“Yep.” Sloane grinned broadly, squirming when Dex poked him in the belly. “Hey, it’s not my fault. I was living in blissful ignorance before then.”
Tony reached over and patted Sloane’s knee. “You don’t know the half of it. During his teenage years, you could bounce a quarter off his socks when laundry time came around.”
Everyone burst into laughter, except for Dex, who appeared unimpressed. “Masturbation and food consumption were the core foundations of my teenage years. It’s perfectly healthy.”
“I didn’t need to know that,” Ash muttered, taking a step closer to Cael as if Cael wouldn’t notice.
Sloane wriggled his brows at Dex. “Guess some things never change.”
“I really didn’t need to know that,” Ash ground out, glaring at Sloane, who brushed him off with a laugh. Ash moved to his right, and Cael did the same, his eyes narrowed at Ash.
“There’s no way you’re getting your hands on this album, Keeler.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Ash slowly crept toward him, and Cael slowly backed away. Ash paused with a frown.
“Did you leave the milk out?”
Had he? Cael gasped. He was pretty sure he’d put it away after serving up the pie and—Two strong hands took hold of his waist and hoisted him up. Cael yelped and flailed, but he kept a firm grip on the album as Ash tossed him over his shoulder, holding him down by his legs.
“No fair! Put me down!” The big sneak, distracting him like that. Spoiled milk was a very serious offense. Milk was needed for the enjoyment of cookies, and baking, and… more cookies. “Damn it, Ash!”
“Give me the album.”
Ash walked around to the love seat and dropped him onto it.
“I’m giving you one more chance. Hand over the package, Agent Maddock, or face the consequences.”
“Never! You can’t break me.” He wrapped his arms tightly around the album, rolling onto his side and away from Ash. There was nothing Ash could do to make him give up his baby album, filled with pictures of him and his bare bottom sticking up in the air. Or the one his dad took of him potty training, or dear God, the pictures of him running around the house naked during his “clothes are stupid” phase.
“All right. You’ve left me no choice.”
Ash lifted Cael’s legs and sat down, pulling him onto his lap as he launched a tickle assault. Cael squealed. Oh no! He was horribly ticklish.
“Stop!” Cael cried, holding steadfast on to his album. He squirmed and laughed, tried curling on his side, then his back, but nothing eased the cruelty of Ash’s assault. He tickled Cael under his arms, on his sides, his neck, his belly, and his feet. It was ruthless! Cael had tears in his eyes, and his mouth hurt from laughing. Just when he thought he couldn’t take any more, the assault stopped. Cael flopped onto his back, sprawled across Ash’s lap as he tried to catch his breath. He maintained a firm grip on his baby pictures. And then Ash kissed him.
Ash was kissing him in front of his family and Sloane. Rather than allowing his shock to take over, Cael let himself get swept away by the taste of Ash’s soft lips against his own. He returned the kiss, melting against Ash. A soft sigh escaped him, and the album was slipped from his fingers.
“Thank you,” Ash murmured, brushing his lips over Cael’s before planting a quick kiss and pulling back.
Cael glared at him. “You have no shame.”
Ash let out a husky laugh. “And you’re just figuring that out?”
Cael sat up, falling into the gap between Ash’s legs when he spread them. He might as well take it like an agent. Ash opened the album and “aw”d. The first page had a sixth-month-old Cael looking up at the camera with huge gray eyes and a confused expression. Not exactly unusual for babies that age. He was also naked, with his bottom in the air and part of him covered by a fluffy cheetah-print blanket.
“I think I might die of how adorable this is,” Ash said. “This sort of cute should be illegal.” He grinned at Cael and kissed the tip of his nose. “You should be illegal.”
“Shut it,” Cael griped.
He had no choice but to sit there—on Ash’s lap—while Ash looked at his baby pictures. At least he was enjoying one of those things. He ignored the chuckles from his family. Ash continued to look through Cael’s album, making silly cute noises and pointing out pictures. There were hundreds of photos of Cael in his Human baby form and then later when he was a little older and his first shift happened, in his cheetah Therian form with his cheetah fuzz sticking up all over. There were pictures of him chirping, of him with bows in his fur thanks to his jerkface big brother, and of him hiding in a bucket while he played hide-and-seek with Dex.
Usually a Therian’s first shift happened during puberty, but there were always exceptions, and some shifted sooner. Cael had been an early shifter, so he’d still had his cheetah fuzz. Luckily he didn’t have it for too long.
Cael perked up, and a sly smile came onto his face. Why should he suffer alone in this baby picture hell? “Sloane,” Cael called out sweetly.
Sloane looked up. “Hm?”