Her All Along

We’d decided three was a good number for us, and considering I’d be forty in a few years, I wouldn’t mind aiming for another addition soon.

A small shadow appeared in the corner of my eye, and I glanced up to see Grace in the doorway.

“I can’t sleep, Daddy.”

“Come here,” I murmured. “Is something wrong?”

She’d been restless since her sister was born. Constantly hovering, fiercely protective. Elise and I had read all the books, and we’d been prepared for jealousy since many older siblings felt a bit cast aside when a newborn joined the family and demanded so much focus, but that hadn’t happened. Yet, anyway. Quite the opposite.

Grace shook her head and tiptoed over to me, holding a finger over her lips as she passed our bed.

I nodded, proud of her. She was damn considerate. And very much aware of her surroundings.

Shifting Hazel higher in my arms, I made room for Grace on my lap, and she climbed up and peered down at her baby sister.

“Did Mommy feed her?” she asked.

“A little while ago,” I replied.

“Okay.” She drew a finger carefully over Hazel’s nose and smiled a little. “I want her to talk now so she can tell us when she’s hungry.”

“Babies have their own way of talking,” I explained quietly. “They don’t want a whole lot, so it’s easy to find the problem. If they’re not hungry, they’re tired and cranky—or the smell of their diaper will let us know.”

Grace giggled behind her hand, too cute for words.

I kissed the side of her head. “You need to get some sleep, love. Tomorrow we’ll take a walk to the marina.”

She nodded. “We’re eating at Uncle Darius’s. Mommy tolded me.”

“Good.” I was looking forward to getting out with my whole family. In between balancing work, Grace, Hazel, making sure there was dinner on the table at the end of the day, the house… Basically, someone was always elsewhere. Mary watching Hazel, me picking up Elise in the Valley, Grace off with a friend somewhere, me at work, and on it went. My paternity leave had ended last week, and as a small business owner, Elise couldn’t take as much time off as she needed. It’d been hectic, to say the least. But tomorrow, we were all off, and we’d decided to bundle the girls up and walk over for a lunch at Darius’s restaurant.

“Can I sleep between you and Mommy?” Grace asked with her puppy-dog eyes.

I smiled sympathetically. “We talked about this, Grace. It was okay right after Hazel was born, but you should sleep in your own bed now.”

She pouted.

Thank fuck I got the pout and not Elise, because my wife couldn’t resist. But Grace needed rest too, and we couldn’t have her running on high alert all hours of the day as soon as her sister whined a little.

“It’s only a few hours,” I reasoned with her. “You’ll see your sister first thing in the morning.”

She huffed and slid off my lap. “Fine. Mommy’s nicer than you.”

I grinned. “I know.”

That earned me another huff before she stalked out of the bedroom.

How ironic was it that, considering my background with women, I’d ended up with three who completely owned my sorry ass? But even I had limits, and I wasn’t going to let my daughter boss me around. Much.

Hazel was asleep again, so I carefully carried her to her crib and put her down.

With a long exhale, I let the tiredness sweep me away, and I crawled into bed next to Elise and hugged her from behind.

She hummed sleepily and shifted her perfect little ass against me.

That wasn’t wise. We were out of condoms, and she hadn’t started taking her birth control pills yet because we’d decided to wait until we’d discussed our third addition. But fuck buying more rubbers. Neither of us had liked them.

“So, I’m nicer than you?” she mumbled.

I smiled against her neck. “Yeah. I’m the big bad Daddy.”

“Mmm…you’re definitely big…”

“Woman, I swear.”

She shouldn’t rev me up. We slept with our door open, to boot. It’d turned into a challenge to find time for sex once Elise had been cleared by the doctor. A quickie wasn’t merely an option; it was the default mode at the moment.

Our record so far was two minutes. Something that would’ve embarrassed me a few years ago. Now it made us fist-bump in triumph.

“We don’t have protection.” I threw that out there. “And even if we want another sibling for the girls soon, I assume you’re not ready right now.”

“I mean…”

“Yes?” I pressed myself even closer and started kissing her neck as I waited for her response. It was also a good time to squirm my way out of my sweats.

She let out a small laugh and shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the end of the world, would it?”

“That’s a green light,” I stated. “How do you want me?”