“Wake up, baby.”

I groaned as I pulled the blanket up over my head. I heard a chuckle and then the sounds of the drapes being opened. You’ve got to be kidding me. This was supposed to be my day, according to him. He was the one who wanted to celebrate it. I didn’t want to do anything.

I felt the blanket being moved off of me and Grayson’s warm body covering mine. “Happy Birthday, baby.”

I sighed, mumbling something incoherently. I wasn’t even going to acknowledge it. He knew damn well I hated my birthday, but he insisted we celebrate it this year. Of course, his idea of insisting was demanding. Then, the bastard threw in the whole “but it’s your first birthday with Flick.” He just had to use the Emersyn card.

I finally turned to face him. He was grinning down at me with an amused look on his face. Before I could say anything, he seared his lips against mine. His hands started roaming up, as he teased a nipple.

I moaned. “You know, using sex isn’t going to make me participate in whatever activities you have planned, so you might as well cancel them.” I moved to get out from under him, but he pressed his weight further on me.

“Now, that’s not very nice is it, Mrs. Mandrake? You know just as well as I do that sex gets you to do anything.” I feigned shock as he started laughing at my attempts to push him off of me, which resulted in him rolling us over, until I was on top.

I gave him my sternest look. He, in turn, tried not to smile. “Grayson. I’ve told you a million times, I don’t celebrate my birthday, and I’m not going to start. Now, some of us have to get ready for work.”

I started to move off of him, and his arm gripped around my waist. “Office is closed today.”

I looked at him startled. “Closed? Why, did something happen?”

He nodded, as he sat us both up on the bed. “Yeah, something major did happen.”

I started thinking what it could’ve been. “Was there a leak or something? A fire? Did anyone get hurt? Was Chace there?” I felt myself starting to panic and looked around for my phone.

Grayson, grabbed my arms, holding me still. “No one was hurt, the building is fine, no damage to the infrastructure.”

I stared at him confused. “Then, why is it closed?”

He slightly shrugged, as he reached for my camisole lifting it over my head. He leaned forward tracing his tongue around my nipple that was now fully hard. “It’s a holiday,” he said between sucking.

I gasped, as he bit down. Then, the undeniable sound of yet another pair of lace panties being ripped off. His hand trickled down to my core.

“You’re a little wet, love.” I felt my cheeks flush. “Not wet enough for my liking, though.” His voice was low, as he traced lightly over my clit.

I attempted to act unaffected. “So, um…what holiday? Labor Day was last week, right?”

He nodded, not taking his eyes off my pussy. It was starting to bother me that he was watching me so closely. I moved my hand to cover myself, but he grabbed my wrist and slowly looked up at me.

His eyes narrowed. “Are you covering up what’s mine?” He took that moment to plunge two fingers knuckle deep, and I gasped.

“I asked you a question, Emmalin.”

I tried focusing on my breathing as I looked back down to him. My hips were trying to move, in the subtlest way, as I was trying not to admit, that yes, I wanted to fuck your fingers right now.

“I am.” He raised a brow. “I mean…I was. I was trying to cover myself.”

He held my gaze as he alternated between slow and agonizingly slow with his thumb on my clit. With his other arm around me, he shifted me closer. “Well that just won’t do now, will it? Tell me why?”

I whimpered as a third finger joined the others, and the flicking of my clit grew stronger. A moan escaped my mouth and I bit my bottom lip, trying to keep everything at bay. “Because,” was all I could whisper out.

I screamed out as the fourth finger joined the rest. I could hear the squelching sounds, I was making. If I wasn’t that wet before, I was now. “Because I’m yours.”

“And?” His hand twisted slightly, and I tensed. Tears starting in my eyes. Not from the pain. But, because he knew I was holding back, and the slightest touch would send me falling over.

“Because my body is yours,” I rushed out. “Everything of me is yours.” I was taking shallow breaths, since breathing made me want to grind on his hand.

He looked back down at my pussy. By now, I didn’t give a fuck if he had a marching band in here. I just wanted to come. I saw him slowly grin, before he peered back up at me. “Well, that is a sight to see, Mrs. Mandrake. I almost have my whole hand in you, and you are so fucking wet, you’re practically making a puddle.

I shut my eyes. “Please.”

I felt his fingers widen, and a hard flick on my clit, and I felt myself lean forward as wave after wave came crashing over me. I bit into his shoulder to muffle my screams.

He groaned. “Shit baby, I need to feel this.”

Before, I could register anything, Grayson was sliding his cock into me, and held himself deep, as I fluttered around him. He held me tight against him, moving in slowly, going as deep as he could. “That’s it, baby. That is fucking it.”

I moaned as he picked up the pace, trailed one hand down, and started circling my clit. I gasped, as he held me tight with one arm, as he dragged out my pleasure, all the while chasing his. “Fuck!” He bit my shoulder to help muffle his scream, as he finished pumping his release. We took a few moments to catch our breaths. “Damn, that is always my favorite place to be.” I laid against him, his hands caressing my back. “If I didn’t think so myself, I would say you’re starting your birthday off quite spectacularly.”

I smiled against his chest. “If they’re anything like this, then yeah. By all means.” I peered up at him. “I wish you were home more.”

His expression changed, as he ran his fingers thru his hair. He sighed. “I know, me too. Trust me, I would give anything to be here with you two more. But once this deal is closed, the three of us will go on a month-long vacation. I promise, our own island.”

I tried not to let his empty promises get to me. We both worked, yes. Then I had the idea that I wanted to go to school. That didn’t go over well at first.

“As in school school?”

I rolled my eyes and nodded. “Yes. I always wanted to go to college, and never did, because I couldn’t afford it. And it’ll look good on my resume, to show that I actually have a degree for the accounting work I do.”

Grayson crossed his arms as he narrowed his eyes. “You don’t even need a resume, you also don’t need to work.”

“But you work,” I countered.

“That’s different. It’s my company, Emmalin.”

“Well, it’s half mine, now isn’t it? You made me sign the papers for it.”

He paused. I had him there. I sidled up next to him. “Grayson, it’s just a few classes a semester. You’ll barely notice.”

He sighed, as he ran his hand through his hair. “I’m not going to be the jerk that denies someone an education.”

I squealed, practically jumping in his arms. “This is going to be great!” I sat him down on the couch as I pulled out the folded piece of paper from my back pocket. His tilted his brow but didn’t say anything. “I’ve already preregistered, classes start in two weeks, and don’t worry I have it planned around work.” I watched as he looked down at my schedule, and his expression grew more blank.

“The campus is really huge, so I hope I don’t get lost on day one, that would be embarrassing…”

“Stop.” He held his hand up. “These aren’t online classes?”

I slowly shook my head. He looked mad. Real mad. “No, they’re on campus.”

He held up the paper. “These are nine credit hours.” He said it as if I didn’t already know. “That’s full time. You’re planning to work full-time, school full-time, and still have time for Flick and me?”

Suddenly the excitement I had before quickly dwindled. I had given up enough time with the charity organization now. Ever since Grayson had me head his charity organization, the work was demanding, but worth it, just seeing the smiles on the children’s faces, as well as their parents. Our goal was to help families, spend as much time with their sick children. We try to help in any way we can by assisting with hospital bills. The sad part is, a lot of the children never make it home. I couldn’t let that go and do school and be a full-time mom. I stared down at the paper in his hands.

“Maybe, I can cut it down to six hours.”

He frowned as he shook his head. “Everything is spaced out, Emmalin. I’m not comfortable with you being around thousands of people I know nothing about, I’ll need to hire more security– “

I snatched the paper out of his hands and stood up facing him. “You don’t need to do anything, Grayson! I can take care of myself. I don’t need you to assign me a security detail to ease your insecurities.”

He stood up, towering over me, hands clenched. “My insecurities? Need I remind you, you were kidnapped and almost killed?”

“No Grayson, you don’t need to remind me. I have the scars to prove it. Literally.” My voice was low and wavered slightly, but I tried to keep it strong. “He’s dead, and I’m fine.” I shut my eyes, as I placed my hand on his chest. His breathing calmed briefly. “You can’t always protect me, Grayson.”

His hand went over mine. “Yes, I can. And I will.”

I sighed. There was no point in arguing with him. This was the problem with our relationship and now our marriage - everything was Grayson’s way or no way.

Since having Emersyn, I cut back. Grayson, on the other hand, seemed to triple his load. I tangled my fingers in his hair. “It’s okay, I know you work hard. I just, sometimes miss you, and…”

“Sometimes?”

I smiled. “All the time.” I didn’t want to turn into one of those clingy spouses. “Besides, at least I see you. There are men and women who are deployed, and they’re gone for months, so I honestly, don’t know why it even bothers me.”

He leaned his forehead against mine. “Just a little more time, okay?”

At that moment, Emersyn took that opportunity to let us know she was up by uttering “mama.” I sighed and started to get off of Grayson. He held me still and rolled me back on the bed. “I got her. I need her help making your birthday breakfast. Let me clean up really quick first.”

Right as he reached the door, I remembered our original conversation. “Hey! What holiday?”

He turned slightly toward me and grinned. “Your birthday.” Before I could say anything, he was out the room.

I shook my head, leaning back against the pillow. Only Grayson would give his entire staff off for my stupid birthday.

Ten minutes later, after a quick shower, I joined them in the kitchen. Grayson held Emersyn on his hip as he instructed her when to flip the pancakes. I leaned against the doorframe just watching them. The cute part was Emersyn actually looked like she was interested in knowing when to flip the pancakes.

Grayson has struggled with being at work so much. He missed out on a few milestones with Emersyn:

“Should we watch something appropriate for her until she falls asleep, or wait a little while longer?”

Grayson looked to me then to the now empty spot next to me where Emersyn was sitting. His brow crinkled, and at that moment, Emersyn semi-gracefully walked in front of him. Grayson’s eyes darted to mine. “She can walk?!” He bent down to her level, as she wobbled a bit, before steadying herself on the table.

“Yeah, she started a few days ago. I thought I told you.”

“No, you didn’t. I’m pretty sure I would’ve remembered my own daughter taking her first steps.” He sighed. “Did you at least record it?”

I slowly shook my head. “It happened so fast, I didn’t think about it. I was just really excited at the time.”

I watched as he scooped her up in his arms, giving her kisses, as a flash of disappointment crossed over his face.

Ever since then, I have felt horrible. The expression on his face was a mixture of sadness and anger. But most of all, it was the first time I’d ever seen Grayson look defeated.

“And now we drop the blueberries in and put a little batter on top. Just enough to cover it, that way they won’t burn.”

Emersyn squealed. She looked over at me, holding her arms out. Grayson, turned to face me. He whispered to Emersyn. “Flick, today is Mama’s birthday.”

Emersyn’s eyes lit up. “Mama.”

“We’re working on her saying Dada. So far I’ve gotten a Zaza.” He laid a kiss on top of her head as he handed her to me to put in her high chair. Emersyn was all Grayson. From the dark hair to those piercing blue eyes. Even with those features, everyone thought she looked more like me.

Grayson set her baby oatmeal on the table while I grabbed plates but promptly took them from me.

“Sit down! It’s your birthday.”

I rolled my eyes as I made my way to my chair. “Don’t think I didn’t see that,” Grayson whispers to me as he sits down.

I smiled. “I’ll be eagerly waiting my punishment.”

He placed some pancakes on my plate. “Saucy minx.”

After a few bites, I set my fork down. Grayson looked at my plate. “You didn’t even eat half of one.”

I took a deep breath. “I know, I’m just not that hungry.”

His furrowed his brow. “You feeling okay? I know you said sometimes you forget to eat, taking care of Flick, which I meant to talk to you about that. You’re losing weight again. I don’t like you forgetting to eat, since your blood sugars are crashing.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but he stopped me. “I think it’ll be a good idea, to hire a nanny.”

My mouth dropped. “A nanny! We are not hiring a nanny, Grayson. We don’t need one.”

“Emmalin, hear me out. They’ll just be here to help. We don’t even have to start them off full-time. We’ll do a test run.”

I glanced over at Emersyn, who was playing in the mashed-up pancake we gave her. I felt myself starting to tear up. I went from not even caring I was pregnant to finally starting to care, only to almost lose her from a careless fall. He wants a nanny, because he doesn’t think I’m capable of taking care of her like a mother should. I can’t even be a good mom to her, because I don’t know how.

“Emmalin.” I looked at Grayson, as he placed his hand on my arm.

I swallowed back my tears. “Fine. Whatever you decide.”

He gently squeezed my hand. “I want us both to decide.”

I stood up, taking my plate to the trash and dump the uneaten food. “Well, it sounds to me like you’ve already made the decision. So, we both don’t need to do anything. I just live here.”

“Emmalin!”

I ignored him as I left the kitchen. Grabbing my keys off the side table, I went straight to the elevator. By the time he came out the kitchen, the door was just shutting. Good.