The Lady Next Door - A Sequel to "The Man Next Door"

Chapter 14: Trouble

Vera rose from the bed the next golden morning, keeping the duvet strapped to her naked chest. She turned to look over at Patrick, who was still sleeping soundly beside her.

She smiles and decides to lie back down in bed, carefully cuddling into him she tries her best not to wake him.

"Vera," Patrick starts talking slowly, his voice groggy.

Vera suddenly looks up into his wide eyes, smiling widely and beginning to laugh, "what are you doing awake?"

"I was gonna ask the same thing," Patrick smiles down at her, massaging a hand into her dark volume of hair, "I'm always awake before you."

She laughs, "you must've been tired," she quietly mutters, leaning in to kiss his lips.

"Oh, definitely," Patrick nods, placing a hand on her side and planting a gentle kiss on her head, "work kicked me in the ass, and last night... well last night was amazing."

Vera felt herself blush terribly as she began to remember the events from last night, leaning her face against his chest. The moment Vera did that, she felt him rumble into laughter, a contagious laughter that made her want to laugh along with him, "what would you have done if I didn't come down to New York?" Vera asks him softly after giving herself a minute to collect herself.

"God, I don't know," Patrick smiles, "I probably would've tried to leave early." He shrugs, looking into her blue eyes, "I can only be away from you for so long, and that worries me."

"Why?"

"Well... one day one of us will have to stay home when the other goes on a business trip," Patrick continues, "to watch the house and watch the kids-"

Vera's eyes suddenly widen at his words, looking up to see that his face had flushed into shock after realizing what he had just said, "Vera I'm sorry, I-"

"Patrick," Vera begins, sitting up slightly, "you want to have a family with me?" She says in awe.

He smiles up at her, keeping a hand over his mouth, "possibly." He mutters, "do you?"

Her eyes soften at the nervous look he was giving her, "of course I want kids honey."

He sighs, beginning to laugh in embarrassment, "I can't believe we've never talked about this," Patrick says, bringing her back down next to him.

"Yeah," Vera chuckles, delicately tracing his cheek with her finger.

"How come you never brought it up?" Patrick asks, "if you'd like to have kids, you should tell me."

"I do, I just definitely want to wait on it," She tells him.

"Yes of course," he brings her knuckles up to his lips, "when it comes to kids, everything is ultimately up to you." He says, silently looking down at her, "and... if you want me to start wearing protection, then-"

"Oh, no," Vera quickly shakes her head, "that isn't necessary." Patrick looks up at her curiously, asking her to go on, "it's just... if it happens, it happens." Vera says, leisurely beginning to smile at him.

He grins, "Okay," Patrick simply says, "whatever you want." He begins to sit up from under the covers and look around the hotel room, his eyes lastly landing on the clock, "did you want to come to work with me today? It's just a site visit."

Vera begins to nod, "I'd love to." She says sweetly, "but don't we have a couple of hours before then?"

"We do," Patrick suggests, "I was thinking we could go grab some breakfast, maybe at the diner they have downstairs."

Vera stretches out to him, taking his hand as her other hand keeps the sheets from falling off of her, "but we also have a little bit of time before breakfast," she adds, biting her bottom lip.

"Oh, well..." Patrick grins from ear to ear, "what'd you have in mind before then?"

Vera scoffs in a joking manner, "just come here you idiot," she giggles, watching as he slowly climbs over her, a daring look across his face as he goes on to kiss her.

-

After stepping out of the diner and onto the streets, staying hand in hand they flag down a taxi. They watch the car parallel park before the driver began to step out, walking to the other side of the car and opening the door to the back seat, "where to?" The tall man asks, eyeing Vera down very openly before shooting her a wink.

"Wall Street," Vera tells him as she laughs uneasily, seating herself down in the car. Patrick tries to step up to the man and ask who he thinks he is, but he was quick to look away ignorantly, going back around the car to sit behind the wheel.

Once they were on the road, Patrick didn't take his eyes off of the man from the rear-view mirror, he caught the man stealing glances at Vera, and that only made him more furious than he already was, "honey," Vera catches his attention, taking his hand from his lap and into her warm hold, "it's whatever." She whispers in annoyance.

"This isn't whatever, Vera," Patrick says, tightening his hold, "should've gotten a different cab when he had the chance."

Vera smiles, "I love that you care."

"Of course I care," Patrick mutters.

"We're here folks," the driver says, beginning to park. Both Vera and Patrick let out a sigh of relief.

Before he stepped out of the car, the driver turns around to face the pair, slipping Vera a small piece of paper only to have Patrick grasp it out of his hand and crumble it up. She kisses Patrick gently on the cheek before whispering in his ear with worry, "let's just go."

"Hey c'mon man," the driver laughs hysterically, "you gonna pay me at least?" As they leave the vehicle, Patrick tosses the man some money through his window, taking Vera's hand before marching off.

"That was ridiculous," Patrick huffs, looking down at Vera only to catch her already looking up at him sympathetically, "you alright?"

"Yeah," Vera responds after a while of making their way through the crowds of people, "I'm happy you kept your cool."

Patrick scoffs before letting out a chuckle, "that driver was lucky that you were there."

After turning one last corner, they finally make it to the site. All of the workers, including Sawyer, were standing out waiting with cups of coffee at hand, "hey everyone," Patrick smiles, noticing that everyone was already looking at the brunette lady who stood behind him shyly, holding his hand.

"Hey Wilson," Sawyer greets, patting him on the back before landing his eyes on Vera, "and it's great to see you again," he smiles, watching as Vera happily approaches him and brings him into a hug.

"It's great to see you too," Vera chuckles, falling back into her boyfriend's arms after pulling away from Sawyer.

"So..." Patrick begins, "where can we get some coffee?"

"Oh!" Sawyer exclaims, spinning around and pointing toward the stand, "it's all over there. The creamer's in the cooler."

"I'll go get us some," Vera offers, walking over to where the stand was and helping herself to two cups. As she prepped the coffee, her mind just couldn't leave the incident with the driver, and she couldn't help but bashfully smile at Patrick's reaction to the entire situation.

As she began to put away the creamer, she hears someone step up behind her, trudging through the gravel, she turns around expecting it to be Patrick, but to her surprise, it was the last person she wanted to see at that time.

"Excuse me," Maria says with little to no emotion, circling around her to get to the stand. Vera looks at her and stares her down as she pours herself a cup, feeling that Vera had her eyes on her, she looks up, "is... there a problem?" Maria asks her with a small chuckle, her troubled green eyes watching her.