Glancing over to her, I’m quietly thankful for the change in subject. “There’s a lot of gray in this estate,” I point out.
“True enough.” Elle chuckles as she taps her chin. “It does lean a little austere. Gray needs a partner, or it starts to seem lonely.”
“A partner?”
“Or two.” Elle smiles. “Complementary colors work well together. For instance, pale yellow brings warmth. Blue can bring calmness.”
Taking a moment to imagine those colors, I stare at the lines of wood that make up the crib. What a small amount of space for a delicate little thing to stay in. “Is green out of the question?” I find myself asking.
“Green would marry those well,” Elle answers. “I have a few swatches for that.”
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out several narrow cards, handing them to me. They’re arranged in gradients, blues shifting gradually toward green.
“Pure blue can feel distant,” Elle continues. “Green keeps it grounded. And when they meet, you strike that perfect balance against the gray.”
I study the swatches, surprised by how different each one feels despite the narrow range. My attention lingers on a blue-green that reminds me of shallow water over stone.
“That’s sage,” Elle says. “Do you like that one?”
I look at it again, studying the shade more closely. “Yes, I quite like it.”
Elle steps closer, coming to stand at my side. We hold the swatches between us, our shoulders nearly aligned as she angles them toward the light spilling in from the window. Her fingers hover over each color as we compare the gradients against the lightly gray walls.
“The sage is the perfect choice,” she says, tilting the card a few degrees. “Better for the light we’ll be installing in the nursery.”
I adjust the angle in response, watching how the color complements the gray.
Soon, heavy footsteps approach from behind us. Several people enter the room, dressed in work clothes, carrying clipboards and tool kits. They greet Elle, waiting for her direction.
“Oh, I should tend to this,” she says. “Thank you, Em, for everything, really. The talk, the walk, and for giving my brother and Stan a second chance.”
Her unexpected gratitude catches me off guard. I blink, my breath hitching as heat rises into my chest. I wasn’t aware I’d done anything worth noticing, much less worth thanking.
Finding myself at a loss for words, I can only watch her over my shoulder as she gets called to look over blueprints, and I turn to leave the room, following the sounds of Stan surprisingly cheering on Nil loudly in a room nearby.
Sterling slips into the nursery just as I step out. We greet each other with brief bows of our heads before he moves to Elle’s side, their hands finding each other as she directs the men in uniform.
18
Stan
March 3 — In bed with my man (AKA heaven)
I wake up grinning after a nap on this nearly perfect night. It’d be better if I was hugging a certain neuroscientist instead of a pillow.
But it’s seriously so close to perfection ‘cause my man’s still inside me, even after rolling in the sheets all evening long.
Speaking of long…
I grind against him, getting a groan in that rough voice of his. Satisfaction’s never felt as good. But Icouldthink of how to give both of us even more of this high.
We’re still so warm from before, all tangled up in blankets. My body’s loose in that nice, wrung-out way. Nil’s awake, wrapping his arms around me with his chest to my back. I turn around, letting go of the pillow, to kiss him.
One lazy kiss turns into another, and then we’re at it again. His hips grind. I roll mine back. Groans fill our room, bounce off the walls. I don’t care who hears us.
He turns me over, his hand pressing my face into the pillows while I smirk into ‘em. I can hear him hold back his grunts and his groanswhile his dick piledrives into me. It’s an easy stretch when his dick’s been inside me during our nap.
My moans are muffled, mouth drooling into the pillowcase.
