Page 80 of John Wilder Gets Schooled
“No, you have to have a shower first,” I said. “Grab your bag, and I’ll come and turn the water on and make sure it’s not too hot.”
Avery hummed to himself in the kitchen, finishing tidying up, while I got Gracie showered and changed into her pajamas. She pulled faces in Avery’s mirror while she brushed her teeth and then darted straight back into the bedroom and dived under the covers with Mr. Peanut Butter.
“Hey,” I said. “You want Avery to read you your story tonight?”
“Yes!”
Of course she did. He was her hero tonight. Mine too.
I leaned in the doorway while Avery read to her. He was better at it than me. It was his kindergarten teacher training: he didallthe voices, and it made Gracie laugh so hard that I thought she’d never get to sleep. But she was fighting her yawns by the end of the book, and she closed her eyes when Avery kissed her forehead.
“I’m gonna turn the fairy lights off, but the nightlight can stay on, okay? Just in case you need to get out of bed for anything.”
“Okay,” she said through another yawn.
“Night, sweet pea,” I called from the doorway.
“Night, Daddy.”
I barely let Avery get out of the room before I pushed him up against the hallway wall and kissed the hell out of him.
“What was that for?” he asked, straightening his glasses. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Because you’re amazing,” I said. “And I love you.”
Avery sucked in a breath, and for a second I worried he didn’t feel the same, but then his face split into a grin and he said, “I love you too, Johnny. Have for a while now.”
“Same,” I said and kissed him again. “Same.”
“Okay, so,”Avery said an hour or two later when we were finally getting ready for bed, “Gracie’s got her nightlight, and her door is open, so we’ll keep ours open too. Just so she doesn’t get scared if she wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t find you.”
I nodded, pulling off my shirt.
Avery’s mouth twitched. “Underwear stay on, is what I’m saying. But feel free to take your shirt off in a sexy way. Did you bring your cowboy hat?”
“I wear that hatonetime as a confidence booster and now you’re obsessed,” I teased. “It’s actually in my truck, sorry, for tomorrow’s gig.”
Avery sighed. “And you didn’t even ask this bachelorette to extend an invitation to her party to your boyfriend? Rude.”
“I’m an asshole, I know,” I said and couldn’t resist leaning forward to kiss the end of his nose. It always made him laugh. “But next Friday I’m back at Easy Rider, and you can come see me there.”
“I’ll tell Dana,” he said. “She’ll be in the front row.”
With Avery right by her side. He loved to turn up and clap and cheer, but he’d made me promise not to pull him on stage again. He only enjoyed the audience participation part of my stripping if we were in private. Let’s just say we weren’t using that chair in the corner of the bedroom for reading.
“Well, tell her not to pull that stunt where she tries to put small change in my underwear,” I said. “It’s a dollar minimum.”
He laughed again, and we finished undressing and got into bed. He rolled over to face me and pulled me in close for a proper kiss. For someone who was insisting it was underwear on tonight, he wasn’t doing a very good job of selling it. I slid my hands down his back and cupped his ass.
He broke the kiss and raised an eyebrow. “Nice try, but I already told you, you’re not getting lucky tonight.”
“No, I know.” I shoved at him gently and he rolled onto hisback, and I put my head on his stomach. He sighed happily and ran his fingers through my hair. “But joke’s on you, Avery, because I already got lucky.”
Avery traced the shell of my ear with his thumb. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. Because I’m here with you.” I pressed a kiss to his stomach and smiled to myself. “I get luckier every day.”
“I’m the lucky one,” he said. He tugged my hair gently. “Don’t make me fight you about it!”
