Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82371 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
I’d even made sure to have a thousand different sauce options for Lorne, all in cute cups for him to sort and explore.
I was prepared for a total mess, anything from him licking the cups to using all of them at once, but I wasn’t sure Carrick knew what to expect. But his slightly concerned expression said he knew enough to be worried.
He was getting the hang of being a Papa.
“Dip. Dip. Dip.” Lorne giggled and made a gasp of surprise that was completely manufactured as we walked into the kitchen. “Steak date, Daddy. Aww.”
Carrick couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to smile or roll his eyes and settled on sighing, which just got more giggles from Lorne. Our little monkey seemed to find his Papa’s drama incredibly funny.
“Yes, this is our steak date.” For some reason my answer had Carrick glancing worriedly at Lorne, but our monkey was too busy bouncing to notice. “And it’s so fancy, you have all those sauces to dip your food in.”
“Fancy.” Releasing Carrick’s hand, Lorne skipped around the table, studying every option and looking like he was imagining licking every tiny cup. “Pretty, Daddy.”
Finally relaxing and almost smiling, Carrick shook his head and pretended to glare suspiciously. “I know what that means and I’m not eating sparkly sauces.”
Lorne snickered. “Sparkly sauce. Sparkly poop.”
Carrick groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. “There just isn’t a reasonable response to that.”
“You’re crazy. Of course there is.” I went over and kissed Lorne’s head, giving him an exaggerated smile. “Good boy, little monkey. Yes, that’s how poop works.”
We were both going to give Carrick a heart attack but the laughter it got from Lorne made it worth it.
Chapter 14
Lorne
Dunk.
Dunk.
Chomp.
Dunk.
Dunk.
Chomp.
“Oh, Daddy.” It was so sad. “All gone.”
Daddy sighed and nodded. “Yes, but you’re all full, so that’s okay.”
“I’m going to pop if he eats anything else.” Papa was frowning so cute I almost wanted to chomp more.
Almost.
“Dessert?” I had room for that, though. “Dunk?”
Daddy laughed. “There is no more room in that tummy right now, monkey, but if you’re hungry later, I’ll cut up some fruit? We could dip it in yogurt?”
Oh.
“Full, Daddy.” I was going to pat my tummy but Papa caught my hand.
“No touching.” He made a silly face when I touched his hand and it made Daddy laugh too. “Ugh. He’s sticky.”
Papa didn’t like sticky but Papa liked me.
So I gave him a sticky kiss on the cheek. “I cute. Kiss cute.”
Papa groaned, but Daddy nodded. “You will be even cuter when you’re not sticky.”
Papa frowned at Daddy, who was still giggling. “A napkin isn’t going to fix this. Hell, a bath might not fix this.”
“Bubbles.” Yes. Bath time. “Bubbles, Daddy?”
Swinging my feet, I smiled. “Bubbles?”
“Yes, monkey.” Daddy was so happy he kissed my head. “We’ll get you a bath and then some fun jammies?”
“Yay, sleepover with Daddy and Papa.” I liked sleepovers. “Big bed?”
I had to see.
“Hurry. Hurry.” I tried to get up but Papa made me stuck. “Big bed, Papa.”
Papa rolled his eyes. “We will go see how big your Daddy’s bed is after you’re clean. You’re covered in sauce.”
Shaking his head, Papa made a funny sound. “We need to find our cute boy, monkey, because you’re sticky.”
Wiggling my fingers, I nodded. “Colors pretty, Papa.”
I was red and brown and yellow and—
“But you will be even prettier in pajamas and all clean.” Papa scrunched up his face. “I bet…I bet your Daddy has sparkly pajamas for you to wear.”
Oh.
“Bubbles, Papa.” Yes, pretty monkey. “Hurry.”
Papa kept me stuck.
“No, you’re going to walk with me or you’ll touch something.” Papa’s eyes kept getting bigger, so I wiggled my fingers again.
It made Daddy giggle too, so Papa was cute and glared at him. “He’s sticky.”
“Would you like to clean the kitchen or clean the monkey?” Daddy was so nice. He gave Papa choices.
Papa liked cleaning the kitchen.
Yep.
“Dishes.” Papa held my hands out to Daddy and turned me in my chair. “Your kitchen needs a good scrubbing.”
That made Papa so excited he jumped up once Daddy was holding my arms. Daddy shook his head and made a silly face. “Papa is scared of a sticky monkey.”
“Grr.” Wiggling my pretty fingers again made Daddy laugh. “Scary monkey.”
Papa huffed but he didn’t tell Daddy he was wrong. “You need more dish soap.”
“Walmart!” Yay, toys and bubbles and candy and—
“Let’s go find the bubbles.” Daddy wiggled his eyebrows and made me laugh. “I might even have bathtub toys.”
Oh.
“Hurry, Daddy.”
Yay, Daddy let me stand.
“Big boy.” Yes, I big boy.
Hmm.
Daddy didn’t let me escape.
Still ’tuck.
Laughing again, Daddy shook his head and went behind me. “No chance, little monkey.”
Aww.
I pouted so cute Daddy kissed my head. “You’ll be free soon.”
Soon was soooo long.
We went through the kitchen and the TV room and the hallway and by the little bathroom and by my playroom and— “Daddy! Big bed.”