The Billionaire’s Baby(35)

Nia's expression softened faintly as she studied him, smoothing out the front of her beige shirt, looking down at the ground in embarrassment. She was silent now, a tiny smile on her lips.

"And a beautiful bronze tan…"

She looked up again slowly from the ground, gazing at the smirking vampire and twirling the end of her long braid around her finger.

"And most importantly…she was tall, and curvy, and had absolutely no freckles."

With a loud cracking noise the world suddenly went crooked, leaving Ellis blinking in slight shock and his right ear ringing painfully. It took the cocky vampire a moment to realize that he'd been slapped so hard he'd fallen over onto his side on the bed.

Shaking his head, he sat up, laughing hysterically all the while, "Kid, you couldn't honestly have been thinking I was talking about you!"

Nia turned stiffly away from him, furiously pacing around to keep from attempting to strangle him with her own hands, "I…I hate you!"

Ellis just laughed and rolled over on the bed, his back facing the infuriated girl, "Wake me up when the sun goes down."

He smiled when he heard her heavy, aggravated sigh in response, though it faded quickly from his lips as he stared at the wall opposite himself, squeezing his eyes shut and ignoring the cold and empty space next to him.

Nia, meanwhile, had no idea how to keep herself occupied for the three or four hours until she could tell the sun would go down, which she would be able to tell by the outline of the door far up the earthy hallway leading to the floor of the forest above their heads, which still had a tiny, faint ring of light surrounding it. In the dark bleakness of the vampire’s underground home, it looked like a shimmering halo.

She wandered quietly around; studying the tiny, dank space which Ellis called his home. It was lonely, she decided, no wonder he was always being so mean.

Quickly, from a mix of boredom and generosity, she made up her mind to spruce it up.

She bit her lip slightly, staring around and trying to decide what the best course of action would be when her eyes landed on the now dead remnants of the potatoes from earlier. With a bright smile, she knew exactly what she would do.

She continued pacing the outline of the cave, taking her time at each space to cause tiny potato plants to sprout, lining his dirt walls with white and purple blossoms.

It would make him really happy, she was positive, to see such beautiful buds. Not to mention the hidden potatoes in the earth.

By the time she had finished and checked the door, she could no longer see any tiny hints of light spilling inside, so she walked over to the sleeping vampire, poking him hard in the back.

He jumped, giving a yawn and casting a slight glare over his shoulder at the girl, "You could've been more gentle than that, you know."

She shrugged, suddenly silent and very self-conscious of what he would think of what she'd done to his home and what he'd think of her gift.

He sat up, eyes narrowing suspiciously as he glanced around, "Did you do somethin'?"

With the clear mistrust in his tone Nia could tell that he was second guessing his decision to sleep and not keep a closer tab on her.

She nodded, twirling the end of her braid around her fingers again, "Yeah…I kind of…well, I-"

"You filled my home with flowers?" Ellis interrupted in disgust.

He stood, stretching his tired bones and going to the nearest wall to inspect them with a revolted snort. Honestly, flowers, of all things.

Nia's mouth dropped open in slight distress, upset rather than angry at his reaction, after all the time she'd put into his present.

He glared over his shoulder at her, rolling his eyes at her pout and yanking out one of the small leafy plants from his wall. It was only when two or three potatoes popped out of the wall with the blossoms did he stop complaining, whirling abruptly to face Nia.

His mouth gaped like a goldfish, holding the plant upwards in the air. His gaze shifted from the dirt covered plant to Nia, then back again.

"You planted a bunch of potatoes?" He whispered in shock.

Nia was suddenly worried he'd burst into tears the way he stared at her, eyes shimmering and grateful. He rapidly advanced on her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight, suffocating hug.

He broke away grinned brightly, "Thanks, lamb chop." He said, a genuine smile on his thin lips.

She blushed and shrugged, "You promised to take me home, so I thought…"

He sighed, glancing around at the potatoes lining his wall, "You're not making it easy to let you go." He muttered, laughing and pinching one of her cheeks. "Well, a promise is a promise."

She nodded, glancing up at the door high above their heads, "How do we get out?"

He grabbed her, tossing her lightly over her shoulder.