Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Pressing his lips together so he didn’t smile, Terrence nodded. “Yes, Daddy. I’ll be a nice boy to him.”
“Thank you.” He might not be completely little at the moment, but he was nowhere near his biggest. “I appreciate your help in making my boy feel confident and happy.”
He barely caught himself before he rolled his eyes. Once he realized what he’d almost done, he smiled wider and stood straighter. “He’s very important to you, so I’ll be nice.”
“Good save.” I got to roll my eyes because I was Daddy. “Let’s get you dressed.”
“Yes, because if they actually break in, I want to have clothes on.” He said it so seriously as he bounced into the bedroom, I couldn’t decide if he was being cheeky or not.
Probably not based on the first impression my family was making.
“I think that’s a good plan. They’re very excited to meet you.” It seemed obvious to me, but Terrence cocked his head and frowned as he stopped by the bed with a little hop like he was pretending to be some kind of soldier.
Studying me with his thinking face, he looked a bit as if he was analyzing the topic like it was work related. “Why?”
“Why are they interested in meeting you?” I wasn’t sure I understood the question even after he nodded. “Um, well.”
Everything I was coming up with sounded stupid.
With anyone else I’d have tried to play it off but Terrence wouldn’t have asked if he understood what was going on. “At the risk of sounding sappy, I’m pretty sure the guys have told everyone in the family that I’m seeing this relationship from a very serious perspective.”
That sounded more mature than saying I was head over heels for him, right?
“Oh.” That was all he gave me for several long moments before he nodded. “Okay.”
For fuck’s sake.
“Nope.” I gave him another peck, trying not to seem too serious. “I need more.”
“Daddies always need more.” Sighing, he shook his head. “I should’ve remembered that.”
It seemed to be a flaw he could accept even if he didn’t understand it, so I shrugged. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Still taking the whole conversation seriously, Terrence gave me his thinking face as I finished drying him off and reached for the underwear I’d picked out for him. “First of all, I was thinking that I liked you seeing us in a serious way.”
That was a good thing.
“Then I kind of made my brain stop thinking because it was in danger of overthinking.” Admitting that without hesitation, he sighed. “This didn’t seem like the time to do that.”
“Well, sometimes we won’t have time for overthinking and long conversations, but right now my family is in desperate need of a time-out, so I’m not rushing for them.” I wasn’t surprised when he immediately agreed with me.
“If I did that, you and Leander both would give me a stern talking-to and someone would punish me.” He sounded exasperated as he said it, but he was right, so I just nodded. “Okay, then little overthinking not big overthinking. You’re right. We shouldn’t reward them for bad behavior. They’ll never learn lessons if they get rewarded for being naughty.”
“Would I be a bad Daddy if I admitted that I’m not very good at that?” I was actually relieved when he shook his head.
“They’re family and everyone says to respect the grown-ups.” He clearly thought that was stupid, but he avoided saying that. “But you have me and I’ll help.”
Giving me a kiss, he looked like he was a little pretending to be a big. It was adorable and would hopefully pass for a full grown-up when he was using it to deal with my family. “Thank you for helping. I appreciate it.”
There was no point in trying to pretend I didn’t need it…one of my fucking relatives had tried to pick the lock on my back door.
Fucking nosy drama queen.
“Now, back to your overthinking.” I was prepared for anything, but he just smiled and kissed my cheek. “What?”
“You’re so cute.” Bouncing up on his toes, he wiggled. “I’m all done overthinking. You need me and I’m going to take care of you. So you’re right—we’re big serious.”
“We are.” Kissing his nose, I picked up his shirt. “So let’s get dressed and then we’ll go make my family behave.”
“We can do it.” Terrence had more faith than I did, but he worked with the idiots in Washington, so he’d probably had more practice with dealing with morons than I did.
I only worked for the public.
Chapter 17
Terrence
Yep, Daddy needed me to be his big boy helper so his family didn’t flatten him. They had severe naughty problems, but I could fix it…and if I couldn’t, I’d make Leander do it.
He’d fix them once he realized they were a problem manners couldn’t fix.
“Daddy, do doorbells come in different sounds?” I was pretty sure they did but not sure enough to start off asking for him to buy a new one right off the bat.