Sam left this morning, and I’ve been exhausted by the past two days. We crammed in a week’s worth of meetings into two days because I needed Sam present. I go back to bed after he leaves, and don’t see Laura and Bella in the room. They must have gotten up and left while I was out. It’s late afternoon; they should be back soon. Laura usually starts getting Bella ready for bed by six-thirty.

I haven’t seen much of them in the past two days, actually. I saw them at night when I came home, and I saw them early in the morning when I was leaving—sleeping both times. I know Laura said she was on her cycle but I think it’s over by now. If there’s one thing that the agreement left out, it’s that I still want to hold her at night, even if we aren’t going to be intimate. That seems like more of a gray area, and I don’t want to be an asshole and insist on it. She doesn’t seem like she’s in the mood to talk much, but it’s possible that’s my imagination. It’s likely because we haven’t seen much of each other that I’m thinking this way.

I’m relieved when I hear the door opening. Bella comes in first and throws herself on the bed where I’m lying down.

“Daddy! You’re here!”

“Yes, pumpkin.” I kiss her forehead. “Did you two do some shopping?” I see a few bags in Laura’s hand, and one new accessory dangling from Bella’s wrist.

“Yes! I got some new dresses, and Laura said we can match next time we go out,” Bella tells me proudly. “I got you something, too!” She leaps off the bed and fishes into the bags until she finds what she’s looking for.

“Here!” She thrusts a tie at me, and I smile.

“Thanks, Bella,” I say, kissing her on her forehead. “I’ll wear it to my next meeting, and I’ll think of you.”

“Do you have any more meetings today?” Laura asks from behind me.

“Oh, no, not today. I had one scheduled later, but it got canceled.”

“Why?”

“I have to meet Adriana for an early dinner, and then I have some work to do. Can you put Bella to bed?” Laura asks while putting her earrings in. She looks flushed, and I want to tell her that it’s the last thing I want to do, and I can think of one thing, in particular, I’d rather spend our time on.

“Sure,” I say instead. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

Leaning in, Laura lowers herself down for a kiss. I arch up towards her, but she leans in further and kisses Bella. “See you later, ‘gator,” she says, ruffling her hair.

By the time I am tucking Bella into bed, I’m relieved to hear Laura return. I know she knows how to navigate around the city and she has a driver to take her, but it doesn’t make me worry any less. Bella does her usual routine of pouting for more books, and I do my part in giving in. Tonight, she is a little more particular, probably because I’ve been working longer hours the past couple of days.

“Can I sit in your lap when you read me a book?” she asks. She bats her eyes, and I wonder where she picked this up. Too many princess books, no doubt.

“Okay,” I agree. “But my limit is three books tonight. Daddy is tired.” I’m glad this hotel has a children’s room adjacent to our suite, complete with a rocking chair. I sit in it and read to Bella, gliding back and forth as I do. I don’t know when I stopped reading, but when I wake up, Bella is sound asleep in my lap, and the clock reads well after midnight.

I transfer her to her bed and tiptoe out, closing the door behind me. Expecting to see Laura sleeping in bed, I’m surprised to see it empty. The bathroom is empty as well. I see her purse, but not her. I change into my pajamas and get ready for bed while I wait for her to return, but after twenty minutes, there is still no sign of her.

I call her phone, but I hear it ringing in her purse. Cursing under my breath, I grab my hotel key card and stab the elevator button to get to the main lobby. I stop at the front desk, but I don’t see anyone. I walk past several conference rooms and the like; not a soul. My chest tightens, and just as I’m turning back to yell for help at the front desk, I spy her out of the corner of my eye. She’s on the treadmill, running as fast as she can.

Tearing into the room, I keep my voice even so I don’t surprise her. “Laura.”

She glances my way and raises her eyebrows. “Max? What happened? Is everything okay? Where’s Bella?”

“She’s fine. She’s asleep in the room, out like a log. What the hell are you doing down here? It’s in the middle of the night! If you need to exercise, let me know, and we can make time for you to do it during a decent hour.”

“Look, this helps me sleep,” Laura says. Her chest is heaving, and she looks incredible, beads of sweat dripping into her cleavage. I force my gaze to stay on her face and on topic.

“Why can’t you sleep?” I ask in confusion. She’s been keeping long hours with Bella and work and her other meetings. She should be utterly exhausted come nighttime.

“I’m stressed out. This helps relieve that, and it clears my mind,” she argues.

“I know the benefits of running and exercise,” I say in exasperation. “But why are you stressed out? Is there something that you need help with? Is it Bella? You’ve spent a lot of time with her. If you need more free time, take it. Just do it during the day.”

“I know what’s best for me,” she argues stubbornly. Then, looking past me, she climbs off the treadmill. “We should go back upstairs. Bella’s alone up there.”

I agree, and we walk to the elevators in silence. Once we get inside, Laura heads straight to the bathroom and shuts the door. I hear the shower running, and I peek in on Bella. She’s in the same position that I left her in, and I tuck the blanket around her more snugly before going to our bed.

Laura emerges a few minutes later and looks at me in surprise. “You’re still up?” She combs through her hair with her fingers.

“We need to finish talking,” I tell her quietly. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to do these things at such odd hours.”

“It’s not odd. That gym is open twenty-four hours a day for guests for a reason!”

“That’s true,” I admit. “But when I went looking for you, I couldn’t even find anyone at the front desk. Imagine if you had someone bothering you in there. What would you have done?”

“I could have called someone.” She shrugs.

“If you had taken your phone, yes, that might have been a possibility,” I point out.

Laura folds her arms across her chest, the move she makes when she’s about to say something when she knows I’m right. “You stay out late at night. I didn’t see you for two days. I don’t even know when you come back to the hotel. Why is it that you have a right over what I do with my spare time, and I don’t have any say in yours?”

“I was gone because our meetings were rescheduled at the last minute because of Sam. I didn’t have time to fill you in on all the details, but I thought it was understood that I was out for work. I wasn’t spending my leisure time out in these establishments. I’d rather be at home.”

“For all I know, you could have been having an affair,” she says quietly.

I wonder if I heard her correctly. “A what?”

She looks at me directly. “An affair.”

I laugh. “Are you serious?” I see her frowning, and I laugh harder. I force myself to stop and pause to catch my breath before continuing. “I’m a lot more boring than you make me out to be.”

“Well, there’s a lot I don’t know about you,” Laura mutters.

“That’s easily fixed,” I say, patting the bed. “We can learn a little bit more about each other, and I think it will improve our communication a lot.”

Laura looks hesitant. “What do you mean?’

“I mean, I’ll share some stuff about myself, and you do the same. Or we can ask each other what we want to know, that might be easier. Whatever works.” I watch some of her defenses fall as she perches on the edge of the bed.

“Okay,” she says slowly. “That might work.”

The questions start off innocently enough. We ask about basic things like favorite colors, movies, books, and music. We slowly stretch out across the bed as we talk, and I’m surprised at how alert I am. We discuss different life philosophies, and I’m impressed with how aligned we are with our approach to life. When it’s her turn to ask a question, she takes a deep breath.

“Uh oh,” I tease. “This sounds like a doozy.” She’s lying down, and my arm is draped around her waist.

“Um, well, it’s just a different kind of question,” she says. She won’t make eye contact with me so I sit up on my elbow and force her to look at me.

“What is it?”

“What’s your favorite position?” Laura asks, blushing.

“In baseball?” I tease her with a serious face.

“No, in bed,” she clarifies, turning redder.

“First of all, why are you embarrassed? We’re past that, aren’t we?” I asked.

“It’s one thing to be in the moment, but it’s another to be discussing it like we’re talking about our favorite works of art,” she says defensively.

“Point made.” I chuckle. “I like any position that allows me complete access to the goods,” I say, tweaking her nipple. “And that basically means any position, if you’re wondering. Which reminds me, there are a lot we haven’t even tried yet.” She doesn’t say anything for a minute and busies herself with examining the nails of the hand I have wrapped around her.

“Does that answer your question, or are you looking for something more specific?” I ask.

“We can try a new one now,” she says quietly. It doesn’t take much for my body to respond to her words.

“Can you?” I ask.

“Yes, it’s done,” she says. Biting her lip, she slowly rolls me onto my back and straddles me. “I want to be in complete control,” she says.

Her words sound erotic and dangerous at the same time. “You got it,” I agree. “You’re the boss.”