SURROGATE : Conception (+18) BOOK 1 (COMPLETE)

| 27 | The Land of Water & Oasis ||

The corner of Penelope's mouth lifted when she pressed the submit button. The spinning wheel on her screen seemed to take a million minutes before she received the notification from her bank that the transfer was complete. She exhaled and pushed her laptop off her lap and arched her back in a deep stretch.

Another payment made the John. He would be paid off in no time. She flopped back in the back and let a giddy squealing giggle escape her. She couldn't believe this was actually working. She couldn't believe somehow she pulled this out of her ass. Why couldn't she come up on this kind of money for herself? She frowned at that, suddenly finding the white ceiling, bland and uninteresting.

"Ouch." She said when she rolled over onto her sketchpad. She set up and pulled the notebook in her lap. As she paged through the sheets somehow she saw something more than just sketches.

She thought about Liam's reaction to her work. He said she was talented.

The corner of her mouth lifted as she recalled the moment by the pool. It wasn't like it was the first time she heard someone complement her work, but there was a sincerity to it that made butterflies return to her solemn innards.

She pushed the book off her lap and stood up stretching. She needed to do something. She'd been working diligently all day, missed dinner too, but she wasn't hungry. It was a nice night she should go for a swim.

She changed and headed down to the pool.

She paused in the kitchen when she saw the jar that Liam kept the chocolate bars for the s'mores, was full again. That made her mouth start watering. Damn, she could go for a s'more. She giggled to herself retrieving the other items from the cabinets. She never had this many s'mores in her entire life.

She paused at the sliding door when she saw Liam swimming from one end of the pool to the other with practiced strokes, efficient and clean.

She adjusted all the items in her arms and opened the door, slipped outside and closed it quietly so as not to disturb him. She dropped her towel and the stuff on a chair near the door and made her way to the water's edge.

She set on the edge for a few laps watching with her knees tucked up near her chest before she lowered her legs into the water. She smiled feeling the warm water from the temperature controlled pool. She wiggled her toes and lifted her legs so she could watch her toes look distorted under the surface of the water.

"Hey." Liam said, pausing his lap and hovering in the middle of the pool.

"Hey." She said plainly in response, content with just gazing at him. His hair looked darker wet and was plastered to his head.

He wiped his face. "You comin' in?"

She shrugged. "Thought about it."

"Oh, yeah?" The corner of his mouth lifted and he put in a few strokes to get closer to her. Even in the low lighting his blue eyes still seemed to capture the light. "What's there to think about? The water's nice."

"Perks of having a temperature controlled pool I'd wager."

"Mhm."

She stood up abruptly refusing to allow those damn eyes to hold onto her any longer. It made her chest unsteady. "Might come in after I start the fire. I'm eating s'mores."

"Now that you mentioned it, it sounds like a good idea, s'mores." He turned in the pool following her as she made her way over to the fire pit.

Damn she thought when she got to the fire pit. The logs were set up for a new fire as was Liam's preference. She frowned and started looking for the lighter and kindling. Was there some in one of the cabinets?