Brinna

TWENTY YEARS LATER

“You look beautiful.”  Ace slides up behind me as I fuss with my dress, looking in the mirror as I try to decide if I need a tummy tuck, a breast lift or a full body something-or-other.  “More beautiful than the day I met you if that’s even possible.”

“Sure,” I mock.  “You with your man face that ages like a two-hundred-year-old bottle of Scotch.  You get better looking every year.  Don’t think for a second I don’t notice girls half my age looking at your crotch like it’s the damn Holy Grail.”

He wraps his arms around my waist, and I twist and try to slap them away, but as usual, he’s having none of it.

“You’re never too old to be a brat. And I’m sure you understand by now, after twenty years of marriage and a quarter century of knowing you, that I can tame that brat no problem.  You’re never going to be too old for me to bend you over my knee and ripen that ass of yours.  I’m still your Daddy, and I’ll do what you need done, and right now it’s very damn likely what you need is an over the knee spanking.”

“Whatever, big man.”  I’m annoyed.  Not at him, but at time.

Both the girls left for college yesterday.  Yale.  We dropped them off and flew back home with me crying into Ace’s shoulder the entire way. 

Today I just feel old. 

Useless. 

I had the twins after the miracle of conceiving them and was never able to get pregnant again.  Ace was the best father.  I stayed home, and our family was—and is—my life.

He’s also the best husband.  He’s built his own empire in real estate just like his sister and still never missed a soccer game for Miriam or a ballet performance for Emily.

Today, I just feel like I’m disappearing, and even though I love Ace as much today as I ever have, he’s taking the brunt of my self-pity.

“Just go find yourself two girls half my age and put me out of my misery.”  I pout, knowing I’m being mean and Ace would never look at another woman.

“Alright, my little lamb.  Daddy knows best.”

I yelp in protest, but he’s got me around the waist, tugging me to the large armchair under the windows of our bedroom.  Before I can take my next squealing breath, my dress is up around my waist, and I’m secured over his knees.

I kick and squirm but I know I’m not going anywhere.  It’s not the iron-clad grip Ace has on the back of my hair that does it.

It’s not that he outweighs me by three times either.

It’s not that I know he could kill someone with a single hand.

It’s that I’ve learned many things in the last twenty years with my husband.

One big one is that the vast majority of the time, he really does know what I need.

Even when it’s not what I want.

The first stinging slap on my bare behind sends red flashes sparking into my vision, and I squeeze my eyes shut, knowing the next strikes are close behind.

I surrender to the moment.

To the sensations.

Ace brings his hand down, over and over.  Alternating the placement of each slap with a precision I’ve come to trust and admire.  He knows how to give me exactly the right amount of pain, pushing me until I don’t think I can take another swat.  Then he moves the location of the connection, igniting a warmth and desire that to this day I could not explain to anyone.

“Who do you belong to?” he demands, laying a full palm on my heated flesh, digging his fingernails into the sore skin.

“You.”  The simplest answer is the best, I’ve also learned.  Tears edge over my lower lids and a wash of relief floods my entire being.

“That’s right. And do I take care of what’s mine?”

I nod, letting the sobs take me now as Ace’s arms shift and he pulls my dress down, sitting me up and gathering me into his lap in a warm embrace.

“That’s right.  My babygirl.  My lamb.  My love.  My life.  Now tell me, what’s the problem?  It’s not me, I know that.  Remember, it’s you and me versus the problem—never you and me versus each other.”

I bury my face into the nape of his neck, drawing in his spicy, natural scent and feeling the protective, nurturing side of him pinch my heart.

“I’m old.  I’m useless.”

“Baby.”  His embrace tightens as he starts to rock me back and forth.  “You are the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.  You still make Daddy’s dick as hard as your underage sixteen-year-old self did all those years ago.  Harder in fact.  And you’ll figure out what you want to do next.  I still need you. The girls still need you.  But you can do anything you want.  And I’ll never stop wanting you.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“Oh really?”  His voice thickens, and he takes my hand, shifts me forward and places it on his crotch.  “What’s that?”

An enormous erection is pushing out on the front of his trousers.

“A boner.”  I can’t help but giggle at the word.

He lets my hand go and shoves his up my dress, straight into my drenched pussy. “And this?”  He flicks at my clit, making me draw a sharp breath.  “This cunt is apparently as interested in me as it always has been.  You do know I’ve aged right along with you, Lamb?  I’ve changed.  And do you look at me and see an old man?  Not want me anymore?”

I shake my head.  “No.  If anything, I want you more than ever.”

“See?”  He widens his eyes and pushes a finger inside me.  “Same with me.”

My ass throbs and the welts from his hand make it feel like it’s been baking in the oven.

“Spread your legs,” he orders, and I comply immediately. 

He has two fingers inside me now. Relentless. Holding me up with his other hand at the back of my neck. Pounding in and out of me until I’m gasping and pleading.  His fingers are magic, and within a minute I’m at the edge.

“Please, please, please, Daddy.  Now.  Now—”

I wait for him to set me free.  He’s making me suffer a bit, and it’s deserved.

“Oh, you want to cum?  My Lamb wants to cum, huh?  Beg.  Beg some more.”

“Daddy—”  The pained word is met with Ace’s fingers curling inside of me, pressing on the button only he can push.  “God damn it, Daddy, I said please! Please.”  My voice cracks.  “Please—”

He relents on a smile. “Now, babygirl.  Now.”

The orgasm sends me gushing onto his hand.  Lights spark in my vision and a sound tears from my throat, leaving me raw and trembling.  The orgasms lap over one another until I’m uttering the one word that means the most to me in the world.

“Daddy! Daddy!”  My hands grip the back of Ace’s neck as my thighs shake and liquid arousal soaks my dress, along with his pants and probably the chair where we sit as well.

“Oh, now you remember who I am.”

“You’ve always been Daddy to me.  Remember that first day we met?  I called you Daddy that day.”

“I remember.  Fuck, I remember.  You were trying to kill me right then and there.  The irony is, that day I was fairly sure I wanted to die.  Well, I wasn’t exactly sure I wanted to live, I guess is a better way of putting it. Then, that door opened, and everything changed.  You nearly killed me, but I decided I wanted to live.  I felt alive.  I have you to thank for that, my lamb.  You changed everything for me.  Still, do.  So please, for the love of all things holy, just stop with the getting old crap.  Okay?”

I sigh, knowing he’s right. Self-pity has never worn well on me.  “Okay.”

“Great.  Now, that’s settled.  You need a new dress.  We’re going to be late.”

Ace has a special night planned.  Dinner, dancing, and then a suite at the Royal Park Hotel.

“Daddy?” I run my fingers through his beard, turning his face to mine. 

“Yes, baby?”

“What if I hadn’t asked you that night what else you wanted for your birthday?  What would have happened?”

He takes a long breath and holds onto it until he closes his eyes for a moment and lets it go, slowly releasing the tension.

“I’m not sure.  But the one thing I do know is this: I would have never let you go.  Kiss goodnight or not, you belonged to me, and we were destined to be together.”

“Twenty years later, we would still be celebrating your birthday and our other anniversary.  Scratching lottery tickets and wondering who was going to make the first move.”

“Let’s just say, I would have pressed the issue sooner or later.  It was just perfect how it began.  How every day I wake up and wonder how a fuck like me got so lucky.  To be allowed to kiss you goodnight every night...wake up next to you, fucking miracle, babygirl. You are my miracle. You are still my sweet, little girl.”

I flatten my hand on his chest tapping it lightly over his heart. “And you are my Daddy.”  I push up and give him a peck on the nose then add, “I think, maybe, I’ll adopt a hedgehog.  Maybe start that hedgehog rescue.  People are idiots, right?  They get a pet then think they are disposable.  We have the space, the money...I can build a giant habitat. Give them a better life. Offer anyone who wants to rehome one free transport to get them here somehow, and I’ll take it from there.  Is that stupid?”  I scrunch up my face wondering if I’m being a child.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day, Lamb.  Tomorrow, we will start planning.  A website, an enclosure. Whatever you need. We can convert the old barn.”

My cheeks warm and he never fails to astonish me.

“Thank you, Daddy.  I love you more than the sky loves the sea.”

His lips are on my forehead, then he looks down into my face.  Those eyes that look like polished turquoise taking my breath away.

He rubs a finger down my nose then presses it to my lips. “You are my world babygirl.  My fucking world.”

With that, we are up, and he picks out a new dress for me and helps me change.  We hold hands and are on our way out into the night.  Even now, twenty years into our marriage, every night Ace comes to me, puts his hands on my cheeks, and I know exactly what’s coming.

Kiss me goodnight, he says, and I know all is right with the world.