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A
Kiss for the Angels
The scary thing was that his life was full of background music, but until recently, he never bothered to listen. Alexis smiled at him, and Ric gulped hard. Yep, this was a definite run moment. “I don’t know, Alexis,” he began. Alexis’s eyes darkened and the smile on her lips definitely did not reach her eyes as she took on this determined feral look. A determined Alexis, that was something he liked at certain times, namely in the bedroom, but this was not one of those times. Groaning, Ric could hear it now. Oh yeah, there it was—the Jaws’ music. Alexis held the cases up in her hands in a threatening movement. Fanning them, she lifted a cool brow. “Oh, you don’t scare me, little lady,” he said with added bravado. Alexis calmly selected a CD. Ric sighed rolling his eyes. “Okay, fine. So you do—sometimes. Hit me,” he said waving to her determined to get this over. “Beethoven.” “Eh, no. Try again.” Alexis glanced at the jewel cases. “Vivaldi!” “Counselor, please work with me here.” Ric put up a hand. “I’ve got a solution. Wait.” He quickly left the room to return a few moments later with one glass and a bottle of expensive cognac. Pouring them a stiff one, his hand cradling his glass, swirling the amber liquid as it warmed to the touch of his hand. Waving off the first fumes, the kiss of the angels, he took a fortifying drink. “First kiss for the angels, and next a kiss for you,” he said before reaching over and kissing Alexis, his mouth warm from the alcohol with a rich smoky flavor. He was distracting her. Sure he was. Alexis moaned as the kissed deepened, tasting the burning flavor of cognac and Ric. Moving into it, she winded an arm around his neck, as he spanned her back in a firm hold, his one hand going up to cradle her neck. Reluctantly, he released her, leaning his head against hers. Breathing deep, he looked into her eyes loving that slight dazed look she got, but his wife, she was one scary chick. Even dazed and distracted, her hand came up with a CD waved between the two of them. “You’ll like this one.” “Please,” he begged. This was bad enough, but a night of Bach might undo him. “Barry White,” she said seductively. “Oh baby!” Ric grabbed her and danced her around the room, his head buried in her neck. “Are you propositioning me?” Alexis made a sound on disgust in her throat. “Since lately you take me passing you salt as a proposition, and then yes, I suppose I am.” Laughing, she put a hand over his mouth before he could kiss her. “But,” she started. “Oh-no, no…not with the buts!” “We have to do this first.” Ric glanced over his shoulder. “I can’t do this.” “Oh, sure you can. You know why?” Alexis held his head, kissing him, her mouth kissing the side of his, sucking on his bottom lip softly before pulling it a bit harder. “You’re smart.” “I am.” “You’re sexy.” “You think so?” “Totally sexy.” Alexis gave a squeak when he dipped her. Laughing, she held on. Ric straightened and took a deep breath. Rubbing his hand down his front straightening his tie that wasn’t there he took a determined look. “You’re right. I can do this.” Breathing out harshly, he stood taller. “I’m a lawyer, dammit.” “That’s my man.” Alexis encouraged him patting him on the back. “I think there is only one real way to approach this, and that is to assign a project manager.” “Alexis, we’re the only two on the project,” he pointed out. He poured more cognac into the glass taking a drink, passing it to Alexis. “Granted, the workforce is a tad under staffed given the complexity of the project, but I think it is important to have a project leader—a captain, if you will.” Ric gave his wife a knowing look, not in the least bit fooled. “You mean someone to blame when it goes up in smoke.” “Oh God! Not smoke—I mean, I hope not in smoke. Last time was…” Alexis caught herself. “Not really, I think one of us to orchestrate it, so it comes off, not so foul. That’s the ticket, and I nominate you as the Captain.” Alexis gave him an approving pat on the back. “Captain?” Ric gave her a knowing smile. “Right. And you will be?” Alexis ran her hand up his chest smiling enchantingly making him raise an eyebrow. “Why a soldier, of course, you know—an underling, working ‘under’ you.” Ric’s arms went around her waist pulling her tight into him. “A soldier…hmm, I think I’m liking this. That means you have to follow my orders.” “Uh-huh,” she said kissing the side of his neck. “Oh Captain, my Captain.” “All of them,” Ric smiled, a genuine one. “I might have some pretty detailed instructions.” “You always do.” “I do?” “Oh you do,” she breathed in his ear. Ric lightly spanked her, putting her away from him. “Stop that, you’re distracting me.” He pushed the sleeves of his shirt up. “Let’s get this abomination over, and then we can go work on the details.” Ric drank more cognac. “Detailing—my favorite thing.” Alexis sighed leaning over the counter with Ric to read the pages as they passed the cognac between them. “This—this doesn’t look so bad.” Ric snorted rereading it a third time; after all, he was the captain. He might as well be a good one. “Not so bad? There is nothing so bad as something that’s not so bad.” Alexis held up a wooden spoon, “Your emblem of power, my Captain.” “I prefer a whip.” “Later. Let’s get this done.” Alexis frowned as she read to herself. “Clarify the butter? What? Um, you know, maybe you better do step one.” “Sorry, you’re the slave—um, I mean soldier. My first order is to clarify the butter.” They looked at each other, both shrugging. “Index or glossary! There must be a glossary of terms,” she suggested. “Right!” Ric turned to the back, then to the front, and flipped through interim pages. “E-eh, doesn’t look good, there’s no glossary.” Alexis took the butter and stared at it in great thought. “Fine, listen up churned up piece of putrefied animal secretions…you are butter. Are we clear on that?” She dumped it into the pot. “Next instruction.” “Honey, I don’t think that is what they mean by ‘clarifying’, just a hunch.” “Are you questioning my cooking skills?” Ric laughed outright holding up his hands in surrender. “Now would I do that?” He made a face. “Next instruction!” Alexis stood at attention. “Add chopped scallions and two cloves of crushed garlic.” “I can do that,” Alexis said proudly. “See, this is a snap!” She shoved it all in the pot. “I told you that we can do this! After all, we’re lawyers. We make sense of convoluted facts every day, and this, this is child’s play.” “We’re good.” Alexis leaned over kissing him. “We’re really good.” They both smiled before moving into the kiss. It got a bit heated in there, as it is known to do in kitchens, as he backed her up into the counter and her hand went back to grab the edge to steady herself. She reluctantly pushed him away when a smell hit her delicate nose, so tuned was her olfactory apparatus. “Um, Captain, I think the onion and garlic are burning—oh, and the butter.” Ric turned quickly to look in the pan. Cursing under his breath, he gave it a quick stir with his spoon waving his other hand over the top to disperse the wisps of black smoke. “Naw, it’s fine. A tad singed, that’s all.” “The instructions say not to overcook the garlic.” Alexis looked into the pot at the blackened once white chunks, now almost indiscernible. “What exactly is overdone? I think this book is defective. It should come with diagrams, a color code, and a few other things.” “Like a cook?” Ric suggested. Alexis hit him playfully. “What the heck is a number five can?” Alexis leaned in her nose scrunched up as she read the directions. “A number five can of crushed tomatoes.” Glancing at her husband, she shrugged. “Typo, I’m sure they mean five cans of crushed tomatoes.” Ric didn’t look so sure, but watched as Alexis opened five cans of whole tomatoes. “I thought they were supposed to be crushed.” “Got a spoon?” she asked. Ric nodded holding up his symbol of power and position. “Then crush away Law Boy.” “Captain,” he corrected her. “Show some respect where respect is due.” “I was going to say ‘Brief Boy’, but you don’t wear briefs.” “I don’t wear anything.” “I know.” Alexis said putting a tongue into her cheek, giving a look up and down. Ric blew at hard at the look and quickly went to work putting a bit of muscle into it as tomatoes went flying. They really needed to get this done. “You know, I think we should’ve started on something easier, like in the front of the book, and not on page 130.” “Honey, it’s the Joy of Cooking, not a position of from the Kama Sutra. Everything in this damn book is difficult from cover to cover.” “Position 130, was that the one with the…” “The ear.” “Oh, I liked that one!” “Stir! We’ll never get this done.” Alexis took a drink of cognac offering the glass to the hard laboring Ric. * * *
Ric was kissing her neck, his hand around her waist, up under her shirt. Alexis opened her eyes seeing them. “Sonny,” she said huskily. Ric stopped kissing her. “No. Ric.” Alexis smiled at her daughter, her eyes lighting up in joy. Or maybe she was just lit. The almost empty bottle of cognac stood on the countertop with strange handprints all over it. “Hey, baby!” Ric frowned turning to follow Alexis’s gaze, and only seeing Sonny. “Don’t call him that!” “I was talking to Kristina.” “Kristina!” Ric joined Alexis, but Sonny easily avoided the two of them taking his daughter to a respectful distance. They were both filthy. “You are a bit on the…” Sonny wanted to say drunk, but actually, they were both still standing, so he compromised. “Messy side.” “Oh!” Alexis took a kitchen towel and wiped herself and then Ric down. “The shellfish, it was trying.” “It can be, especially the mussels and crab. Shelling them can be difficult to the unpracticed.” Alexis made a sound in her throat. “I thought you were supposed to leave them in their shell!” Sonny smiled charmingly. “You are. I was just checking.” Ric went back to stirring their ‘project’. His eyes spied something, and he gave a suspicious glance Alexis’s way. “Lexi, how much of the chives did you put in?” Alexis’s eyes moved nervously as she bit her lip, not really sure which one was chives. They were all green. That was hardly her fault. There were other colors in the rainbow; she wouldn’t have chosen green herself. “Um…how much was I supposed to put in?” “A tablespoon of chopped chives,” he said holding up the tablespoon. Alexis’s face turned few different shades of red. Her hand immediately went behind her back as she rocked on her heels. “Yep, that’s how much I put in,” she lied easily. “We had three full bunches of chives. They’re all gone.” “What are you saying, Counselor?” she asked her eyes narrowing. Oh, he so could not being suggesting that she spoiled the pot. Not after he burned the garlic and butter. Sonny moved Ric and Alexis back. He and Kristina both looked into the pot together, and Sonny found a clean spoon and dipped it into the strange brew. Tasting it, he nodded his head more to himself. Turning, he started to hand Kristina over to Alexis, but seeing the state of her clothing he shook his head. Finding the only clean space in the kitchen, he sat Kristina down. “Don’t move, sweetie.” Sonny sighing heavily, his load in life very much trying to his better nature, not that anyone suspected that he had a better nature. He took the hot pads and picked up the large pot. Going to the trash can, he tossed the pan and its contents into the garbage. “Oh,” said Alexis. “That can’t be good. That’s not good is it?” she asked her husband. “Definitely not good,” Ric confirmed. Sonny came back and smiled at the two lethal legals holding out his hand. Sighing, Ric reached into his back pocket for his wallet removing a twenty. Sonny smiled smugly going to retrieve his daughter from her perch. “See the money, honey? This is what’s called easy tender, off an easy mark. Now, gaming is illegal in the state of New York, so don’t tell anyone.” Alexis rolled her eyes. “Obviously, our mistake was trying to make a bouillabaisse. Perhaps it was a bit too challenging.” “Box mac and cheese it too challenging,” Sonny informed her. “You mistake was every locating your kitchen.” Sonny looked at the mess. “I’ll call for dinner. Tandoori?” “Sounds good,” Ric agreed tossing the towel. Heck, they already lost, so why not accept defeat gracefully. He was starving in more ways than one, and with a bit of cognac on board, a nice warm wife, and Kristina looking ready for bed—life was good. “I’ll call while you and Alexis clean up your mess.” “Clean?” both Alexis and Ric said at the same time, looking about helplessly. “You cook. You clean. It’s a rule.” “Where?” Alexis demanded. “I didn’t see that rule! Is it in the book?” Sonny laughed kissing his daughter. “Tandoori in half an hour, so you might want to get going.” Alexis bit her lip. “Ric, you’re the Captain. I’m sure you want to go down with the sinking ship.” Ric reached out and dragged a flee Alexis by the back of her jeans. “Uh-uh. I’m the Captain and you’re the soldier, so I’ll just order you to clean the kitchen. Remember? You’ll follow my every order?” Alexis made a huffing noise in her throat. “Well, actually you were the Captain of cooking, so I think it is my turn to be the Captain of the cleaning crew, and that makes you my little soldier.” Sonny shook his head whispering to Kristina. Yep, he needed to get food so his little Princess could eat and get ready for bed. “I think it’s going to take the both of you, that or a nuclear explosion.” Alexis gave the room some thought. Sonny left them to it, listening to their discussion on his way into the living room. “We could move,” Alexis suggested. Ric made an approving sound in his throat. “Or fire! Fire worked for us last time.” “It did. It really did, and I really like choosing new cabinets.” “Trinitrotoluene?” Ric whispered in her ear. “Oh, TNT, I like. It’s an essential for redecorating.” Sonny took a chair with Kristina in his lap shaking his head. “Yeah, this is Mr. Corinthos, can you deliver my usual order? Yeah, the same place. How long? That will be fine.” Sonny disconnected his cell phone glancing at the kitchen at loud noises, pots crashing and the sound of laughter, of Alexis’s happy tone with his brother’s deeper baritone chuckle. “And they call me dangerous,” he told his daughter tragically. “Don’t worry, my little doodle bug, daddy will make sure they don’t poison you.” Kristina
repeated the word ‘daddy’ in her soft little voice, and
Sonny smiled, his eyes softening in a way they only did for his
daughter. “That’s my girl.”
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