Page 127 of Breeding Clinic

Five minutes later, Gabriel nudges the kitchen door open with his foot. He’s got six bags of groceries loaded in his two arms and the baby still strapped to him.

How the hell did he get them all in one trip?

I watch, wide-eyed, as he sets them down on the counter one arm at a time. They’re not light. We go through milk and juice like crazy so I buy two things of each at a time. “Ooh, you got the cabbage,” he says, waggling his brows at me.

My face heats with a blush. “Yeah.”

Gabriel knocks his shoulder into mine. “Excited?”

I stare at the box of baby puffed crackers in my hands. “Yeah, but I’m pretty nervous too.”

Gabriel rubs my shoulders until the tension melts under his digging thumbs. “You’re gonna do great.”

It’s not that I’m worried about performance, per se. It’s more like a fear that since Liam and Gabriel had it so easy, what if my turn breaks our streak? Kat’s already so nervous about her age. What if this heat cycle doesn’t take?

Kat comes in from the back from her writing room and starts helping us unload groceries. Syrup trots along behind her, getting underfoot as she waits for someone to drop food on the floor. The goofy dog loves hanging out in the kitchen when anyone’s in here.

“How’s the book coming along?” I ask her.

“Okay.” She grabs the box of cereal the babies like and puts it in the cabinet with the others. “I have writer’s block so I’m taking a break. I think I’m going to take the rest of the day off and recharge.”

“Want to go down to the gym with me?” Gabriel asks, sliding a hand across her hip.

Kat gives him a suspicious glance. “That depends. What sort of exercise did you have in mind?”

Gabriel grins and lifts the eggplant from the bag of vegetables, stroking it. “I’ll make sure you get your cardio in, don’t worry.”

She snorts and grabs the eggplant from him and mutters something about sexercise under her breath while she walks over to the fridge. He hands her vegetables to put away while I reorganize the soup cans in their turnstile. When they get to the cabbage, she studies it for a moment before putting it in the crisper drawer.

“I’ll get started on dinner,” I tell them once we’re done.

“Let’s go find Daddy so he can watch you,” Kat says, pulling the baby from Gabriel’s harness and cuddling Marcia to her chest. “Mommy needs to go do yoga.”

“I’m gonna get changed,” Gabriel says, unbuckling the baby harness.

“Dinner’s at seven,” I tell him.

He swats me on the ass on his way out.

Smiling to myself, I pull out the ingredients we need and find the recipe I saved on my phone.

Less than a month later,Kat’s heat hits her fast with atomic clock precision. Her preheat is short this time. Only a day and a half. It must be from the higher dose of fertility meds.

“Are you sure?” I ask Liam as I pause while doing my tie.

Liam pokes his head out from under the covers where he’s been eating her out under the pretense of checking to see if she’s ready. “I’m sure.” He slaps her right on her mound, making her gasp and push her knees together. “That’s prime babymaking pussy.”

“I’ll call work.” I call my boss real quick and tell him that I’m on heat leave and won’t be in. So does Gabriel. Once we’re both covered with work, I pull the tie from around my neck and undo the buttons of my shirt.

“Let me get one more lick,” Liam says, wrenching her knees apart. His head disappears between her legs again and he tugs the sheet over them to keep her warm.

“We need to… to…” Kat moans, distracted. “Need to call Jen and—oh, God—have her get the kids.”

“I’ll call her,” I reassure her.

Gabriel slips from the bed. “I’ll go pack the kids up.”

Jen doesn’t live far away so it’s only an hour until I help her buckle the kids up in her car and watch her go, their stuff loaded into the trunk.

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