Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cody
Mei wanted to sniff every yellow spot in the snow as we walked along the street in front of the condo.
Since we weren’t in a hurry, I let her.
My phone buzzed with an incoming call.
Lorcan.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“Uh. Well. Um…”
“What did Aunt Genessa say?” He’d been gone almost forty-five minutes. My aunt lived eleven minutes away. Even helping her up to her condo and then driving back didn’t take this long.
“Carter called.”
My heart seized. “They want Mei back?”
“What? Oh no, nothing like that. Uh…”
“Spit it out.” He was usually pretty straightforward.
“So, you remember Mei had a feline companion?”
“Maybe?” Something about fruit came to mind, but the memory was pretty hazy.
“Trifle.”
“I’ve had Pina Colada trifle. With pineapple. Totally—”
“You need to get over the pineapple.” His tone was dry. “But Trifle was the cat Mei used to live with.”
“Oh.” I eyed the dog as her nose got dangerously close to another yellow spot. By the time we were done with this walk, she was going to know the smell of every dog in the building. “What about Trifle?”
“So, he’s being fostered. One of the nephews is deathly allergic. He was out of town during the autumn. But he visits regularly. So, like…”
I smiled as I leaned over. “Mei, would you like Trifle back?”
She gazed at me with those stunning dark-brown eyes and her tail wagged so hard that her butt moved.
“That’s a yes.”
“Oh well, that’s good.”
I straightened. “Sweetheart?”
“He’s in a carrier in the SUV with me.”
I smiled. “Of course he is. We’ll meet you in the garage. I take it he’s got a ton of stuff?”
“Uh, yeah. He got spoiled too. Plus the litter, food—”
“I’ll get my wagon.”
“That would help.” He let out a long sigh.
“It’s all good.”
“I could try—”
“It’s all good. Mei deserves company while we’re at work.” If I’d been thinking about it, I might’ve suggested it earlier. The little guy had slipped my mind, and Carter hadn’t brought him up.
“They were really sad.”
“So we’ll take pictures after he settles in.” We’d done that with Mei. Carter had sent back a flurry of heart emojis.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure. It’s your home too, Lorcan. Never forget that.”
A long time passed before he said, “Thank you,” again. Then he cut the line.
“Pee and then we’ll go inside.”
As if understanding the new urgency, Mei squatted on the closest bit of snow and left her own offering for any dog who might wander by.
Hours later, as Trifle slept on his bed next to Mei who snoozed on hers, I wrapped Lorcan in a hug. “He’s the cutest thing ever.”
“The family considered renaming him Tripod.”
The cat was missing a front paw, but one would never know that. He flew through life on three legs just fine. He’d explored every inch of the condo, even as I’d followed behind him, trying to make certain all the valuables were not in a position to be knocked over. “I like Trifle.”
“We’re never having Pina Colada trifle.”
I laughed. “Oh, I’ll make a convert of you yet.”
He shuddered.
“What did Genessa say to you?” We’d been so busy settling Trifle and heating up leftovers for dinner, that we hadn’t really had a chance to speak.
“Just that she wants us to go through her things and pick out heirlooms for our new house. She advised me to call Cadence tomorrow because buying real estate between Christmas and New Year’s was a good idea. Something about people being desperate.”
I chuckled. “No grass growing under her feet.”
“Nope. She’s moving into Good Life the second week of January. She’s hoping to close a sale on the condo by the end of the month.”
“It’s all unreal.”
Lorcan turned in my arms. “Her selling? Moving into Good Life? Or just that she’s so accepting of our relationship?”
“All of the above?”
“Yeah, she figured you might be a little overwhelmed. She suggested I be a grounding force in your life.”
I chuckled. “That sounds like Aunt Genessa.”
“She apologized for stepping into the marriage discussion without permission.”
“Ah, I wondered if she might do that. I saw almost instantly that she knew she’d made a misstep.”
“I told her that she hadn’t.” He stroked my arm. “She cares about you. And she knows you. She knows you want to be in a permanent relationship.”
I held my breath. Then let it out. “Relationships come in many forms, Lorcan.” I pointed to our two pets. “We have furbabies. That makes us pet coparents.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“I know.” I offered the most reassuring smile I could give him. “We’re newly into this relationship.”
“Yes.” His gaze seemed to intensify—with his dark-brown eyes almost black with just the light from my bedside lamp. “I have three requests.”
Intrigued, I feathered my fingers through his hair. “Anything, sweetheart.”
He took a deep breath.
I held still.
“These are in no particular order.”
“Right.” I kept from smiling because he was so damn earnest.
“I want us to have a serious discussion about having marriage. Soon. Genessa’s right—I’m a traditionalist. I also have a disastrous track record with marriage. Something you need to consider.”
As in just not tonight—it’s too raw. Probably for both of us. “I agree.” Hopefully we’d have a sense of the size of the house we could afford. So we could each have our own space for when we needed it, but also space for our new furbabies.
I reminded myself to call Cadence in the morning.
Aunt Genessa had made it clear she wanted this done quickly.
“The next?”
“I want to top you tonight.”
That took me aback. Not because I wasn’t willing—vers and all that—but that he’d never asked. Had made it pretty clear he wasn’t interested.
Or had I misunderstood? “Sure.”
He pressed a hand to my chest. “For me, topping involves even more trust than bottoming. Trust that you’ll be honest with me. Trust that I won’t hurt you.”
Slowly, I nodded. “Of course.”
“Finally—” He bit his lower lip.
“We promised we would be honest with each other.” Am I right to prod him? He really does seem keen to say this…whatever this is.
“I’d like to… That is, I’m wondering… I would like so very much…” He shrugged helplessly.
“I can’t read your mind, Lorcan.”
“Pumpkin.” He gazed up at me with guileless eyes.
“Of course.” I smiled. “You’ll always be Pumpkin.”
“So…could I call you Daddy?”
My heart seized. We’d never discussed how he might choose to address me. Until now, we’d kept our play light. He just grinned every time I bought out our special box. I stroked his cheek. “I’d love it if you’d call me Daddy.” My heart was going to burst from joy—I was certain of it.
He launched himself into my arms. “I was hoping you’d say that. Do you really mean it?”
“Pumpkin?”
He pulled back and met my gaze.
“I promised you once that I’d never say anything I didn’t mean. Do you remember that?”
He nodded.
“So yes, let’s open a discussion about what a permanent relationship might look like. I’ll remind you that Foster’s doing diapers and late-night feedings, and he’s not much younger than you.”
His eyes widened—as if he’d forgotten that fact.
“Yes, I’d be happy if you topped me tonight—as long as I get to gaze up at you.”
He nodded enthusiastically.
“And, most importantly, it would mean everything to me if you called me Daddy.”
“That’s my gift to you.” He scrunched his nose. “I forgot to give Aunt Genessa her scarf, and I did buy a jar of pumpkin spice for you as well.”
I cocked my head. “Because you’re my pumpkin?”
“Nope.” He grinned. “Some guy named Ashton said his husband made the stuff with a super-secret recipe and everyone raved about it. So I bought a jar. I’ll bake you a pumpkin pie sometime.
And I meant to give that to you as well.
” He gazed over to our sleeping furbabies. “I got a little sidetracked.”
“I love the idea of you baking me a pumpkin pie. Aunt Genessa will love her new scarf. She’ll show it off to all her new friends in Good Life.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.” Not that my aunt would ever hate something—except perhaps my parents—but she’d wear the scarf to make Lorcan smile. That, I could say with certainty. “Now, are we going to play first or—”
He launched himself at me.
I oofed as I landed against the mattress.
He stilled. “Are you okay?”
“Yep.” I grinned. “I appreciate your enthusiasm.”
“And I love the idea that I’m going to be inside you without anything between us.”
We’d both gone for testing last week, and the results had been negative. Dr. McCauley had given me the green light to have unprotected sex—with a lecture about monogamy.
He’ll never have to worry about that. Pumpkin is mine forever.
In his every expression, every word, and every action, Lorcan let me know he felt the same way. This was a forever thing.
We’d slipped on sleep pants and T-shirts, but those were quickly dispensed with.
I positioned myself in the middle of the bed and slowly spread my thighs. My cock curved upward and leaked a drop of precum.
He licked it, ensuring he dragged his tongue over my slit with exquisite slowness.
“Jesus.” I gritted my teeth.
He only grinned. Then he grabbed the bottle of lube from the nightstand. He held it up.
I nodded.
That grin widened.
I lifted my cock and balls out of his way.
“Oh, man. You’re so gorgeous.” He offered a shy smile. “Daddy.”
Until that moment, I’d wondered how we might differentiate things. Whether the Daddy/puppy dynamic would be just for playtime. Clearly, though, he wanted the dynamic to continue. Which was just fine with me. He would always be my Pumpkin.
He slid his first lube-slicked finger inside me.
I hadn’t done this with anyone for a while, and I took a moment to adjust to the odd sensation. Then I nodded.
He added a second finger. Slowly, he scissored—obviously in an effort to open me up. Then he angled his wrist and brushed my prostate.
“Oh, Pumpkin, that’s great. Do it again?”
With a shit-eating grin, he did just that. He pulled his lower lip through his teeth as he continued to gently tap my prostate over and over again.
More precum leaked.