I yawned and glanced out the window. We were near the waterfront in town, and we were far from the only ones who wanted to have breakfast out. Several restaurants had outdoor seating areas across the road, and they were packed.
I took a sip of my coffee, then grimaced and stirred in some creamer. It was too strong. “By the way, don’t forget y’all have to take me out on a date soon. That was the deal.”
Daddy smiled into his cup and took a slow sip. “I’ve been pretending to be patient since last night. Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart.”
I grinned sleepily. “So, we can lock this down? Like, we’re in a proper relationship now?”
River chuckled and hugged me to him.
“Definitely locked down—and throw away the key,” Daddy confirmed. “You’re stuck with us now.”
I could think of worse things.
I turned to River and kissed his cheek. “I haven’t thanked you guys for everything you’ve done. I feel like…” I swallowed hard, the tension changing to something much heavier. Maybe this was a bad place for that, but I had to get it out. “Just…thank you. You’ve kind of brought me back to life.”
River hugged me a little harder and kissed my neck.
“You’ve given us more than you might believe, sweetheart.” Daddy locked his feet with mine under the table. “I’d like to think we saved one another in a way.”
I mustered a wobbly smile, out of words. I couldn’t even describe to myself what I was feeling. It was all a rush of emotions and overwhelming relief. Happiness—it was happiness.
“My aunt wants to meet you,” I admitted.
And I wanted them to meet my brothers.
River cocked his head and peered down at me with a curious expression. “You’ve told your family about us?”
I nodded. “Was that not okay?”
“Of course it is,” Daddy was quick to say. “It actually means a lot, considering…”
Considering they didn’t lead a very normal lifestyle. Whatever. It went without saying that there’d be no details shared, and I knew Daddy and River wouldn’t want that either. Hell, they didn’t even tell their dearest friends how close they were. But the fact that we were in a relationship? I wanted to tell everyone.
“I don’t care about what strangers say, and my family is accepting,” I said.
“Then we’ll take your aunt and brothers out to dinner sometime soon,” River replied with a nod. “I hear that’s what you do in vanilla relationships.”
I snickered.
“It’ll be our first one,” Daddy mused. “This should be interesting.”
I shook my head in amusement. “I don’t think we can do anything strictly vanilla, even the vanilla parts.”
“I’m glad you’re prepared,” River laughed and released me. Our breakfast was here, and my stomach snarled.
Fuck yes. A big plate with waffles was set in front of me, and I unwrapped my utensils from the napkin. Daddy and River preferred the Belgian variety. I loved the thin ones the most. With whipped cream and strawberry compote, of course.
“Those look crispy and buttery.” River eyed my plate with interest.
I cut a piece for him and dragged it through the whipped cream and compote, then held up the fork for him.
He hummed around the fork and nodded in approval. “For next time. Damn, that was good.”
Daddy dug into his own waffles, topped with Nutella and whipped cream, and spoke with his mouth full. “Let me just see if I’ve got this straight. Now I can finally relax, knowing that you belong to us. We’ll go on dates, we’ll meet your family, we’ll go balls to the wall with our kink, we’ll eventually—hopefully soon—declare our insane love for one another, and then we can tackle your silly little wish to live in an apartment complex with a pool in DC. Correct?”
I coughed around a piece of waffle and stared at him incredulously.
River’s shoulders were shaking with the laughter he didn’t let slip out.
I had no words for this either. My Daddy, a strong, savage Sadist with a creative mind out of this world. But he was also cute as fuck, and sometimes he fumbled.
I couldn’t contain my grin. “I don’t know what apartment complex you’re talking about, but fuck yes to everything else.”
Especially the declaration of “insane love.”
“And we can save that topic for another time,” River told Daddy pointedly. “Seriously, Reese. We have all the time in the world.”
Well, I was kind of curious…
I mean, I remembered sending a text to River about an apartment with a pool, but did Daddy think that meant I had to stay in the DC area? Because that wasn’t the case at all. Everything had changed as my relationship with the Tenley twins had formed.
Did that mean they wanted me closer to them in the future? Because I was game!
Half an hour outside of the city was nothing anyway.
It was a little soon to discuss living arrangements and whether or not we’d live together one day—though the prospect made me sickeningly giddy about the future—but I knew one thing for certain. I wouldn’t mind leaving the city as long as I remained fairly close to it. And…well, since I was letting my thoughts stray there…maybe we should live permanently in a small cabin next to a kink mansion.