Page 45 of Their Little Helper

It’d been his idea, though.

That meant I wasn’t supposed to ask if he’d lost his mind…right?

Dally’s excitement might end up being contagious and then we’d all make ridiculous decisions.

“Dally’s the type to cheat, so in the future, we need clear rules written down for situations like this.” Fine print was just as important as a limits list. “General rules. Acceptable rewards. We’re not playing loosey-goosey just so Dally wins.”

Harley was pretending to take the situation very seriously. “What if I win? Do you think I’ll cheat?”

“In a heartbeat.” Narrowing my gaze at him got a giggle from both of them. “You’d use that cuteness and bamboozle us both.”

Harley’s eyes lit up but he curled in on himself and gave me an adorable pout. “Oh I…I wouldn’t do that.”

He really was a better actor than I’d given him credit for.

“Remember that expression.” Dally did a wiggle that seemed to mean his thoughts had turned wicked. “We’re going to come back to that when I win. I know what I want as my prize.”

Something naughty.

“See why we need to negotiate?” I gestured toward the troublemaker as Harley blushed and grinned, dropping my voice low. “You probably meant dessert and his mind went to the gutter.”

Blushing again, Harley looked out at the displays and buildings that surrounded the tables full of more Lego bricks than I’d ever seen in one place. “Um…I didn’t mean dessert.”

With that admission, Harley swallowed hard and released our arms. “I think…I think I’m going to go play.”

As he escaped, Dally flashed a grin. “He’s so cute.”

And definitely not as innocent as he sometimes appeared.

“If we’d already had his limits list then we could help reward him without him having to push outside his comfort zone and talk about it.” We really were doing some of this backwards.

“If we’d already gotten his limits list, he’d be dead of a heart attack.” Dally shrugged, not worried about it. “And I think he needs to learn to trust us a bit more before any of that will come out easily.”

“So when he wins, we’ll just wing it?” That was a terrible plan.

“Yep.” Dally’s ridiculously bright smile said he wasn’t seeing it the same way. “It’ll be fine.”

Hopefully.

“So are we making sure he wins?” Going into situations without even the basics organized was not helpful.

“Or I win and then I ask for something from him as my reward.” Dally’s selfish glee had me mentally debating what kind of supervillain he’d be. “Either way, we’re all going to have fun.”

As long as he won?

“And when I win, I’ll talk to him and carefully figure out what his limits are so I can ask for that as my reward.” If we weren’t going to let Harley win then I could make sure to wipe Dally’s ass in the contest.

“You’re crazy.” Shaking his head, Dally started his bouncy, excitable walk over to the table where Harley had found some space. “I always win. It’s not hard to arrange.”

Because he cheated?

Was he really bragging about that?

At what point were we going to come back to the Dally needed a Dom conversation?

13

DALLY

---