31 Days of Autumn (20 page)

‘Hey, hey, he’ll be fine. He’ll be so busy he
won’t have time to miss us,’ Dan murmured as he kissed the top of my head.

‘He’s just a baby,’ I moaned between gasps for
air.

‘He’s four now, Ellie. It will do him good to
have some children of his own age to play with. It will be you that will be
upset all day until you see him later, which is why I planned for us to spend
it together, to take your mind off it.’

‘I’m sorry, I feel so pathetic,’ I sniffed,
trying to dry my eyes on the monogrammed handkerchief he’d handed to me.

‘You’re not pathetic, you’re just a concerned
mother, like every other mother of a four year old across the country today.
I’ll miss him, too. Who else will do their best to copy my Chinese when I’m in
the middle of a conference call? Or climb on my lap for a cuddle while I’m on a
video conference?’

‘Jonas soon,’ I smiled, drying my tears. ‘We
may have to put you back down in the cinema room to give you some peace and
quiet.’

‘I sort of like the distraction, especially
when you wander through in your sexy underwear,’ he teased as he put his arm
around me and we started heading for the exit. Andy quickly strode ahead, with
Jenny bringing up the rear.

‘Can we talk?’ I tested. Andy seemed more
focussed than normal.

‘Isn’t that what we’re doing?’ Dan replied,
kissing my temple.

‘What’s going on? And don’t say nothing. Has
there been a threat against you?’

‘Ellie,’ he sighed, his body tensing in an
instant.

‘Dan, don’t you dare lie to me,’ I warned,
shooting him my best stern look. ‘If you, or any of our family, are in danger,
I need to know.’

‘We’ll talk over lunch, I promise. For now, can
we just enjoy our morning? I’m even prepared to return to the Christmas shop to
get supplies for Ollie’s upgraded bedroom.’ He gave me his best pleading look,
so I reluctantly nodded, but so help me God, if he didn’t open up at lunchtime,
he was going to know about it.

‘We haven’t been to the Christmas shop together
since that first winter, when you molested me in the car.’

‘Molested you?’ he laughed, looking left and
right as we exited the school gates and made our way back to the Range Rover.
‘You’d been looking at me all morning with your “
Please kiss me, Dan,
”
face on. I was only giving you what you wanted.’

‘It must have been such a chore for you,’ I
responded with a roll of my eyes. As Andy checked the car, Dan pulled up and
clasped my face, angling it up to his. My breath hitched as I looked up at him.
His green eyes had such depth of emotion and his lips … I wanted him to kiss me
again, and he could probably read that all over my face.

‘You were never a chore. A pain in my arse, a
delicious temptation, a woman born to test my patience and my sexual urges, but
never a chore. I fell in love with you that winter, Ellie. There’s been no one
since and there never will be.’

‘Nor for me,’ I whispered. I clutched his
powerful biceps as he dipped his head, his lips warm and soft against mine.
They were a total contrast to his firm and demanding tongue as it sank into my
mouth. My fingers found their way into his hair as one of his hands grasped my
bottom, the other holding the nape of my neck. We lost ourselves for a moment,
forgetting where we were. All of my fears suddenly melted away. He’d always
made me feel so safe. I blinked a few times, in a slight daze, when he broke
the kiss.

‘Still as tempting as ever, but we have an
audience,’ he chuckled, an amused smile spreading across his face. I looked
around and blushed to see a group of mums staring at us and whispering.

‘I don’t think it’s me that’s the temptation,’
I observed, feeling proud that he was my husband.

‘Wait until some of the dads turn up for the
school run. I’ll have to send the entire security team to keep you safe,’ he
smiled, offering me his hand as Andy held the back door of the car open for me
to get in. I squealed and giggled when Dan slapped my backside as I climbed in.
He sat beside me and linked his fingers with mine, squeezing tightly.

‘What I wouldn’t give for the privacy of the
limo right now,’ he groaned.

‘You and me both,’ I agreed. I cast one last
look over at the school, making a silent prayer that Oliver would be ok as I
swallowed the ball of emotion threatening to overcome me.

‘He’ll be fine,’ Dan advised. ‘Kiss me, that will
distract you.’

Dan

I ordered coffee as our dessert plates were
cleared away, quickly looking over at Andy and Jenny, who were seated at
another table at a discreet distance, eating while they observed us. I’d filled
Ellie in on the fact that I thought I’d been watched in London for some time,
but didn’t mention any of my suspicions as to who it might be. She only needed
to know that it was under control. The more information I gave her, the more
likely she was to worry about it. It was my job to worry, mine and the team’s,
Ellie’s was to be as relaxed and happy as possible so our children felt the
same. It was my job to shelter them from any of the stresses that came with my
work, and I’d not done a great job of that last year. I needed to make more of
an effort moving forwards. She seemed satisfied with my explanation, trusting
that I had it all under control, but I was sure that she’d be on edge until we
picked Ollie up and she was reassured that he’d been ok.

I checked my watch. It was already two-thirty,
we’d be picking him up in less than an hour. We’d spent most of the morning in
the Christmas shop, Andy and I exchanging a silent look of disbelief at Ellie
and Jenny’s excitement as they shopped for Oliver’s bedroom and some new
supplies for our house, the security team’s quarters, and the boathouse. I’d
been far more interested in watching my wife. We’d not had sex since the other night
and I’d been fit to burst as I’d checked her out. I looked at her again as she
sipped some of her sparkling water. Her figure was incredible, she’d put most
women who hadn’t had children to shame. I wanted some quality alone time with
her so I could savour her. I wanted to watch her hands caress her toned body,
play with her nipples and clit as she imagined it was me touching her. I wanted
to bury my face between her legs, to watch her on her knees with my cock in her
mouth, then make love to her. It was the only time I wanted her to cry. I loved
that she got so emotional as she came.

‘What?’ she asked, catching my gaze.

‘Just enjoying some pretty indecent thoughts
right now,’ I smirked.

‘Pervert,’ she muttered with a smile.

‘How about we have an early night once the
children are in bed?’

‘I am pretty tired, it would be great to curl
up and doze off straight away,’ she nodded, giving me a teasing wink.

‘If you think I’ll be letting you sleep for the
first few hours, dream on.’

‘I hope that’s a promise and not a threat?’

‘Sexually, have I ever let you down?’ I raised
a questioning eyebrow as she blushed and bit her lower lip.

‘Only that first winter when you made me wait
for you for so long.’

‘I had self-restraint then, but I used it all
up that twelve months we were apart. Don’t expect me to show any in the
future.’

‘I’d consider divorce if you did,’ she laughed.
I reached over the table and took her hand. How the fuck had a guy like me
landed a woman this incredible? ‘Love face,’ she whispered.

‘Wrapped in a whole load of lust,’ I nodded,
raising her hand to my lips and kissing each pad of her fingers. ‘We’ll be
stopping at the lingerie shop before we go and pick up our son.’

‘Thank you for distracting me. I’ve still
missed him, Jonas and Eva too, but you’ve made it bearable.’

‘I’ve missed them all, too. I think Eva’s on
the verge of walking for real, I’d hate to miss that.’ I looked up and thanked
the waitress for our coffees as she placed them on the table, ignoring her
batting her eyelids at me. It frustrated the hell out of me. I was sitting with
another woman, a woman who was wearing my bloody wedding ring no less, did these
women have no self-respect? Luckily Ellie handled it a lot better than I did. I
think it amused her, whereas I wanted to rip other men’s throats out when they
did the same. Then it made me want to fuck her, to remind her how good we were,
just in case. Her love for me was written all over her face, and in her
actions, but I hadn’t been easy to live with these last few years. My defence
project was nearing completion. We were still in beta on the prototype,
gathering information and tweaking to ensure reliability. Another few months
and we could hand it off. Not that there wouldn’t be other projects to occupy
my time, but none were likely to be as important, or stressful, as this one. I
hated not being able to share the details with Ellie.

‘I just know her first steps will be towards
you,’ she smiled, startling me from my thoughts. ‘She loves you so much.’

‘I have a way with women, without even trying,’
I winked.

‘A way with Davenport women.’

‘Come on, drink your coffee,’ I ordered. ‘The
sooner we finish shopping, the sooner we can be waiting for my boy. I’d like to
get home and have a quiet family night, then some quality wife time.’

Walking around the lingerie shop and choosing
items for Ellie was torture, especially when she picked up a few sexy night-time
baby dolls and negligees. Knowing she was trying them on, with just a curtain
separating us, nearly had me paying to close the shop so I could join her in
the cubicle, to hell with the shop assistant listening to our pants and
screams. If we didn’t have to pick up Oliver shortly, I’d have bloody done it.
I’d thought my desire for her would wane over the years. I never imagined it
was possible to want the same person after so long, but if anything, my need
for her grew with each day. Sometimes, when she was busy with the children, I’d
just sit and stare at her. I was so damn lucky.

‘Sorted?’ I asked when she threw back the
curtain, items draped over her arm. My voice was gruff from sitting, waiting,
imagining.

‘Please try not to rip all of these off, they’re
so pretty.’

‘You should know me well enough by now to
realise that I can’t make a promise like that, Ellie.’

‘Hold my handbag,’ she gasped, thrusting it at
me. ‘You have a huge bulge in your jeans.’

‘I’d rather be seen with a bloody erection than
a green handbag, thank you very much,’ I scoffed.

‘You’ll give the sales assistant a heart
attack. She was flustered enough looking at you before.’

‘I’m bloody flustered from imagining you naked,
or in various items of skimpy fucking clothes,’ I muttered.

‘Honestly, your self-control is useless,’ she
giggled, craning her neck to offer me a kiss. I took it, crushing her to me as
I took out some of my frustration on her mouth. To hell with the sales
assistant, I spent a bloody fortune in here. If she dared say anything, I could
soon take my business elsewhere. ‘And now mine is, too,’ she gasped, breaking
away from me. ‘We need to go now, before I drag you in that cubicle and relieve
my own tension. Oliver will be out any minute.’

‘Do you ever imagine how much better our sex
life could have been if we’d had a few years before we had our children?’

‘I did once, but I realised I’d never have been
able to keep up with you and we’d probably have parted before my vagina
suffered from spontaneous friction combustion,’ she grinned. ‘Those children
saved our relationship.’

‘Don’t forget Brooke, our foul-mouthed, short-tempered,
fairy godmother,’ I reminded her, as I placed a hand in the small of her back
and steered her towards the till. ‘How’s she doing?’

‘Great now and you’re a big part of that. The
specialist you referred her to has been amazing. She’s got her head around her
new diet and even says she feels better for not drinking anymore. I must ring
her and the rest of our family and friends. We need to sort out arrangements
for Eva’s first birthday party next month.’

‘I think it would be easier in London. I’d like
James and his wife to come as well and she’s not a fan of flying.’ I pulled out
my wallet and handed my card over to the assistant.

‘Neither is Mrs. McAdams,’ she reminded me.

‘I’ll send the limo for them. It’s their
fiftieth wedding anniversary in November. I’d like to put them up at The
Domville for a long weekend as an early celebration, and book them in for a
show and a trip on the London Eye. I owe Pete and Conn a thank you as well, for
all the work they’ve done for me over the years. They could come down with
their wives, too. We could tie in their visit with Eva’s birthday. What?’ I
asked, as Ellie looked up at me and shook her head.

‘You, you have no idea what a big heart you
have, Oliver Daniel Davenport,’ she replied, kissing my cheek.

‘Only because I met you.’

‘No, it was there all the time, you’d just
built a wall around it and needed me to remind you.’