“No, babe. We don’t have to like it. But, guess what?”
“What?”
“We have slightly more than eleven years until we have to worry about that.”
“We have a little girl.”
“Yes, we do.”
Sean snuggled tightly against Emery’s side. “I suspect you’re going to have to sometimes be the rational one. I can see my overprotective Jewish mother half coming out already.”
“Just one of the many reasons I love you, babe.” He kissed Sean again.
Despite how exhausted Sean felt, his cock stirred a little. “What are some of the other reasons?”
“Hmm. Your charming good looks, your endearing neuroses—”
“My sexy bod?”
“I’m getting there, don’t rush me. I was going to say your magical ass and your delicious cock, but if you want me to generalize, I will.”
“No, feel free to be specific.”
Emery rolled on top of him, sending Sean’s pulse into a tango in his chest. “How about I specify that, if you’re in the mood, I’d love that delicious cock of yours buried in my ass.”
Emery’s weight on him made Sean’s cock swell from twitching interest to painfully throbbing hard-on. “Deal,” he gasped.
Moving fast, Emery rolled off him and jumped out of bed. He returned from the bathroom with a tube of lube and a towel for the bed. After spreading out the towel, he knelt on it on hands and knees, and wiggled his ass. “Let’s get this party started, babe.”
Sean sat up and had started to rise to his knees to strip off his shorts when he caught sight of their bedroom door slowly swinging open. Thinking fast, he grabbed the sheet and quickly pulled it up and over Emery’s ass before the door opened all the way, revealing Isla standing there in the doorway.
In her arms she clutched Puppy.
Emery turned. “Babe, what the hell-o, sweetheart,” he finished as he looked over where Sean was pointing. He carefully rolled onto his back, making sure to keep the sheet over him. He grabbed a pillow and pulled it into his lap, presumably to hide the pup tent now residing there.
“What’s wrong?” Sean asked her as he shoved the tube of lube under the sheets.
She walked over to the end of the bed and crawled up onto it, then up the bed, where she settled between them. “Had a bad dream.”
Sean hooked an arm around her shoulders. “You did, huh?”
She leaned into his side and nodded.
“Well, how about I take you and Puppy into your room and put you to bed and we’ll see what we can do about getting you back into happy dreams, okay?”
She nodded. “Daddy come, too?”
“Of course I will,” Emery said. “I’ll be right there.”
Sean stood and scooped her into his arms. “Let’s go, sweetie.” At the door he turned and shot Emery a wink.
Well, that was one way to kill two chubbies at once.
* * * *
Thirty minutes later, they had coaxed Isla back to sleep and returned to their bedroom. Sean closed their door, then turned and locked it. “Let’s make this a quick one in case she has more bad dreams.”
“Agreed,” Emery said. “We need to get a baby monitor for her room.”
“Didn’t I see one somewhere?”
“It might be buried in the boxes of stuff we put in the spare bedroom. But I don’t know if we got all the pieces. I only remember seeing one.”
“I’m thinking we need to get back to the topic at hand.” He grabbed Emery and pulled him into his arms, where he planted a kiss on his lips. “Shuck those shorts, Daddy, so I can fuck your sweet ass.”
Emery lifted his head and looked down at Sean, even though he stood only two inches shorter than Emery’s six five. “Yeeah, I’m thinking we don’t use those exact terms of endearments during sex anymore.”
A snort escaped Sean. “Wow. Cockblocked by an almost-three-year-old. The joys of parenthood.”
“See? She has as much of a chance to screw us up as we do her.”
They stripped and returned to bed. “Where were we?” Sean asked.
Emery got back into position and wiggled his ass at Sean. “I think right about here.”
“Yep. That looks familiar.” Sean ran his hands over Emery’s smooth, tight cheeks. Then he leaned in and bit the right one, drawing a moan from Emery.
When he reached between Emery’s legs, Sean found his cock standing rigid, a drop of pre-cum already pearling at the slit.
“That’s what I’m talking about,” he whispered.
The tube of lube lay on the towel. Sean picked it up and drizzled lube between Emery’s cheeks before working some into his rim with one finger. His lover let out a soft moan.
“That’s it, baby,” Sean whispered. “I know you love it.” He continued, working in more lube and adding a second finger, and then a third.
“Hurry up,” Emery gasped. “I want your cock inside me.”
“Patience, babe.” He wiped his hand on the towel before slathering lube on his cock and getting into position behind him. “Here it comes.”
He pressed the engorged head of his cock against Emery’s ass and slowly pressed forward. Emery fisted the sheets and buried his face in the pillows to stifle his moan.
“Feel good?”
“Fuck yeah,” came Emery’s muffled reply.
Sean held on to Emery’s hips and slowly worked his cock in a little at a time, drawing back before pressing forward, until his thighs touched Emery’s and his cock was completely sheathed by his tight ass.
“Fuck, that’s good,” Sean whispered.
“It’d be even better if you’d start moving,” Emery said from where he had his face buried in the pillows.
“Hold on. I’m savoring it.” He flexed his cock inside his lover’s ass, loving the way Emery’s flesh tightly fisted his shaft. Then he slowly withdrew, until just the head of his cock was still buried inside Emery.
Sean inched forward again, achingly slow, fighting the urge to fuck him hard and fast, wanting to make it last. Emery tried to thrust back against him, but Sean held his hips tight, pulling a frustrated moan from the dolphin shifter.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Sean reached around Emery’s hips and grabbed his cock. “I’m gonna blow really fast. I want to feel you coming first.” He slicked Emery’s pre-cum over his shaft and began stroking him.
Then he let Emery rock his hips back and forth, until he was fucking himself back on Sean’s cock and forward into Sean’s hand with every stroke.
“That’s it,” Sean teased. “I’ll let you do all the work.”
He received a sexy grunt in reply, Emery too far gone in his bliss to form words, apparently. Faster, harder, until Sean could tell from the way Emery’s cock grew harder in his hand that his lover was close.
“That’s it, baby,” Sean urged, adding a little thrust of his own, meeting Emery’s ass with his hips until his balls were slapping against Emery at the bottom of every stroke.
Sean felt his own release closing in. Emery moved faster, nearly frantic in his need until, finally, he let out a deep, satisfied groan as his cock exploded in Sean’s hand.
At the same time, Emery’s ass contracted around Sean’s cock. Sean let go of Emery’s cock and grabbed his hips again, fucking him hard and fast until his balls drew up tight and filled his lover’s ass with his cum.
Spent, he collapsed on top of Emery and they both ended up splayed across the bed.
“Fuck,” Emery muttered into the pillows. “So damn good.”
“You can say that again,” Sean said. He took a moment to catch his breath before pulling his wilting cock from Emery. Then he delivered a light slap to Emery’s ass before getting out of bed. “Really fucking good, babe.”
Emery was still lying in the same spot when Sean returned from the bathroom a few minutes later with a warm, damp washcloth. He cleaned Emery up and tossed the towel and washcloth into the bathroom.
Sean started to get into bed,
then remembered to go unlock their bedroom door, just in case Isla had any other nightmares. Then he grabbed his shorts and pulled them on before returning to bed.
When he cuddled up next to Emery, a soft snore escaped his lover.
Sean reached over and turned off the bedside lamp before slinging an arm over Emery. “Good night, babe,” he whispered.
Emery snored in response.
Chapter Eight
Sean awoke early the next morning, lying on his left side, facing the edge of the bed.
There was also a set of tiny grey eyeballs less than five inches from his, staring at him.
“Are you awake?” Isla asked.
“I am now, sweetheart,” he whispered. “What’s wrong?”
She hugged Puppy tightly against her chest. “I had an accident.”
Now he felt even more awake. “What kind of accident?”
“I did it in my sleep diaper.”
“Ah.” Now he was tracking. He sat up after mentally remembering if he had pulled shorts on the night before. “Let’s take care of that.”
She started for the door before turning around. “It’s stinky,” she warned him.
He tried not to laugh and managed to corral it into a smile. “That’s all right, sweetie. I’m sure I can handle it.”
“What’s wrong?” Emery muttered.
“Nothing.”
“I’m stinky,” Isla told him.
He lifted his head to look at her. “Oh. Okay.”
“Da said he’d take care of it.”
Emery’s head flopped back onto his pillow again. “Yay for Da,” he mumbled, already sliding back into sleep.
Sean made sure to give him a hard shove before getting out of bed. “Misery loves company, Daddy,” he muttered.
Emery gave a sigh and sat up. “I’m sure it does.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “What time is it?”
“Almost six.”
“Oh. It’s late then.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t become you, babe,” Sean said from the doorway.
“What’s sarcasm?” Isla asked.
Sean smiled. “It’s how parents speak before they’ve had sufficient amounts of coffee.”
“Oh. Okay.”
* * * *
Erik’s morning started as it had every day for the past couple of months, with rage seething deep inside him. He wore it like a cloak, continuously, never allowing it to drift far from him.
His life. His love. And now his fucking foot. All lost because of Emery.
He hadn’t wanted much, just to show him how good it could be between them.
And then Emery had chosen that fucking human over him. As if they hadn’t known each other most of their lives.
Erik hung out in the shallows near a mangrove island just off Big Pine Key. The water was warmer down here, food relatively plentiful. It was easy for him to keep out of sight until he could regain his strength and figure out his next move.
Revenge would be an integral part of his plan, whatever he ended up doing. His mistake had been involving others. Well, not involving them. Telling them the full story. He should have played things closer to the vest and simply killed off the two fathers after they were abducted by Esparza and his men. Then he could have escaped and gone somewhere to hide out.
It would have been a start on chipping away at the cold, hard rock inside his heart. He likely would still have his damned foot, too.
And if it was the last thing he did, he would have his revenge. He’d make Emery and the other Nadels pay dearly for what they’d cost him.
Swimming wasn’t as easy as before, with part of his tail fluke missing. But it was easier to get around in the water than it would be if he shifted back and tried to maneuver on land.
When the fucking gator shifter had bitten off part of his right leg, he’d been in the process of shifting and trying to pull himself out of the water onto a dock.
He was lucky he hadn’t bled to death. It’d taken him several shifts back and forth to finally staunch the bleeding while running for his life from a couple of bio-sharks, bulls who thought they’d have an easy snack.
Then there was the matter of getting the hell out of the area. No doubt the pod would be monitoring all marine mammal rescue groups for news of a dolphin missing part of his tail fluke.
And if he was caught, he’d be dead. He didn’t doubt it. No matter how far he went, if he allowed himself to be taken into captivity, he was a dead man. Joseph and Emery would likely stop at nothing, including infiltrating a facility, to take him out.
If they wanted to kill him, they’d better be prepared to lose a few of their own in the process. He no longer had anything left to lose but his life. And without Emery, and now missing part of a leg, it wasn’t much of a damn life.
Wanted by law enforcement for his own initial botched attempt on Sean’s life, and now marked for death by the pods, it wasn’t like they could take anything else from him.
He’d considered swimming to Cuba, where at least as a human he could take advantage of their medical system and get a prosthetic leg. But that wouldn’t do him much good unless he wanted to spend the rest of his damn life cooped up on that tiny spit of anachronistic, Communist tropical real estate.
Which he certainly did not.
Not yet, at least.
Maybe once he’d had his revenge that would be a good backup plan.
But not until.
* * * *
Sean realized a fact of parenthood he’d never known before. Apparently, being a parent created a temporal anomaly that meant he never had enough time in the day to do anything. He set out to do one thing, then by the end of the day realized he’d done a lot of other things, but never finished that first thing he’d set out to accomplish.
Not that he was complaining in the least.
The anticipated emotional eruption took longer than Sean expected. The day before New Year’s, they were sitting on the couch after dinner, watching cartoons on TV with Isla snuggled between them with Puppy, when she let out a sniffle.
As one, Sean and Emery both swiveled their heads to look down at her. “You all right, sweetie?” Sean asked.
She jammed her thumb into her mouth and mumbled something.
“We can’t understand you, sweetheart,” Emery said.
She took a deep breath and let it out again. “I miss Mommy and Daddy.”
She burst into tears.
Sean took little relief in the fact that Emery wore as panicked an expression as he felt. Emery scooped her into his arms and hugged her while Sean crowded close.
“We know,” Emery softly said. “It’s all right to miss them.”
“I hate the Goddess!” she screamed, startling both men with the force of her rage. “I hate her! Why she take them? I need them!”
Sean chewed on the inside of his cheek in an attempt to staunch his tears, to no effect. He gently patted her on the back as she cried on Emery’s shoulder. “We don’t know why, sweetheart. It was an accident.”
“Why she take them? Why?” She dissolved into heartbreaking sobs in Emery’s arms, eventually crying herself to sleep.
Sean grabbed his phone and called Holly to talk with her.
After he finished telling her what happened, she let out a sad sigh. “I warned you about this. It’s normal and healthy. You handled it exactly the right way.”
“We feel horrible for her and there’s nothing we can do to make it better.”
“Of course there is,” she said. “You can love her and be there for her.
They spent a quiet New Year’s Eve at home, just the three of them, with Isla falling asleep on the couch between them well before the ball dropped in Times Square. They’d originally planned to take her up to Emery’s parents’ for the party they were throwing, but after Isla’s meltdown the night before, they decided it might be better to keep from overwhelming her with a lot of new people.
And as the days bled into weeks and they finally sculpted a
new routine orbiting around the precious wonder in their lives, Sean realized he couldn’t remember what it was like not having her there. Not having her greeting them in the mornings with a sleepy smile when they woke her up to get her ready to go to Grandma’s for the day, or sitting with her at dinner and listening to her talk about whatever it was she learned that day.
And it was good. It felt better than right.
It felt like it was exactly where and how they should be.
Chapter Nine
Sean had just returned to bed after a middle-of-the-night stinky emergency. He’d managed to get up without waking Emery.
I’ve got to cut back on her pineapple juice consumption.
Although Isla loved the stuff, any time she had it late in the evening before bedtime, Sean was the one paying for it later.
I need to remind Emery not to let her have it at night. Sean had been in the study checking e-mails when Isla parlayed her superior toddler negotiation skills into getting Daddy to give her a small glass of the stuff instead of a cookie.
He was about to roll over and go to sleep when his phone lit up and started vibrating like crazy on the bedside table. Knowing it couldn’t be good news, he grabbed it and answered without looking at the screen. “Hello?”
“Sean? Wake up! You’re about to be an uncle!” His mom sounded like she was screaming with joy.
“Mom?” He sat up. “What?”
“Wake Emery up. We’ll be over in five minutes. Your father will stay with Isla, but Olivia and Brad are on their way to the hospital.”
He swung his feet over the edge of the bed. “Back up. She’s not due for three weeks yet.”
“They came over yesterday for a checkup and Dr. Alberto had them stay in a hotel by the hospital so she could run more tests today. But Olivia’s water broke fifteen minutes ago. Get up and get dressed. We need to go to Tampa!”
She hung up on him.
He sat there, processing the news, then realized he needed to get moving. He snapped on the bedside lamp and walked around to Emery’s side of the bed.
“Wake up,” he said as he poked him.