Page 11 of Daddy's Little Chaos Gremlin

I glanced at Daddy to see him watching me with a stern gaze, one eyebrow raised, his cautionary look a reminder to be more careful when I spoke. I mouthedsorryand he nodded, giving me a soft smile. All was already forgiven but he held up one finger to let me know that I’d have an added chore waiting at the end of the day.

That was so fair.

“You’d prolly need lots of space to set up something like that,” Zephyr went on, having missed the conversation going on over his head, thank goodness.

“Yes, I would,” I told him, and the rolling lawn beside the pool would be wonderful for that.

The moment that thought popped into my head, it was immediately followed by several others, and a desire to map out the moon’s trajectory over the pool.

“Can you swim?” I asked Zephyr, because I didn’t want to start down that road if he couldn’t. I never wanted to put him in any sort of jeopardy again.

I’m gonna be the bestest of big brothers.

“Uh-huh, I love being in the water, especially when I get to go skinny dipping.”

I never swam with trunks on unless we had company, but if I said that, I knew he’d want to know where the pool was. His face had lit up with joy when I mentioned swimming, but for now, it, like my workshop, would have to remain a secret.

This was gonna be a long week.

I sighed and sketched several stick figures twisting and flipping off a diving board.

“I used to compete in that,” Zephyr remarked, pointing to the image. “I was too afraid to do the high dive, though. I just did the three-meter springboard.”

My thoughts came crashing to a halt, interrupted by images of the pool at home. Was our board high enough? Was our pool deep enough?

I wrote a note for Daddy, because lots of research needed to happen before this idea became a possibility. The levitation and the potential tricks that could be performed with the moon onthe horizon line were photoshoots I could plan for, though, and I lost track of the movie filling page after page.

WhenBeetlejuicecame on, my attention was immediately drawn back to the screen. It was one of my favorite movies. Zephyr looked really into it, too, and missed his mouth with a piece of popcorn that landed on the blanket beside his hand. I held it to his lips once I’d picked it up, and he smiled and let me pop it in his mouth before licking the cheese residue off my finger and making me giggle.

He snuggled up against my side, too, making it impossible to draw, not that I wanted to with him nestled against me that way. I draped an arm over him, tugged the blanket up over his shoulders, and got lost in the movie with him, giggling at all the silly parts and yellingBeetlejuiceright along with the characters.

Daddy had to shush us, then held up a second finger to let me know I had another chore. One more and I’d be dusting, but at least the rooms in this space were a lot smaller than the ones at home. We’d be able to laugh all we wanted once we got there, but that was so far away right now.

It felt like the whole ocean was between us instead of just a couple miles. I had a hard enough time being patient, being patient and quiet, oh man, I was gonna be dusting forever at this rate. We wiggled along with theshake your bodysong, bumping hips and giggling softly when we wound up nose to nose.

“Can I kiss you?” I asked, trailing my fingertips along his cheek.

“Please.”

He was all sweetness as he opened to that kiss and pressed closer as we slowly melted against one another. Make-out cuddles were some of the best cuddles in the whole wide world ‘cause theywere gentle and unhurried. His soft sighs made my lips tingle, but none of this was about sex. We were getting to know one another and laying the foundation for what I hoped would be a long and glorious future.

His tummy rumbled and we both giggled as we drew apart. I couldn’t stop staring at his lips as he licked them, which was why I didn’t notice that the popcorn bowl was gone until he reached for some and encountered only air.

“You’re lunch is ready,” Daddy called.

He must have snagged the bowl without us even noticing.

“Coming, Daddy,” I replied and helped untangle us from the blankets.

My leg had started falling asleep, making it difficult to get up, but Zephyr just uncoiled himself gracefully, stood, and helped me up, keeping hold of my hand and half supporting me as we headed for the breakfast nook. Zephyr and I sat on the bench seat while Daddy sat across from us, a platter of sandwich quarters, fruit salad, and cookies already waiting for us. He’d made chocolate milk, too, and I always knew Daddy mixed in a bit of his own whenever he made it. Zephyr must have known it, too, or at least hoped, ‘cause he went straight for the milk and drank a third before reaching for one of the sandwich squares.

“Make sure you at least eat two of those and some fruit,” Daddy encouraged. “After that you can have all the cookies you’d like.”

“Yay, cookies!” I cheered, making sure to keep my voice at a respectable tone so I wouldn’t earn another strike.

Zephyr didn’t join me in celebrating, in fact, he side-eyed the cookies like he was wary of them, even when his tongue darted out to run along his upper lip.

“Don’t you like chocolate chip?” I asked.

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