Untouchable (Untouchables, 1)

“Date night? Isn’t that something middle-aged, married women have once they’ve stopped having regular sex?” Lucis demands, cocking a dark eyebrow at me as I pull on my coat.

I slant him a look as I button up my coat. “Trust me, I have not stopped having regular sex.”

Cadence snickers while Lucis rolls his eyes. “Come on, stay,” he implores. “Carter won’t actually die if he has to entertain himself for one evening. I promise.”

“Seriously, you can’t ditch us for date night,” Max mocks. “Just text him and tell him you’ll be another hour.”

Candace grabs a fistful of popcorn and comments to Max, “I love that movie, though. Have you ever seen it? With Tina Fey. So funny.”

I don’t bother telling them if I text Carter and try to put him off, he’ll show up at our study group and haul me out of here over his shoulder like an uncivilized caveman. Instead, I flash them a smile, let them think date nights are a lame establishment for stale relationships, and leave them with a wave, knowing otherwise.

To make matters even worse, my walk home takes a few minutes longer than usual. It has been snowing all day, light fluffy flakes, but all those flakes add up. A few inches cover the slick sidewalk with more coming down, catching in my hair and all over my coat.

It may take a little longer, but I love when it snows in the city. Big snow, little snow, I’m still so enchanted by the chill in the air and the sight of the white flakes against the backdrop of skyscrapers and the dark night sky… there’s nothing better. I can’t decide if I like fall or winter up here better, but I was definitely right when I thought how nice it would be to have both.

The door is unlocked when I make it back to the apartment. We usually keep it locked even if we are at home. Our building is safe, but just as an added precaution. Carter must have unlocked it to save me an extra minute fiddling with the key. That means he has definitely noticed I am running late.

I kick off my boots and pluck off my hat as soon as I get in the door. Lisa, our nanny, stands at the sink, cleaning up from dinner and post-dinner snacks.

“Hey, Lisa,” I greet, warmly.

It was quite a feat convincing Carter to hire a nanny, but I told him we would take every precaution to make sure we didn’t hire anyone unsafe. I put this poor woman through extensive interviews myself, contacted every single reference she could scrounge up, and even interviewed the now-grown children she nannied for early in her career. Lisa is a grandmother, a retired teacher, and a lovely addition to our family. Chloe just loves her, and I know the feeling is mutual.

“Oooh, you’re late,” Lisa jokes, flashing me a smile over her shoulder as I peel off my coat.

“I know,” I say on a sigh. “I got caught up and lost track of time. Thank you for doin’ the dishes,” I add, before hustling toward the bedroom.

As I approach the bedrooms, I hear Chloe’s voice, haltingly sounding out words as she helps Carter read her bedtime story. She’s in kindergarten now and she’s got all the words on her kindergarten word sheet memorized, but her level readers like to throw her a curve ball every now and then, depending on the story.

“What?” Carter demands, playfully, when she gets it completely wrong. “That word doesn’t start with a B.”

I peek my head in just in time to see Chloe throw her hands down on the book and sigh. “I get confused sometimes!”

Carter leans in and rubs her back, then leans over the book. “It’s all right, just slow down.” Pointing at a spot on the page, he asks, “What letter is that?”

“That one’s a D. Sometimes I get the B and D mixed up when they’re lower case.”

“No big deal, I did too, when I was your age. So, what’s the D sound?”

I sigh quietly to myself, then leave them to finish their story so I can go get ready for our date. I wanted to take a shower before we left since the snow did a number on my hair, but I don’t have time now. We can always take a nice, hot shower together when we get back home.

By the time Carter makes it in, I’m standing at my sink in the master bath, putting my earrings in. I catch his gaze in the mirror and smile at him.

“How did the bedtime story go?”

“She’s just about got all these level readers memorized, we’re gonna have to get her some new ones.”

“Pretty sure Santa has that taken care of,” I tell him.

“Mm,” he murmurs, wrapping his arms around me from behind. “You’re the sexiest Santa I’ve ever seen.”