Page 27 of Protector Daddy

“Yeah, I was too.” Her smile glimmered faintly before the tears returned. “Brady getting married and becoming a dad was one thing. But Mav too… It’s just a lot, you know? I’m going to be an aunt twice over now. It’s just so weird.”

“It is at first. I’m an uncle many times over now. It gets less weird as you go.”

“Moose and Vee make babies like muffins.”

“True statement.”

“I don’t think my brothers will be like that, but I don’t know. My mom used to remind us about planet overcrowding, but then she discovered grandbaby lust and now I don’t think she’d mind if the three of us singlehandedly crowded the planet ourselves.” She wrinkled her nose. “At least her precious boys. I don’t think she even realizes I’m not a virgin yet. For that matter, Brady might not either. Did I mention he’s like a plastic rock?”

“Oh, I remember. Doesn’t even get genuine rock material. Harsh.”

She smiled and swiped her cheeks dry. “My dad told me what my period would be like when I was twelve. I didn’t get it until fourteen.”

“Wait, your dad did?”

“Yeah, Mom was in training at Quantico. I also had Google so I could fill in the blanks on my own.” She leaned forward and surprised me by laying one hell of a kiss on me—with tongue and a hair pull and even a little nipple rubbing. I was a lucky man—at least right now. “Thanks for listening,” she said as she moved back to drop a kiss on my dog. “You too, Boomer.”

He lapped her chin with a look of love. I couldn’t blame him one bit.

“No problem. Your family dynamic is interesting.”

“We’re dysfunctional as hell but at least my dad is high most of the time so he’s happily dysfunctional. He has a medical card,” she added as if she figured I needed such details.

“Good for him. Not that they’re necessary any longer.”

She frowned. “Right. Forgot about that. Not really my thing. Anyway, the higher he gets, the more inappropriate details I get about their sex life. I learned what 69 was at fifteen when he suggested I could avoid teen pregnancy by ‘getting pleasure’ from my boyfriend that way.”

“Evidently, you listened since no teen pregnancies for you. Right?” I couldn’t keep the sharpness out of my tone.

“Uh, no. Since I was technically a virgin until almost 17 and then we broke up after doing the deed. Great first experience. My next boyfriend wasn’t until college.” She narrowed her eyes. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Same question.”

“Obviously I didn’t have a teen pregnancy, Honey.”

“Semantics. Or were you as monk-like in high school too?”

She’d tossed me a lifeline and I wasn’t ashamed to use it. Fine, I was a little ashamed I couldn’t come clean with her, but this wasn’t first date conversation. Or first hookup. “I only had one girlfriend in high school. Remember that baggage?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t sound like garage level right now.” She held up a hand. “But it’s not the day for that sort of conversation and also you’ve been up all night. You probably have an early shift.”

“Early afternoon. I’m okay. You barely slept either.”

“Is that because you’re an insomniac and used to getting by on little sleep?”

“Not quite an insomniac, but a few hours is my usual limit.”

“I usually sleep like a baby.” She twisted the end of her braid between her fingers. “I’m not proud of that fact.”

“Why shouldn’t you be? Torment isn’t something you should aspire to.” Great, I’d officially said more than I should have.

“Are you tormented because of that baggage? I can’t see how even years of deprivation could rise to the level of torment. Though when I’m ovulating it can get intense.” She bit her lower lip. “Sorry. That’s probably a man no fly zone word, huh?”

“There’s no words you could say I wouldn’t want to hear.”

“Hmm.”

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