Page 114 of Emerson

He groans when my hand finds his face, nuzzling into the touch.

I think I’ll enjoy figuring it out.

Dillon

Emery’s back is pressed against mine, sitting on the floor in Penny’s room. She goes to sleep a lot faster now, and I can feel these nights slipping through my fingers. Pretty soon, there will be a toddler bed in place of the crib, and she won’t need us to sit here until she falls asleep anymore.

Time is a bitch.

Emery rests his head back against me in the quiet of the room, and I lean my head back on top of his.

He moved in just last month but has spent more time here than he did at his apartment since I came back home. Six of the best fucking months of my life.

He shows me every single day that he wants this. Wants not just me or sex. But he wants us. Messy schedules, messy toddlerhood. He shows up when I can’t with no questions asked. He’s found his own ways to bond with Penny, and there is nothing I love more than seeing them together.

“Coast is clear, Daddy,” he whispers softly behind me before climbing to his feet. The lights from the star projector wash him in soft blue and white as he walks around to look down at me. He holds out a hand, and I refrain from using the hold to pull him down for his mouth. I stand and lead him out with my hand on his back.

Instead of walking into our bedroom like I had hoped, he turns the opposite direction. The kitchen has dishes in the sink, an open package of cookies on the counter. He grumbles, throwing away the discarded veggie scraps he left on the counter from making us dinner. I lean against the doorway, arms crossed as he spins in circles, finishing one task, starting another. Cursing about the other he forgot.

He stops when I slide my hands down his sides and relaxes his shoulders when I press a kiss to his neck.

“Can you load the dishwasher? I’ll clean up the rest.”

“Okay,” he says softly, and I can’t help rubbing my hands around to his front and up his chest. He goes putty in my hands anymore, and I love that, too.

Sex with Emery was fantastic from the drop. But his trust? In me? Us? Nothing can compare.

I love messy Emery. Sassy Emery. Sexy Emery. Now I get to love soft Emery, loved Emery. Dad-mode Emery.

I kiss the tender skin under his ear, smirking when he shivers in my arms. He still shoots me a glare when I swat at his ass. “Get moving, Emerson. I have plans for you tonight.”

He rolls his eyes, moving up to the sink. He pushes up the sleeves of his shirt before turning on the water. I’ve found giving him one task seems to help keep him on track and moves the chores along a lot faster.

The faster we’re done, the faster I can get him naked.

Or just curled up with his face mask on, fuzzy socks and cute matching pjs so we can watch a show he will inevitably fall asleep during while I play with his hair.

Either works.

Tonight, though? I’ve got a craving for that sweet mouth, and the sounds he makes when I—

“Stop looking at me like that right this instant, Dillon Montgomery, or I will never finish these dishes. That’s how we ended up with so many to begin with because I never finished yesterday. You and your sex eyes are going to ruin my focus. Or I’ll slice a finger off thinking about your dick. Is that what you want? To explain to the people at the ER that I managed to stab myself because you were talking about fucking me with your eyeballs? Huh?”

I pause with the paper towel I was using to half ass clean the island under my hand. I lean on the surface and narrow my eyes. “Can you read my mind now, baby B?”

“Yes,” he hisses, flicking his eyes over at me before loading another plate in the bottom rack. My eyes drop down to his ass in the athletic pants he’s got on. “Oh, my God. You’re disgusting.”

I laugh and round the counter slowly towards the side across from the sink. He frowns, sidestepping the open dishwasher and darting around the island.

“What am I thinking right now?” I taunt as we circle around and around.

“That you want to bend me over the island and make me take your obnoxious dick.”

“Are you sure that’s not what you want?”

He licks his lips and flicks the water still on his fingers at me when I dart around the corner.

“You’re gonna wake up Penny,” he hisses again, giggling when my fingertips graze his shirt. He worms his way out of reach.