Page 210 of Dark King Daddy

“Except your resistance to the hard hat.”

“A calculated sacrifice.”

She grinned.

“I want more days like this,” I said. “I want to come home while you’re still awake. I want to know what you did before I got here. I want to sit in that ridiculous little chair while you draw.”

“It fits perfectly.”

“I’ve been informed.”

Her smile softened.

“I thought the job would take everything else,” I said. “I didn’t know I could have this.”

She got up, bringing the blanket with her, and sat sideways on my lap. Her arm went around my shoulders.

“You have it.”

I put my hand against her back.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She kissed me. A quiet, familiar kiss that still made me want to draw her closer. Then she reached for the sketchbook and opened it on the table.

“Go on.”

“With you sitting here?”

“Is it affecting your concentration?”

“Considerably.”

She settled more comfortably against me.

“You’ll have to learn to work under difficult conditions.”

I picked up a pencil.

The first line was too heavy. I eased the pressure and drew another beside it. A window. The edge of a table. A chair small enough to fit beneath the sill.

Ksenia stopped teasing me. She watched, her chin resting near my shoulder, while I drew the room I had stood in that morning.

Her studio. Our house.

I was still no good at it. The chair looked as though it might collapse. I erased one of its legs and tried again.

“That’s better,” she murmured.

I believed her.

“You know,” I said, “it could be interesting to draw what’s under those clothes.”

Chapter 20

Ksenia