bonus #10

"Alright, princess, what about the plié?"

Ayla looked at her dad with mock bewilderment, looking almost offended that her father had asked her that question.

"Daddy, this one, remember?" Ayla quickly stood up from her chair, still in her princess pajamas, and put her heels together, bending her knees.

"Alright, alright, my smart girl," Xavier surrendered, patting the seat in front of him. "Let me finish your hair first, princess."

"Okay, daddy."

Ayla sat back in her pink chair as her dad, once again, began combing through her hair. Gently, not wanting to tug on the beautiful brunette locks that she had inherited from her mother, he wrapped her hair into a tight bun at the top of her hair.

Spraying a bit of hairspray onto the comb, he brushed back some of her baby hairs that had gotten loose. The smile never once left Ayla's face as she swung her feet back and forth, looking into the mirror, watching as her dad perfected her hair.

It had taken a long time to learn, but as soon as Ayla began taking ballet lessons, Xavier was tasked with occasionally taking her to the lessons whenever Aurora couldn't make it due to work. This meant he had to learn how to do her hair, and after half a year, he had now perfected the bun.

Xavier even stayed for some of the lessons, watching as his precious daughter pranced around in her pink tutu, with a proud and adoring smile on his face.

"Alright, what about the second position?" Xavier quizzed her, watching as Ayla once again stood from her stool and demonstrated the movement perfectly for her dad.

Xavier tilted his head to the side. He could've sworn it was the other move.

"I thought it was this?" He stood up and proceeded to demonstrate what he thought the second position was. It was difficult because of his large build and nowhere was he flexible, whereas, on the other hand, Aurora was plenty flexible.

Oh, he would know.

Ayla pouted, shaking her head. "No, daddy, that's five. Two is this."

She placed her heels together with her legs straight and turned out, following the direction of her feet.

"I could've sworn that was the third position," Xavier scratched his head with confusion. There were just too many ballet moves to learn that he still couldn't get it all figured out despite having attended some of her lessons. However, it came as a shock to him that his now 4-year-old daughter remembered most of the moves.

Not to brag, but his daughter pretty damn smart.

Melodious chuckles could be heard coming from the doorway of Ayla's bedroom. Both father and daughter turned their heads towards the sound, and immediately smiles adorned their faces as Aurora walked in with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes.

"Our Ayla's just smarter than daddy," Bending down, she scooped Ayla into her arms, placing a kiss on their daughter's rosy cheeks. "Aren't you, pretty girl?"

Ayla nodded with enthusiasm, happy with all the attention on her. After all, it was her special day. Today was her very first ballet recital, and everyone, meaning, the entire Knight family was going to be in attendance. From her grandparents to her aunts, uncles, and cousins, everyone was determined to see little Ayla's first performance.

"She gets her brains from me," pouted Xavier, pulling Aurora to him with Ayla still in her arms. Ayla had already tuned out their conversion, instead, her focus was now on her mother's pretty necklace.

Aurora had gotten a bit more dressed up than usual, seeing that the event they were attending was Ayla's very first ballet recital. She wore a white half off-shoulder top tucked into a long light blue skirt that fell below her knees.

It had taken her an hour to get ready and within the hour, she already knew her boys were getting into some trouble. She just hoped Xander was there to at least prevent the twins from destroying the house— well unless he joined them, then, that was a different story.

Aurora rolled her eyes, before meeting her husband's eyes through the mirror. She shook her head, denying his statement.

"We both know that's not true," she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes, knowing she already won.

And she did. Xavier could never deny Aurora and as he continued to stare into the mirror, the image of his beautiful wife holding their beautiful daughter immediately made his heart melt. His two girls were his weakness— hell, even the boys were, and he knew he could never deny them anything.

Ayla was the perfect splitting image of Aurora with a bit of him and within the past 4 years, she had him tightly wrapped around her little fingers— well, all the men in the family did. She had no idea the lengths these men would go to protect her from all the bad in the world and Xavier would be the first one to do so.

Loud laughter could be heard from Jayden and Jared's rooms, which were right next to Ayla's. Aurora shook her head, giving her husband a look as they both knew the twins were up to no good.

"I'll get them ready, sweetheart," Xavier leaned down to place a kiss on the bare skin of her shoulder, before placing another kiss on her neck. "You look beautiful, by the way. When did you get this?"

He kept his hand on her waist where the band of the skirt was— the fabric feeling soft in his hands. As usual, he just couldn't keep his hands to himself.

"A couple of weeks ago, when Maddie and I went on that mini shopping trip with Steph and Megan," Aurora turned around with Ayla sitting comfortably in her arms, she held her skirt out for him to see. "You like?"

"I definitely like," he murmured, as he gave her a look once over. Aurora laughed when she noticed him blatantly checking her out without a single shameless care in the world. "Why didn't you show me this when you were showing me the other items of clothing you got?"

Aurora narrowed her eyes at him. "Because someone couldn't keep their hands to themselves when I was showing him said items of clothing that night. And besides, we ended up getting distracted."

"And distracted we did."

Xavier grinned wolfishly, thinking back to the items of clothing she had shown— no, modeled for him that night. I mean, who could blame him— she was just too damn delectable, he couldn't not get a taste.

She could see the look in his eyes and immediately she gave him a light slap on the chest when she felt his hands drift slowly lower than her waist.

"Get your mind out of the gutter," she muttered, sending him a warning glare. "You're so lucky Ayla doesn't understand any of this."

"Understand what, mommy?"

Ayla looked up when her name was mentioned, her big doe-like eyes looking up at her parents curiously with a small tilt in her head.

"Nothing, baby," reassured Aurora, sending Xavier another look as he tried to bite back his laughter and his hands continued to drift lower. "Let's help you get dressed for your performance, pretty girl, while daddy goes help your brothers get dressed up."

Ayla nodded as Aurora finally let her down from her arms. Immediately, Ayla ran into her closet to grab her pink tutu and ballet flats that she cherished dearly. Seeing that they were finally alone, Xavier took this time to pull Aurora closer so that she was flushed against his chest.

He leaned down, capturing Aurora's lips in a sweet kiss. Their lips moved in sync as they took this moment to surround themselves with one another. In that kiss was sweetness mixed with passion, a million loving thoughts surrounding them in their moment. Out of breath, he leaned down so that he rested his forehead on hers, placing small kisses on her lips here and there as they tried to catch their breath.

With a teasing smirk, he shifted his head so that his lips grazed her ears. "You really do look beautiful today in this dress today, baby, but I can't wait until tonight when I can see what you're wearing under."

Not letting him get away with riling her up, Aurora grabbed hold of his tie, pulling him closer so that her lips brushed against his just barely, taking the opportunity to tease him back. And it worked since his eyes were now glued to her lips. "Behave first, then we'll see about tonight."

She quickly pulled away, not letting him have it, instead pretending to not notice his pout as she smoothed out the creases in his suit. "Now, go get the boys dressed."

Aurora placed a small kiss on his cheek, and quickly escaped from his grasps, before disappearing into the closet. Xavier's eyes danced mischievously, watching as her hips swayed when she walked away. And no, he was not checking his wife out.

He was just admiring the way her skirt seemed to accentuate her curves, the same curves he loved holding at night. Great, now his thoughts were drifting to everything he wanted to do to her.

Shaking his head, he quickly cleared his thoughts, knowing he was so close to needing to take a cold shower. Muttering a curse under his breath, he began to make his way out of Ayla's bedroom.

Word on the streets was that the kids were having a sleepover at their grandparents' house, which meant alone time for mommy and daddy. Xavier was determined to be on his best behavior today if it meant having Aurora all to himself tonight.

Or not.

He couldn't help but tease his wife, enjoying the reaction he would get out of her. And it seemed like she loved teasing him back, constantly keeping him on his toes.

Surely the constant teasing and innuendos he would let intentionally slip would get him in trouble, but luckily, he knew she couldn't resist his charms.

He had ways of persuading her into forgiving him, anyways.

❤︎ ❤︎ ❤︎

Another bonus chapter for my lovely readers <3 I really do hope you enjoyed it, and I would like to take this time to thank you all for 5.1M reads. I really appreciate each and every one of you, so thank you guys so much! Also, be sure to follow my instagram insouciiancy for more bonus aesthetics, teasers (coming soon), and more!