"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up."

― James A. Baldwin.

Chloe's POV.

"Now, what are you overthinking about?" I raise my eyebrows at Zach who's deep in thought to not notice me standing next to him for the last minute. I steal a glance at Nancy and Snowy on the couch while watching the news, "It's nothing,"

Zach turns to face me with a smile before stirring the pot containing chicken soup, "Sure," I roll my eyes before lifting myself to sit on the counter before he walks up to me and stands between my legs, cupping my face, "Stop worrying that pretty head of your with what I'm thinking, it's nothing important,"

He says before pulling me against his chest into a hug, my safe haven. I wrap my arms around him as he kisses my forehead and it sure felt like he didn't want to let go of me anytime soon. I have no complaints about it though.

"I need to go check on the restaurant after lunch, it'll only take about three hours or so," he mumbles against my shoulder, "Okay," I say with a smile while he pulls back to read my face.

"I just missed you so much,"

"I did too but you need to stop being a baby about it," I mutter causing a smile on the serious face, "I just need some time with you without interruptions," he whispered leaning down before capturing my lips with his. His teeth teasingly graze my bottom lip making me bite down a moan before smacking his arm and pulling him into a kiss making him smirk against my lips.

His hand tucks my long bang behind my ear while he devours my mouth, muting my moans, "Mom," he sighs reminding me and I slap a hand over my mouth realizing that I got lost in the moment before peeping over his shoulder. She's still busy watching T.V and I let out a small laugh into Zach's chest.

"We sure need to start being more aware of our surroundings," I chuckle while he leaves a quick smirking kiss on my neck before pulling back to check on the soup.

Nancy is quite the surprise I needed right now and apart from when we get to intimate about anywhere in the house, there's literally nothing different. She's always been there for me when mom was busy trying to earn a living for us but things got better and that led to Nancy becoming really good friends with my mom. Sure, Mr. Russell wasn't always approving of me but if I look at it in his perspective, he didn't get a choice in his career and that passed onto him being the serious dad to Zach.

The father and son duo had their moments, moments of weakness, and moments where they were each other's strengths but they had too big egos to accept it. What do I say? I've got an amazing best friend slash boyfriend who one hell of a stubborn person and while that's got its cons, he knows how to use his stubbornness to make things happen as well.

"I'm planning to stop by Mr. Williams office and get an insight on what's going on," he says not meeting my gaze because he thinks I'm disappointed in him but the reality is, I'm just proud of the man he's become, "Need me to come along?"

"Nope, you get to relax today with mom. You both could probably go to the spa or something?" he suggests finally meeting my gaze with the best smile he could muster up, "Come here," I crank my finger in my direction.

"What?" he mumbles getting back to his previous place between my two dangling legs, "If I get to relax, so do you. So stop fucking beating yourself up for things that you're not responsible for. I'll call up Mr. Williams and tell him that we'll be there tomorrow to meet Molly and him as well,"

"You just love shutting me up with that sweet smart mouth of yours, don't you?" he asks raising an eyebrow before letting his gorgeous smile take over, "Well now, shut up and kiss me," I whisper with a smile of my own while wrapping my arms around his neck.

I can't seem to be getting enough of his kisses after not having him around for three days, just three days did this. And he has no clue what's in for tomorrow cause we've got some making up for the lost time to do.

~•~•~•

"He's going to love anything you make, sweetie," Nancy adds while I smile and frost the cake with caramel buttercream, "He doesn't remember his birthday, you see how stressed out he's been?" I sigh finishing off the frosting before grabbing the little piping bag with chocolate icing and handing it over to Nancy with a smile.

"Want to do the honors?" I ask her and she smiles before grabbing the piping bag, "Always," I smile as she writes 'Happy 28th Birthday' in her amazing cursive, making sure to not miss the number. My mom talks to Nancy more often than Zach himself does and if I didn't know any better, that's her way of reminding him that he's old enough to get down on one knee. Classic moms.

Zach having to extend hours at work, really gave me time to prep this little cake or how else, could I make the only thing I'm good at. Making his birthday cake, which I actually did make almost every year after we met except for the last two years.

"He's lucky to have you," Nancy's voice interrupts my thoughts, "Nah, I'm the lucky one," I say with a smile before cleaning up the counter around the cake quickly. I did the unthinkable to pull this plan through though, I spoke to Mason so that he could hold Zach back at work for an hour longer.

I'm even yet to tell Nancy about my major surprise tomorrow because it'd be great to have her in on it too. Now, I just hope Zach likes his gift because it would be a disaster otherwise. I at least managed to get everything prepped yesterday despite the photoshoot, which I need to credit Dan and Eli for. My last-minute surprise sure did turn out to be quite a workout to get things together for.

Discarding the piping bags into a bag, I securely wrap it up before dumping it in the main garbage bag. I am just not willing to take any chances with Zach finding out. Grabbing the cake carefully, I follow Nancy to the guest bedroom so that we could place the cake in the mini-fridge, which stopped containing any form of alcohol unlike before which I'm happy about.

Surely, Zach was the reason I stopped alcohol ever since he moved in but that also added up in a good way cause alcohol only gave me bad hangovers. I place the cake carefully before sighing, "We did it!"

I squeal in joy while Nancy laughed at my happiness making her slight wrinkles show, she's absolutely beautiful inside out no matter how much she ages, "Come on now, you've exhausted yourself with all that baking and you were supposed to relax,"

She says in a motherly tone making me chuckle before pulling her into a hug, "Thank you for being such an amazing mom to the stubborn ass of my best friend and for always being there for me,"

"Stubborn ass, that he is and you're the one to thank Chloe, you make him never give up. As for being there for you, I think it's a two-way thing," with that I pull back to her smiling face, finding a grin of my own before Snowy pounces onto me. He probably got the whiff of the icing sugar cause he's licking my arm.

Stifling my laughter, I nudge him away from me a little, "I've saved some crumbs for you fella, come here," I ruffle his fur before heading to the kitchen and washing my hands off. Taking the small bowl of cake crumbs, I pour them into his empty food bowl and he goes wagging his tail.

"Want some ice cream?" I call out to Nancy who always insisted on me calling her that and now I'm just used to it, "Always, anything chocolate please," she yells back from the living room making me shake my head with a smile.

"You got it, ma'am. Just give me a minute," I say grabbing a ramekin and opening the freezer to grab the chocolate fudge ice cream. We're always stocked up on ice-cream, I know all the health freaks that would be screaming but hey ice-cream is the best sort of comfort.

Scooping out two scoops, I place the pint back in the freezer before heading back into the living room to find Nancy watching How to get away with murder, I'm telling you, she's a cool mom. Handing the bowl of ice-cream to her, I glace between the screen and her, to say she's engrossed is an understatement, "What? Emmett got me watching this show,"

I let out a small laugh shaking my head, "Of course he did,"

"You should watch it too," she points out holding her spoon pointing towards me, "I will. Just give me fifteen minutes; I'll just have a shower," giving her a grin, I walk away before grabbing my phone and checking my messages.

Zach – Just started from the restaurant. Will be there in fifteen minutes or so and getting dinner as well.

Phew! He just messaged me ten minutes ago and I still managed to cover up the traces of cake and the dishes before he got home. That's pretty impressive, Chloe. Grinning, I walk into the room and close the door behind me before stripping out of my clothes, which smells of chocolate, caramel, and icing sugar.

I walk into the washroom before pulling the band off my hair and stepping inside the shower cubicle. Turning on the hot water, I breathe out as my muscles instantly relax before grabbing the body wash and loofa. Lathering it over my skin, I let the plan I have for tomorrow run in my head repeatedly.

The click of the washroom door, gets my attention, "Zach?"

"Yup, Sugar," I smile while walks into the shower cubicle and pulls my back against his chest, "Hey," whispering as his lips, meet my shoulder, I let my hand go around and hold his cheek.

"How was work?" I ask him before turning around in his arms to face his tired eyes as the water drenched us, "Exhausting," he describes in one word while I rub the loofa over his chest mindlessly.

"I'm sorry," I actually wasn't and he eyes me suspiciously before letting it go, "I just need time with you," he sighs before smiling and pulling me into a kiss. His hard-on pushes against my heat making me let out a moan while he shifts his kisses around the corners of my mouth.

"I don't want this to be a quickie so, let's just hold on to this horniness for some time, Sugar," my jaw drops at what he says before smacking his arm while that makes no impact on him. The loofa drops off my hand as he holds my hands back before placing kisses on my nipples and lets go of me completely, "Oh, you're one hell of a tease,"

~•~•~•