Page 17 of The More the Merrier

"Quick shower?" I offered.

Her body sagged with a mixture of relief and exhaustion, but she nodded. Scooping her into my arms, I carried her into the oversized shower stall in our master bath and set her on her feet.

The hot water was heavenly, but with both of us already spent, there were no soapy fun times to be had as we quickly lathered and rinsed our own bodies.

When we were clean, I shut off the water and leaned out of the stall, grabbing two towels and wrapping her before covering myself.

"We need to hurry Daddy, or the breakfast is gonna burn."

I smirked. Liam was a pretty decent cook, not as good as me, but better than Noelle. He could manage to not burn the oatmeal, but I didn't argue with her assessment and quickly dressed, holding her hand as we made our way to the kitchen.

The smell of bacon filled my nostrils before we even made it down the hallway, and I frowned, hastening my steps.

I stopped in the entrance and bit back a smile at the image my love made. Liam stood naked except for Noelle’s frilly apron, frying bacon over the stovetop. A small pile of French toast—square, not Christmas tree shaped—sat on a plate on the counter nearby. Noelle's eyes lit up. Mine darkened. I dropped her hand and advanced on him.

"This doesn't look like oatmeal," I accused, picking up a piece of the golden-brown coated bread and holding it between my fingertips in front of his face. "Neither does that." I pointed to the bacon sizzling in the frying pan. Hadn't anyone ever told him not to cook bacon naked? Apparently not. "Doesn't smell like oatmeal, either."

"It does not!" he agreed cheerfully. "You're so observant!" he exclaimed, leaning over to kiss my cheek.

"Explain yourself," I growled at him over the sound of my stomach growling and he smirked.

The microwave beeped and he turned on his heel, sauntering over to it, his naked bottom on full display between the edges of the open back of the apron.

He pulled out a bowl and waved it in front of him, waving his hand over the top of it as if to waft the aroma through the room. "That," he pointed to the stovetop, "does not smell like oatmeal. However, this does." Across the room, Noelle groaned, and he grinned. "You forget that I am not a fan of oatmeal, either, and I was not up early sneaking sweets. In fact, you and I delayed our breakfast to deal with a naughty little imp, so I decided we deserved a treat."

"Smart man," I commented dryly, referring both to the treat and the oatmeal.

He twisted his lips in a sly half smile. "I'm hungry, not stupid. I'm not about to go behind your back and defy orders. I know that getting your Dom on first thing in the morning just energizes you and makes you bossier, and unlike some, I prefer coffee and breakfast over a spanking to start my day."

"Good boy," I murmured, leaning close to kiss him. He smelled like syrup and bacon grease. Or maybe I was just hungry.

When our lips parted, he winked at me and sauntered over to Noelle. Grabbing her by the hand, he led her to the kitchen table, helped her into a chair and ceremoniously set the steaming hot bowl of oatmeal in front of her.

I plated the bacon and carried the food to the table to join them.

"Can I at least have some sugar?" Noelle whined, dragging her spoon through her oatmeal.

I looked at Liam, consulting him in silence as we communicated with our eyes.

"Isn't sugar what got you into this mess? No," he retorted, shaking his head and shooting her a look that brooked no argument. "No sugar. But there's some fresh berries in the fridge, and you can have those if you'd like."

"Ugh. Fine." Noelle started to rise, but Liam beat her to it, returning several moments later with a heaping bowl of blueberries, raspberries and sliced strawberries. He handed it to her and she unceremoniously upended the entire bowl into her oatmeal and started mashing it with a fork, glaring at us the entire time.

I ignored her pointedly and inhaled my bacon and French toast, leaning back in my seat when I was done with my hands on my belly. "Well, little one, what's the plan for the day?"

"Can we play in the snow?"

I glanced out the window. It had stopped falling for the moment but there was at least twelve inches on the ground. "We don't really have proper snow attire," I said dubiously.

"We can bundle up and wear lots of layers," Noelle argued.

"What about our feet? We don't have snow boots and we won't make it more than two steps outside before our sneakers are soaked and we'll catch our death of cold."

Noelle huffed. I could see that she was searching for a good argument.

Liam took the last bite of his bacon and leaned back in his seat, mirroring my actions. "Back when I was a kid, if we didn't have snow boots, we'd just slide plastic shopping bags over our shoes to keep the snow out," he said lazily, with a smile at Noelle and a smirk at me.

Noelle's eyes lit up and she gasped. "Can we do that Daddy?" She clasped her hands beneath her chin and batted her eyelashes. "Please, please, please?"

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