Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56560 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
And that started the giggles.
Shaking his head, Terrence turned around and headed toward the stairs. “I’m going to get a shower and pretend to restart the day. When I come back downstairs, you guys are going to thank me for the muffins and no one is going to ask anything ridiculous.”
I had every intention of obeying his dramatic edict and keeping my delight to myself…until he started muttering. “I do that well enough on my own. We don’t need anyone else helping with it.”
My laughter didn’t help his mood but it seemed to give him a small orgasm based on his moan.
That definitely didn’t help Orlando’s ability to control himself, but he bounced off toward the kitchen, which would hopefully muffle the sound. “Muffin time. I’ll behave.”
Probably not, but we’d see.
“Do I want to know?” Carlo followed just far enough behind Orlando that he’d missed the drama, but his expression said he knew something was up. “He’s already laughing.”
“No.” I’d give Orlando the chance to explain the situation later since it would definitely be funnier from his perspective. “But you can start working on the touch-ups.”
No matter how much my cutie complained, I was pretty sure we’d finish up everything today and get his appliances back in place.
I was hoping we could transition right to work, but as Sergio followed Carlo in and we headed for the kitchen, everyone stopped and stared at me as we got there. “Fine. What do you want to know?”
With Terrence in the shower, it was probably the most privacy we’d have all day. “Quietly. If you’re loud, you go right to work without muffins.”
Pointing at them and taking one more proved my point…and it also got me a two-minute reprieve while they cleaned out the last of the muffins.
That didn’t save me completely, though.
“Did you have a sleepover or did you sleep over?” Orlando thought he was hilarious and barely managed to get the cheeky question out.
“Both.” There was no denying that because they wouldn’t believe it anyway. “We had a date, and after dinner he showed me his playroom. Yes, I slept over. No, you may not ask any clarifying questions on that part of the night. Yes, I’m his Daddy. No, we have not specified anything beyond that.”
And I should probably tell Terrence that I was keeping him before I told anyone else.
Grins all around said they were happy for me, but I also got nods when they accepted the limits of their teasing.
“So you’ve finally been acknowledged as his Secret Santa?” Sergio could barely get the whispered question out without laughing. “It’s a step up, that’s for sure.”
“The moms are going to love him. You know they’ve been taking bets on if you’d end up with a woman or a man.” Carlo laughed when I rolled my eyes.
“I bet on a man, so they have to pay up.” Orlando shrugged when I glared at him. “What? Everyone bet and we both know you’re serious about him.”
Okay, well, he had a point with that.
“I’m not going to subject him to the rest of the family until he’s ready.” I had every intention of sticking with that right up until they winced in unison. “For fuck’s sake. What did you do?”
They didn’t bother denying it but they immediately started pointing fingers and blaming someone else for starting shit.
“Silence.” The order was still whispered but it was delivered sternly enough that everyone stopped talking. “Carlo. Speak.”
Orlando and Sergio crossed their arms over their chest, but they stayed quiet as he let out a deep breath.
“Okay, your mother went over and tried to bring dinner to you.” He cocked his hip and glared at me in a pretty good imitation of her. “You work too much. What are you doing? When am I going to get grandchildren?”
God.
I was starting to see where everything had gone wrong.
“Who told her where I was?” They all looked guilty, so it was impossible to pin just one of them down.
“We were having dinner at that place that does the cheap wings.” Orlando was the first to break. “She called and was worried. Mom and Aunt Grace were with her too.”
Bullshit.
They really weren’t smart enough to marry women if that was all it’d taken to break them.
“If she was worried, she’d have called me and I’d have answered the phone.” The confused frowns they were wearing had me shaking my head. “She called you morons right away. She knew you were the weak links.”
Shrugging, they finally looked like they realized what they’d done…and were only so sorry about it.
Fuck it all.
“She’s expecting him at dinner next week, isn’t she?”
And they all winced again.
“You fuckers promised her that he’d come tonight?”
What the fuck had they been thinking?
He needed to be prepared and we hadn’t even brought out the family tree chart yet.