nine

Sara woke up all at once, stock still.  She knew right where she was - mostly underneath Danny wasn’t a confusing place to find herself.  Instead her ears strained for the sound of movement in the house.

Silence.

She exhaled - the kids were still asleep.  It was the first time she ever had to consider such a thing and the thought made her smile.  Across Danny’s back she could see the clock said it was just after six in the morning.  Too early to be up, so she closed her eyes and lay in the warm comfort of Danny’s arms, his scattered hair and soft breathing.

The bedroom was large and airy, the pale gray walls mostly bare.  A few photos  of the kids hung over a desk piled with the same papers and junk she accumulated at home.  A flat-panel TV faced the bed, above a low and wide chest of drawers.  The closet door was open a crack, Sara guessed it was a walk-in.  Either Danny was quite neat or he’d cleaned before she arrived.  Next to a picture window, books had collected on the top two shelves of a bookcase.  The rest was empty.

There’s room for someone else here.  By the look of the place, Danny hadn’t expanded to fill the space left by his ex-wife.  Sara frowned, pushing Danny’s hair behind his ear where he lay against her shoulder.  He shifted and pulled her closer.

“Two mornings in a row,” he mumbled.  “I could get used to this.”

She slid her hand down his bare back, grateful that he wasn’t too tall because she could easily squeeze his ass from here.  “Me too.”

Danny sleepily glanced at the time, then turned back with a sly smile.  “Ten minutes.”  

They moved at the same time - Danny shifting closer, capturing her mouth; Sara’s palm grazing his stomach before taking him in hand; his body responding immediately.  Danny pressed himself urgently into her grip, already reaching for the bedside table.  

“This makes me nervous,” she said, looking toward the closed door.

“Me too.”  He didn’t admit the reasons were well beyond a kid walking in or hearing them.  Danny had meant what he said about getting used to waking up with Sara.  As if his brain could have denied what his body was already demonstrating - this was getting serious, and quickly.  

She kissed him as he slipped inside her.  It deprived Danny of the gasp he so loved to hear, as if he literally took her breath away.  But she threw herself into the kiss, tongue wrapping into his, surprising him with hunger and force.  Sara’s whole body squeezed, making him work deliciously harder.  After that, a circus could have rolled through and Danny wouldn’t have been able to stop.  Lifting her backside with both hands, he changed the angle and pushed himself deep.

“Oh God, Danny,” Sara whispered.  She pressed her face to his skin, silencing herself, relishing the feeling of him doing that again.  Forget ten minutes, she wasn’t going to last five.  It wasn’t right that he could do this to her.  Not yet.  But she’d surely been dreaming of him while she slept, so her body was more than ready for the real thing.  Another hungry kiss and she was trembling.  Danny’s arms were taut, the muscles in his neck standing out.  At least she wasn’t the only one.  It took all her focus not to cry out as she came.  Danny’s orgasm was barely a moment later, a burst of French words coming with it.

Laying in a heap, she could feel his heart beating. His lips pressed to her temple but Danny didn’t move.  Every ounce of tension melted from Sara’s body and she closed her eyes again.

I could sleep here forever, she thought.
____

Danny leaned against the bathroom door, watching Sara find last night’s clothes strewn across the floor of his bedroom.  She’d have to start bringing an overnight bag, or leaving stuff at his place, so she could go straight to school in the mornings.  Lord knew he had empty drawers.  But it wasn’t the kind of thing you asked someone after their first night in your house.

“I’ll run you home and come back for the boys,” he said.

She smiled, pulling her gray work trousers up over those panties he’d so enjoyed seeing.  Danny scowled as they disappeared.  “Thanks.  Can’t go to work in yesterday’s clothes, people will talk.”

Can’t go to work in my car or with my boys, he knew.  She has no idea how people will talk.

Sara pulled her shirt over her head and shook her long hair free, then walked right up and gave him a kiss.  “You’re frowning.”

“I want you to come to the game tonight, but people there will talk too.  It’s been a few times now….”

He wasn’t sure how to phrase it right.  Any woman who came around more than three games was either employed or enamored.  The rest was all in how the presented it – if they acted platonic, people would continue to think she was the nanny, and also that Danny was sleeping with her.  If they were openly dating, that would be a whole new can of worms.  But there was no situation in which they were not having sex, according to the gossip mill.  Danny preferred to be upfront about it.

Sara had already thought this part through.  “You mean all those people who assumed we were sleeping together before will still think we’re sleeping together?  Only now they’ll be right?”

He couldn’t help the smile coming to his face.  “Yes.”

She wished to give him a confident, blowsy answer, but in truth it scared her more than a little.  That didn’t meant it wasn’t worth doing.  “It’s okay, Danny.  I think we can handle it,” she smiled, bolstering herself with the words.  “Plus, I’ve been dying to kiss you after every game.  Now I can.”

“Aren’t you afraid it might get back to school?”

Sara shrugged.  “If they find out, they find out.  I just don’t want announce it like I’m bragging about being with you.”  She stuffed her feet into ballet flats, then Danny opened the door to the world outside their little haven.

The boys were running around, searching for notebooks and cereal bowls.  Cam and Carson hugged Sara as she passed, but she had to double back upstairs to say goodbye to Caelan.  Danny warned them all to be ready to go in twenty minutes when he returned.

In the car, Sara put her hand high on his thigh and leaned back, still sleepy.  He snuck a few glances at the curve of her nose in profile, the spot just below her jaw where he’d pressed his face as he came for the fourth time in half as many days.  The memory made his head swim.  She smiled faintly, as if she could read his mind.  It wasn’t long enough before they stopped in front of her building.

She unsnapped her seatbelt and turned to face him.  “I would be, you know.”

“Would be what?”

“Bragging about being with you.”

Danny blushed, something he was too accustomed to doing in Sara’s presence.  She kissed him like twelve hours apart would be a lifetime.  It left Danny breathless.

“They wouldn’t believe I could get a girl like you.”

Sara made a face, like he was halfway between being adorable and crazy.  It was the sweetest thing he’d ever said to her, but Sara felt sad knowing Danny might really it.  She was nervous, but she refused to allow him to think that way.  “Oh they’ll believe it.  Starting tonight.”

Then she was gone: walking up to her front door, waving over her shoulder.  Despite the taste of her kiss still on his lips, Danny felt a tightness spreading in his chest.

“Starting tonight,” he said to himself.
____

The boys got to school more or less on time, and Danny had plenty of time to think.  He decided to wait until the end of practice to say anything to his teammates.  As if they wouldn’t talk behind his back.

“There he is!” Hartnell hollered as Danny walked into the locker room.  Claude spun around, shit-eating grin on his face.

“Hear you stole Cam’s girlfriend,” Talbot sauntered up, wearing nothing but those compression shorts he loved to show off.  He threw an arm around his fellow Frenchman’s shoulders.  “Good for you, mon ami.  She’s cool, I like her.”

“By that he means he wants to fuck her, so he hopes you screw up,” Braden Schenn added.  Max shrugged.  That part was always true.

“She coming tonight?” Claude asked.

Right on cue, Hartsy and Simmonds were shouting lewd comments.  “If she can finish before he does!” and “Twice if Briere can last that long!”  High fives went all around while Danny rolled his eyes.

“Sara will be here, yes.”

Hoots and hollers came back twice as loud.  Danny was blushing furiously at his younger teammates’ teasing – why was this always so easy for them?  He’d never had that kind of swagger.  Of course, he’d been married since he could drink, so Danny had a little more respect for the idea of making a woman important in your life.  For most of these guys, important meant remembering someone’s name in the morning.  Still they were genuinely thrilled for Danny and looked about as happy as he felt to know that something was happening with Sara.

Hartsy slapped him on the back and announced, “Commence Operation Get Danny Laid.”
____

Sara went back and forth between the Flyers shirt and the black hoodie the boys had given her at the previous games.  It was stupid, because they were virtually the same, but she had to take her nerves out on something.  Her hair went up, then down, then halfway up, the up just in the front, and back down again.  Looking in the mirror on the back of her closet door, Sara exhaled dramatically.

“It’s not prom,” she told herself out loud.  Already she wore nicely fitted jeans and boots - essentially what she’d worn before.  People had seen her.  The guys knew her.  There would be no surprises tonight except for probably a kiss, and that didn’t require a special outfit.

“Fine,” she muttered, pulling the long-sleeved t-shirt over her head.  With a final glance at her regular old hair and makeup, Sara turned away from her reflection.  “As good as it gets.”

At the rink, she picked up a ticket the way she had before.  Either it was her imagination or a few extra pairs of eyes followed her down the stadium steps to where three shaggy-haired boys were making short work of some pretzel bites - all of them in matching orange #48 jerseys.  Sara’s heart squeezed happily at the sight, while at the same time she felt a little crazy.  More than kids, these were her friends and she owed them a lot; and she was growing very, very protective of them.

“Hey guys.”

“Sara!”  There were shouts and hugs and a near-miss with the mustard dip from their snack.  Caelan hauled his backpack out from under the chair.

“Homework?” she took a seat next to them, trying to remember what Caelan had said he was studying.  Instead of a book, a big wad of orange and white hockey sweater came dragging out of his bag.

“We brought you this,” he offered her the handful.

“Oh my God.”  Her voice was a little quiet and she moved a bit slowly.  Another #48 fell open as she took the jersey.  The same size as the ones the kids wore, it was too big on all of them.  Sara quickly shook the sweater out and pulled it over her head.  She adjusted the long sleeves and smoothed her hair, using the moment to get a grip on the tears prickling behind her eyes.  “Thank you,” she held her arms out to show them.  “How do I look?”

Carson shrugged like it was no big deal.  “Nice.”

“You’re on our team!” Cameron said, more excited.  Sara hugged him just because she could.

They were not seated with the wives and girlfriends.  As the Flyers dominated the game, Sara decided that Danny did that on purpose to shield his kids.  Some of the other players had children too, and they probably attended games.  But Danny’s boys were old enough to watch themselves, more or less, and this way they didn’t overhear anything untoward.  Probably smart, she thought, knowing the talk would soon be about her.

Maybe no one cares, she considered.  A quick glance around at the number of Briere jerseys in attendance - a strong showing mixed in with the Girouxs and Hartnells - told her otherwise.  Still it made Sara proud to see all those people wearing Danny’s name, all those people who would say Briere was their favorite player.  He deserved that kind of support.

“I’m hungry,” Cameron slumped against her like if he couldn’t go on with his life unless food appeared.

For the first time in history, Carson and Caelan declined snacks.  Sara followed Cam onto the concourse during the second intermission and he led them past every concession stand at least twice.  Finally he settled on a bag of popcorn and she ordered a lemonade.  Handing over the treats, the woman behind the register told Sara, “You and your son are so cute in your matching jerseys.”

As a reflex, Sara looked immediately at Cam.  He burst out laughing, and walked away.
____

The game ended in a 4-1 Philadelphia win.  Sara trailed the boys down to the lounge, the convoluted route too much for her distracted mind.  Her jersey felt huge and clumsy, though it didn’t fit that badly.  She wondered if it was too much.  She wondered if other WAGs ever wore their guy’s numbers.  

They must, she thought.  I would.  I am.  The realization made her giggle.  The pre-game nerves were back, once again centered around her outfit to avoid the real issue.  What if they hate me?  They approached the door and Sara rolled her shoulders back.  Danny wanted me to wear this.  That’s all I care about.

Their entrance turned a few heads.  The boys went right for the snacks.  Sara felt the weight of interested stares.  She recognized some people and said hello, trying to act like she belonged there.  No one over the age of eighteen was wearing a Flyers jersey, though.  Most of the women were designer jeans and cute leather coats with boots and heels and matching bags.  Their haircuts cost more than Sara’s entire outfit.  A few of the older women smiled and returned her greeting but without any welcoming energy.  Sara guessed they didn’t usually fraternize with the help, or the whores.  She could be either one.

“Hey.”

The voice behind made Sara spin around.  A girl with a mop of dark curls and wide brown eyes was smiling back at her.  She wore a bright orange Flyers t-shirt over a long-sleeve white shirt with jeans and Adidas sneakers.  

“You must be Sara.”

“Uh, yea....”

“NORA!” Carson leapt from somewhere stage right and locked himself around this girl’s waist with both arms.

“Hey bud, what’s up? I missed you guys,” the mystery girl said.  Cameron and Caelan hurried over.  As the short-haired girl turned them, Sara saw the #28 on her back.

She must be.  She’s perfect.  Sara didn’t know Claude that well.  In fact, she hadn’t known he had a girlfriend.  But if anyone in the room was right for that ginger ball of energy, it had to be this girl.  Her affection for the boys was so obvious that Sara felt a pang of jealousy.  Carson tugged Nora’s sleeve.

“Nora, did you meet Sara?  She’s Cam’s teacher, and she’s going out with our dad.”

Whoosh.  Total silence in the room.  One of those coincidental moments when the place goes quiet just before you say something inappropriate.  Or in this case, something both obvious and surprising.  As a group, every woman took one step closer to better overhear their suspicions confirmed.

“Yeah, hi.  Claude told me all about you.”  Nora put her hand out to shake.  Sara concentrated on the smile, ignoring the way everyone held their breath to hear.  “I’m, uh, we’re...,” she fumbled for the word. “He’s my boyfriend.  Claude.”

“Hi,” Sara said.  She was so surprised to hear this lovely and confident girl crack over the word ‘boyfriend’ that Sara decided they were instant best friends.  “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’ve been in Boston for a family thing.”  Nora leaned in and lowered her voice.  “Hope you weren’t too long along with this crowd.”

Sara shook her head.  “Tonight’s the, uh, the first night I’m here as....”

“Girlfriend.  Go ahead and say it,” Nora laughed.  “I have trouble with it too.  Claude calls me his WAG just to piss me off.  He didn’t mention me, did he?”

“I haven’t spent much time with him.”

Nora ruffled Carson’s hair.  “He was busy plotting with these creeps to get you and Danny together.  I’m glad it worked.  This is a weird place, but you’ll get used to it.  Helps to know people,” she pointed down at Carson’s head.  “And have allies.”

Cameron walked over with a cookie and leaned against Sara’s side like they’d known each other forever.  It was remarkably similar to the way Carson was standing with Nora.  They were like that when the door flew open.

“Where is she?” Claude bounded across the room in his suit, scooped up Nora and kissed her full on the mouth.  Everyone saw, no one reacted.  Must be their typical excitement.  It also took the tension in the room down a notch.

“Sara!  You... oh.  Hahahahahaha.” Claude clapped in delight, taking in her jersey.  “You look spectacular.  I see you’ve met the other most beautiful woman in the world.”  

“We were just becoming best friends until you interrupted,” Nora said.

More players began arriving.  Usually families would empty right out but tonight people milled around.  Sara knew they were waiting to see Danny’s greeting.  It would pale in comparison to Claude’s anyway, but Sara didn’t care.  Hartnell tossed an arm around her shoulder.  

“Hey Sar, hear you’re making somebody REALLY happy these days.”

“SCOTT!” Nora slapped his arm.  “Can you not be a pervert for two minutes?  There are kids here!”

“Grosssssssssssssssss,” Caelan rolled his eyes and turned away.

Hartnell just laughed.  “Good for you, and Danny deserves it.  Just don’t learn anything from this one,” he nodded toward Nora.  “Is it too soon for me to ask if you have any hot friends?”

“He missed out on mine.  Too slow and she ended up with Talbot,” Nora said.  “What can I say, smart girls go for French guys.”  She held up her hand and Sara gave her a little fist bump.  Hartnell pouted dramatically.

“Speak of the Devil!” Scott said as Danny walked in the door.  He wore a dove gray suit with pinstripes, a white shirt and a purple tie.  As always his hair was wet.  Sara watched as his eyes went from Scott to Claude to Nora to her own.

He stopped two feet away and a huge smile broke across his face.  “Where did you get that?”

“Uh...,” Sara looked down at the jersey.

“We did it!” Caelan let out a peal of laughter and high-fived Carson.  Even Cam had the good sense to blush.  Sara’s jaw dropped open, even as she was smiling, and her hands went to her hips.

“You sneaky little...,” she swiped at Cam.  “I thought it was from you!” Sara told Danny.  But immediately she was glad it wasn’t, and overwhelmed by the boys doing another thing to push her toward their father.  Kids could be extraordinarily kind without even knowing.

Danny closed the last of the distance between them, well aware that every single person in the room was watching.  God forbid Sara might think he was embarrassed.  

The kiss was like their first kiss - old-fashioned, nothing too racy, but Sara got weak in the knees.  His hands closed around her waist, she breathed in the smell of a fresh shower.  His perfect mouth on hers gave everyone the confirmation they’d been awaiting.  Danny hugged her tightly and moved his lips to her ear.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

Her heart broke a little, as Danny kept an arm around her waist and talked easily to his friends.  She should be thanking him, yet he seemed taller and broader in his happiness.  Sara fit herself against his side until people began saying goodnight.  Nora challenged the boys to a race to Claude’s car, shot Sara a smile, and took off running with three sets of feet in pursuit.  There were still plenty of people in the room and now they had only Danny and Sara to look at.  It didn’t matter so much anymore.

“Please say you can come over,” he said quietly, looking around the room as if daring people to eavesdrop.

“I even brought clothes for tomorrow.”

The corner of his mouth curled.  “Good.  Tonight the only thing you’re wearing is that jersey.”
____


Hi everyone! My power was out for five days and as much as I wanted to write, I couldn't! It was like the Dark Ages. Finally we are back on (thank heaven for a/c). Sorry this too so long but it really wasn't my fault this time. ;) - Juliet
_

eight

Danny kept his head down in the locker room, but it was no use.  Giroux headed straight for him.

“Did it work?” he asked proudly.

Danny couldn’t keep from blushing, which only embarrassed him more.  “She loved it.”

Claude slapped his friend on the back.  “Did she love enough to....”

“Stop,” Danny cut him off before he could insinuate anything.  The girls before were fair game.  Sara was not.

“Oh,” Giroux lifted a ginger eyebrow, smiling widely.  “I guess she did.”

Danny found it easy to focus on practice - it had been his refuge during the worst days with Sylvie and he was accustomed to letting the game run his mind for a few hours.  As soon as it was over though, he was back to thinking about what to do next.  And what they’d already done.  Last night’s events played through his head like a highlight reel - Sara stepping out of her dress, announcing this was what she wanted; her gasp at the feel of him; when she’d told him he was beautiful.  Lust.  Intensity.  A confidence he hadn’t felt in a long time.  And the way she’d kissed him goodbye - still a shred of secrecy and the promise of so much more to learn.  Lost in thought, his  knuckles gripped white on the steering wheel.

The boys knew.  Danny hated to remind himself they weren’t that young after all, which only made him feel older.  It was probably time to do something more than assume they were learning about adults from television anyway.

“Hey, it’s me,” he said when Sara’s voicemail picked up.  Then added stupidly, “Danny.  Uh, would you come over for dinner tonight?  I think the boys miss you.”  He recovered a little.  “I know I do.”

He drove to Whole Foods and was halfway through picking out a meal when he realized he had assumed Sara would say yes, that she was available on same-day notice for a date.  A tiny panic seized his mind - was he being presumptuous?  Expectant?  He had to see her again - despite what they’d said, Danny needed proof that last night had been just as consuming for her.  And then he hoped to have her again.

Girlfriend, he said to himself.  She’s my girlfriend.  The word was rusty with disuse, Danny repeated it until it was familiar, casual.  Sara is my girlfriend.  Turning it over in his head, he resumed shopping for dinner for his family.
____

Sara took a deep breath and walked into her classroom.  She’d deliberately waited until just before the bell, and her arrival sent student flurrying into their seats.  Having thought all morning about not looking at him, her eyes went right to Cameron.  He cracked a big, too-adult smile.  Her relief was mixed with the uncomfortable notion that a fifth grader knew exactly how she’d spent the night with his father.

Danny was in her head all day.  She loved teaching, but fifth grade curriculum could not occupy her entire mind.  Danny could though, and the way he’d smiled at her that morning, with his bed-head and desire to keep her in bed all day.  He may as well have.  Sara’s mind drifted to a few choice moments from the night before and she blushed, looking down at her desk.  The images refused to be chased: Danny over her with that certain, unshakable look in his dark eyes - she fanned herself with a copy of the quiz her class was taking.  

At lunch, she intended to call him and invite him over, or herself over, or offer another hotel visit - anything to see him again.  There was already a message waiting.  The sound of his voice made her stomach flip.

I can’t call him.  She was suddenly struck by overwhelming nerves.  Danny would answer - that’s what phones are for - and he’d be right there, but not here.  Not where she could touch him.  The idea of his perfect, smiling mouth forming words she couldn’t see... she’d die, or moan, or otherwise embarrass herself.  This was a grown man, who’d proven in one night to be more experienced than she could imagine at everything involving relationships.  Yet somehow, he was hers.  Maybe she was crazy to to have been so brazen this morning, and to think last night had been so important.

My boyfriend, Sara through.  Then she giggled as she wrote a text message.

Be there at 6:30.  Can’t wait to see you.

After school, Sara stopped at her house and stood in the bedroom, staring at her dresser with a frown.  She didn’t want to assume she’d stay over - his kids lived in that house.  But she didn’t want to be unprepared if he asked, because she really, really wanted to stay over.  Maybe he’d come back to her place.  Either way, she needed new underwear. Sara quickly changed from regular underclothes into a white lace bra with blue ribbon trim and matching panties, then put back on the dress she’d worn to school.  It was a far cry from the red dress that had gotten Danny so flustered the night before, but it could still be removed very quickly in the event of anyone taking off their clothes.

“I’m crazy,” Sara sang quietly as she packed.  

The bag went in the trunk and stayed there when she arrived at Danny’s house.  Every light in the place was on - the TVs would be too, with kids tripping over dogs and school books everywhere.  It was family night.

She knocked.

“You don’t have to knock!” Caelan opened the door.  He wore the same grin as Cameron had in class and Sara briefly wished to disappear.  

Why are kids so damned smart?! asked their teacher.

She hung her coat as Zoey and Zora came bounding around the corner.  At least they didn’t know she’d been naked with their dad less than twenty-four hours ago.  The dogs licked her hands and tried to climb her legs as she stepped over them and headed for the kitchen.

“Hey.”

At the sound of Danny’s voice, Sara lost her step.  He put a pot down on the stove and pulled off the oven mitt, rounding the island toward her.  A shy smile reached all the way to his eyes, and she knew he’d been thinking about her, about last night, the way she had all day.  Just like that, Sara’s nerves completely disappeared.  She stepped in and kissed him like she meant it.

“Ew, gross,” Sean said, spinning on a heel and fleeing as soon as he entered the kitchen.  

Danny laughed, but mostly he was looking into her eyes.  “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”
____

Danny and Sara sat next to each other at the table, knees brushing underneath.  Over roast chicken and mashed sweet potatoes with corn and green bean casserole, dinner went on as it had every time they’d eaten together, from the first night at Dave & Buster’s to the Tex-Mex they’d had after laser tag.  They tried not to blush and stare while the kids ate around them, not caring.

Or so they thought.  

“Are you gonna sleep over at Sara’s again tonight?” Carson asked between sips of milk.

Sara blinked - so Danny hadn’t told them about the hotel.  She was glad, as it seemed strange to anyone not of adult age why two people would get a room when their houses were so close.  Danny glanced at her before speaking.

“Would it be okay with you if Sara stays here tonight?”

Carson shrugged.  “I just want to know if we can have ice cream twice like last night.”

Sean flashed a long arm across the table and biffed Carson on the ear.  Caelan howled in distress at their plan being blown.  Danny just laughed.

“If you guys do the dishes, I’ll make milkshakes,” Sara offered.  

Carson stuck his tongue out at everyone.

When dinner was over and the boys had managed to half-drown each other washing dishes, Sara searched the kitchen until she found a blender.  Danny brought in a new half gallon of vanilla from the freezer in the garage and watched as she scooped as much as the blender would hold.  The kids crowded around, keeping him away.  She poured in milk and half the berries from the fridge.  One minute later, the boys were happily toting their shakes toward the living room for the wrestling match on TV.  

“Alone at last,” Danny said, slipping a hand around her waist.  It felt so good to finally touch her after hours of watching every gesture and motion. He pressed himself against her side and Sara relaxed, turning her head for a swift kiss.  He stayed there as she loaded the blender and made a second batch of milkshakes for them.

“I’m not supposed to eat like this,” he smiled guiltily, sipping the straw.  

Sara couldn’t stop herself.  The heat from his body made her drowsy and slow, magnifying the fullness of dinner.  It didn’t help that the creamy cold drink had just enough tartness to make her lips pucker.

“You’ll just need to work it off,” she said without looking at him.  Danny put his face into her neck and groaned, then tugged her toward the living room.  On the couch, he pulled Sara’s knees over his lap and sat close.

Cameron started yawning before the show was over.  “Night Dad,” he came to the touch and offered Danny a hug, then he turned to Sara and hugged her too.  “I did all my homework,” he promised.  

Soon all the boys were upstairs.  Danny gave Sara a quick kiss and said he’d be right back.  There was something he wanted to do before she stayed over for the first time.  She wasn’t the only woman to spend the night since the boys’ mother left, but she could be the most important.

“Come in,” Caelan said to the knock.  To Danny’s surprise, his brothers were in there too.  They all looked up like he was interrupting an important meeting.

Might as well get it over with, Danny thought.  Deep breath.  “I want to talk to you guys about Sara sleeping over.”

Caelan blushed on cue, following a second later by Carson.  Cameron wasn’t quite so modest.

“Are you gonna have sex?”

Danny turned fuschia.  If the floor had opened and swallowed him, he would not have objected.  Despite the fact it was exactly what he intended to talk about, it seemed that someone had beaten him to it - possibly just before he walked in.  Caelan and Carson burst out laughing like nervous adolescent boys do.

“Well, uh...,” Danny stuttered.  He’d had this talk with Caelan and a little with Carson, but surely Cameron was too young.  Except that he watched TV and movies.  Probably the women seen hanging around the rink every day were the real education.  “Yeah, Cam.  When grown-ups really like each other, they sometimes do.”

Seeing their father flustered sent Caelan and Carson over the edge, they were dying of embarrassment and squealing with laughter.  Cameron stayed surprisingly matter-of-face.

“Are you gonna have a baby?”

That surprised Danny.  “No.  Not now.  Babies are for when you’ve known each other a long time and you want to get married and have a family and....” He almost said ‘and stay together forever’ but that part clearly wasn’t true.  Now he understood.  “Cam, Sara and I aren’t getting married.  Not anytime soon, maybe not ever, okay?  She’s not going to be Mom.”

The look in those ten-year old eyes nearly broke Danny’s heart.  Cameron got to see his mother often, but it wasn’t the same as living in the same house, doing everything together.  Mostly the boys were so happy and rambunctious that anytime he saw a crack in their armor, it took Danny’s breath away.

“I don’t want her to leave,” Cameron said.  He wasn’t sad, but Danny thought he looked a little scared.  “She likes us.”

“Oh, bud,” Danny sat on the bed with hugged Cam.  Even the older boys were quiet now.  Kids were incredibly observant and absorbed so much, it never ceased to amaze him.  Danny’s other girlfriends had fallen short of the mark.  Now Cameron’s concern about losing Sara only made Danny more sure that he would never risk that, and that he wanted her in their lives all the more.  

“I can’t promise she’ll never leave, but if she does it won’t be because of you.”

“It’ll be because of you?” he asked, as if his father could get into big trouble.

Danny ruffled Cameron’s hair.  “It’s not easy for her to go out with me, you know?  I’m on the road all the time and sometimes people are mean to her because of me, like the boy you had the fight with.  But she still wants to, because she likes me and she likes you guys so much.”

“She’s gonna be like us, Cam,” Carson said, touching his little brother’s shoulder.  All the boys had faced their problems over having a famous dad in a famous divorce.

“She’s gonna be like us,” Cameron repeated with a nod.  “She’s gonna be on our team.”

Danny’s eyes were filling with tears and he didn’t trust himself to speak.  His kids got the best of him all the time.  For all the hard days being a young dad, the time spent traveling and the breakup of his marriage, he never for a second regretted having kids.  Without them to anchor him, Danny wasn’t sure how he’d have gotten through any of this.

“Our team,” he said quietly, then cleared his throat and kissed Cam on the forehead.  “Night boys.”

“Night Dad,” they all said.
____

Sara looked up at the sound of Danny’s feet on the stairs.  To her surprise, he looked sad.  She jumped up and went to him.  “Are you okay?”

He nodded and kissed her, it was salty like he’d been crying.

“What happened?”  Sara was very worried.  Crying parents were generally a sign of a huge problem.

Danny laughed blearily and smiled.  She sighed with relief.  Good tears were unexpected, but okay.

“The boys told me not to mess up and make you leave us.”

Her heart stopped for a beat.  That was an very personal thing to share.  She and Danny hadn’t talked about his divorce, his ex-wife, the media attention - there were so many elephants in the room it was practically a zoo.  This probably wasn’t how, or when, he intended to bring it up.  She didn’t want him to feel obligated to discuss it on anything but his own terms.

Sara wrapped her arms around his neck and put her head on his shoulder.  Danny’s arms crossed heavily behind her waist, leaning against her like his was suddenly exhausted.  Just the rise and fall of his chest felt wonderful.

“Sorry,” he said quietly.  Crying on a second date, very manly, Danny was thinking, but he couldn’t be embarrassed.  Sometimes kids had that effect.  Sara would know that.

She cuddled him closer.  A man vulnerable over his children was undeniably irresistible.  Danny had a gentle heart, but he was still physically the toughest person she had ever known.  Seeing him like this was startlingly intimate.

“I’m not sorry,” she looked at him with a smile.  “I knew what I was getting into with a hot dad.”
____

Their second night together was no less intense than the first.  They undressed each other slowly, almost carefully.  Danny lifted Sara’s hair and held her fast into a kiss that made her toes curl.  His other hand explored his breast, the arc of her ribcage and the curve of her waist.  She traced the lines and planes of his muscled back down to his tailbone.  By the time they fell to the mattress, Sara was already short of breath.  He lay still just long enough for her to roll him onto his back and straddle his thighs.  Danny looked up, appreciative of the sight and the way she was telling him what she wanted.  Sara pressed her cleft to his body as she had that morning, teasing him before work.  Only this time there was no strip of lace to keep them apart.  Her slit parted over the width of his erection as she moved along his shaft.  Danny’s eyes got wider as he felt her wetness spread along his skin.  Sara bit her lip against the urge to hurry up and let him have her.  Her eyes never left his.

“Baby,” he said as she reached behind and replaced her body with her hand, stroking him, then unrolling the condom over his taut skin.  Still holding him firmly, she tipped down and kissed Danny’s mouth.  Then Sara righted herself and guided him inside.

“Ohgod,” came that gasp again.  She was overwhelmed with the slow pressure filling her from underneath.  From this angle he felt bigger and Sara worked her way down his length with agonizing slowness, feeling his heart pound beneath her open palms.  The instant her ass finally rested against his thighs, Danny reached for her hips and started to move.

He groaned in pleasure.  She slid along his cock like moving a cork in and out of a bottle, the soft curves of her body giving him just enough to hold onto.  He’d never tire of watching her stomach flex and stretch, her breasts bounce with the impact.  Danny reached up and rolled a nipple between two fingers.  She moaned softly.  He pulled down just enough to take it in his mouth and bite gently.

“Danny,” she whispered sharply.  He liked the sound of that and nipped her again.  The result was a harder thrust of her hips.  He moved to the other breast, this time circling with his tongue and sucking hard.  She bucked again, increasing the pace, until he couldn’t take it and yanked her into his arms.

They kissed, eyes open, as they moved together urgently.  Sara sobbed out a breath and her eyelashes fluttered in time with her pussy.  Danny ground his teeth - it felt so fucking good, so impossibly decadent to command her body to pleasure that he had to fight his own impulse.  But not for long.

Sara was losing it and quickly.  Having Danny beneath her was some kind of delicious, dirty dream and made her more confident than ever.  Trusting him to know what they both wanted, she returned anything he did with double the force.  Soon she was quivering against every stroke.  

“Come with me,” she said.

“Yes,” he croaked.

At the tipping point, the tremors rocking her body, Sara was afraid she’d go too soon.  She wanted to share this.  She pressed two fingers to his lips and he kissed them, then his eyes followed them over her hip and down to her clit.

“Fuck,” he said, pushing harder.

That morning, when she’d pretended to touch herself, Sara had seen Danny’s eyes pool black with lust.  They almost hadn’t made it out of the room; her guess was too good.  Now with nowhere to go and all night to get there, she let Danny watch her fingers part the folds just above where his dick was disappearing into her body, and find her clit.  Even knowing her own touch was coming, Sara signed

It would make her come more quickly; she hoped it would do the same for Danny.  Rubbing gently, slowly so as not to lose herself immediately, Sara worked her fingers into her hot button and felt him get harder.

Danny was used to making sure the girl came first.  He could have come at the first brush of Sara’s smooth groove against his shaft, but he was a gentleman and didn’t like to disappoint.  Even the nobodies, the women whose names he had never known, they had found climax first - or at least pretended to.  It was the least Danny felt he could do.

Now he simply let it bear down on him, instead of fighting back against blood racing south.  Her fingers moved expertly against her clit: they had the unfair advantage of knowing exactly how Sara liked to be touched, what she wanted right now.  Danny envied those fingers and vowed to learn their secret.  For now it was enough to see that Sara had a wanton, wild streak and wasn’t afraid to show it.  They all had their secret sides.

“Now,” he said.

She smiled weakly, glad to dismiss the effort of holding off.  To Danny’s delight, she removed her hand and let him finish the job all on his own.  He pulled her hips farther down and forward and stroked deeply twice, three times, until he felt her break.  She reached behind and dug her fingers into his thighs, arching her back and bucking hard against his cock as a hot, soft gush filled the space between them.  Her pussy clenched again and pulled the orgasm right out of him.  He spurted, hotter still against his throbbing skin, again and again until his head fell back, exhausted.  Then he reached for her.

Sara lowered herself and lay prone and spent atop Danny’s body.  Her chest was heaving, everything below her waist still shuddering.  He kissed the tip of her nose.

“That was incredible,” she said in a shaky voice.

“You are incredible,” he answered firmly.
____