The Convenient Wife
by Kelly

chapter 29

The next morning, when Alice found nightclothes strewn across Alexis'
living room carpet, she didn't bat an eye. In fact, she folded said
nightclothes neatly on the sofa, and went through to the kitchen.
However, what she discovered in there did make her cheeks turn pink.

Sonny Corinthos, barefoot and in his bathrobe, his hair still wet
from the shower, Kristina perched expertly on his hip as he finished
cooking an omelet. The sight so beautifully domestic it knocked the
wind from Alice's lungs for a moment.

Dang the man was sexy, she mused. Ms. Davis wasn't just in this to
save the guy from prison. There were some fringe benefits along the
way to be sure. But the guy was too smooth, a smile so sweet had to
have a tinge of steel beneath it. She'd known plenty of men like that
in her time, sweet on the palette but rapier sharp on the digestion.
She hoped Ms. Davis hadn't gotten in too deep here like she had once
before.

"We're gonna make Mama some eggs and toast," he was saying to the
tyke.

"Toast?" she repeated. "Mama have toast?"

"Yup…and some juice. We'll even fix her some strawberries. They're
Mama's favorite."

"Eeewww," Krissy said, making a face at him.

He chuckled as she wrinkled her nose. "You don't like berries? You'd
be the first Davis woman who didn't."

Little Kristina looked as if she was born to be held by Mr.
Corinthos; she was so comfortable with him. Just like she should have
been with her own father, Alice seethed. But that no account Ashton
never deemed her important enough to treat her mother right. Some
father he'd been. Sperm donor more like it…

Sonny must have sensed her presence for he turned around and Alice
was met by the blunt force of his smile. But this time it wasn't the
man's dynamic looks that set her knees to jelly. It was the sight of
the two of them—man and child-- together that nearly stopped her
heart.

Sometimes what is obvious is the easiest to miss…

Her own mother had taught her that when she was a child. And it was
the only way she could explain to herself why she hadn't picked up on
the resemblance before now. The dark curls…the olive skin… the
matching set of dimples twinkling across at her…Daddy's little girl.

"Hey, Alice, you're here early," he greeted.

For a moment, his words didn't even register in her brain. Her mouth
was open, her eyes unfocused. This was why Alexis had taken her
daughter from Ned and that Quartermaine House of Horrors…Sonny
Corinthos was her child's real father. And apparently he didn't even
know!

When she finally heard him repeat his greeting, and saw a frown pleat
his brows, she shook herself. The nanny reached inward for her
usually impenetrable mental control and was able to muster up a cool
smile in reply. "Good morning, sir."

"Yeah, everything alright?"

"Fine," Alice answered, clearing her throat of its rather raw
tone. "I don't know if you're aware but—besides nanny duty whenever
your wife has to go to court-- I also come by twice a week to clean
the apartment. That's what I'm doing here."

Sonny nodded. "Lex told me. And the rest of the time you're at the
Quartermaine's, right? Don't know how the hell you put up with that."

She grinned a little more warmly at his tone of commiseration. "I
used to quite enjoy it…bossing the bunch of them around for Mrs. Q.
But there's not much joy there now that she's gone."

He nodded again, settling the toddler in her high chair. "Lila was a
great lady."

"One of the best," Alice agreed, then jerked her head in the
direction of Alexis' bedroom. "And so is your wife."

Sonny must have heard the challenge in Alice's voice, but he met her
eyes unflinchingly. "I know that."

She folded her arms across her ample chest, fixing him with a
determined stare that she hoped said it all. "All she cares about is
protecting that little one there. She did all she could to make sure
she was safe from that Luis Alcazar…from the Quartermaines…from
everyone. Mistakes and all, I'd say she's still the best mother I've
seen in a good while."

His eyes told her that he had no idea where this was leading.

"I just wanna be sure you know how good a woman she is…no matter what
anyone else ever says."

A light seemed to dawn in the man's mind. "I won't hurt her, Alice,"
he said, his voice husky with sincerity. "If you're worried about
her, you can rest easy. There's been enough hurt on both sides.
That's all over."

Alice fixed him with her stare for long, silent moments. Then she
nodded. "I hope that's true. Well, it seems you got everything under
control in here. I think I'll start on Kristina's bedroom and the
laundry."

The woman shuffled out of the room.

***

Alexis stumbled sleepily into the kitchen some twenty minutes later
and found him feeding her daughter breakfast that morning. "Why'd you
let me sleep so late?" she asked him, dropping a kiss on Kristina's
curls before sitting at the table.

"I figured you needed the rest," he said, a highly suggestive smile
curving his lips. He'd never get over how sexy she looked in the
morning, her heavy lidded eyes dimmed by sleep, her hair all over the
place, those long, long legs peeking out from a night shirt hastily
donned sometime during the night. He looked his fill until she
reached over and hit him in the chest.

"Ow!"

"Well, could you just stop staring at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like I'm breakfast."

"Mmm, fascinating idea," Sonny murmured, "for another morning. Ready
for some grub?"

"You made it?"

"Yep."

"Then I'm ready for it."

He laughed and got up to retrieve her plate from where it was warming
in the oven. Then he sat down and continued to feed Krissy and to
half-listen to her toddler chatter with her mom. But surreptitiously
he was watching Alexis take those tiny sexy bites of the food he'd
prepared. Her nibbling on the strawberries nearly did him in.

He knew she must ache deliciously in some inconvenient places today.
Once had not been nearly enough to assuage his pent-up desire. They
had made love slowly and languorously in bed. Then she'd tried to go
for a midnight snack, which had led to something fast and furious on
the living room couch. And of course the time she'd snuck off to the
shower at nearly two in the morning… that had been the prelude to
something hushed and fervent and sweet in the bathroom. And still his
need throbbed within him. He was considering leaving Kristina with
Alice so that he could wrestle Alexis back into bed.

"You're doing it again."

"What?"

"Looking at me like I'm your last meal."

"Well, actually, I am pretty hungry for you," he murmured, his eyes
hot with the truth of his words.

"Sonny, Kristina's right there."

"So."

"So, I don't want my daughter to see us…see us…"

"Ye-es?"

She was too flustered to answer him. Her hands flailed silently as
she sought words. He cut her off at the pass.

"Lexis, I'm not proposing you let me take you on the kitchen table.
At least not this morning."

Alexis turned beet red and then visibly relaxed as someone knocked on
the front door. "Thank God! Why don't you run along and go get the
door, Sonny?"

He flung a devastating grin her way as he stood. "Your wish is my
command, wife," he whispered. "Just like it was last night."

He dropped a brief, hard kiss on her startled mouth and walked out of
the room, laughing at her shocked expression. He so loved to shock
her.

chapter 30