STORY EXCERPT

He looked over his shoulder to see Emilie leaning against the door frame, her chest shaking with silent laughter. She’d piled her long dark hair on top of her head, but in the wake of Penny, it had been knocked askew and a couple strands dangled loosely around her face. There were some damp spots on her blouse, too.

She looked sexy as hell.

“Gavin, my love, have you seen our daughter? I seem to have misplaced her.”

“Our daughter? Why no, I have not seen her. What does she look like, maybe I can help you look for her.”

Penny giggled against his leg, holding on so tight that she didn’t fall off when he took a few steps toward Emilie.

“Hmmm, well, she has dark hair. Like mine!” Emilie pointed to her hair. “She has blue eyes. And she’s wearing a purple nightgown with a frog on it. Have you seen anyone that matches that description?”

“I’m so sorry, madam, I have not.”

Emilie sighed heavily. “Quel dommage. I miss our daughter, and I wish that I could see her again.”

“Actually, I don’t know if this will help, but when I put on my shoes a moment ago, I could have sworn that one of them weighed a lot more than the other one. Do you think that our daughter could be hiding in my shoe?”

“It’s possible. You know how much she loves to hide in stinky, smelly shoes. In fact, it’s her favorite place in the whole world to hide.”

Gavin took a few more steps toward Emilie. “Maybe you could help me look?”

“All right, well…hold it out for me.”

By now, Penny was completely lost to her giggles, and before Emilie could even lean down, she leapt off Gavin’s leg. “Here I am!”

“My daughter!” Emilie shouted. “Oh, ma petite! I was so lost without you. Oh!” She kissed her on the cheek. “Oh! Oh! Oh!” She pecked her with kisses everywhere. “My beautiful, beautiful daughter!”

Gavin whisked Penny up, giggling himself a little when she shrieked with delight. He held her on his hip, and she kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for helping Mommy find me, Daddy.” She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. “I love you.”

Emilie smiled as something dark and tempting swirled in her eyes. Then she mouthed, “Me, too,” and stepped into his free arm. They stood together for a long moment. He kissed the top of Emilie’s head. All of the day’s resentments slowly dissipated and dissolved.

Horrible things happened. To people he knew and to people he would never meet. Dreadful, sickening, miserable, horrible things happened every second of every day. He couldn’t let himself forget for one moment how goddamn lucky he was that he got to stand here, safe in his kitchen, with two angels in his arms.

A large thump came from down the hall. Emilie chuckled and then gave him a small, warm kiss. “I’d better go see if anyone needs help in there.” She took Penny, who miraculously, seemed drowsy and subdued, from Gavin’s arms.

Gavin went back to the sink of dishes and didn’t think about the time until he heard the doorbell ring several minutes later. Had to be Gabby. “I got it!” he called to Emilie and Grayson and then headed for the door.

Emilie had hired Gabby a year and a half ago, citing Gabby’s love for Godard films as grounds for immediate hire, and Gabby had been their babysitter ever since. She always gave Gaston and Penny preference when other families wanted her for the night. Gavin had been a bit skeptical at first. She liked the color black a lot, especially for her hair and clothes. She’d seemed a bit on the sullen side when she sat for them in the beginning, but she’d loosened up and she’d grown on him, and now he trusted her completely.

Plus, Penny and Gaston adored her. She was the only person in the world who could get them in bed and asleep in less than fifteen minutes. That was reason enough for Gavin to keep her around.

When he opened the front door, however, her hoodie was pulled up, and she appeared agitated. “Mr. Stephens, what happened to your garage door?”

“Nothing that I know of. Why?”

Her eyes bugged out, and she bit her bottom lip. “You might want to go look.”

With a sigh of acceptance, he followed Gabby around the front of their house to the garage. “Holy shit,” he said when he saw it. Then he glanced at Gabby. “Don’t tell your mom I said that.”

She surrendered the tiniest of smiles, but otherwise didn’t say anything.

His attention was drawn back to the horrendous sight of his garage door. Someone had spray-painted the phrase “L’enfer, c’est l’amour!” in black then circled it with a red heart and slashed an angry red line through it.

“What does that mean?” Gabby asked.

“I’ll check with Emilie, but I’m pretty sure it translates to something like, ‘Love is hell.’”

ADULT EXCERPT

Emilie Benson-Stephens woke up to a hand between her thighs. Not only was it there, but this hand was on the move. It had started at her knee but was now inching upward. It gave one little squeeze in the mid-thigh region, and then it scooted on up to the top. It paused, hovering, barely grazing her swollen lips. Then it settled over her pussy, cupping and lazily massaging her.

“Good morning, Grayson,” she purred in her raspy morning voice. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

He gave her pussy an affectionate squeeze but didn’t say anything, probably only half awake. He kissed the top of her shoulder from behind and then began nudging his fully erect cock between her legs.

Emilie had always been a morning person. She’d never had a problem waking up on the first blast of her alarm clock. She usually bounced out of bed and attacked her day with vigor. Once awake, her mind worked at high-functioning levels. There was never an hour or two of zombie brain like she’d witnessed in others, including her husbands.

However, despite her early-morning proclivities, after five years of marriage, she could confidently say that there was almost nothing better than waking up to a slow, leisurely bout of spooning sex.

She released a small breath as Grayson found her pussy’s entrance and sank his cock in. God, it felt like heaven. He used his middle finger to stroke gentle patterns across her clit in time to his slow-rolling thrusts. A few moments later, his hand slid up her stomach to give each breast a loving squeeze and each nipple a couple affectionate flicks.

Closing her eyes, Emilie squeezed around Grayson’s cock, trying to suck him deeper inside her sleep-warmed body. His roaming hand moved back down to her clit, possibly sensing how close she was to release. He thrust a little harder, a little deeper, using the hand on her pussy to pull her closer. He applied more pressure to her clit and picked up the pace of his rubbing.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Keep going.”

She grasped the edge of their down comforter, needing to hold on to something as warm, delicious tingles started in her toes then quickly darted up into the rest of her body. Grayson’s cock pushed even deeper inside. She could sense the strain in his body and knew he had to be close.

She moaned, wanting more somehow, but not knowing the words to convey her want. It was okay, she realized, as Grayson bit down on her shoulder and then licked her ear. Her husband was an expert at understanding her every desire. He took her hips firmly in his hands and thrust his cock inside her with a jerk. It knocked the breath out of her. Pleasure exploded through her being as Grayson continued his jabbing thrusts from behind.

She wanted to curl up into herself, to escape the onslaught, to find a bit of respite, but Grayson wouldn’t let her. He held her body close to his as he finished. A moment or two later he groaned and held himself still as cum jetted warmly inside the depths of her pussy.

They lay cuddled together for a while, Grayson kissing her every once in a while and running his hands over the ends of her dark strands. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he muttered with his face buried against the back of her neck. “Do we have to get up?”

Emilie ran her hand over the empty space in front of her where Gavin usually slept, finally realizing she could make out the faint sounds of the shower going in the bathroom. He’d gone to bed after them and gotten up before them. As far as she knew, he might not have even slept beside her.

She sighed. “He’ll be prodding us with a branding iron in a few minutes if we don’t.”

Grayson groaned in a melodramatic manner. As he pulled his cock out of her and rolled away, he groaned even more dramatically. He slung his legs over the edge of the bed and then flounced to the bathroom, groaning all the way.

Emilie had never seen a grown man flounce before. It made her giggle.

When Grayson emerged from the bathroom a few moments later, Emilie got out of bed.

“I’ll get the coffee going,” Grayson grumbled, kissing her on the cheek and then heading out the door wearing a pair of low-slung flannel pajama pants. Emilie got in one good squeeze to the right butt cheek before he was out of range.

“Hey!” He lurched away from her fingers. He had such a beautiful, firm ass, though. It just begged for a squeeze every time she looked at it.

After she’d watched him leave the room, she went into the bathroom. “Morning, mon amour,” she called over the shower’s water, letting Gavin know she was in there.

“Morning,” he answered.

Usually she hopped in after she’d taken care of her morning rituals, but Grayson’s wake-up tactic had left her feeling frisky. The past couple of times she’s suggested an early-morning romp with Gavin, he’d begged off, insisting it would throw everything off schedule. But this was Valentine’s Day, goddamn it. She would make it so that Gavin simply could not resist her advances.

After carefully laying a towel down in front of the shower, she dropped to her knees, waiting in delicious anticipation for the water to turn off.

“You getting in?” Gavin asked a moment or two later.

“In a minute. Go ahead and turn it off.”

He did. A jolt of warmth and excitement shot through her body. It seemed like hours passed before Gavin finally ripped the shower curtain back. His eyes immediately dropped down to her kneeling form. Before he had a chance to say anything, she smiled up at him and grabbed his hips.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” she said, taking his cock in her hand and then putting the end of it in her mouth.