“Are you prone to reckless endangerment in the mall?”
She chuckles. “Public places, he said, aren’t safe for me.”
This must be the “family” thing, and now I can’t deny her the mall. I tug her hand, and we cross the street. Inside the mall, my princess shivers as the air-conditioning hits her body.
“Would you like a coat?” I prompt.
“Nah, I’ll be fine.”
“T-shirt, perhaps? Oh, look.” I point. “Personalized T-shirts.”
“Nah.”
“Get one,” I order.
She side-eyes me. “Why?”
“No reason.”
“Are you trying to cover me up?”
“No.”
“You are.”
“Am not.”
Benny steps onto my shoes and then goes up on her toes, and I bend my head. We’re standing at the mall entrance, and people curse as they walk around us to get inside. I don’t care about their bitching, because my wife wants to kiss me. I grab the back of her head and peck her lips. “Should’ve gone home.”
“Maybe.”
“We can still leave.”
“We can do it in the dressing room,” she says.
“Not the first time.”
“I don’t mind.”
“I do.”
A man bumps into me, and I stumble forward, barely able to steady us before we fall. Snapping my head in his direction, I catch sight of a leather jacket with white stitching as he gets lost in the crowd. Little bitch hole.
We move with the people and walk around the first floor, second, third, and there Benny seems to have found a clothing store she really likes, because I’m sitting outside the dressing room on a little pink chair trying (and failing) to look comfortable. The chair’s shaped like a woman’s shoes, narrow and without armrests. Yeah, one of those.
Half an hour later, my wife walks out wearing lingerie. It’s red, lacy, and makes me hard. The woman at the counter approaches her. “I love that on you.”
All in agreement, please raise your hand.I raise mine. “Me too.”
The girls giggle, and the woman steps back as I stand and circle my wife. I brush her hip with the tip of my finger, then tuck my finger under the lace and pull it back. It snaps. “Would you give us half an hour?” I pin the woman with the look I know is gonna make her say yes. It’s got nothing to do with ego and everything to do with knowing people and knowing myself.
Age does come with wisdom, and I’ve spent my life people watching and learning how to persuade them to get what I what.
“Sure,” the woman says and grabs her purse. On her way out, she dims the lights and pulls down the store blinds.
I stand before my wife.
Her brown eyes are hazel now, and that’s lust reflecting in her gaze. I wouldn’t be surprised if her new panties are wet.
