“You gonna read, baby?” he asked but he knew her answer.
Still, she gave it to him.
“Yeah.”
He grinned, bent his neck, kissed the indent in her collarbone and slid out.
She slid out of bed and he watched her silk nightie fall over her heart-shaped ass as she walked to the bathroom to clean up.
Chace rolled to his side of the bed, turned out his light and settled in. Then he watched his wife walk back into the room and climb into their bed.
He threw the covers over her.
She grabbed her book.
Chace closed his eyes and fell asleep.
* * * * *
An hour and a half later
Chace sensed the light going out and the bed moved as Faye settled into it.
Sleepily, he reached out an arm, hauled her into him, tucking her under him and he curled into her body.
“Done?” he muttered.
Her hand glided down his arm until her fingers found and laced through his.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
“’Night, baby.”
“’Night, honey.”
He felt his wife’s body relax under him as he felt Apollo and Starbuck adjust and settle on and around their feet.
And Chace drifted to sleep knowing that everything was right in the world.
Absolutely everything.
And he knew this because their kids were asleep in their beds under a roof he provided for them doing something he was proud of.
But he knew this more because like the night before, and the one before that, and all of them, every single one since she gave him the gift of her virginity, Chace Keaton and his Faye fell asleep, tucked tight, holding on, together in their bed.