Plot Twist

25. skip a beat

It was seven o'clock in the morning, and I was sitting on the sofa, with Lexi sitting on my lap, her legs dangling as she was facing forward. She was busy watching some television, while I braided her blonde hair. Our morning routine was never the same but it consisted of two very important things for Lexi - eating breakfast and having her hair done.

"Hey baby, Seb will be picking you up from school today, sweetie. Is that okay?"

I watched the back of her head bob up and down in front of me. "Yes, mum."

Despite our very much overdue steamy and passionate night, Sébastien and I have been taking things slow. We didn't need to rush things between us, as long as we knew what we wanted, so, for everyone's sake, it felt right to just slow things down. But that doesn't mean that we don't see each other, in fact we keep seeing each other a lot more after that date night. It just means that we weren't thinking too much about the future.

But one thing we've been thinking about and we're actually being overly cautious with, was Lexi's relationship with Sébastien. They get along great, and she loves him, but we had to work on transitioning Seb's reference as my friend to my boyfriend, and that included having him gradually join our everyday routine.

So, since I had some errands to run today in central London, I had asked him if he'd mind being responsible for getting her home from school and watching over her at home until I got back. He quickly said he'd be happy to, before kissing me.

It also helped that Lexi was a pretty independent kid. She did her homework and showered on her own, she brushed her teeth and put on her pyjamas on her own as well. She'd only need help combing and drying her hair and she could possibly need an extra hand on her maths exercises, but I'd warned Sébastien about it.

* * *

I had meant to get home at least before dinner time, but you can never trust the busy London commute, so, by the time I got off the bus and walked home, it was already past seven. Luckily for me, Sébastien had already started to take care of dinner, I noticed, as the second I walked through the front door, the smell of bolognese had filled my nostrils.

"Wow, it smells so good here." I said after closing the door behind me and tossing the keys on top of the glass bowl we had on the entrance hall.

Lexi almost knocked me to the ground as she ran towards me, and hugged my waist.

"Hi mummy!"

"Hi love." I said before bending down to kiss the top of her head. "How was your day?"

"Amazing!" She did a little jump as she smiled widely, causing my heart to skip a beat. "Seb and I created our special cookies recipe and we baked them. They're delicious!"

"That sounds lovely, Lex! I'm gonna have to try them after dinner."

I removed my jacket and hung it up on the wall before giving my daughter a kiss again. She took it as a sending off gesture, and she quickly ran off to the living room, going back to what I can only assume was her homework. At the end of the small hallway, on the left, stood Sébastien, who was staring at me from the kitchen entrance, with a smile on his lips while he mindlessly cleaned his hands on the kitchen towel.

"Hi." I said, my voice coming out as a whisper. I walked down the hallway and into the kitchen, his eyes sensually boring into me the whole time.

Once in the kitchen and out of my daughter's sight, I wrapped my arms around Seb's neck while his hands found the back of my waist, and, getting on my tiptoes, I greeted him with a passionate kiss.

"Hello." He smiled against my lips before kissing me again and my heart skipped a beat again.

"How was being on Lexi duty for the day?" I asked while I walked away from him and towards the stove.