Did I mention I have a wife?
Yeah. Married man. Actual ring, two kids, the whole Norman Rockwell painting — if Norman Rockwell painted boardroom sharks in designer heels and 1,200-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets.
Her name's Danica Rockwell, CFO of Rockwell Dynamics, and she's the only person on Earth who can match me move for move without breaking a sweat.
Most people think I'm dangerous.
They've clearly never met my wife.
---
We met in the military, back when I was still a hot-headed major with more ambition than sense. She was already two steps ahead of everyone else, running numbers like a Wall Street savant and reading people like an open book.
I knew the first time I saw her in that pressed uniform and killer heels that she was the kind of woman who could run a company, a household, or a small country — all before lunch.
Now, as CFO, she keeps the gears of Rockwell Dynamics spinning so smoothly that the world barely notices we're arming half the planet.
And as my wife?
Well, let's just say she keeps me honest — in all the ways that matter, and none of the ones that don't.
---
My days as President are a blur of briefings, meetings, and the constant low hum of people underestimating me. But when I step into the private residence on the second floor of the White House, the weight of the world slips off my shoulders.
Tonight, Danica's waiting for me in our suite, sprawled across the bed in that black silk slip she knows drives me insane, laptop balanced on her knees, eyes scanning a spreadsheet that would give most people migraines.
"You're late," she says without looking up.
"Saved the world again," I reply, loosening my tie.
"That's nice," she says, clicking something on her laptop. "We closed the Kuala Lumpur deal. Twelve billion in revenue over the next five years. You're welcome."
I chuckle and kick off my shoes. "I love it when you talk numbers to me."
---
She finally sets the laptop aside and looks up, that sharp green-eyed gaze locking on me.
Most people get intimidated when Danica looks at them like that — like she's calculating every secret you've ever tried to keep. Me? I married her for that look.
"You're smiling," she says.
"Yeah, I just realized half of Washington is terrified of me now. And the other half's plotting to take me down."
She smirks. "You always were sexiest when people were trying to kill you."
---
I cross the room in two strides, and suddenly we're not the President of the United States and the CFO of a multi-trillion-dollar defense empire.
We're just Colton and Danica — two people who know exactly how to push each other's buttons.
Her fingers curl into my shirt, pulling me down into a kiss that's all teeth and heat and the kind of unspoken challenge we've been trading since the day we met.
I press her back into the pillows, and for the first time all day, I'm not thinking about nuclear codes, Senate backstabbers, or the next geopolitical crisis.
I'm thinking about her — the only person on Earth who makes me forget I'm supposed to be untouchable.
---
Later, when we're tangled up in each other, skin slick and sheets a mess, she murmurs, "You know, we should probably act like a normal married couple in public once in a while."
I laugh softly against her shoulder. "Where's the fun in that? I like it when they underestimate us. Keeps the wolves hungry."
---
There's a knock at the door — our oldest, eight-year-old Max, poking his head in, sleep-tousled and rubbing his eyes.
"Dad, Mom… can I sleep in here tonight? Had a bad dream."
Danica pulls the sheet up to her chest, shooting me a look equal parts not now and this is our life.
"Sure, buddy," I say, scooping him up and settling him between us.
He's asleep in minutes, oblivious to the fact that his parents just spent the last hour plotting world domination and setting the bed on fire in entirely different ways.
---
I glance at Danica over Max's head.
She mouths, Later.
And I know she means it.
---
In the morning, we'll go back to being the Rockwells — the power couple that runs the free world and the most powerful private military empire on Earth.
But for now?
I'm just a husband, a father, and a man lucky enough to be married to someone as dangerous — and intoxicating — as Danica Rockwell.