Free Terms of Service by Emma Nichols

watched in fascination as he opened them and sighed. 
    “Come here,” he murmured, drawing Hannah into his outstretched arms and cradling her against his chest.  “It’s going to be fine.  We’re going to go have a lovely dinner then I have a surprise for you at home.”
    Letting his warmth wash over her, Hannah closed her eyes and drew in his strength.  Before she knew it, her arms were wrapped around his back, her hands hooked over his shoulders.  Somehow, it felt right, but the newness of it forced her to reluctantly draw away.  “Shall I introduce you?”  She smiled a bit.
    “I’d expect nothing less of you,” Gavin said.  Then looping her hand through the crook of his arm, he led her to where her ex stood with the stripper and watched.
     

Chapter Five
     
    It was just after seven when they arrived home.  Hannah loved the sound of the word.  With a little money and a lot of work the place would even start to look and feel like a home.  She smiled as she thought about the changes she planned on instituting as they pulled up to the front door.  Once again, Gavin stopped her as she tried to get out of the car without waiting for him.
    “Stop,” he said in mock exasperation.
    “I thought it was only in public,” she apologized.
    Shaking his head seriously he said, “No.  Always.”  He paused as he tried to figure out how to explain it to her.  “It isn’t about you being weak, or me trying to take away your independence.  It’s about me showing you my respect.  Let me, okay?”
    Hannah had accepted the hand he offered her.  As she stepped out onto the cobbled drive, she looked into his eyes.  He was staring at her so intently that it made her shiver.
    “Are you cold?”  He wrapped an arm around her.
    “We’re ten feet from the door,” she commented.  Then her eyebrow arched wickedly.  “But if I claim to be cold will you give me your jacket?”
    Gavin threw his head back and laughed.  “Normally, I would, but for now I was thinking I might start a fire in the study.”  He glanced at his watch.  “Can you have the girls in bed and meet me there in about forty-five minutes?”
    She quirked her head to the side to examine him for a moment, wondering what he wanted, gave up, and acquiesced.  “Sure, plenty of time.”  Then, walking as briskly as her body would allow, she herded the girls up to their room.
    Half an hour later, after Rory and Zoe had bathed in her enormous tub and been dried in thick towels warmed on her heated towel bar.  They had brushed teeth, combed hair, and put on the palest of pink pajamas, before they climbed onto their mother’s bed to hear a story.  
     
    ***
     
    This was where Gavin found them.  He had paced impatiently, watching the clock, wondering what was taking so long before finally breaking down and rushing up the stairs two at a time.
    He had paused first outside of their bedroom door, half expecting to hear screaming children objecting to going to bed.  To his considerable surprise, the room was vacant.  With a great deal of trepidation, he managed to drag himself down the hall to her room.  The double doors were flung wide open and they were all on Hannah’s bed, nestled amongst the pillows as she read them a story.
    At first he thought he would just slink back down the stairs, but he was quickly enthralled by the sound of Hannah’s voice as she read a story to her girls.  It was a story he had never read before, though he was more than a little familiar with the title: The Little Prince.               As he neared the door, he realized she was just beginning the story; he had missed nothing more than the dedication.
    “ Once when I was a little boy,” she began.
    That was all it took.  He was hooked.  She read with passion.  As spellbound as he was, he forgot why he had come.  All he knew was he needed to listen to her read this story.  It was as though his very life depended on it.  Before he realized