest muse.

Word count- ~7.5k

Warnings- None. Lots of fluff and heart achingly sweet moments between the Chaos Goblins.

October gave way to November, and with it, the weather in London became more and more moody as Autumn swelled.

The sky was more or less a steely gray, dark and threatening of constant rain, the temperatures were steadily dropping…and I loved it.

Filming was almost exclusively shot on soundstages at this point, very few scenes needing to be shot on location as the weather was forecasted to stay wet and gloomy for the foreseeable future.

My appointment to be seen for a yearly female exam came and went in the early part of the month.

Leading up to the appointment, Luke and I had discussed the options at hand for the type of birth control I would seek, talking over the pros and cons of the pill, the ring, the shot, an IUD while on the sofa in his living room, glasses of wine in hand, the night before my visit to the doctors office.

He had repeated his earlier sentiment, that I should only go for the IUD if I wanted it, surprising me by reminding me that no matter what form of birth control I chose, on average it would take almost a year to fully dissipate out of my system and making it more difficult if and when I decided that I wanted to start a family.

‘Do you want children?’ He had asked me in the throes of passion weeks earlier, and I had confessed to him, ‘Yes, I haven’t been sure of a lot of things in my life, Luke, but I want to be a Mom.’

We had had some flirty, sexy banter than night, me trying to engage him starting a conversation, trying to find out exactly where he stood on the subject, but he’d been more than a little enigmatic…he hadn’t come right out and said, “I want children too” or recoiled in horror, spouting, “Oh no, I’ll never have children…”, but with what had come out of his mouth, I was curious to delve deeper.

“Luke…it’s not just me that I’m doing this for…” I had pointed out to him quietly, nervously, feeling vulnerable as I sat with my back against the arm of the sofa, my legs bent over her lap. “I want you to be a part of this decision, because…well, because, I hope that somewhere down the line…I hope we’ve got a future…”

He watched me, eyes not giving anything away as he scanned my face; his right arm, which had been draped around my back, had lifted to allow Luke to rub the backs of his knuckles along the swell of my cheek, tender and reverential before his voice cracked, almost stuck in his throat, “We haven’t talked about the future…not in serious terms. Is that something you wish to discuss, Katie?”

Swallowing the swell of fear that rose up inside me, I nodded, “I think we have to…given the decision I have to make tomorrow…”

“Short term contraception versus long term contraception…” He stated, and I, again, nodded in confirmation.

“What do you see, looking ahead, to the future?” I asked, left hand clutching my wine glass to my chest as if it were a lifeline while my right hand absentmindedly stroked tiny movements to Luke’s sternum, under his thin cotton shirt. I couldn’t look him in the eye, needing to stare at my hand to gather all my courage as I continued, “What is it you want out of life, Luke? Out of our relationship?”

His fingers hadn’t stopped caressing my face, and I felt his eyes taking me in, could all but hear the gears turning in his mind as he seemed to contemplate his answer for a very long, very significantly anticipatory moment.

“I want you. In whatever way you’ll have me, Katie. Whatever way will make you happy…” He finally answered, thumb coming to trace my bottom lip as he tilted my chin up so I would meet his eyes.

“Do you see yourself getting married someday?” I breathed, lost in his eyes. In that moment, with the lights low, and wearing a dark gray shirt, his irises were more green, a sea glass green, rather than cadet blue or gray, and his pupils were dilated, telegraphing to me that he had genuine feelings roiling inside him.

Luke's hand cupped my jaw, his thumb still tracing my lips in barely there touches as he offered me the tiniest smile, the corners of his mouth curling upwards as he softly admitted, “Yes, I think so…to the right woman.”

The way he looked at me had my heart melting while simultaneously a tickling sensation of butterflies erupted throughout my body.

The unspoken implication I was that right woman blanketed us in a cozy cocoon, and Luke leaned closer, touching his brow to mine, a touch I had come to love and crave because it was one of his purest forms of affection, his love and devotion, one of the first forms of intimacy shared between us before we had become a couple.

My hand left his chest, coming to cradle his face, mirroring his hand on me as I kissed him, passionately, letting him know what his confession meant to me.

A low growl purred from his chest as Luke caught me, pinning me to the arm of the sofa for a a series of long, hungry kisses, tongue dancing with mine before he pulled back, panting to catch his breath.

I was just as breathless, licking my lips as I placed a hand over his galloping heart, asking, “Luke, would you want to have kids? Do you want a family? Would you want that with…?”

I couldn’t bring myself to finish my question, self conscious, suddenly scared of what he might say.

He sat, taking deep breaths, chest working hard to calm his heartbeat as he watched me with the softest, most tender expression of love on his face.

He sat forward, placing his glass and the little ruby colored liquid remaining in the bowl onto the coffee table before sitting back into the cushions, his left hand now free, tentatively pushing its way to my torso, spanning to encompass my lower stomach as his face once more pressed into mine, his nose rubbing mine a second before his brow rested once more against my forehead.

“Would I want to have that with you? The house, the kids, the marriage, the bloody dog and swing set in the yard?” Luke asked with a quiet chuckle, “Yes. I want those things, Katie…I thought that was obvious, darling?”

I could have floated right off the Earth with how I felt, but I bit my lips, sniffing loudly as my happiness leaked out of me in the form of one single tear racing from each eye, down my cheeks as Luke stole a sweet kiss from my lips.

“Maybe not right this second, but sometime in the future, I want all of those things with you, my love.” He breathed, right arm tightening around my shoulders, drawing my body closer to his as he reiterated with a small, knowing smile, “Only get the IUD if you want to wait that long, baby…”

The appointment had been straightforward the following day-undress, awkwardly greet the doctor in a paper gown, assume the position with my feet in the stirrups, ass hanging off the edge of the table, have my breasts checked, get dressed again, and then talk to the doctor about birth control.

In the end, I went back on the contraceptive ring…no needing to take a pill at the same time every day, and after thinking hard on Luke’s admission the night before, I didn’t want the finality of blocking off the next handful of years when the ring was something so easily removable that if we mutually decided that we were ready to start trying, whether next year or in five, we could do so without having to schedule an appointment to get a device removed from my body.

When I arrived back at the flat, telling him about the appointment, he seemed relieved when I told him what I’d decided on, a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth and eyes at hearing I hadn’t chosen the long term option.

“You’re probably going to feel it, when we…” I warned, arms folded behind his neck, my face scrunching comically at the sudden shyness I felt at the thought we’d soon forego the condoms and know what getting lost in others bodies completely and truly, felt like, “...you know…it might feel…odd, just so you know.”

“I’ll manage…” Luke had reassured me, his arms holding me so close to his body that I could feel him grow hard, swelling against my lower abdomen. “Have you got it in already?”

“No, I just picked up my prescription, it’s in my bag…I need to put them in the refrigerator, they have to stay cold.” I explained between kisses, relishing his ardor but needing to ask, “I know we said we’d wait until the my new contraception was regulated in my system, and use condoms until we ran out, but…well, this first time, the first time we do it, just you and me with nothing between us…I kind of want it to be special. Neither of us have many ‘firsts’ left between us, and I want it to be special…”

He paused, contemplating my request as he watched me with kind eyes before his face lifted in that smile that was solely, wholly Luke, “Alright…I think I have the perfect idea to make that happen. We can wait a bit longer…I want our first time to be special too.”

That night, after I’d gotten used to the ring, we’d tumbled into each other, and exhausted ourselves in pleasure, condoms along for the ride.

Two weeks passed and the third Thursday of November rapidly approached.

I had expressed my homesickness of missing out on Thanksgiving back home; Luke’s answer was that we should host a few of the cast for dinner and a game night to ward off the pangs of my traditions happening without me.

“We call that ‘Friendsgiving’ back home.” I smiled as I typed out an invitation to Claudia, her boyfriend, Nicola, Jonny, Newton and his girlfriend, asking them to join us and please bring along a dish of their choosing.

He had liked that idea, scribbling down a list of dishes to shortlist for the menu from the quasi-Thanksgiving dinner I’d made the month prior when my family had visited.

We hosted the get-together the weekend after Thanksgiving. Each of our guests arrived with sides and dessert, Luke and I having made a turkey and an amazing vegan dish of Portobello mushroom ‘steaks’ as a main for Claudia.

Most of my castmates hadn’t experienced an ‘American’ Thanksgiving, so it was my opportunity to shine, explaining traditions and customs surrounding the event while I played hostess in the flat. Luke deferred to me on practically everything, but was so eager, so happy to be right in the thick of everything with me that I couldn’t be bothered to be stressed.

This was my first ‘holiday’ playing hostess, and I got to enjoy it with my found family, very little stress, none of my family yelling or throwing tantrums over the smallest, stupidest details…each of our guests pitched in, helping in the kitchen, or setting up the tables, setting the places, keeping each other entertained…they all gathered in awe around the television in the living room when I pulled up a video stream of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, explaining that this is really the start of the Holiday season in America, how the three plus hour long parade that snakes through Manhattan with it’s floats and huge balloons of cartoon characters, marching bands, snippets of Broadway performances and the Rockets high kicking to Christmas music was something so magical building to the finale when Santa Claus made his appearance on the last float, memories of three decades of watching this parade as I grew up making tears well in my eyes.

Luke had tightened his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him so he could kiss my temple, whispering, “I hope those are happy tears?”

I nodded, cuddling into his side as I scanned the room in front of us-people I loved and cared for experiencing something that meant so much to me as a child, returning the favor that so many of them had given me in the last handful of months…as our guests enjoyed themselves in what was our little cocoon of love and contentment.

Honestly, the night had been perfect-no massively huge issues having gone wrong, no arguments, and only one minor occurrence of side dishes bubbling over in the oven, causing smoke to set off the fire alarm, but the windows were flung open and the flat aired out quickly as we all had shared a laugh.

I had thought that once everybody had said their goodbyes, arms laden with plates of leftovers, that Luke would have brought up taking that step in our sexual relationship, of not wearing a condom, but when I felt his hands on my hips as I stood at the sink in the kitchen, washing up the last of the dishes from our evening with our friends, he crowded close, his lips brushing my ear to whisper, “Tonight was different from the last Turkey dinner you made…you are different.”

“How so?” I asked, pressing back into his body as my hands swirled the soapy water over the last of the plates and silverware in the sink.

He thought about his answer for a minute, chin resting on my shoulder.

“With your family, there was almost a hesitancy…almost like you expected something to go wrong…” Luke spoke up, “...like you were trying to recreate something by memory after a very long time, doubting you'd get it right. But tonight, you…well, tonight it was almost as if you were creating new traditions for yourself…for us.”

Hands pausing in the water, I stood still, thinking on his observation before speaking up, “Yeah…I guess I did…did you enjoy ‘Friendsgiving’?”

Luke hummed his answer, giving my waist another squeeze before he whispered a confession in my ear, “You know, when you were talking about the Parade…about what it meant, what it means to you, all I could think about was watching you share your wonder and love of this tradition with what I hope will one day be our children…I had this image in my head of you on a sofa, in pyjama’s, a mug of coffee in hand, with a toddler in your lap glued to the television as the chaos of your family surrounds us…”

Before I knew it, I was twisting in his arms, needing to face him, to see the expression he wore, soapy hands be damned as I held his face…and I wasn’t disappointed.

“Really?” I asked, breathlessly, not believing his admission as having been real.

He nodded, head moving up and down so gently, I wasn’t sure he’d moved at all.

“What were you thinking when you teared up? Because I thought you’d read my mind, and saw what I’d been imagining?”

“Not that!” I laughed. “No, I was trying to fully appreciate the moment, letting all of them into my world, sharing a piece of my childhood so pure, so happy that I got overwhelmed…thinking to myself how grateful I am to have all of them, to have YOU in my life…that was what I am most thankful for. That was what tonight was all about, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was. And you aren’t the only one who is thankful for life’s unexpected turns. I’m thankful to have you, too.”

Later that night, the condoms were once more pulled from the drawer in his night stand, and made useful that night.

“I thought…” I had said as we lay tangled together under the covers, fighting sleep afterwards, “...I thought tonight you might not…”

“You said you wanted it to be a special occasion…” Luke countered, interrupting me with a quiet chuckle as his fingers laced with mine.

“But tonight WAS special…” I pointed out, pushing against his palm playfully.

“I mean, if you want to, we can go again…” He teased, shoulders shaking under my head in amusement, “...OR you can trust me, and be patient…I have something special in mind. Believe me, I WANT to, so bloody much, but, it won’t be too much longer, the wait…”

Sitting up onto my right elbow, I stared down at Luke, trying to work out what he had planned for us.

That only made him grin his mischievous, cheeky grin up at me, the ‘cat with a canary in one paw and a saucer of cream at the other’ grin that warned me of the chaos he’d cause in my life, the very same one that thrilled me.

“You haven’t made any plans for your birthday, right?” He asked almost too nonchalantly, trying to change the subject while pulling me to lay back down and cuddle into his body. “No parties planned, nothing marked in your diary with the girls?”

“No, it falls on a Sunday this year…” I pointed out, stretching to nudge his nose with my own, “We have to shoot the next day…anyway, I already told you, it’s just any other day. I’m fine with a cake and a candle and being a lazy bum all day.”

“Well, there is certainly going to be cake, and candles…but we won’t be lazy.” He smiled, chasing my lips when I pulled away to protest. Once our lips parted, Luke told me, quietly but sternly, “Don’t make any plans…that’s my job, love. It’s going to be special, in plenty of ways.

November rolled into December, the Autumn gloom giving way to the first whispers of Winter soon approaching. Rain froze as temperatures dropped, and before they knew it, the first snow had fallen in London.

It was the weekend prior to Katie’s birthday, and he was bundled in layers upon layers of clothes as he braved the weather to shop not only for Christmas presents, but her birthday as well.

Luke had left Katie back home, trudging out into the cold and slush, grateful for her claiming to need to stay there to power through knitting as much as possible this weekend-she was making his parents, brother, sister, their other halves and the girls socks as part of their Christmas gifts. So far, she’d only finished the childrens sized socks and the pairs for his Mum and Dad…and with his promise of plans for the following weekend, she was panicking about getting the rest finished in time.

He hadn’t told Katie that he planned to meet with his Mum for a brief visit today while out shopping, Luke knew Katie was nervous about their upcoming visit to France to spend Christmas with them, and telling her that his mother was visiting would only send her into a spiraling panic…

Having left the flat relatively early in the morning, Luke jostled his way through the streets to the Tube, and through packed shops as he picked up toys for the girls, chocolates for his Mum, sister, sister-in-law, and Katie, sweaters for his Dad, brother and brother-in-law, gadgets and games that the entire family would enjoy over the few days they’d all be together until the alarm rang in his earphone, signaling that he’d best wrap up his shopping and begin the trek back towards his side of the city, stopping at The Savoy where he’d meet his Mum for high tea.

Laden down with bags and boxes, Luke found her already at their table, beaming at him as he approached.

“Bonjour Maman.” Luke smiled, still a little breathless as he adjusted to the delicious warmth of the hotel after the biting cold outside on his walk from the Tube. He rushed to set his purchases down next to the table, freeing his arms to welcome her into his embrace.

She stood, stepping close to kiss his cheeks in greeting, her hands framing his face as she smiled at him, proclaiming in a slightly accented voice, “Oh, darling, I’ve missed you!”

“I’ve missed you too, so sorry I’m late…it took a little longer than I anticipated wrapping up my shopping.” Luke admitted sheepishly as he shrugged out of his coat, unwound the scarf from around his neck, draping both over the back of one of the other two chairs.

She craned onto her tiptoes, looking around Luke, expectant before asking, in French, “You are alone? I thought you would have brought your girlfriend…?”

He smiled at that, drawing his mother into a tight hug, answering back, in French, “She is currently back in my flat, frantically working to finish Christmas presents for the family…and besides, I would have sent her off the deep end, springing a surprise meeting with you on her! You’ll meet her in person when we arrive for Christmas!”

Standing back, his mother narrowed her eyes at him, sizing him up before she pointed out, “You sound more nasally than normal…are you getting sick?”

“No, I’m not getting sick…Katie keeps a steady stream of orange juice pouring down my throat, I've got so much Vitamin C in my system I'm surprised I'm not a orange myself!” he reassured her with a laugh, guiding her back to her seat at the table, pushing her chair in before taking his own seat, just to her right. “Have you been outside today? It’s bloody cold, I had to pull my scarf up over my face on my walk over here!”

She made a noise in the back of her throat, telling him she didn’t quite believe him as a waiter appeared, placing a flute of champagne before his mother, asking if Luke would like one as well; he declined, instead asking for a glass of water and for the house Afternoon blend to help warm him up.

“So…your girlfriend is making our Christmas gifts?” His mother asked between sips of her champagne, one brow arched slightly.

“Yes, she’s knitting something for each of you.” Luke said with a fond smile, thinking about the bright socks Katie had made for the girls, the mottled blue and green socks she’d made for his father, and pretty pastel chevron pattern Katie had worked on the legs of his mother’s socks…”She asked me to pick out the colors of the yarn, but that’s all I’ve helped with…”

She gave a tiny nod of approval. “And she’s American?”

“Very American,” He answered with a grin and hearty laugh as the steaming tea pot was placed in front of him, switching to English to offer his thanks to the waiter before he disappeared; turning back to his mother, Luke slipped back into French without thought, “I think you’ll like her, Maman. She's a breath of fresh Californian air.”

His mother focused entirely on him, eyes snaking over him from the top of his head to his face, his shoulders, down to his hands as he poured her a cup, then himself.

“Tell me, son, how serious are you about her?”

Luke held the small ceramic decanter of milk over his cup, frozen as he met his mothers gaze, “Serious as a fucking heart attack, maman…I can see myself marrying her. Having children with her. Why?”

She reached for the tongs atop the sugar bowl, lifting the lid and retrieving two cubes to delicately drop into the steaming liquid before replacing the top, setting the tongs back atop the dish and taking the milk from Luke’s fingers to fix her cup exactly how she always had; her eyes, a similar mercurial shade to his, never left his face as she picked up her spoon and elegantly stirred the liquid and it’s additives together.

“You’ve only been seeing each other for a short time…you’re already thinking about marriage and children? And stop swearing, darling...this is The Savoy, after all.” Her voice was guarded, her expression not giving anything away as he took up the milk pitcher from in front of her, adding a little more than he normally would by accident. “Isn’t that a little…sudden?”

Now it would be too milky, and he’d have to sip some down to create enough room to add more tea to balance it…

“We’ve discussed the ‘future’, what we both want…I don’t see why either of us should waste the other's time if we don’t want the same thing?” He told her a moment later, after he had taken a large sip, setting the cup back into the saucer, pouring more tea, the liquid becoming more and more tan as he filled the cup once more.

“You’re thirty-one, Luke…you’re still so young, don’t rush into anything, especially something as serious as marriage and children!” she pointed out, lifting her cup to her lips for a tentative sip. “You’ve never wanted for female attention, son, you could find a good French girl, or even a British one…but an American? And a swimsuit model at that?”

“She isn’t just a swimsuit model, Maman…” Luke ground out, voice quiet, pausing as the waiter appeared once more with the three tiered covered tower with their scones, sandwiches and accouterments. He picked up where he had left off when the waiter once more left them in peace, “Katie is sweet, caring, kind, funny, she has love for everyone she encounters…she just happens to sometimes pose for pictures that show off her amazing body to degrees I wouldn’t be comfortable sharing with Grannie or Pops…but that isn’t all she is. She is constantly reading or listening to an audiobook. In the months she’s been in London, she’s been to all the museums at least twice, with me keeping her company. She’s a phenomenal cook, and the best PubQuiz partner I’ve had in a very long time! And most importantly…I love her, Maman. Why are you suddenly so judgemental of Katie, YOU ordered that I bring her with me for Christmas or not show up at all! And it’s not like we’re rushing off to get married tomorrow…we’ve discussed matters to discern if we’re both on the same page. If we would like to someday…”

She sat back, into her chair, contemplative as she let Luke’s words process. The seconds ticked by, each beat of his heart ringing in his ears until, after a long moment of silence, his mother asked, in French, “You truly are serious about her, aren't you?-" Luke nodded in confirmation, and she added after sighing heavily once she seemed to accept that her future grandchildren would be half American, in English, "-What size jumper does she wear?”

And Luke sighed, exhaling the breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding, a smile lifting his face as she told his mother the size Katie would wear.

I had managed to finish off the second sock for Luke’s sister, cast on the other three pairs onto six circular needles, and made it from toes to heels on two pairs when I heard the locks turn in the early evening.

I had Harry Potter playing in a marathon as I worked endless stitches onto needles throughout the day, only stopping to use the bathroom, get refreshments and throw together a pasta casserole for dinner.

Before Luke had left the flat, I had started Sorcerer's Stone…now that he was unlocking the door, Order of the Phoenix was just wrapping up.

Luke and I had decorated the flat the day after our ‘Friendsgiving’, a small tree we had found in a department store in one corner with brand new ornaments we had picked out in shades of teal, green purple and silver, with a silver picture frame that now bore our smiling faces captioned with ‘Our First Christmas 2019’ right in the center. Iridescent garlands were draped over the windows, and we had cards hung over a string in the hallway; scents of crisp apple, cranberry and pine permeated the apartment thanks to the candles scattered everywhere.

In the last month, we had spent less and less time at my flat, each time returning with more of my personal stuff to find its way into a place in Luke’s flat.

The week prior, he’d presented me with keys to the front door, telling me "I don’t know why it’s taken me this long…Happy early Christmas, darling.’"

When I had accepted them and pointed out he’d have a hell of a time getting rid of me now, Luke had thrown his head back and laughed, reminding me that THAT had been the point.

“Are you shopped out?” I called out, hearing him shuffling bags and items into the apartment, huffing and puffing as he fought with the door.

“Yes! Please, kindly remind me to not do that ever again!” Luke answered, making me laugh as I set my projects down on the sofa, stretching my hands first before untangling my legs and standing and making my way over to the end of the hallway where he appeared a second later, bogged down with packages.

Eyes round in surprise at just how much Luke had procured on his errands, I let out a startled chuckle before standing on tiptoes to kiss him in greeting, teasing once we broke apart, “Geeze Luke, did you leave anything for other people to buy?”

He grunted in acknowledgement as he pushed into the living room to set the bags and boxes on and along the coffee table; slowly, he began the process of pulling off his gloves, his jacket and hoodie, then the beanie he wore, unwinding the scarf wound around his neck, shedding layers of clothes that did what little they could to keep the cold at bay until he stood in front of me in his jeans, thermal shirt and well worn jumper, sighing at the toasty temperature in the flat.

“Believe it or not, darling, but this only looks like a lot.” He said with a tired smile, arms extending to call me over into his embrace. He hadn’t needed to ask me twice, he never did, I was always ready and craved his affections. Arms folding around me, Luke drew my body into his for an embrace that we both relaxed and melted into, Luke’s voice sounding next to my ear as he sighed, “Something smells delicious, what have you made?”

“It’s just a baked pasta dish, nothing fancy…” I responded, my hands finding their way under the back hems of his shirt and jumper to touch his skin, hands splaying wide across his lower back and up his spine. He wasn’t particularly hairy, and I loved the feel of the muscles that lined Luke’s back, waist, his ass, so while he loved touching his forehead to mine, this was my ‘signature’ display of affection, one he’d expressed his happiness at receiving regularly. “It should be ready any minute…”

The timer sounded, a loud ‘DING’ announcing time was up, and we both chuckled as we pulled away from one another, smiling.

“You timed it just right…go get changed into something warm and comfortable while I make plates…” I instructed, stepping around Luke to move toward the kitchen. His hand found my wrist, sliding down to my hand where his fingers caught mine as I put distance between us, halting me with a tiny tug; he felt playful, flirty, and I couldn’t help but let a small chuckle loose as I turned to face him, biting my lip.

“I just had tea, so I’m not especially hungry right now, just a little serving for me.” Luke admitted rather sheepishly. “I’ll have a bigger serving later…”

“Tea? By yourself?” I asked, slightly confused. Luke didn’t have a problem with sitting in a restaurant by himself for a meal, but he was so friendly and likable, he almost never had to eat alone. “Where did you have tea?”

“At The Savoy. And I wasn’t alone…-” he explained, stepping closer and closer to me with a gentle, contemplative expression, “-I met my Mum. She comes over to London each December to shop, and to check in with my brother, sister, and I each year before we all turn up for Christmas.”

We had only had tea at The Savoy twice since I had arrived-once, before we had become a couple, in our ‘friendship’ phase while Luke played my personal tour guide as we explored London on our days off, when we sat on opposite sides of the table, sharing stories and laughs but no physical affections outside of the occasional accidental touch as we poured each other tea or reached for items off the tower of scones and sandwiches; the second time had been while my family was visiting and that time, we had sat next to one another, holding hands under the table and sharing small smiles and looks of love in stolen glances…the tea service was wonderful, one of the best I’d experienced so far, and hearing he’d gone without me had my bottom lip extending in a pout of surliness.

“She was more than a little disappointed that I didn’t bring you with me…” Luke confessed, his free hand coming up to playfully tap his pointer finger against my lip, “...I was scolded like a child over scones! Put that away, before I bite it, darling…”

“She was upset I didn’t join you?” I asked, leveling him with a look of disbelief, my pouting forgotten in an instant as his admission registered in my ears.

“Yes…she wants to meet you, and wasn’t happy to hear that she’d have to wait until we arrived for Christmas.” Luke explained, following me when I turned, tugging on his arm to head into the kitchen, needing to get the dish out of the oven before it burned and began smoking. “I have it on good authority that you’ll have a terrible Christmas jumper waiting for you under the tree, so…be prepared, you'll be an honorary Thompson!”

“Why didn’t you tell me she was in town?” I asked, pulling the oven mitts over my hands and opening the door, purposefully ignoring his last sentence and the soaring feeling it was creating in my chest and stomach. A deliciously hot wave of heat rushed out, buffeting our legs and filling the room, which Luke relished most heartily, hastening his thaw from the outside weather. “I would have gone…”

He closed the oven door for me, turning the dial to the off position as I set the casserole dish atop the stove, “And have you freaking out about my springing a surprise meeting with my Mum on you, and also about not getting my family's gifts done in time for Christmas…”

“Now she’s probably thinking I’m stuck up, that I’m avoiding her…” I cried, suddenly anxious at what Luke’s mother must have thought of me…”Oh, she probably hates me already…”

“Kay…stop! She wanted to have a quiet moment to get to know you before we arrived, that was all.” Luke told me, hands closing around my upper arms to turn me to face him, voice calm, if a little exasperated with me, “She does not think you’re stuck up, or that you’re trying to avoid her…she doesn’t HATE you, in fact, when I told her you were back here, at home, hard at work to finish making your gifts for the family, she seemed a little impressed. Don’t think too much about it…I didn’t tell you about her visit in order to prevent you from working yourself up over it!”

I leveled a hard look at him, telling him exactly how well that particular instruction would be followed; Luke only chuckled, fighting a grin as he folded me into his body for another tight hug.

“So instead, you tell me after the fact and now I’ll spend the next two and a half weeks in a constant state of anxiety…” I offered up somewhat petulantly, poking my fingers into his side to make him squirm. That action only made him laugh as he twisted, trying to evade my fingers. “...it’s NOT funny, Luke! I’ve only ever met one boyfriend’s mom, and that was because I was friends with his sister before I met him! This is a big deal, especially now that we’ve talked about the future…”

“I know…don’t worry about it. They’re going to love you, just as much as I do…” Luke told me, hands coming to frame my face, making me look him in the eye, reining in my anxiety, my expanding worry and grounding me, pulling the rope that tethered me back to level-headedness in the way only he could, “...and if they don't, then I will question their sanity, even more than I already do at times, because how can anybody not fall in love with you? That is something I cannot fathom, not when I see your kindness, your empathy, the love you have for everyone you encounter…darling, you are the sun, shining bright with each of those traits, with your warmth…you are the stars, so incredibly beautiful, mysterious, wondrous…and you are the moon. You are the moon, sad, introspective, comforting…light and dark, hot and cold, any one who doesn’t…cannot see every single one of the facets that makes you the person you are, your very soul…I don’t think I could ever trust a person who does not look at you in awe, darling…doesn’t see what I see when I look at you.”

“And just what is it you see, Luke?” I asked, smiling tenderly at him, my heart full to bursting with his little monologue. I closed my hands around his wrists, still framing my face, my thumbs moving in slow passes along the warm, smooth skin that connected the heels of his palms to his forearms.

The steady beat of his pulse under my fingers was comforting like nothing else.

“I just told you-” his face broke into a grin, “-the sun, the stars, the moon! You are the very air I breathe, and my heart outside my chest. I wasn’t looking for you, and yet, you appeared in my life, turning my world so thoroughly upside down that the very first time your eyes locked with mine, I think I knew, deep, deep down inside…”

“Knew what, Luke?” I asked, fishing for answers I already knew but also melting at his romantic streak taking over.

My Romeo, waxing poetic, never ceased to make me melt.

“That I loved you. That was why I was so persistent…your soul called to mine in a way I had never experienced, and I wasn't going to let you slip through my fingers!” Luke explained, expression soft while staring deep into my eyes, “You were worth the wait, you know?”

A tight smile spread over my face, and I nodded, adding, “So were you, Luke. I’m really glad you never gave up on me…I’m even more glad that you’re my person.”

“Partners in Chaos, remember?” Luke asked, grinning widely as he leaned his brow towards mine.

“How could I forget?” I laughed, enjoying the moment as we stood in the kitchen, sharing air and love for one another before I leaned away, moving about the kitchen to gather up bowls, silverware, a spoon to serve the pasta with, the shredded parmesan cheese from the fridge, asking over my shoulder, “Speaking of chaos…what have you got planned for us next weekend, for my birthday?”

His face fought hard to not spread into a Cheshire Cat smile, leaning his right hip against the counter past the oven, arms crossing in front of his chest, “Something special, that’s all I’m going to tell you! And you had best pack a bag by Thursday night. Other than that, you have to just wait and see what I’ve got planned, my love.”

Normally, hearing I had to wait and see what surprises I had in store would have sent me spiraling into anxiety as quickly as lightning striking, but Luke was proving to be different from everybody else in my life.

He watched me, like a hawk at times; studied me; knew me and my hearts desires better than anybody else…Luke wouldn’t disappoint with his surprises, he hadn’t so far. Where everybody else in life seemed to only pay attention to the barest surface details, he listened, paid attention to every tiny slip of information I left trailing in my wake, whether consciously or unconsciously. I trusted him to live up to his promise that my birthday wouldn’t just be another day, one where celebrating me was the top priority.

“Okay…” I answered, feeling such contentment as I portioned out a spoonful of the pasta into a bowl for him, adding, “...as long as there’s cake and candles.”

“There will be…along with other delicious things to eat.” He smiled, taking the bowl from me when I handed it to him, innuendo heavy in his voice as I dished up my own serving.

Five days later, as we wrapped a scene in the Bridgerton morning room, Luke approached me from the far side of the room, asking me once he stopped at my side, arm draping over my shoulders, “Are you ready to get out of here? We’re wrapped for the day…”

It was barely half past three in the afternoon, hours early from our usual wrap point on Fridays, so I glanced at him with brows raised high.

“Come on! We’ve got somewhere to be…let's get out of the wardrobe and hair and makeup!” He led me off set, back towards the trailers, and after I was back to being bare faced and in my normal clothes once more, Luke held my hand, leading me to the car waiting to take us to wherever it was he had alluded to.

The car drove a familiar route back to Heathrow, and I asked Luke with another raised brow what he had in store, but he only smiled his secret smile, squeezing my hand and surprising me with a kiss before we climbed out of the car, collected the bags he’d ensured we had packed and brought with us to the studio that morning.

Luke dug out our passports, handing me mine along with a printed ticket showing our destination-Paris.

“I thought…” I started to say, looking up from the ticket to his face, confused, “...I thought we were going to see your parents for Christmas?”

“We are.” He confirmed, hiking his trusty Jansport backpack back onto his shoulder, “But I wanted your first trip to France to be special…one you remembered for the rest of your life. What are the few things you have always wanted to do, in Paris, Katie?”

Flabbergasted, I took a second to recall what I had told him in these last handful of months…he knew I loved French pastries, desserts, bread, cheese, wine, knew I wanted to be a tourist and see the Eiffel Tower, the Arch de Triumph, the Louver…sit at a table in a cafe and watch the world pass me by with good food and better company like I’d seen in the movies…and the conversation we’d had that first day we met came rushing back to the front of my mind, the one about how I wanted to go to Disneyland Paris, so meet my favorite character…

Suddenly, tears filled my eyes and I launched into his arms, my own wrapping around his neck, whispering through the happy sob of emotions, “You remembered…are we really going…?”

His arms held me tight, his chest rumbling with a chuckle of amusement and happiness as Luke affirmed that we were indeed going to Disneyland Paris by breathing, “‘I’ve often seen a cat without a grin, thought Alice, but a grin without a cat! It’s the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life!’ Darling, of course I remembered, how could I have ever forgotten? And like hell you were going to be taking a trip to EuroDisney alone…not if I could help it.”

“I love you.” I breathed, wiping my eyes once we stepped out of the embrace a long moment later. I stared at him in awe and amazement, wondering how this thoughtful, caring man was mine.

“I know, I love you too…are you surprised?” Luke asked, wiping away the salty tracks from my cheeks and chin, a swell of pride puffing him up as he stood before me.

Nodding, I told him, “Yes. Nobody ever does stuff like this for me, for my birthday…so already, it’s going to be one of the best I’ve ever had…thank you, babe. Thank you.”

“I told you I’d make it special, didn’t I?” He laughed, leading me toward the security line, my carry-on suitcase full of both our clothes and toiletries rolling at his side. “Now, it’s a short flight, once we land, we’ll pick up the rental car, drive into Paris, have supper at this place I think you’ll like, see a few sights, then make our way to Chessy and book into our hotel. It’s been some time since I last attended the parks, so it will be a fresh experience for us both.”

Listening to Luke explain what he’d planned for our first trip away together, his plans to celebrate my birthday and make me feel special, beaming with happiness at this incredibly thoughtful, loving gift he was giving me, showing me just how much he truly cared about me, and in that moment, I knew I was going to marry him one day, a serene calmness settling inside me as I felt the love I had for Luke morph from the white hot flame that was so intensely concentrated within me into something more sustainable, spreading through my body like little bonfires as the word ‘Husband’ echoed in my heart as I watched him.

This was my little secret, and one I held in my heart, but I knew it wouldn’t be long before he sussed it out…he had the most unbelievable way of just looking at me and knowing exactly what was going on inside my head, my heart…

“...and I PROMISE, you’ll eat your weight in croissants, love…it’s Christmas time, no worrying about butter, or sweets…whatever you want to eat, and there won’t be a smidge of guilt about it, do you hear me? We are going to eat like the French, lots of butter, lots of cheese…you’re going to love it!”

'Yes, I most certainly will.' I thought, not only about his proclamation about eating without guilt or punishment, but about what life would be like with him by my side, every step of the way and what the future held for us.

@avenger-nerd-mom @tvjunkie08 @bloggingfromherbed @miss-cap21

#k&lt

1 note · View note