Page 52 of Masters of Control

“Yes, it is. My name was her first word.” The smug expression on his face stayed in place when Angel popped up next to him, shaking her head.

“Her first word was ‘Mama,’ you dingleberry.” Angel reached up to push a blonde lock of hair off of Melody’s face. Despite the fact Angel was half-Asian, her daughter had ended up with blonde hair and blue eyes, like her father and apparently one of Angel’s grandparents, though the rest of her facial features were pure Angel.

“Wow, she looks exactly like you,” Sam said, staring. Angel brightened, beaming at Sam as if she’d just said something brilliant.

“Thank you! That’s what I keep telling people, but all they see is the hair and eye color and they say she looks like Adam.”

“I mean, sure, but she has your face.” Sam wasn’t exaggerating. Other than her coloring, Melody looked like a little ‘mini-me.’ She could understand how people could be distracted by the hair and eyes, they were striking. Melody was a gorgeous little girl.

“Every kid says ‘mamama’ when they’re learning how to make noises, but that doesn’t mean she was actually saying ‘Mama,’” Q argued, ignoring Angel and Sam’s conversations.

“She said Mama first, Leigh, tell him.”

“I am not going to be a part of this argument,” Leigh said, laughing and holding her hands up in the gesture of surrender. “I don’t even see why it matters, she says both now… and now, she’s signing for milk, which means I think she needs Mama.”

“Ha.” Angel stole her daughter back from Q. Melody reached for her, her chubby little fists squeezing together. “Yes, I see you’re hungry, baby. Let’s go take care of that. Which is what I meant to do before you were stolen from me.” Holding her daughter possessively to her chest, she whisked away from them, heading for the seating on the other side of the room.

Seeing her coming, Patrick immediately jumped up from his seat to let her take it.

“Was Melody using sign language?” Sam was in awe as she watched Angel sit down. The shirt she was wearing had a hidden layer, so it only took Angel a moment to whisk her boob out and pop her nipple into Melody’s mouth. The baby reached up to play with one of Angel’s curls as she began to feed, while the conversation continued on around them, clearly expanding to include Angel.

“Yeah, she got some Baby Signing Time DVDs. They’re amazing. Melody could tell Angel she wanted milk or ‘more’ before she could talk.” Q and Angel acted like siblings, and she could totally hear the pride coming out in his voice, as if he was actually Melody’s uncle.

“Wow.” Sam knew little about babies, but that sounded pretty cool.

“It’s been fun learning with her,” Leigh said, grinning. “Kind of handy for kink, too, for when you can’t talk.” She held both her hands up in the air, twisting her wrists back and forth. “All done.”

Sam cracked up and Q laughed while Jared shook his head and shrugged, though his dark eyes were filled with amusement. Taller and broader than all of them, he was like a giant-sized Q, who wasn’t exactly a small guy. Jared was a lot quieter than Q, though.

“She’s not wrong,” he admitted with a slow smile. “Though I like ‘more’ better.”

“That’s harder to do one-handed.” Leigh pressed the tips of her fingers to her thumbs and tapped them together, like the tips of her fingers were kissing each other. Yeah, that one would be harder to do one handed.

“Oh, hey! Andrew, Kate, Law, and Iris are here!” Q said, straightening up and waving.

A little fission of trepidation fizzed through Sam. She’d never spent time with Iris, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to after a lot of the things Noelle had said about her. Especially since it was unlikely Iris didn’t know Sam and Noelle had been spending time together. It was a group gathering, though, so Iris would have to be polite even if she was upset about that, right?

“I’m gonna go grab another drink,” Leigh said, glancing into her cup, then up at Jared. “Join me?”

“Of course.” His big hand splayed over her lower back, guiding her toward where the drinks were set up, which was far away from Q and Sam. She kinda wished she could join them, but she plastered a smile on her face as Law and Iris came over, holding hands, Law slightly in front of her, pushing their way past others who gave them a nod or a wave. Kate and Andrew were waylaid by some of their other friends, leaving Law and Iris to continue on to Q and Sam.

Adam and Angel had a big house, even bigger than Q’s, but as more people arrived, the rooms were becoming more crowded. A few people had gone out on the back porch, even though it was a particularly cold day for November. So, Iris and Law slid right into the place Jared and Leigh had just vacated, which was about the only place they could stand at this point.

Iris gave Q a hug, which he returned with one hand, his other still in Sam’s, before pulling away and everyone greeted each other.

“And you know my girlfriend, Sam.”

Yup, still potent enough to make her blush and warm with happiness.

“Sam, whom I’ve now had in two classes as a student and is volunteering to help with the current one? Yes, I believe we’ve met before.” Law’s tone was especially dry, and Sam pressed her lips together to hide her smile as Iris elbowed him in the side. “Oof.”

“Ignore him, he gets weird about being called my boyfriend. I’m Iris. I don’t think we’ve met officially.” Iris seemed perfectly friendly, though maybe a little nervous, as she reached out her hand for Sam to shake.

“We haven’t, but it’s nice to meet you.” She let go of Q’s hand to shake Iris’, relieved to see she wasn’t the only one a little anxious over this meeting.

“I’m excited Q has a girlfriend now. When I hang out with Law, Q, Connor, and Asad, I always have fun, but the testosterone can get a little out of hand. It’ll be nice to have someone else there.” Iris smiled, but it didn’t quite make it to her eyes, which were pinned anxiously on Sam’s face.

“Oh gosh, I can only imagine, especially with the Persian Excursion there,” Sam replied, smiling back. Her answer seemed to soothe some of Iris’ anxieties, and the other woman relaxed.