Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I didn’t see a downside to it.
Daddy just needed to think in terms of desserts and Christmas presents and everything would be fine.
Chapter 19
Dean
Joel was either psychic or he and his mother had planned out how everything would go.
Introductions.
Brownie conversation.
Praise for making sure Joel didn’t eat them all.
Living room.
Even dinner was going well and it hadn’t been as bad as I’d feared.
So I let my guard down.
I was an idiot.
“Now, Joel has assured me that he’s taking your needs into consideration, but it doesn’t seem like you boys have been going on separate dates.” Julia, Joel’s mother, smiled and was probably trying to look motherly and reassuring but my brain started glitching.
Thankfully, before I could try to give her a response, Tate got her attention by setting his fork down and leaning back in his chair. “I think that’s because we’re still getting our feet under us with the whole relationship and we’re used to doing everything together.”
As I nodded, Joel sat straighter and chimed in too. “But we’ve been making sure to have times when it’s just two of us together. Mostly that’s just at the apartment, though. However, we’ve talked about dates and there’s been no jealousy.”
For some reason that had his parents turning to both of us and his father made a low thinking sound. “Jealousy is a reasonable emotion and not something to hide.”
Was that him just being helpful or did he think we were jealous and hiding it?
“Joel’s made sure we understand how important communication is.” Shit. I’d answered. “I don’t think we’ve had any spikes in jealousy or anything like that.”
Relieved that I’d sounded reasonable and like a functioning Daddy, I wasn’t prepared for Joel. “Even when I came in from class to see them having private time last week, I wasn’t jealous. I was quiet and respectful as I waited to see if they still wanted privacy. They didn’t, so I got cuddles too.”
And?
What else was he going to say?
My heart didn’t stop pounding until I realized that he wasn’t going to tell them the kind of scene he’d walked in on.
“That’s wonderful but emotions ebb and flow so you need to make sure you stay on top of your communication.” Allen, Joel’s father, seemed to take our responses at face value, but his mom seemed more suspicious.
She seemed to have a better grasp on how devious her son was.
“You weren’t pushy, Joel? You didn’t make them feel like they had to include you in their special time?” Raising one eyebrow, Julia watched her son carefully.
Yep, she knew his weak spots.
Joel flashed her a grin before shifting back to a very sweet smile. “I was quiet and didn’t interrupt. I remembered my manners and made sure I wasn’t being a pest. Right, Master?”
It wasn’t the first time he’d done that, so no one blinked at how Joel referred to Tate.
Even me…because at some point I stopped twitching at stuff like that.
“You were polite and waited patiently at the door for me to let you know that you could come over. I have no complaints and I know Dean doesn’t either.” Tate tried answering for me but Joel’s parents turned to me anyway.
“All good on my end too.” How had I ended up in such an insane conversation? “He really is trying to keep your advice in mind and to think about what everyone needs.”
Joel was pushy but not in ways that we’d complain about.
Especially not to his parents.
Wondering what else I could say that wouldn’t end up with us talking about our sex life any more than we already had, I tried to keep my voice steady. “He would’ve found something else to do if we’d asked him to, but we were having our time in the living room, so we weren’t thinking of long-term privacy.”
I wasn’t going to try to explain that my brain had been a fuzzy mess of need so thinking about Joel hadn’t been as clear-cut as they seemed to think it would be.
“Yes.” Joel looked pleased that he could tell his parents he’d behaved. “I made it very clear that their special time was important too.”
He had.
Sometimes I didn’t understand his logic but I got his point. Joel firmly believed his mother when she said we needed to keep all of our relationships healthy.
“I’m glad.” Smiling at Joel, Julia looked like any happy mom…but regular happy mom stuff never came out of her mouth. “He was very focused on losing his virginity and exploring BDSM, and I didn’t want that to override his common sense when it came to the relationship side of things.”
She thought Joel had common sense?
That was so startling my brain couldn’t hold on to the we’re talking about sex panic that it knew it should have. “It’s our job as his Doms to make sure we help him control his impulses. He doesn’t have to do that on his own.”