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My wife is riding me for all that I can give her and I fully intend to give her all of me—heart, body, mind, and soul. Her glorious naked body feels amazing as she builds up to set a punishing rhythm. I move in sync with her and we are both panting heavily as we fall apart together.

***

I lie and watch Anna as she sleeps. Sated and happy, she drifted easily to sleep in my arms. I hold her and listen to her even breathing. Anna and Ayden are my world and I only wish she could see what she means to me. I’ve never loved anyone the way I love her. From the day she walked into my life, she shook things upside down. I was single, or to put it truthfully, I was separated, although neither my ex nor I had made the first move to file for divorce. She’d cheated on me and there was no way back from that. We had been over for about three years when I met Anna. I wasn’t looking for love, but it found me anyway. I admired her from a distance at first, knowing that she was in a relationship, but as our friendship blossomed, she confided in me that Oliver cared very little for her and she wanted to leave him. He was a dickhead who cared more about drugs than he did his girlfriend, and when she had found out she was pregnant, she told me that she knew she had to put the baby first and do the right thing—she had to leave Oliver. She eventually left him, moved into what turned out to be pretty shitty accommodation, turned her life around and put herself and the baby first instead of that prick.

When Anna and I finally got together, it was thanks to a mutual friend at work meddling in our business and telling her that I liked her. She had sent me a text to ask me if it was true that I liked her as more than a friend. I responded that it was true and we arranged our first date for the following day. I’d never been one to waste time.

Now looking at her, I remember that heady rush of falling in love with her more each day. It wasn’t long before I asked my ex for a divorce so Anna and I could move on without anything in our way. After my first marriage falling apart, I had thought I would never get married again, I had even told Anna back before we got together that I felt that way. But she had loved me enough that she looked beyond it and compromised what she had wanted, because ring or no ring in her future, she wanted to be with me. However, she had worked her way deep into my heart, and I knew I was being unfair on her asking her to give up her hope of getting married and just settling for what we had. So I bought her an engagement ring and locked it away in the filing cabinet in the den of our house, knowing she never went in there. I planned to propose at one of her favourite places and it had come as a massive shock to her when I got down on one knee. That was the best thing I ever did, except for adopting Ayden.

Annalise Duncan was a one-of-a-kind woman and it made me proud to make her Mrs. Annalise Elizabeth Anderson.

I wrap my body around hers and fall asleep thinking back to our wedding day and how awed I was by my then wife-to-be.

Chapter Ten

Annalise

I awoke in Drake’s arms and a warm smile spread across my face. Even after all this time together, I still got butterflies in my stomach from a mere touch. He was the most amazing man I had ever met. He was the best husband and father that Ayden and I could ask for. He was perfectly imperfect, my best friend, lover, and soul mate. The night before had been proof that after all these years and after having a baby, he still found me attractive. He had been impatient to make me his, but he’d let me take control, something I knew he loved. Every man wants a woman who isn’t afraid to initiate intimacy, to take the reins and lead them to the ultimate climax. Drake loved it more than he’d ever admit.

I gently removed his arm from around me and got out of bed. I was still wearing the black stockings from the night before, so I slipped out of them and pulled some clothes from the wardrobe. I went downstairs to make breakfast for my boys. Drake would be going to work, Ayden would be at school, giving me the day to myself to go shopping for Drake’s birthday. I hadn’t gone back to work since having Ayden. Drake had been content for me to busy myself being a wife, mother and homemaker. Although I wanted to contribute to the income of the house, Drake had wanted me to enjoy Ayden’s early years and make the most of it before finding a job. Reluctantly I had agreed, but soon it would be time for me to get back to work. I missed the office where I used to work for Drake, but I was also glad to have left because although I enjoyed the job, it had been weighing me down having to deal with not only the shitty people on our team, but the endless stream of people I had to deal with over the phone. Our job wasn’t one of the easiest—people would constantly call up, ranting and raving over all manner of things.

I turned on my Bose sound system and set about making breakfast for my boys. They’d be up soon and I had a lot to get done.

The sound of giggling sounded down the hallway. Drake walked into the kitchen carrying a laughing Ayden in his arms. He was squirming in his hold and trying to get free, but every time he got a foot on the floor, Drake tickled him again.

I looked at my handsome husband, his green eyes sparkling with mischief as he played with his son. His unruly brown hair had grown out recently, making him look a little like McDreamy from
Grey’s Anatomy
. I had to admit, Patrick Dempsey was damn good looking but he wasn’t a patch on my ideal man, Drake Anderson. Drake had a perfectly toned body that you could see from the way his shirt clung to him, he had a dry sense of humour, was hard-working, dependable, and intelligent. But best of all, he was mine.

“Morning, beautiful,” he said, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Morning,” I replied as I set his and Ayden’s breakfast on the table.

“Morning, Mommy,” Ayden said as his father finally stopped tickling him and set him down to eat his breakfast.

“Good morning, buddy,” I said, as I ruffled his blond hair.

We sat and ate a quick breakfast together before I got Ayden ready for school. Drake always dropped him off on his way to work and I picked him up in an afternoon unless Drake was getting off work early.

We all got into the car and Drake drove us to school. We dropped Ayden off and then Drake dropped me off at the shops. He knew I was birthday shopping, but he didn’t have a clue what I had in store for him this year. He kissed me goodbye—a slow, lingering kiss that left desire burning inside me. I smiled and waved him off to work before walking to the store for his main present and decorations for the house—I wouldn’t normally decorate but he was turning the big 4-0 so I was going to go all out.

***

Arriving home, arms laden with bags containing presents, decorations, and all the ingredients to make his favourite flavour cake, I smiled to myself as I set them down and went to make a cup of coffee. I thought about how hard it was going to be to make a red velvet cake in the shape of the throne from his favourite show,
Game of Thrones
. I’d bought modelling chocolate and wooden skewers to mould around in order to make the swords, the ingredients needed for grey/silver fondant icing for the rest of the throne, and I was going to try my hand at making his favourite character from modelling chocolate, though how much like Tyrion it would really look would depend on if I could tap into my artistic side.

The coffee machine finished pouring my latte macchiato, so I took my mug into the lounge. I sat down, kicked my shoes off, reached over to turn my sound system on, and pulled the lever to recline my chair and put my feet up.

Before I knew it, it was time to go and fetch my little man from school.

***

The week passed and before I knew it, I was elbow deep in cake batter. Party preparations were well underway and I was hoping to get it all sorted before Drake got home from work. He hadn’t been impressed that he had to work on his birthday, as he usually got a chance to book it off work. His new boss was being a pain, however, as Drake was one of the most knowledgeable people on his team and they were working a tough case, so she had asked him to work. I also didn’t like the fact that he was having to work, but it did give me a chance to organise his party without having to find a legitimate reason to get him out of the house.

My mother-in-law, Lynne, was preparing food for the party back at her house and was due to arrive at 5:00 p.m. Meghan was busy decorating the lounge, blowing up balloons, hanging banners and streamers. Music played through the sound system and I danced around the kitchen as Lady Antebellum’s “American Honey” came on. I was in the middle of rolling the fondant to cover the main body of the throne cake when the doorbell rang. Drake’s brother Jack, his wife Leanne, and their son Taylor had arrived a tad earlier than I was expecting, but I was glad Ayden had somebody to play with. He had been up in his room putting the finishing touches to a birthday card for his Daddy, so I sent Taylor up to say hello and see if he was finished.

“Anything I can do to help?” Leanne asked as she entered the kitchen.

“Sure, you can pour me a large glass of wine. Help yourself while you’re there.”

I liked Leanne, she was a good laugh—even funnier when she had been drinking. So many family parties had been livened up when she got up to her old tricks. Dennis used to say that she was rather irritating when sober, but she’d mellowed out since having Taylor.

“So, a
Game of Thrones
themed cake then?” she asked as she nodded at what currently looked like a chair with wooden skewers sticking out of it.

“Yep,” I agreed as I took the glass she proffered in my direction.

“Is there anything I can do to help with it?”

“I don’t know. Are you any good with modelling chocolate?” I asked as I took a rather large gulp of my wine.

“I don’t know. Only one way to find out,” she said, giggling as she took an extra apron from the back of the kitchen door and tied it around herself.

The day flew by and it was soon time to get into position in the lounge with Ayden, while the rest of the family hid in the dining room. The cake was finished, Leanne had actually really impressed me with her modelling chocolate swords, and my little Tyrion Lannister sat proudly on the throne, looking not too bad—even if I did say so myself. The decorations were up. Jack had given Meghan a hand and it looked impressive. Meghan had been busy finding
Game of Thrones
themed decorations for the last couple of weeks and I must say, she’d done a brilliant job. The dining room had been turned into a mini Westeros. Now it was time to see if Drake liked it.

The sound of his key in the lock made me smile. I always greeted him at the door with a kiss, so I made my way to the lobby and waited for him to walk through.

“Good evening, my love,” he said as he walked in and removed his coat. His eyes lit up when he saw what I was wearing.

“Good evening, birthday boy,” I replied as I put my arms around his neck.

Drake’s lips were on mine in an instant. My heart fluttered in my chest and my knees felt like they wouldn’t hold me up much longer. He sought out my tongue with his and turned the kiss a little deeper. His arms wrapped round me and I melted into his chest. We didn’t really have time for this, considering the family were all waiting, but every time Drake kissed me, time seemed to come to a standstill. I pulled away slightly breathless and looked into his warm green gaze.

“Now that’s the kind of thing that makes me forget I had a really shit day at work with Godzilla breathing down my neck,” Drake said, chuckling as he moved to rearrange himself discreetly.

“Well, you’re home now and tea is nearly cooked, so how about we go through to the dining room?” I asked as I took his hand.

“Where’s my boy?” he asked, looking around.

“He’s in the lounge.”

We went to get Ayden before walking to the dining room. Drake looked Ayden over, surely puzzled at how he was dressed. I pulled him down the hallway where he saw a sign on the door saying
‘Welcome to Westeros, Ser Drake.’
He looked at me with a confused expression before opening the door.

Walking in and flicking the light switch, Drake’s expression transformed as everyone shouted “Surprise.” He looked around at everyone, then his gaze landed on me. I smiled as I saw the look of love in his eyes. We walked further into the room and I pulled out the chair at the head of the table for him to sit down. Food was laid out on the table and there was wine in jugs with goblets for us to drink from. Meghan had really gone all out when it came to keeping to the theme. She had run everything by me beforehand to make sure it was okay, and I could say that between us, we had really managed to pull it off. I knew that Drake was admiring everything and everyone as he looked at us all. We were all decked out in fancy dress. I was dressed in a flowing dress, having chosen to come as Daenerys Targaryen, his favourite female character. Ayden was dressed as Tyrion Lannister and everyone else had come as other characters. Drake even had his own costume hanging in our bedroom. I knew he hated going to parties in fancy dress, but I hoped he would be a good sport and go along with it. I had chosen for him to dress as Jon Snow—he already had similar hair after all.

***

Drake surprised me by how easy he had been to convince to go and put his costume on. He had returned to his own little Westeros looking every inch the dashing Jon Snow. I walked from the kitchen carrying his cake and the look of awe on his face told me I’d got it right. Perfect? Probably not. But I knew he liked it, nonetheless.

“You are amazing,” he said in a hushed tone as he admired the throne that I set down on the table.

“Thank you.” I felt the blush creep across my cheeks. No matter how many times Drake complimented me, I always blushed a deep shade of red.

He stood and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me in for a kiss in front of everyone. It may not have been a deep and passionate kiss, but it still made my desire for him skyrocket.

The rest of the party went by in a flurry of drinking, eating, and conversation. There was no feuding in our Westeros, unlike the one portrayed on television. There was no poison in the wine, no fighting between members of different families. All in all it was one of the most entertaining evenings I could remember. And though he had not wanted to cut into it, he gave everyone a piece of his throne. He wanted to keep Tyrion for himself, but ended up sharing it with his son and nephew.

We saw everyone out to their cars at the end of the evening, and then Drake put Ayden to bed. He quietly made his way back downstairs to the dining room and poured himself a glass of whiskey from the decanter in the cabinet.

“Leave this mess until the morning, babe,” he whispered as he walked up behind me while I was bent over collecting plates from the table.

His caress over my backside told me what he had in mind. I giggled and turned to my husband.

“Have you had a good birthday, darling?”

“The best.”

Drake leant into me and nuzzled my neck, kissing the sweet spot just underneath my ear. Shivers ran down my back and I felt a flicker of desire burn low in my abdomen as he kissed each section of exposed skin. My dress for the evening hadn’t been meant to be particularly provocative, but I could feel Drake harden against me as he pulled me in for a kiss that left me breathless. The smile that graced my lips was one of desire, but also gratitude. What I had done to deserve this amazing man, I couldn’t say, but I was grateful for fate throwing us together.