But I did keep talking.
"You quit needing your dad in any real way a long time ago, honey. So I know for certain you going to him about something important meant everything to him."
When I finished, his look turned darker but warmer, just as his arm tightened around my waist and pulled me up so our faces were closer.
"Ethan was pretty jazzed about that test and you pullin" out the pistachio ice cream sundaes to wash away green bean residue," he surprisingly remarked, considering I thought his look and movements were leading somewhere else. "Thinkin" he"s out, but his sleep may be light." He tipped his head on the pillow and the look that hit his eyes I felt in my womb. "Early morning date for the bathroom?"
Okay, so he was going where I thought he was leading.
It would just happen hours from now.
I forced my other arm from between us, shoving it around him so I could get closer, and replied, "Oh yeah."
His hand in my hair twisted gently.
"Liked comin" home to you and your boy, Cherie."
Oh G.o.d.
G.o.d, G.o.d, G.o.d.
I liked that.
"Liked you doin" it, Merry."
And I did.
It was a dream come true, nearly literally, except in the dream I"d had, we were at my place.
But I had a feeling I was going to get that dream too.
"We"ll get you and your boy home tomorrow. But let"s set that up to happen more often, sweetheart," he suggested.
Oh yeah.
I was going to get that dream too.
"Okay," I agreed readily.
"Now, give me some gooey and we"ll get some shut-eye so I can wake you up early and f.u.c.k you."
I melted into him and gave him the gooey. It turned into a mini make-out session, but neither of us pushed it far because my boy was probably sleeping lightly down the hall.
Merry turned out the light, I got under the covers, and we curled into each other, safe in his bed in the dark in his c.r.a.ppy condo.
But even if you"d offered me the world as a choice, I wouldn"t have wanted to be anywhere else.
Early Friday Morning I bit the flesh of Merry"s shoulder when I came.
His deep groan sounded against the skin beneath my ear, driving down my neck, my chest, and right to my c.l.i.t when he did.
Eventually, he dropped my leg that he was holding around his hip and I again felt the water hitting us.
Right. We were in the shower.
As my leg fell, he slid his c.o.c.k out of me but kept his arms around me.
I turned my head his way to say something c.o.c.ky or smarta.s.s, just to see him smile.
I didn"t get it out.
Because, early morning f.u.c.k in the shower done, my man felt like kissing me.
So I let him.
I stared at Merry and my kid leaning in to the counter on either side of Merry"s bar. Ethan was up on a stool on the outside; Merry was on his feet in the kitchen. Both were bent over their bowls, shoveling bright yellow, egg-cracker goo in their mouths.
And Merry was not gagging.
In fact, it appeared he liked it.
This fact made it clear that c.r.a.p actually was dude food.
This was surprising enough.
The rest of what was happening shocked me silent.
"So, talk to your buds. Get their parents" permission. Be ready at quarter to six. I"ll get you, swing "round to pick them up, take you all for some grub, to the game, and drop them home after," Merry stated.
"Cool," Ethan grunted, shoving more egg goo in his mouth.
They were making a date.
Merry looked to me. "Before your shift, you wanna go to dinner with me and the boys?"
I was an afterthought.
Why did I think that was so f.u.c.king awesome?
"How "bout I trade my own Merry time later for you havin" a guys" night tonight?" I suggested.
"Works for me," Ethan said to his bowl.
Merry winked at me.
It worked for him too.
He turned away and recommenced eating.
"You on call this weekend?" Ethan asked his bowl.
"Nope," Merry told his bowl.
"Waffle morning tomorrow?" Ethan asked.
I held my breath.
Merry"s gaze slid to me.
I nodded once.
His attention went back to his bowl before he answered, "Yup."
"Cool," Ethan grunted.
I watched and listened, my eyes feeling funny. They were stinging, but not because they were dry.
Merry straightened from the counter. "You finish that, bud. We gotta hit the road, yeah?"
"Yeah," Ethan replied, scooping the last bite out of his bowl.
Merry headed my way.
I started to pull my s.h.i.t together.
Since I was standing at his sink but was busy pulling my s.h.i.t together, I didn"t move even as he got in my s.p.a.ce, right in my s.p.a.ce, looking down at me as he reached around and put the bowl in the sink.
I heard the bowl hit as his face dipped to mine.
"Dig dude food, brown eyes," he said.
"You give me an egg-goo kiss, I"m gonna barf," I replied.
He burst out laughing, but lucky for me, he stepped back before he did it.
I watched, enjoying every second.
Merry gave me a grin before he turned and strode through the living room, muttering, "Best go brush my teeth."
Ethan jumped off his stool, declaring, "I"m gonna do that too."
I blinked, then stared at my son.
He brushed his teeth by his own choice...never. Like I had to ride him to take a shower, I had to get on his a.s.s to brush his teeth.
It seemed having Merry around wasn"t only good for o.r.g.a.s.ms and getting a variety of different kinds of warm and squishy.
It was good for a vast number of other things.
Fifteen minutes later, after getting a toothpaste-flavored good-bye kiss from my man and two different style waves from both my guys, they were gone.
I turned to the sink and cleaned up dude food.
Friday Evening I walked into J&J"s for my shift and knew I was in for it.
This was because Colt was on his stool. Cal was standing by it. Mike was sitting on the stool next to where Cal was standing. Ryker was hanging close to Cal and Colt.
And Benny Bianchi was standing, leaned into the bar next to Mike.
Benny Bianchi was Joe Callahan"s cousin.
They might be cousins, but they were tight so they were more like brothers, and them being family couldn"t be missed.
Cal was sheer male beauty, marred by the hardness and heartbreak of the life he"d endured and the scars on his face. Though, both of these made him even hotter than he probably was back in the day before all that had happened.
Benny was just sheer male beauty. Very male. Very beautiful.
Like a movie star.
But better because he was real.
He was also taken, married to my girl Frankie, who"d lived in the "burg for a spell, and when she"d lived there, we"d become friends.
She"d moved back to Chicago to be with Benny, who lived up there and owned a pizzeria.
His pizzeria was the bomb. I knew this because, since Frankie had moved away, I"d taken Ethan up there for several weekends, stayed with them, and discovered this fact.
Ben worked the pizzeria; Frankie had a sweet job where she made a s.h.i.t-ton of money.
She also had the job of popping out babies for Benny. In their time together, which had not been much, they"d already had one and she was heavily pregnant now.
I knew this before I walked into the bar because she"d called me six months ago to tell me.
I knew this right then because the only good part of my current scenario was that she was also there, around the curve of the bar, in a girl huddle with Vi and Dusty. All three of them were on the outside of the bar, Feb and Dee were on the inside.
The chicks would take my back.
But the reason I knew I was in for it was because in all the years I had it bad for Merry, the only person who called me on it was Benny.
In fact, he"d done it the first night I"d met him.
He, Frankie, and me had gone out to have drinks. Merry had showed. Benny had sussed things out. They took me home, Benny walked me to my door, and he"d laid it out.