Page 35 of Hiding From Laughter

Being able to randomly drive over to thezoo was one such reason.

“I got you the big cats coloring book andthe one with the monkeys and apes and all those guys.” Next on my list was theone based around the small aquarium that they had, but his quiet roar said I’dmade good choices.

Ashton took turns imagining being the catand being stalked and eaten by one of the cats, so it didn’t surprise me whenhe hunched over and started flipping through the pages. His restrained handsmade it harder but he didn’t seem to notice much.

“And here are your crayons.” It was thebiggest box of oversized crayons that I could find. It wasn’t one of the hugeboxes the smaller ones came in, but I’d done my best. “If you make me apicture, we can put it up on the fridge.”

That had his head cocking, but he was toofocused on carefully figuring out how to pick up the crayons I’d spread out onthe table to overthink it. Still, giving him a push seemed like a good idea. “Iwould love to have a reminder about how much I enjoy my helpless boy.”

Oh, that sigh.

I was going to get my picture.

I didn’t bother trying to hide my happydance as I went over to the oven and turned it on, mostly because he likedknowing he made me excited and I liked the sounds it got me. Huffs and sighsand even a whine as he gave up trying to pretend that he didn’t like coloring.

But no matter what nonsense he was tellinghimself, I was in control, so he was going to color. TheMicha is in controlbit was going to be playing over and over in his head, but if it helped him totry something new, I was okay with a bit of manipulation.

“I might’ve gotten another surprise while Iwas there, but I’m going to show you that later.” His fascination with those poop-shapedchocolates had not been as subtle as he seemed to think. “I like surprising mysweet, helpless boy.”

Well, technically my grumbly, diapered,slightly dramatic restrained boy.

His muffled gripes said he’d gotten thatpart too, though.

The new toy helped keep most of histhoughts internal but it wasn’t blocking the cute noises he made. He kepttrying to sound like he didn’t appreciate my teasing, but he continued coloringand even wiggling in his seat to rub himself against the diaper.

He was the king of mixed signals…or maybeprince in this case.

He was also very focused and seemed to findsome kind of headspace as he colored because he was fully engrossed in his lionpicture when I finally came back over to the table with his bottle. Dinner wasfinishing up in the oven, so we had a few minutes to cuddle if he wanted toswitch gears.

It took him a few more seconds of carefullycoloring, mitt-covered fist wrapped around the green crayon, before he leanedinto me, though. I took that as a good sign and kissed his head. “That looksbeautiful.”

The first bits he’d done were almostgrown-up perfect, everything in the lines and careful, but as he’d continued,it was less structured and felt more carefree. “I like the trees over here andthat lion in the back looks lazy.”

He snickered and made a soft roar aroundthe binkie. “I think you’d be a lazy lion too.”

Pretending to get offended, he huffed andwiggled, trying to square his shoulders and look tough. It just lookedadorable, but I pretended to shiver. “Scary lion.”

That got a giggle out of him before heblinked, probably realizing he’d shifted a bit too far away from being thegrown-up he claimed to be. “My happy lion too.”

Ignoring his second-guessing seemed to bethe best decision, so I nodded toward the coloring book. “How about we finishthis after dinner when we watch some cartoons? I want to cuddle with you now.”

It wasn’t exactly an order, but I was asofty when it came to him. He knew it too. One whine and some puppy dog eyesand he could’ve changed my mind, but he was still for a moment before heshrugged, trying to look like it didn’t matter what we did.

I was in charge after all.

“Good boy.” One more peck, that time on hisnose, and I stood, taking his hand and the bottle. “I think couch cuddles.”

He’d have room to stretch out, depending onhow he wanted to snuggle up for his bottle. At the moment, he just seemed to bedoing his best to ignore the bottle. It wouldn’t make it disappear, but if itmade him feel better that was okay with me.

It wouldn’t change anything because itwasn’t anywhere close to a safeword.

He even curled into me easily as I sat downand pulled him onto my lap. “There we go.”

Moving him into a more inclined position, Ibraced him with my arm and one of the pillows against the arm of the couch andbrought the bottle to his lips. My exaggerated frown got a snicker from him.“This won’t work.”

Sighing, I glared at the binkie. “You can’ttalk even if I take it out. No cheating.”

Part of him wanted to take that as achallenge, but a quick switch popping out the binkie and in the bottle kept himfrom having to decide if he wanted to be a pain in the ass or not. “Good boy.”

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