Everyone familiar belongs to Janet. The mistakes are solely mine.
Since Olivia had better be asleep by now, I have no problems with taking extra time to love my wife the way she deserves to be. I relish the fact that she has the ability to make me lose control, but it also frustrates me because I see every time we're together like this as a way to show her just how much I love her, and that should never be rushed.
Fast and hard is good, but unhurried and thorough is my preferred way of making love to her. Not only to make her feel good, but these moments are immediate reference points if anyone tries to tell Stephanie that I'm not the husband she needs or that I don't love her with everything in me. All she has to do is picture our time together to be able to tell them all to 'fuck off' with a very satisfied smile on her face.
I didn't release my hold on her even after we both saw stars rather than the moon. I skipped the bed once again and carried my wife out onto the covered back terrace, lying her down on the chaise lounge facing the water. We realized that the moon is in full attendance, but that's the only company we have out here. I took my time undressing Stephanie and watched the moonlight reflect off the curves I wasn't already kissing and stroking, before getting as bare as she is and covering the soft skin that just flushed all over again.
Steph insisted on showering before we headed back to the hotel, not wanting the babysitters to know we were the ones up to no good tonight.
"We're adults, Babe," I pointed out, as our shower was completed.
I doubt she thought through her request since I wasn't about to let her shower alone. She wanted her hair to remain dry so there would be no evidence of our activities beyond the content smile tugging at her lips, so clearly I needed to be in the shower with her to direct the spray.
"I know," she said, "but I want our 'adult time' kept private. They'll tease us for not being able to keep our hands off each other without Olive playing chaperone. And while that is true, I think this is too special a memory to share. Thank you for providing it."
She said that around a kiss and then got back into her dinner clothes. I watched her with a content smile of my own before doing the same. She was relaxed and happy as I drove us back to our home base. The lamp is on in the living room, but the rest of the suite is dark.
"Oh, those poor guys," Steph whispered, as we stepped inside and surveyed the scene in front of us.
Not only were ALL of Olivia's toys strewn across the living room and couch, we spotted a significant addition to them ... a plush 'rocking horse' that was actually a rocking pastel butterfly. They must have been desperate ... to split the team up just to purchase a new baby-amuser that would keep our daughter occupied in one area.
Olivia also isn't in her crib in our room where she belongs. The Doughnut Darling is instead curled up on Uncle Bobby's chest with her tiny hand clutching a handful of the collar of his t-shirt. We can tell she's deeply asleep by the sound of her breathing and how her dark eyelashes are twitching as she dreams, but a battle had definitely been fought on the way to dreamland. Over the course of my military career, I've seen Soldiers sleeping on cliff edges, in foxholes, propped up against trees, under Humvees, stretched out beside fellow Soldiers of the Canine kind, or sitting straight-backed in chairs in fully lit debriefing rooms, but Cal and Bobby looked more worn out than any of the Warriors I'm picturing.
Brown's head is tipped all the way back against the couch, and his legs are splayed out at odd angles in front of him as if he'd just been pushed down and remained exactly how he landed. The arm not curled protectively around my daughter was flung across the cushion beside him like he passed out in the process of reaching for a lifeline. Cal didn't fare much better. His bald head still shows traces of having been stress-red and covered in nervous sweat, and his body is ramrod straight in the chair dragged over from the dining room table. He's positioned in a way that had me envisioning him snapping awake and firing off a few rounds any second, but his posture is the only thing alert.
"Our baby wore them both out," Steph said, right before she bent her head to kiss Olive's.
Olivia murmured a happy sound at the familiar touch and she snuggled higher and closer to her Uncle in reflex. She does the same to us. She acknowledges our attention and then immediately tries to absorb even more of it.
"I didn't think it was possible for a baby to become a scarf, but Olive's imitating one well," I replied.
That slight movement of our daughter's was all it took to get Bobby to jerk awake and immediately glance down to see if she's alright. Cal's instincts kicked in a millisecond later.
"Oh fuck," Cal said under his breath, when he saw us standing there staring at them. "We tried a bunch of times to get Olive into her crib, but she woke up every time. We figured a sleeping Angel, despite her not being in her bed, was safer for us than an awake and unhappy one."
"She's used to us getting her to sleep," Steph assured him. "It wasn't going to be a seamless switch. Maybe we shouldn't have stayed out so late."
To deflect from a partially-failed mission, Brown unwisely spoke with a teasing grin on his face. "It's too bad you were kinda late. If you'd have been here sooner, you could've caught Olive doing a full crawl before going beddy-bye," he told her.
He immediately regretted trying to mess with her when Steph's mouth dropped open as her eyes filled at the thought of having missed a special moment in our lives.
"Oh shit! I'm sorry, Steph. Fuck! I was just joking around. Our Olive Girl barely practiced her crawl. She was too busy spitting milk at me and trying to escape to find you. I swear on Lester's life that you didn't miss something like that."
My fist was about to make contact with his face for making my wife cry, but Steph instantly stopped sniffling. She wiped her eyes in dramatic fashion and let loose a smile that acted like a punch to my gut.
"You should know that you NEVER toy with a Mama by using her baby," my wife warned him. "I was fake crying. Ranger isn't the only one who can make deals with our daughter. Olive promised me that she'd save all of her showing off for when we're with her to appreciate it. No way would she crawl unless I was here to cheer her on and her Daddy was there to clear the path for her."
