“Now spit,” Axel tells Luca.
Luca does so then giggles.
“Is he going to remember to rinse his toothbrush?” Axel says, still speaking in his sports reporter style.
Luca reaches for the tap of the faucet. He turns on the water, then cleans his toothbrush.
“Excellent scores for Luca!” Axel declares, and I clap madly.
“Story time!” Axel declares.
Luca takes off and hurries to his bedroom, giggling happily.
This is perhaps not the quiet, dim lights bedtime habit that is recommended by childcare books.
But Axel has endless patience when it comes to story time. Luca changes into his pajamas, and Axel and I tuck him in. The sheets have little dinosaurs on them now, and the bedroom play mat is a jungle scene, perfect for dinosaurs. The nightlight glows soft and steady in the corner, the crescent moon we bought together that first week.
Then Axel and I sit down on the loveseat couch in the room, and Axel begins to read. His voice fills the room.
He’s reading the Chronicles of Narnia, which isn’t one of the picture books recommended for two-year-olds. But his voice is soothing and steady, and Luca’s eyes drift shut, his breathing evening out, one small arm swept around his stuffed dinosaur. I curl beside my future husband, his warmth seeping through my shirt.
Finally, I nudge Axel when I’m sure that Luca is sleeping, and we tiptoe from the room, careful not to wake him.
When I glance at Axel, he has tears in his eyes.
“Axel?” I touch my finger beside his eye, catching the tear.
He smiles sheepishly. “Sorry, babe. I’m just very happy.”
“Same.”
We stand there in the hallway for a moment, the apartment quiet around us. Luca is asleep. Patricia has retreated to her room. It’s just us.
Then Axel grins—that grin that means trouble—and sweeps me into his arms.
“Ready to be tucked in?” He marches through the apartment to our bedroom, then deposits me on our bed.
I shift on the mattress and stare at my handsome fiancé. “Well…”
“I can read you any book you want,” he says. “I’ve got the Kindle app on my phone.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I think I might require a more physical approach to bedtime.”
His eyes glitter. “You want me to fuck you?”
“It’s part of my bedtime routine. Don’t worry, it’s quicker than reading a chapter to me.”
“Did you just insult Mount Everest?”
“I would never insult Mount Everest,” I say. “But that…”
Axel strips off his clothes then jumps into bed. He kneels up and strokes his cock. It grows. And grows. My mouth waters, and he grins.
“I think you need to apologize to it.”
