The Assistant by Ramona Gray

jiggled as she hurried toward Aiden.  She had
combed her hair and applied makeup and I realized with dismay that the girl was
stunning.
    Jealousy, strong and unpleasant, flowed
through me when she plopped herself down on Aiden’ lap and kissed him firmly on
the mouth.
    “Aren’t you happy to see me?”  She pouted
prettily as Aiden gave her a strained smile.
    “I am.  How’s London?”
    “So great.”  She smoothed her hand down his
chest.  “I’ve been having a really great time.”
    “Good.”  He shifted uncomfortably under her
and Stephanie cleared her throat.
    “There’s another chair right beside me,
honey.”
    “I know,” Susan said cheerfully.  She
continued to sit on Aiden’s lap as he glanced quickly at me.  I kept the
polite, disinterested look on my face but inside I was nearly seething with
jealousy.  I wanted to stalk over there and yank Susan off of his lap by her
long, soft hair.  I took a deep breath and shook off the image of me punching
Susan in the face.  I outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds.  How
difficult would it be to pound her into oblivion for touching Aiden?  Not that
difficult, I decided.
    Tyson had crawled over King and was leaning
against my chest.  He smiled up at me and patted my face before resting his
head against my shoulder.  I tried not to wince.  I had a bruise from where
Aiden bit me that night in his office, and I tried to subtly move so that Tyson’s
head wasn’t resting directly against it.
    He lifted his head and squinted at my neck
before pushing the neckline of my t-shirt to the side.  “What’s that?”
    He pointed to the bruise as Stephanie
frowned.
    “Oh honey, what happened?”
    “Uh, I ran into the doorframe in the middle
of the night,” I lied quickly.  “Serves me right for not turning on the light.”
    I pulled my t-shirt out of Tyson’s hands
and quickly covered the bruise before glancing at Aiden.  He was staring at me
with a sick look on his face and I gave him a curious look.
    Susan cleared her throat loudly.  “If I had
known you were spending Christmas with us, Aiden, I would have brought the
present I bought you in London.”
    “You didn’t have to buy me anything,” Aiden
replied.  He shifted again before asking politely, “How’s the teaching job
going?” 
    “Oh great, great!”  Susan enthused.  “I
love my kids.”
    She turned and smiled at me.  “I teach
gymnastics.  I used to be a professional gymnast.  Almost made it to the
Olympics a few years ago.”
    Shit.  A gymnast. 
    I didn’t have a chance of winning a
catfight with her, she’d be solid muscle and bendy as hell.  Besides, it didn’t
matter.  Given a choice between a gymnast and my fat ass, what man wouldn’t
want to bang the goddamn gymnast?  I plucked self-consciously at my t-shirt
that was clinging to my round belly and gave her a faint smile.
    “Wow!  Congratulations.”
    “Thanks!”  She started to settle more
firmly on to Aiden’s lap and squeaked in surprise when he twisted out from
beneath her and stood.
    “Sorry.”  He gave her an apologetic smile. 
“But I’ve really got to rescue Lina from King.  He’s going to crush her
ribcage.”
    He moved toward me and lifted first Madison
and then Tyson off of King’s broad back before taking King’s collar.  He pulled
firmly.  “King, down.”
    The dog made a snort of displeasure but
jumped down obediently before lying in front of the fire.
    I took a deep breath and unfolded my legs
from the chair.  “Thanks.”
    I winced as I rubbed at my ribcage and then
blinked in shock when Aiden dropped into the chair beside me.  The armchair was
large but he was a big man and I was no delicate flower.  I twitched when he
slid his hands under my ass and shifted me until I was half sitting on the
chair and half-sitting on his lap.
    “Comfortable?”  He gave me a smile tinged
with desperation and I hesitated before nodding and relaxing against him.
    “Sure