‘Saturday,’ she repeats, before taking a deep breath and pulling herself upright. ‘Of course it is.’
As I chew I look at Harpy and wink and she giggles maniacally, then I glance back towards Mackenzie. ‘So what’s this I hear about a movie night?’ I say.
And I grin as her eyes widen once again. ‘We…’
‘We watched Beauty and the Beast,’ says Thea.
I lean sideways at my eldest, now obscured behind Mackenzie’s lithe figure, and then I flick my questioning eyes toward Red who nods as subtly as possible.
‘It was Thea’s choice,’ she says.
And I have to hide my smile as my eldest flicks her gaze toward me for a heartbeat.
‘Good choice,’ I say.
‘The hairy man tried to eat the Princess,’ says Harpy, matter of fact. ‘But then they danced.’
I laugh, covering my mouth. ‘Sounds like you guys had a great time,’ I say, nodding with tacit approval toward Mackenzie who blushes. Then Willow appears at the bottom of the stairs dressed in her school uniform and all of us turn to look at her.
‘What?’ she says, frozen halfway toward us in self-conscious confusion.
Mackenzie’s hands rush to her mouth again. ‘Oh, Willow.’
Harpy giggles wildly again, kicking her feet as I grin and Thea snorts.
‘What?’ repeats Willow, now checking her clothes and searching for a mirror.
‘I’m so sorry,’ says Mackenzie. ‘It’s Saturday.’
Willow’s face tightens as she pouts, then ever so slowly, as we all begin to chuckle, she grins and laughs too.
Ten minutes later and the girls are beginning to drift away. My stomach is full again, Thea has retreated to her bedroom, Willow has changed into her weekend attire of leggings and a t-shirt and Harpy is happily watching another awful TV show on her iPad, whilst Mackenzie is steadfastly washing up and I guess pretending that we don’t have a dishwasher.
I watch her as she works, her hands and arms soapy as she scrubs each plate and lays it out to dry, and by the time she’s done I feel mesmerised by her.
She turns back and sees me looking and blushes immediately, looking down and smiling at her bare feet, her toes painted turquoise, and then she takes a breath.
‘I’m going to head upstairs and do a little study,’ she says.
I nod. ‘Because it’s Saturday,’ I grin.
‘Because it’s Saturday,’ she nods with a soft laugh.
She dries her hands and hangs up the dish towel and then takes a deep breath before turning away and heading back toward the stairs, mussing Harpy’s hair as she wanders by and my heart begins to race.
‘Mackenzie?’ I say, calling after her and hopping down off my stool.
She stops and turns around, her bellflower dress swirling and settling around her knees as I approach.
‘Mr Ledger?’ she says, licking her lips and taking a few cautious steps toward me, bobbing sweetly as though I didn’t spank her and fuck her so hard last night that she passed out in my bed.
‘I erm,’ I say, lowering my voice and looking around.
She smiles and blushes, shaking her head. ‘You don’t need to say anything,’ she whispers, her body now so close to mine I find myself wanting to reach out and touch her.
‘No,’ I say. ‘I do. We need…’
I’m about to say something about honesty and openness, the kind of things Lucy would’ve said, but I stop myself and close my eyes. When I open them again, Mackenzie is closer still, her eyes wide with concern as my dick stirs.