AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Because that was the third time I’d fucked us on this battle, so she was probably losing patience—something my sweet, shy wife didn’t do very often.
But she wasn’t shy with me.
Not any longer.
So why was tonight giving me those vibes—like she was hiding something, or hiding herself behind a wall of something, or—
“Oof!” I grunted as she straddled my waist, dropped down into my lap, testing the weight limits of my chair, since I was a big motherfucker. The legs protested, and we rolled back a few inches but ultimately, it didn’t collapse down on the rug, didn’t send us toppling with my big ass crushing the woman I loved. “Shit.”
She smiled at me, running her fingertips through the strands on my beard, pressing them lightly against my jaw, my skin.
One touch and I settled.
Always with this woman.
Always.
“What are you doing, little bird?” I asked softly, winding my fingers into the ends of her long brown ponytail.
“I’m done with video games for tonight,” she said, just as softly, curling up against me, resting her head on my shoulder. A sigh, her arms wrapping tightly around my middle as she burrowed into me. “Your heart is pounding, baby.”
Because there was something prickling at my nape, making me wonder, making meworry.
My quiet, shy woman was…
Back.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, weaving my fingers further into that ponytail, tugging lightly until she lifted her head from my chest. “You’re not acting like yourself.”
Her expression changed, teeth coming out to press into her bottom lip.
My worry became…fear, gathering deep in my gut, twisting together, knotting my insides and making me feel like I was going to puke.
I’d fucked up.
Clearly I had.
So how was I going to fix it—
Her hand settled on my chest, pressing lightly. “Baby,” she said. “Breathe.”
How could I breathe?
I’d fucked up and—
That hand pressed a little more firmly, her face dropping to lock eyes with mine. “Breathe,” she ordered in a fierce tone she would have never used a couple of years ago, a tone that she felt comfortable with using because we found our way to something important and beautiful and that meanteverything.
I opened my mouth, exhaled.
“Good,” she said, sliding that hand up to cup the side of my neck. “Good, baby.”
Another breath, and then words were welling up in my throat—words that I didn’t fucking know what they were going to be, words that probably wouldn’t make any bit of difference, any bit of sense—
But she beat me to the punch.
“I have a present for you,” she said.
I frowned. “But it’s still a few days before Christmas.”
