Page 101 of Rules in Love
God knew how Finn managed to keep two seven-year-olds entertainedby looking off the edge of a building for that long, but twenty minutes later, three excited, rosy-cheeked, windswept faces returned to the exact same spot they left me.
With the man I loved holding my hand and keeping me safe, I bravely left my seat and, without incident, ventured into the souvenir shop. “Did I tell ya you look very sexy today, Red?” he whispered, his warm breath sending the best kind of shivers down my spine.
“Do you mean that, or are you taking pity on me because I made a fool of myself?”
“I mean it. I was watching you from the edge of doom.” He smirked. “I couldn’t take my eyes off you. Sitting all cute and trembling, biting your nails and sucking on your bottom lip. You know how I like it when you suck on your lip, Scarlett.”
While our out-of-control, unsupervised kids excitedly ran around, looking at and picking up every piece of crap they could find, Finn continued his attempts at sky-high seduction. “It’s great to have the kids with us. But I’d love nothing more than to find a nice quiet hiding spot, taste every inch of your skin, and bury myself inside you.”
“Daddy, can I get a monkey building?”
“It’s not a monkey, Iris. It’s King Kong. He’s a gorilla,” said Ben dryly.
“Well, can I have a King Kong building, then, Daddy?”
“Sure, get whatever you like, kids.” Without looking, Finn handed over his wallet. “Would you like that, Scarlett? Would you like me to bury myself inside you?”
“I would.”
“You would?” His finger ran from my ear down my neck, then along the exposed lines of my collarbone. “I thought you were a good girl, Scarlett? But you’d let me do that to you in public? Plow you senseless?”
“Yes.” His voice dripped with sex. I was weak. Putty in his hands.
With his nose, Finn tilted my neck to the side, allowing his lips to roam as they pleased. “Would you now? What else would you let me do to you?”
“Everything,” I sighed.
The make-out continued. It was completely inappropriate and insanely hot. Too hot. “Red, I don’t know if I’m completely turned on or thoroughly shocked and disappointed.”
“Daaadddyyyy, looook!”
Finn removed his face from my neck, and we both turned to find Iris smiling, ear to ear, with her arms full of swag. Actually, it wasn’t swag because it wasn’t free. She’d bought half the shop, and Ben had done much the same. “Christ, bubs. You said you wanted a monkey building! How is this a freaking monkey building?”
Her lip dropped, and tears welled. “I asked, and you said yes. Scaw did too. Didn’t she, Bunny?”
“You did, mum. You said we could have everything.”
“When did I say that?” I squawked.
“When Finn was licking your neck.”
“Oh,” Finn and I replied in unison, but only I began to laugh…and laugh and laugh. I think all the nervous energy trapped inside me chose to escape through my wide-open mouth. Finn seemed to be the only adult in the situation and took control.
“Well, then. I guess that’s a lesson for me and Scarlett to keep a better watch on you two monkeys. Now, let’s get a bag for all this…stuff and get the hell out of here.”
We didn’t learn a damn thing. The kids did, though. When we went to get ice cream, Finn spent more time watching my ass as I bent over the counter to choose a flavor, and both kids ordered triple scoops. At the zoo, they slipped away as we shared an innocent kiss by the hot dog stand, and it took us ten panic-filled minutes to find them, and then they chose the most expensive tree decorations from a very chuffed street vendor. That wasn’t because we were canoodling. That was just fatigue, and in all honesty, I wasn’t too upset. Unlike the array of King-Kong-covered Empire State Building toys, these were super-cute baubles and would look amazing on our tree. Ben picked a Santa Mickey Mouse, and Iris chose an angel that she insisted was a fairy, no matter how many times my dear son tried to correct her.
Halfway to Rockefeller, with Iris on Finn’s shoulders and Ben on his back, we decided we were all too tired for skating, so we made our way slowly to our VIP seats and collapsed. As the crowd began to fill in around us, Finn and I were kept busy umpiring the greatwho-had-the-better-baublebattle and compared notes on our many successes and failures of the day.
“This has been great, hasn’t it?” I beamed, my heart full of everything good.
“It has, Red. It’s been brilliant.”
“Are you as exhausted as I am?”
“Well, I’m knackered and think I have spinal damage. So, if you’re knackered and can’t feel your toes, then yes.”
I laid my head on his shoulder and yawned. “Two kids is a lot harder than one. I kind of thought they would require less attention as they had a buddy. I was wrong.”
