I lifted an eyebrow. “No, I didn’t.”
“Yeah, and even though he’s in third grade and I’m in kindergarten, he still says hi in the hallway at school.”
I smiled. “That’s sweet. Your cousin loves you.”
“And Kennedy, too. He’s real nice to her.”
I nodded. “Good. You three are family now.”
Kyle’s smile grew even wider. “And Daddy’s our family, too, right?”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
Kyle’s smile faded and he looked around the room, the way he does right before he prepares to tell a secret. “Mommy, did you know daddy has fairies around him?”
My face balled into confusion. “Fairies?”
Kyle nodded vigorously. “Yeah, Diego’s seen them, too. They’re like little lights all around him. Not always but sometimes.”
“That’s interesting,” I stated because I didn’t know what else to say to that. I knew children had always acted…oddly with Aaron, not put off the way most adults were, but strangely attracted to him. It was why I wasn’t surprised when Kennedy and Kyle kind of just took to him from the beginning. “Okay, sweetie. You go ahead and get some sleep, and we’ll talk more about this another time.”
“‘Kay. Nite, Mommy!”
“Nite, baby.”
I rose and went over to turn out the light before moving farther down the hall to the master bedroom. I’d long since picked up the clothes and the suitcase that had been strewn about earlier. Now the bed was made up neatly, hiding the events of earlier that day. I moved to the connecting bathroom, doing my nightly routine and putting on the silk shorts and strapless top I’d chosen to wear to bed that night.
Just as I was settling into bed, Aaron entered the bedroom, surprising me. Wordlessly, he went into the bathroom. I heard the faint sounds of water running and a few minutes later he re-emerged dressed in only a pair of plaid pajama bottoms. My heart started beating rapidly when he moved to the bed, climbing in. I stared silently as he settled into his side.
“You’re sleeping here tonight?” It was an odd question for a wife to ask her husband but an appropriate one given the circumstances.
He turned to me. “Is that a problem?”
I cleared my throat. “Not if you don’t make it one,” I retorted, trying to sound angry.
The left side of his mouth kicked up into what on a normal person might be considered a smile.
“Then I’m sleeping in my bed, with my wife tonight.”
I blinked, hoping the way my nipples hardened at his possessive tone didn’t show through my silk top. When I looked up at Aaron, I knew he’d seen it. His eyes were locked on my nipples, and I didn’t need to look down to know they were protruding through my shirt.
“Goodnight.”
The deep bravado of what I knew was his bedroom voice sent a shiver through me. It was going to be a long night.
****
Aaron
It was a long damn night. I woke up four-thirty the next morning, my usual time, but with a hand over my face and a soft, hairless leg stretched over my lower half. I turned my head to see Patience’s eyelids closed, mouth slightly opened as soft snores poured from it. She was still as reckless a sleeper as ever. Carefully, I removed her arm from my face and moved to exit the bed to do my regular morning workout in the downstairs gym. But after getting up I had to pause and stare down at the sleeping woman in my bed. I refused to think about the many nights, over the previous five and a half years, I pictured this very image. No woman has ever made me long like that before or since. Quite the opposite. Once I was done with a woman I was done, but Patience…there was no being done.
I let my eyes trail over her five-foot-four, curvy frame. Her body had changed since the pregnancy. I could see that but it only enhanced her beauty. The little pooch she’d obviously been self-conscious about, I found one of the most attractive parts of her body now. That pooch had housed my children, and will go on to house my future children. Before even consciously thinking about it, I bent down, slowly lifting her top, and pressed a light kiss to her belly. Stepping back, I took one last look before going over to my dresser and pulling out a T-shirt and shorts to work out.
I headed to the hallway to my next stop, which was to Kennedy’s bedroom, which was almost directly across the hall from ours. I opened her door quietly and something akin to a grin crossed my face when I saw her splayed across her Barbie bed in almost the exact same position as her mother. A few of her curly ringlets, fanned across her face and forehead. I couldn’t stop myself from moving closer to her bed to brush her hair out of her face. Next, I went to Kyle’s room, barely making it fully inside before noticing the hazel eyes that mirrored my own staring back at me.
“Morning, Daddy,” he groaned, wiping his eyes.
“What are you doing awake?” I whispered.
