For Brittany... AKA rosebud024 :)
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I looked up when there was a light knock on the door. "What?"
The door creaked open and I mentally made a note to talk to North or Silas about putting something on the hinges. Those were annoying! Kota popped his head in the door. "Hey sweetie."
"Hi Kota." I put my bookmark in my book and sat up on the window seat. "Come on in." I said, happy to see him. It had been a crazy week of assignments for everyone and he'd been on one of the longer ones. I hadn't seen him since last week. "I'm glad to see you. I missed you." I said, leaning into him as he settled on the window seat next to me and I inhaled his spicy scent before kissing his cheek.
"I missed you too." He said, putting an arm around me and turning me slightly. He smiled and bent his head closer to mine, his lips brushing mine with a light kiss. "Are you busy today?"
"I don't think so. I was just reading. I don't have any assignments today. Sean said I couldn't."
"Oh, he did?" Kota raised an eyebrow at me before pushing his glasses up with one finger. "What did you do?"
"Nothing." I hedged.
"Sang..."
I squirmed in my seat. "It wasn't anything bad."
He sighed softly. "You're not grounded, are you?"
I scrunched my face up, thinking about it. "No, he didn't ground me, he would have told all of you if I was grounded." I said.
He smiled. "Very good point and there have been no text messages about grounding our favorite bird. So, what did you do?"
"I ... I made the mistake of getting off a roof in front of him." I finally admitted.
Kota went still and raised an eyebrow at me again. "Something tells me it wasn't the roof of a dog house or shed..." He said.
I squirmed under the weight of his arm. "No..." I murmured. "It was off a tree house." I admitted. "What's done is done though. He was there, you weren't so he didn't ground me and no one else can either." I said defiantly, jutting my chin out as I glared up at him, daring him to say something.
He shook his head at me. "You've got to be careful with that stuff. You know it isn't good for anyone's blood pressure." He said before beeping me on the nose. "Fine. He didn't ground you but if you did that in front of Mr. B or North, you'd be lucky to be wandering around without bubble wrap or just plain wandering around in general."
"I know." I said with a sigh. "What did you want to do today?"
"Well, I was hoping you'd just come hang out with me. I've got a few surprises up my sleeve if you're in." He smiled. "I'll give you to the count of ten..." He said.
I laughed.
"One.... Two...."
"I'm in!" I cut him off and leaned in to kiss him quickly. "I should just change though. Give me a hint?" I asked.
He pressed his lips against mine again before pulling away. "Dress for outdoors. Jeans, boots..." He shrugged. "I'm not as picky as Gabriel." He said with a smile. "We'll be outside for a while, okay?"
"Okay. Give me 15 minutes." I said as I got up from the window seat and he did too, leaving my room but not before I'd had a chance to admire his body ... specifically how well he looked from behind in jeans.
All my boys looked just fine in practically everything.
And over the past year, I'd come to appreciate certain aspects of them in things they didn't usually wear. Like jeans, for instance. Kota, Owen, Victor and Sean didn't wear jeans as often as the others. It was a rare treat for my viewing pleasure.
I mentally catalogued what he was wearing, jeans and sneakers, lightweight green sweater over a white t-shirt. Oh, I liked that look on all of them too. A view of a t-shirt or tank top peeking out through the V-neck of a sweater. I pursed my lips before going to the closet and pulling out what I needed.
Come to think of it, he hadn't outright said it but it was just a day or two into fall, I mused as I got dressed. I made excellent time, mimicking what he'd been wearing as I was now wearing skinny jeans, tucked into knee high brown boots, a tank top under a green V-neck cashmere sweater that brought out my eyes and a denim jacket. I looped a pale pink scarf around my neck and released my hair from the clip I was wearing it in, brushing it out quickly before pulling it up into a ponytail. Just a dash of lip gloss hit my lips and I shoved my phone and keys in my pockets and headed to meet Kota. "Okay, I'm ready." I announced.
"Wow." He smiled. "You look great. And ready for a day with some time outside." He reached for my hand before escorting me out the door and into his car.
We talked a bit and listened to music as he drove and I found myself paying close attention, curious and wondering where we were headed but as much as I tried to sneak a question in, he'd divert to a different topic. Or point out how the leaves were changing colors.
"C'mon Kota..." I was practically whining as I begged for clues. "Where are we going?"
He laughed as the car slowed and I belatedly realized he was pulling off the road and heading down a dirt road. "There's a sign you know..."
My eyes widened and I turned, staring in rapt attention at the sign at the side of the road we were on. "A corn maze?" I turned to look at him.
"And a pumpkin patch and an apple orchard and plenty of tree lined walkways." He said.
"Oh Kota. That sounds amazing."
"I wanted to take a moment to welcome Fall with you. With a few of the things my mom used to take us kids to do. I also thought, even though it's early, we could get a few pumpkins and let Gabriel carve them as a preview of what we'll end up doing on Halloween." He pulled up next to a truck in the parking area and came around to open my door.
I popped out and hugged him before he could even shut my door. "I love it. We used to go on a field trip in elementary school in Illinois to the pumpkin patch. I've missed stuff like this." I said, waiting for him to shut the door before we started walking the rest of the way up to the area set aside for the fall activities.
He chuckled and took my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. "I'm glad you're thrilled." He squeezed my hand before pausing to pay for two admissions to the corn maze. "Time to let those directional skills take over, Sweetie." He said as he grabbed the activity sheet to fill out as we made our way through the maze.
It was so much fun, being lost in a maze with Kota. I'll admit that we probably ducked into more than our share of dead ends and kissed for a while before picking up the trail again as we jotted the answers to the questions down on the activity sheet. About an hour later, I got us completely out of the maze.
Good thing it wasn't actually a timed activity.
We turned in our activity sheet at the booth because there was a drawing for entries that had all the correct answers on it. I was a bit excited to hear that one of the prizes was a large bushel of apples and other produce that they grew here on the farm. I know at least one of my boys would be thrilled if I had a lot of apples that needed to be dealt with. "What now?" I asked, looking up at Kota as he took my hand again.
"Apple cider and pumpkin doughnuts before we go pick some apples and find some pumpkins?" He suggested, subtly steering me towards the nearby tent.
Oh. My. Goodness.
The scent of the baking doughnuts was filling the air around the tent and it made my mouth water as we entered. I took in a deep breath once we'd entered. The air inside the tent was redolent with the scent of Fall. Apples and spiced cider, pumpkin and ginger. I closed my eyes and simply breathed it all in before smiling. "I love this." I murmured to Kota before I leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Thank you for thinking of this."
He grinned at me and towed me over to the table where we could get something to drink and a few doughnuts. "You're very welcome. We'll make the rest of them happy and pick up some treats to take home. North's got a weakness for pumpkin pie that rivals Sean's for apple pie." He said in a conspiratorial tone. "But you didn't hear it from me."
I laughed and let go of his hand as it was necessary for me to have a drink in my left hand and doughnuts in my right hand as we wandered the tent after he paid, nibbling our food and sipping our drinks as I made mental notes of what we'd want to take home. Pies, of course but there were some other sweets that I knew Luke would love as well.
Once we'd finished, we headed out on a walk, enjoying the quiet as we held hands and wandered out to the pumpkin patch and the nearby apple orchard. It was amazing. It was one of those crisp days that made me glad I'd put the vest on over my sweater and doubly glad for the scarf I'd put on since my nose was getting cold. The leaves were making crunching noises under our feet as we walked and I told him a story about raking leaves with Marie when we were growing up and a few of the leaf pile and jumping contests we'd had.
We paused in the apple orchard and picked a bag of apples to buy and take home before we headed to the pumpkin patch. He made fun of my choice of a small, round pumpkin but I rolled my eyes at him and dared him to try and pick up the one he'd selected on his own.
He couldn't budge it though. The pumpkin was hugely round and sat where it had been growing. It was a lot like watching the Avengers try to lift Thor's hammer off the coffee table in Age of Ultron.
I got to laugh at his attempts though. He pouted and I kissed the pout away before pointing out a more reasonably sized pumpkin that he'd have no trouble picking up and taking home. They offered hay rides back to the main part of the farm by the maze and I couldn't help but think it was the perfect ending to a fall date with one of my boys. I waited for him to pay for the apples and pumpkins, helping him stow everything in the trunk of the car before we returned to the tent for another drink and to buy the pies and other sweets and treats that I'd found on the first visit to the tent.
And of course, a ginger molasses cookie that was just a mere millimeter smaller than my hand. And a Pumpkin spiced latte with ginger cream on top.
I was in a blissful state at the first sip.
Kota made a face when I made him try it and stuck with the apple cider as we left. "You can keep that one." He said with a chuckle.
"Oh, trust me, I will." I teased back. "I really can't thank you enough for such a great day." I said as we buckled up in the car and he backed up carefully, ready to head back towards home and the rest of our family.
"I'm glad you liked it." He said, glancing at me. "I had a great time as well."
"Maybe we'll have to keep this as a Sang and Kota Fall tradition." I suggested.
His face lit up as his smile spread to fill his entire face. "I really like that idea." He said. "I know we're having dinner with the rest of them..."
"Yes?"
"But I was hoping you'd want to come over to my place after dinner. Mom's working and Jessica's at a sleepover so it would just be you and me and maybe a fire in the fireplace." His eyes held his hope that I'd say yes.
"Will you make me hot cocoa?"
"With marshmallows." He agreed.
"Then I'm in. I'd love to close out our fall adventure with a snuggle by a fire with you." I said softly.
(fade...)