“No way,” I laughed. “I’ll fix it after work.”
Nate had other strengths. Carpentry and home renovations weren’t two of them. And lord knew our house needed more of both. Four years in that house, and we were still preparing it for future owners. But that was the price we’d had to pay for a quick move all those years ago. We hadn’t exactly scored our dream house.
Hallie slipped her hand into mine as we headed for their school, and she asked if we could buy a new lunch box this weekend, because the latch on her current one was broken.
“I’ll add it to the list,” I confirmed. “We gotta pick up a gift for your cousin anyway.”
Much to our parents’ delight, Theo had finally settled down. Six weeks after he’d joined us in Virginia last year, we’d hammered out the details for our scaffolding business, and he’d gone out to celebrate, only to meet a nice woman he’d knocked up shortly thereafter.
“Can I pick the gift, Daddy? I know what girls like,” Hallie said.
I smiled down at the squirt, intrigued. “I haven’t seen you play with dolls since you discovered video games and got your first ant farm. Ain’t a whole lot there a newborn will like.”
She waved me off with the confidence only an eight-year-old could possess. When the world was black and white, and only one perspective existed. Their own.
“I saw a stuffie at Target,” she answered.
All right, then. At least it was age-appropriate.
Drop-off went smooth as usual, except Dylan wanted to walk the last bit to his classroom on his own these days. It was what his friends were doing. Parents weren’t cool anymore.
Nate would pick them up this afternoon, and I’d see them after work, which always felt too far away.
Oh, how fucking ironic, running into Reid at lunch. On the same day Nate had gently reminded me we hadn’t attended a kink party in ages. Reid and his buddy Max ran a kink community over in Alexandria, and if I were a good partner, I’d go over to Reid’s table and ask when the next munch was.
He was a building inspector, and we’d crossed paths at worksites countless times before we found ourselves in the samefood truck line, bonding over the fact that we each had a son named Dylan.
Fun times.
But I didn’t go over to him in the packed diner. Instead, we exchanged nods and typical “ah, you again” grins before we focused on our lunches. I had twenty minutes before I had to get back to work across the street, and this diner had a burger with my name on it.
Besides, we didn’t fucking have time for kink these days. Between work, the kids, marches in support of legalizing gay marriage across the country, finalizing the adoption process for Dylan and Hallie, reentering the foster care system to expand our family, and occasionally dressing up to have dinner with Nate in a restaurant that didn’t have a kids’ menu, kink was the last thing on my mind.
Frankly, I wasn’t sure we could go further anyway. We were secure enough in our relationship to have casual fun with subs and Littles together—but we had zero time for that. Nate attended bondage nights every now and then at various events around the city, but to be perfectly honest, they bored me. Bondage to Nathan was…fuck, like meditation. He grew introspective and superfocused while he tied up men and women in all kinds of ropes and patterns. I fed off reactions and emotions; I needed shit wild and rough. Like the takedown event we’d attended a few years ago when we’d visited friends in Boston. We’d hunted down a friend’s sub, and we’d all had fun with him.
What else could I do? I had a mental block where Daddykink was concerned. I still felt it was a core kink of mine, but I didn’t have it in me to share that level of intimacy with someone other than Nathan.
It was what it was. I’d rather focus on our family.
This is what I live for.
The moment I came home, I could relax. My whole world was in the kitchen, with Nate preparing dinner, Dylan and Hallie sitting at the table, music playing—theLion Kingsoundtrack, for some reason—and not a lot of homework being done because the kids were arguing about which song Nate and I should dance to at our future wedding. The proper wedding, that was.
We didn’t have a date, but evidently we had two little DJs.
“Hi, Daddy!” Hallie ran over to me, and I bent down and hugged her tightly.
“Hey, green eyes.” I kissed the top of her head.
“Right on time, love.” Nathan came over to me too, and I gave him a big smooch. “You already showered?”
“I showered at the office so I could be of use the minute I came home. Put me to work.”
“Dad! What do you think of this song?” Dylan asked.
I chuckled, picturing a reception where we danced to Disney songs. “Hell, why not? If there’s one place I can feel the love tonight, it’s probably gonna be at the wedding.”
“It’sperfect,” Hallie stated, returning to the table.
