How it started, Nick could not quite recall. But he was a man possessed with his desire for his wife. Jen had gained a little bit of weight in her bum when she took on desk duty after the twins were born. And some days, it was more than he could take to see her walking through the house in those figure-hugging trousers of hers. Especially if she took off her suit jacket to show off her figure with her pretty pink blouses tucked in the way she did.

Well, whatever it was, he only knew he wanted her. She'd been home later than usual, leaving Nick to give dinner to the children and take care of bathtime. Jen arrived just in time to sing them to sleep, though she hadn't changed out of her work clothes. And seeing her walking around the house like that was driving him wild.

"Fancy a beer?" she'd offered.

"I fancy you," he replied with a smirk.

Jen laughed. She had a gorgeous laugh. Gorgeous everything. "Is that so?"

He pulled her into his arms quickly, not wasting any more time on talk. He kissed her hard and squeezed that gorgeous bum of hers while she moaned into his mouth.

But Jen pulled back. "We'll be too loud," she warned.

Nick hated it, but she was right. The mood he was in, the kind of sex he wanted right now, they would absolutely be too loud. The babies were asleep upstairs. Ella could sleep like the dead, but Cody could get a bit fussy, and he'd always wake her up in the process. The last thing they needed was for them to come wandering downstairs to see what was going on. Dismayed, Nick let go of Jen and took a step back.

"Hang on, I've got an idea," she said, a wicked grin on her lovely face.

Jen grabbed the baby monitor in one hand and Nick's hand in the other. She led him out to the garage and opened the backseat door of her car. Nick realized what she was doing when she unbuckled the booster seats and left them on the ground, and he thanked god above that he'd finally gotten around to clearing the old construction equipment out of the garage so they could park the car inside; this wouldn't have worked if the car was parked out front with his old ute.

The baby monitor was tossed on the floor beside them so they could hear if there was any crying or shuffling about by their children. They were nearly three at that point, but sometimes there were nightmares or other things to interrupt the nights.

But Nick was not too concerned about the children just then. He unbuttoned just enough of Jen's shirt to pull it over her head. His mouth covered her breast through her lacy bra. She did that sometimes, wore exciting undergarments when he least expected it. Today it was pale pink lace with black stitching. Her back arched as his wet tongue and the scratching lace worked her nipples to hard peaks.

She was gasping and moaning, and Nick needed more of her. They were both working on each other's trousers, though they had to break apart to maneuver their legs out of them. The cramped space of the backseat left them fumbling and laughing until they were finally able to find bare skin. After that, there was no stopping Nick.

He lifted her legs up and over his shoulders so he could go down on her. The taste of her never failed to get him rock-hard. The moans and high-pitched gasps of hers made him throb with want. Her hips jerked against his face when he made her come the first time, lapping her up with his eager tongue. She fell back onto the seat, boneless and exhausted.

In a space like this, Nick would have normally pulled her on top to ride him where he sat. But he could tell she was too tired for it. And he wanted more control this time. He felt unhinged. Wild. He wanted to set the pace. He wanted to pound into her and make her scream when her body clenched around his cock. He wanted to thrust hard and deep and come inside her.

And Nick did just that. And thank god they were in the car with the doors closed because Jen screamed out his name as he made bruises on her thighs from where he held them tight in his clenched fingers. Her nails were digging into his shoulders so hard, she may have drawn blood. He almost hoped she did just so he could have those marks to keep her etched on his skin. That thought coupled with the pulsing pleasure of her orgasm made him come hard.

"Oh fuck, Jen, I love you," he breathed, collapsing on top of her and burying his face in her hair.

Jen did not have the strength to form words at that. She just hummed and stroked his sweaty hair.

Nick's memory of that marvelous shag in the car and moved on to something a little more recent.

The babies were turning five. Not babies anymore. Children. Nick always thought of them as the babies. Still did. But they were turning five and they'd be starting school soon. Jen seemed happy for that. She helped them get excited about primary school and making friends with other children and learning things. Nick was less enthused about his babies growing up.

But one thing that would never, ever change was their birthday. Nick would make sure their birthday was celebrated just like this for as long as he could manage it. Because both he and Jen worked and their schedules were not so predictable, they did not want to wait to celebrate till the evening. They'd have a fun dinner, of course. They'd go to the zoo or a carnival or something at the weekend. But the actual day of Cody and Ella's birthday always started the same: cake for breakfast.

Now, they were twins, of course, so they shared quite a lot. But Nick somehow got it in his head that each of his children needed their own birthday cake. So that meant that every year on some cold winter night, Nick stayed up late baking and decorating two cakes to eat for breakfast the next morning.

For their fifth birthday, Nick was going to so something extra fun. Cody loved chocolate, so he'd be getting a chocolate cake. But his favorite color was blue, so Nick added blue dye to the frosting to give him a blue chocolate cake. Ella's favorite color was purple, and she liked vanilla cake. So he kept the frosting white but dyed the batter purple for her. Nick had a feeling that they'd be over the moon excited to see their cakes when they woke up.

Jennifer, god love her, was absolutely useless when it came to the baking. She was a good cook, and she and Nick both made meals equally for the family. But she could not bake. Nick loved to bake. And he took pride in his bakes. Every so often, however, she decided to take the piss while he was trying so earnestly to get everything just right.

"You're focusing rather intently on that batter, Buchanan," she teased.

"Not every day our children turn five."

"I think they're still young enough that they will barely remember this birthday versus the last," she pointed out.

Nick chuckled, knowing she was probably right. "But wouldn't it be fun if this was the one that always stood out to them? The year Cody got blue frosting and chocolate crumbs all over his face and Ella watched you cut into her white cake to see it purple inside?"

Jen hopped up to sit on the counter beside where Nick was greasing cake tins. "You're the sweetest man alive, you know that?"

He shrugged. "I just want them to have a good birthday."

"And they will," Jen assured him. "They've got the best dad in the world baking them cakes instead of making love to their mum."

Nick nearly gave himself whiplash turning his head toward her so quick. "Sorry?"

"You heard me. Get those in the oven and then take your trousers off," she instructed.

It struck him in that moment that his love for that woman might never reach its height; he loved her more and more every single day.

As quick as he could, Nick put the four cake tins—two Cody's chocolate cake and two for Ella's purple cake—in the oven. He set the timer and then pulled Jen off the counter so quick she yelped in surprise. But he muffled her noises with his kiss. Her hands were already undoing his trousers and reaching inside. He'd barely begun an erection, but her hand pumping him like that certainly helped.

"I want you, Nick," she begged against his lips. "I want you to fuck me right here in the kitchen."

And who was he to refuse his wife? Nick walked her forward till her back hit the fridge. Her hand was still wrapped around his cock, but he was very nearly hard by now. His hands were up her blouse, squeezing her breasts in the way that made her whimper with pleasure.

They made quick work of their clothes, only taking off what was necessary to do the deed. Nick lifted Jen's bare leg to hook over his hip as his fingers teased her to readiness. She was already wet, but he couldn't resist the way she hissed when two of his long fingers slipped inside her. "Oh god, Nick," she breathed.

His fingers were quickly replaced by his cock. He thrust inside her, deep but steady. And time seemed to stand still. It always happened that way, that nothing else in the universe ever mattered when Nick was buried to the hilt inside Jennifer. "Yes, Jen," he growled, moving slightly faster as he felt her flutter around him. "Come for me."

Jen's hand found its way to where their bodies were joined and she rubbed herself frantically so she could finish. A bone-deep sound escaped from the back of her throat, inspiring him to speed up to follow her over the edge.

DING!

"Shit, Jen," he grunted. The timer on the cakes went off and he had to get them out of the oven before they dried out.

But Jen would not let go of him. "Don't stop, Nick," she commanded. And he didn't. He thrust inside her till he came with a grunt of satisfaction. He slowed and stilled, resting his head against her shoulder.

The smell of burning interrupted his recovery. "Bloody cakes!"

When the children got out of bed the next morning and ran downstairs to see their birthday breakfast cakes, they were delighted beyond belief. They both ate the dried, slightly burned cakes and did not notice anything wrong. Though, as Jen reminded him, they were five, so what did they know?

A year and a half later, the memory of Jennifer laughing as he shoved his hands into oven mitts made him smile. She still teased him about the dangers of opening an oven without his pants. But there was nothing for it, was there? He'd do anything for his babies, to give them a happy birthday. And he'd do anything for his wife, no matter what. The very though of it made him beam with pride. At least he thought it did. Was he smiling? He was meant to be smiling. But in his current state, he could not quite tell.