Quite The Birthday

I had never been there, so I didn’t know much about it. But the name sounded beyond fancy and seeing the interiors, it was beyond wealthy. We were picked up in a car at the airport and driven towards the coast. My mouth fell open after we drove through a high gate and into an estate. The green slopes were filled with colorful flowers and made the huge mansion stand out at the center. Off to the side, several smaller houses were visible. The main house had a high archway and numerous humongous windows.

"Is this a resort?" I asked Nicholas.

He squeezed my hand. "No. This is mine. Ours," he said after a while.

"What? It’s massive! Why did you buy such a big place?” I looked at him, flabbergasted. "When did you buy it?"

He shrugged. "I bought it a few years ago because it was a good investment. Now, it will be an excellent vacation destination for us and the kids."

I couldn’t fathom that he would buy something so grand as a vacation home for his family. And I didn’t even want to think about how much it had cost. But my attention was on the ‘kids’ comment.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion as I spoke, “And exactly how many kids do you think we will have?” It would take hundreds to fill this monstrosity of a house.

He threw his head back in laughter before shaking his head. “I didn’t mean anything by that statement. You know how much I love to have space to myself.”

Yes, it didn’t escape my notice that he evaded my question. I would have to circle back to that topic and get a solid answer for it later.

We stopped in front of the mansion and the driver unloaded our bags. Nicholas helped me out of the car and took my hand in his before giving me a tour. The interior was impressive and decorated tastefully. I nodded and smiled as he led me around, chatting away about every corner of the property.

Occasionally, I would see the shadows of other people moving around the house.

"Are there other people living at this place right now?"

He looked confused for a minute before he understood what I was asking. "I hired staff to open the house for us for the weekend." It was as if he hadn't even noticed their presence. "Courtney, Lorelei, Francis, and Geoffrey will be here tomorrow, though."

"You can just hire people at the snap of your fingers to open your house?" Such a weird concept.

He shrugged and nodded like it was nothing. "Sure."

The idea of servants still made me uncomfortable. I never thought of Laura that way. She was more like a family member who liked to cook. But Nicholas had no problem lining up minions to do his bidding. It was a glaring difference in our mentality that I still had difficulty with.

He certainly had a taste for the finer things in life, and I wondered if I would ever feel the same way as he did. Sure, it was nice to be surrounded by luxury. To not have to worry about how much something costs before buying it.

But I couldn't help thinking I would have been just as happy in a tent in the woods, as long as I had Nicholas by my side. Did he feel the same? I wasn't really sure.

He told me I was the most important thing in his life, so I wanted to believe that would be true even if we were two paupers struggling to make ends meet. He had been raised in this lifestyle, while I had experienced how normal people lived most of my life.

It made me think about how much we would argue about our style of raising children. I didn’t want our children to be overly spoiled. Instead, I wanted to give them what they wanted but within reasonable limits. I doubted Nicholas thought the same way.

I shook my head at the thoughts. I didn’t want to stress about things that had not taken place. I was in the lap of luxury, on a vacation for my birthday weekend, and with the love of my life.

Why was I being so sensitive?

Damn mood swings.

After I'd admired all the rooms, Nicholas led me out the back to a breathtaking scene. The sun hit the water, making it sparkle blue along the beach line and as far as my eyes could see. The salt air was refreshing, even if it was a bit chilly. It was early evening and fall was definitely around the corner. He let go of my hand, instead putting his arm around me as we walked on the sand. I absorbed his body heat as I leaned against his side.

"I have another present for you out here," he told me.

I looked around for a gift somewhere but only saw sand and surf.

And a boat.

‘Oh. My. God.’

As we neared the dock, Nicholas' excitement and the name on the side of the sailboat made it quite apparent what my gift was.

‘Willow.’

He'd bought me a huge sailboat. Or at least bought it and named it after me.

I wondered if it was a bad time to tell him I didn't know how to sail.

"What do you think? Isn't she beautiful?" He jumped on deck and helped me over.

It was huge, new, and gleaming. I smiled as I ran my fingers down the railing and walked across the deck. "It's gorgeous. But Nicholas, I don't know how to sail." I hoped he wasn't expecting me to drive this thing.

He started laughing and I turned to watch him. His hair was blowing in the wind, his cheeks flushed, and his jeans and t-shirt made him look like he should be filming a commercial.

"I can teach you if you want, but you're only going to be a passenger this weekend. We'll take her out when the others get here tomorrow." He walked over and hugged me. "I know it's a little chilly, but the weather tomorrow is supposed to be nice and it should be good for sailing. I wanted us to take her out at least once before I stored her for winter."

"It's beautiful. Thank you." I rested my head on his chest. "You know you don't have to spend so much though. It makes me happy just being with you."

He rested his cheek on top of my head.

"I want to give you everything, Willow."

His words and sentiment were sweet, but I felt like I had everything already.

.

The others arrived the next morning as promised. I helped the girls get settled into rooms while Nicholas took the guys out to prepare the boat for a day of sailing.

"Willow, what's with the permanent grin on your face?" Courtney asked, her lips curving up into a questioning smile.

My cheeks flushed as I pulled her and Lory into a room and closed the door for a private huddle. If I couldn't talk to the two of them about sex, then I couldn't talk to anyone.

"I'm not sure if it's the pregnancy or what," I began in a rush, "but I have never had orgasms as intense in my life."

Nicholas had worked me over the night before, his tongue doing the most sinful things to my body, and I still felt lingering tingles just from the memory.

They both giggled with me.

"I've read that increased blood flow to the pelvic area can do that," Lory said.

I raised my eyebrow at her. Why was she reading about pregnancy symptoms?

She shook her head. "No, no, no. I promise that's nowhere in my immediate future. I was curious about what you're going through, though. I've been doing research so I can help you or talk to you if you need me."

I almost choked on a sob as I wrapped her up in a hug. Her thoughtfulness was overwhelming.

"Geez, Lory. Don't make her cry." Courtney swatted her with a laugh. "I want to hear more about these orgasms."

I smiled and wiped my eyes. "I'm sorry. The tears come out at the drop of a hat lately. I can't stop them." They both nodded, but they didn't understand. I took a deep breath, before diving back into the original topic. "I don't even have the words to describe it. I swear at one point, one was coming right on top of the other."

"Coming being the operative word," Courtney snickered.

Lory's eyes were wide. "So you had multiple?"

I nodded. "Oh, yeah. I lost count."

"Now you're just bragging." Lory crossed her arms across her chest in a huff but grinned at me. "That makes for quite the birthday though."

A brief shadow of sadness crossed my mind about what had happened on my actual birthday. They both must have noticed because their expressions turned serious.

"What is it?" Courtney asked.

I shook my head. Nicholas and I had talked some about Hector and how we were going to deal with the problems he'd caused. One thing we'd agreed to do was to tell our friends about what was going on. At this point, he no longer cared about keeping his past a secret from them. He only wanted me to be protected from any further harassment, believing the more people who knew, the more people would be there to look out for me.