Jesus.
"I'm lucky the bottle landed on you," he said against my lips.
I grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him. And we did make out like two teenagers who had gotten paired up in spin the bottle. Not that I would really know. I was never cool enough to play that game at a party. Let alone be invited to the party in the first place. Besides, kisses with a stranger in a basement closet wouldn't have been nearly this amazing. James made me feel young and desired. He made me feel like I wasn't a mammoth trying to pass as a woman in a dress.
"When was the last time we had sex?" His hands drifted to my ass.
"I don't know. Monday?"
"Monday? No, we were going to, but you fell asleep while I was in the shower."
"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry about that." I let my lips brush against his again.
"It's been at least a week, Penny. And you've been doing nothing but driving me crazy."
I laughed. "James, I'm practically a blimp." I put my hands on his chest so I could look up at him. "I certainly haven't been driving anyone crazy recently. It's not like I'm 19 years old and trying to seduce my professor anymore."
He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, when a light knock sounded on the door.
"Daddy?" Scarlett's apprehensive voice sounded from the other side of the door. "Are you in there?"
James put his hand over my mouth and his finger up to his, silencing me.
The doorknob jiggled.
If he thought us being quiet was going to make the kids go away, he was sorely mistaken. But I wasn't going to deny that him holding me like this didn't turn me on just a little. Maybe I was still more like my 19 year self than I realized.
"Uncle James?" Axel said a little more confidently and knocked on the door.
I pulled James' hand down from my face. "You're scaring the children."
"You still drive me crazy," he said as I slipped away from him.
I looked over my shoulder at him as I unlocked the door. "You still drive me crazy too, James. To be continued?"
He nodded and ran his hand through his hair.
I opened the door and Scarlett screamed. But then she ran right toward me and embraced my leg like it was her favorite thing in the world.
"I found you, Mommy," she mumbled into the fabric of my dress.
My baby girl still needed me. I looked back over my shoulder at James. He still needed me too. I had already known that. But seeing him with lust in his eyes was something I understood so well. I couldn't believe that I thought we were falling apart last night. We were stronger than ever. We needed to start getting better at carving out time for just the two of us, though. Especially with another kid on the way. If this baby was anything like his older sister, we'd only be getting a few hours of sleep a night for months.
The Light to My Darkness - Chapter 8
Saturday
Scarlett's head was resting on my lap as the party drew to a close. She had fallen asleep over an hour ago, but whenever I'd try to carry her to bed, she'd gotten those really big puppy dog eyes and said she didn't want to miss out on anything. How could I deny her? Especially when I was tired anyway. A little nap before bed sounded heavenly. Besides, Daphne and Sophie were already curled up on the couch. And it was way past my bedtime.
Right when I was about to drift off to sleep, hushed voices startled me awake. I was about to slip out from underneath of Scarlett's head to join the conversation when I picked up on a small piece of the discussion.
"I have every mind to sue him," James said. "It has to be malpractice."
"I'm sure you could sue him if you wanted to," Rob said calmly.
James sighed. "Spit it out. I know that there's a but coming."
I looked down at my daughter. She was still sleeping peacefully. And so were Daphne and Sophie. James and Rob thought I was asleep too. Or I was certain they wouldn't be talking about this. I should have gone into the kitchen and joined their discussion. I should have at least let them know I was awake. But instead, I closed my eyes and stayed perfectly still.