5 years later
I rake my hand through my hair in frustration. “We do this deal now, and my way, or we do not do it at all.”
“No.” She pouts and crosses her arms. Wearing a little blue skirt and a hairband, you’d think she was in a power suit for all the ground she’s giving.
“No to my deal? Or no to now?”
“No.” She nods as though that is a reasonable answer.
“Alright. That’s it. You forfeit, I get aalllll the chocolate, and you get tickled.” I scoop Kelsie up into my arms and tickle her underarms until she wriggles and giggles and shouts delightedly.
“No more tickle, Daddy!”
Our tiny daughter is the fiercest negotiator I know. She learned from her mother. I stop tickling her and she squirms and cuddles into my chest. Then three seconds later, she bats my bicep with her little fist. “More tickle.”
“You are a tyrant,” I grumble, but I tickle her as she requests and Jeanette walks in to find Kelsie hanging backwards out of my arms, flailing and laughing.
“You two,” she says with affectionate exasperation. “Weren’t you supposed to be making lunch?”
“There was a slight hiccup,” I say as I move to lean to the side and kiss my wife. “Did you deal with the problem?”
“Absolutely.” Jeanette’s eyes twinkle. You’d think that having married a mafia boss at eighteen she would have been a tempering influence on me. And admittedly, most of our income is from our legal businesses now.
But Jeanette has a core of steel. When we discuss how to proceed with a difficult person, she isn’t as ruthless as me, but once someone has lost her trust, she’ll tell me to do my worst. She says it’s the libra of her sun sign. She balances the evidence, then she comes down hard on the side she thinks is right.
And me? I rarely overrule my wife. She’s smart, and kinder than me. I wouldn’t give as many second chances as she does, but I do, because she wishes it.
The kiss that was supposed to be brief lingers on until Kelsie complains, “Daddy!” and I have to break away to put her back on her feet.
“Later,” I mouth to Jeanette above our daughter’s head.
“When the stars are out,” she whispers back.
“What are you talking about?” Kelsie demands.
“It’s going to be a clear night, and Mummy and Daddy are going to watch the stars together when you’re asleep in bed,” Jeanette says innocently. “Remember I said you were born under the star constellation of Aquarius? Well that means you should like soup for lunch…” And she has distracted Kelsie, only looking back to me to give me a slow, naughty smile.
Tonight. Under the stars. I’ll have Jeanette as I do every night. But it’s special when we can find the time to go up to the glass-roofed sitting room at the top of the house. We still have the flat in London, but most of the time this family home in Berkshire is more practical. And the view from the top is quite spectacular on a clear night.
To be honest, it’s even more spectacular to me on a cloudy night when Jeanette will let me leave a light on and look into her violet eyes as I take her. As she rides me. As she comes on my cock for the thousandth time.
Bad as I am, I really don’t deserve to be this lucky. But I’ll take it all.
