“Birthdays are incredible in my family. We always go out of our way to try and make the day as special as possible for the birthday person. You know one year—I think I was turning eleven—I got it into my head that I wanted a pet duck. I swear. A duck. I was sort of obsessed with the idea.”

She is already giggling.

“What happened?” she laughs.

“Leon, Yefim and Oleg went on this mission to try and find me a duck. Of course, I didn’t know it was happening—this was all in secret. And while they were doing that, Anya used oldboxes, cutting them up to make a really cool duck house with pink blankets inside and all."

“Did you get a duck?” she asks, watching me grin and shake my head.

“Oh, I got…something.” I flick the pan again, then lift it off the heat and set it to the side. “My brothers and sister were so excited that they managed to pull this whole thing off, they woke me up at one minute past midnight on my birthday. They woke me up with the most excited bubble of chaos. They shoved this shoebox into my hands shouting happy birthday—Anya was standing next to this giant cardboard mess that I didn’t know was a duck house—anyways, I opened the box and there it was. This tiny, fluffy, most gorgeously beautiful little duck. My heart just exploded, man. I was so happy. Honestly. I couldn’t believe they had done this for me. I called him Spike the Duck.”

Her head is tilted to the side as she looks at me through narrowed eyes. “But?”

“But, over time, we realized it wasn’t a duck at all. It was an emu.”

I crack up laughing, remembering the chaos.

“An emu?” she says, shocked. "Aren’t they really big?”

“You know, they are. They grow to almost five foot nine. A bird. As tall as me. Well, I was eleven, so this bird was much taller than me.”

She can’t stop laughing. “What happened to Spike theDuck?”

“What do you mean what happened to Spike?”

“Well, what did you do with him?”

“I kept him, of course. He was way better than any duck I could ever have dreamed of. My brothers and I would run around the neighborhood and Spike the Duck would come with us on his harness. Man, he was the best pet I ever had.”

“An emu.” She is laughing so hard she is spilling wine.

“Yeah. I miss him.”

“It sounds like you and your brothers had a lot of adventures growing up.”

“Oh, definitely. Anya too. We would all get into a lot of trouble. I still have a lot more adventures I want to go on, though.”

“I wasn’t really allowed to do anything weird. My uncle was super strict. I spent a lot of time focusing on schoolwork because it was something I could control—and I was good at it. I got really great grades. I just didn’t have a whole lot of fun, basically.”

“Do you feel like you missed out?”

“I feel like there is a lot I still want to experience. I want to have adventures. I want to get into trouble sometimes."

I walk over to her, running my hands over her thighs, pushing her legs open a little as I step between them. She looks up at me, her face soft, expectant, as she stares into my eyes.

“I’ll take you on adventures, little one. You and me. We can go on all of the adventures together,” I say to her.

She smiles, and it brightens her eyes.

I can’t help it. I know I told myself I was going to wait for her to make the first move, but I simply cannot help myself. I wrap my hand around the back of her neck and pull her face towards mine, pressing my mouth over hers.

She lets out a soft moan and my cock goes rock-hard.

Her hands are already pulling my shirt buttons open, and that is enough for me—that is all the encouragement I need. My hands run up her thighs, pushing the dress up over her hips.

She moans against my mouth again as I grab her ass and pull her to the edge of the counter.

Chapter 15 - Clara