"You saw through me," I said and kissed her. "I have a better way to divert you." I ran my hands over her body as we leaned back on the sofa, and soon, her breathing quickened and I knew she was aroused by my touch.
Making love to my beloved wife was a much better way to end the night and bring in the New Year than with talk about her grade.
New Year's Day was very slow and enjoyable.
When I woke, I let Alexa sleep and was careful not to wake her. I dressed in my sweats and let our security detail know that I was going for a run along the beach. Mark, our guard for the day, got in his SUV and followed me along the beach road, keeping even with me in case someone who wanted to hurt me came along. It felt ridiculous, but I had to realize that there were two possible men who might want to see me dead or in pain. Blaine and Eric. I couldn’t take that threat lightly.
The run was good, the weather cloudy but with no rain and no wind, so by the time I got back to the beach house, I had worked up a decent sweat. When I came into the house, I could smell coffee brewing and bacon cooking.
I went into the kitchen and saw that Alexa was up, dressed in her robe and slippers, and was standing at the stove frying bacon.
"You're up," I said and stood behind her, kissing her on the back of the head, giving her hips a squeeze.
She craned her face around for a kiss, but I held my hand up between us. "No kisses until after I shower. I'll be right back."
Then, I went to our bathroom and stripped off my clothes and jumped into the shower to wash off the sweat. After I brushed my teeth and got dressed in something casual, jeans and a sweater, I went downstairs to find Alexa had our breakfast ready.
"Mmm," I said and kissed Alexa for real. "Smells fantastic. How are you feeling?"
"I'm great and hungry as a wolf," she said and sat down at her place on the kitchen island.
We ate our brunch, and then spent the rest of the day lounging around in the living room, reading the paper, doing the crossword and sudoku, and then watching reruns of The Lord of the Rings on satellite TV. By the time evening arrived, we were ready for something light because of our big brunch, so we ordered in Chinese from a local restaurant.
Alexa's parents were at a resort in Cabo, my father was in the south golfing with an old friend, and John and Felicia were at her parents for a special New Year's Day dinner.
"Do you wish you were with your parents tonight?”
Alexa shook her head adamantly. "Not in the least." She reached over and took my hand, then leaned closer and kissed me quickly. "I think we should enjoy this time alone together. Next New Year's, I expect to have a big family dinner here with all our families and friends. We'll have a baby and it will be family time."
"I like your thinking," I said and kissed her back.
We went to bed early, since both of us were tired after our late night the previous night.
"I love you, Mrs. Dixon Marshall," I said and pulled her closer, kissing her warmly.
"I love you, Mr. Big Daddy."
I smiled, never thinking that my nickname would have anything to do with being a daddy, but I liked it. I knew Candace referred to me as Alexa's Mr. Big, but that was it.
Our first week in the new year and new decade was definitely not the best.
Alexa received an email from her professor, indicating that he felt the paper was just not up to her usual standard and that in all fairness, he couldn't give her a higher grade. She could, if she wanted, ask the Dean for an incomplete, even though the grade deadline had already passed. It would be up to his discretion whether to approve it.
Alexa sat at her computer, her eyes filled with tears.
"I should have taken an incomplete."
I put my arms around her and pulled her into an embrace, and she cried softly on my shoulder.
"Shh," I said and kissed her cheeks, again and again. "Write the Dean. Tell him how sick you've been and that you feel like that should be taken into consideration. Ask for the incomplete. Or you could just take the B+ and shrug. Take another class and delay graduating for another year. The next class you take, get an A+ and that will make your average higher. So what if you take longer to get your PhD?"
She looked up. "I'll see what the Dean says. But I'm not optimistic, considering that your mother--."
"My adoptive mother," I said, interrupting her.
"Your adoptive mother paid off the Dean. Now, he's probably her puppet and he'll tell me I have to accept the grade."
"So what? Like I say, take an extra course, get an A+ and that means your average will be just below a full A. A- is better than B+, right?"