"We'll keep her up extra late and she'll sleep right through. You watch."
Drake took my hand and pulled me towards the door. "Come on, Mrs. Morgan. Listen to what Nurse Elaine says and let's go. Sophie is with her grandparents and will be fine."
"Okay," I said and smiled, waving at them as I left the house. "Call me if you have real problems. I can come by and pick her up, even in the middle of the night."
"You'll do no such thing," my father said. "We'll be fine. We may be a pair of old codgers, but we know how to take care of children."
"Speak for yourself about the old codger thing," Elaine said with a laugh. "I'm young enough to be able to stay up all night if she's fussy. You go. I won't hear another word about it."
Drake took my hand and pulled me out of the house, leading me to the car. I felt a pull at my heart that I was leaving Sophie, but she waved bye-bye happily from the door, apparently not caring that Drake and I were leaving her in the arms of Elaine.
"She doesn’t seem at all upset," I said as we drove off.
"Elaine's been looking after her since she was born. She knows Elaine and feels safe and happy with her. It's wonderful and it means she'll probably go down for the night easily. You don’t need to worry."
I sighed and squeezed Drake's hand
. "I know. It's just I've only been away from her a few times since she came back from the NICU. It's natural for me to feel nervous."
"I know," Drake said and kissed my hand. "I'll try to take your mind off it."
That send a surge of desire through my body and almost – almost – made me forget for a moment about leaving Sophie.
"I'm sure you will."
Once we were back at our house, before we even got through the door, Drake grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall.
"I've been thinking about this evening for days," he said, his lips warm against my throat. "I wasn't sure I could stand to go to your parent's place and have to sit through dinner and small talk before getting you here, alone."
He kissed me, devouring my mouth like a desperate man, his hands roving down my body to my breast and hip, pulling me against him so I could feel his erection.
When the kiss ended, I was breathless, panting, my body already wet and swollen.
Then he pulled me into the kitchen and went to the refrigerator. I leaned against the kitchen island and watched as he took out a bottle of Anisovaya.
"Let's have a shot together," he said and brought over two very special etched crystal shot glasses he found in his father's possessions.
"We haven't had any Anisovaya for so long," I said, not wanting to drink alcohol while I was nursing. Now that Sophie was fully weaned, I could drink again without concern.
We stood at the island and Drake poured us both a shot. Then, he held his glass up and waited while I took mine.
"To us," he said. "To love."
"To us," I repeated. "To love."
We both downed the Anisovaya and I smiled as the liquid burned down my throat in a way that never failed to arouse me. I'd associated the slight taste of anise and vodka with pleasure and my body responded, a warmth spreading through me at the prospect of a night alone with Drake. Before I could speak, Drake grabbed me and kissed me again, and I knew it was because he wanted to taste the Anisovaya on my tongue.
It brought back so many good memories of our time together after we first met and he introduced me to D/s.
Drake took my glass from my hand and placed it on the counter. Then he pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head.
I knew what that meant.
It worked like magic, and my body responded, my flesh swelling at the prospect of him going all Dom on me.
"I'm yours," I said, my throat all choked.
"You're mine," he replied, his voice thick with desire. "Every inch of you. And you’re going to take every inch of me."