Page 83 of Their Little Helper

I was pretty sure that was supposed to make it inoffensive but I hadn’t been offended to begin with. “You need to stop worrying about hurting my feelings or being offensive. With Harley, yeah, be careful because our boy is sensitive, but I’m not. I am an amazing pain in the ass and I accept that but it comes with always being right so there’s nothing I can do about it. But the one thing I will not get is offended over reactions or words or most things.”

People were weird.

People were dramatic.

People worried too much.

I was not people—I was Dally.

“As long as you are being honest about your reactions and with what you’re thinking I’m not going to lose my shit and go nuts on you.” If he was deliberately being a dick I could act offended to give him the reaction he was looking for, but that was just because I was a damned good actor too.

Santos was nodding slowly but it took him a second to respond with words. “But you’ll help me so I don’t accidentally hurt Harley’s feelings?”

“We’re both going to do that once in a while because he’s got big ones. He’s just used to ignoring them or being ignored in general. But we’re both going to try to do our best not to upset him because he’s sweet and I think his little side would hold a grudge.”

That had Santos shaking with silent laughter, trying not to wake up the little drama queen. “He was so cute about you counting. That pout was amazing.”

“He was overtired and just…his reserves aren’t built up yet.” We just needed to figure out what would help with that. “He loves that job but it takes a lot out of him.”

“He’s stubborn like his Daddy, though.” Santos chuckled again when I rolled my eyes. “What about we try to find small ways to boost him when he’s at work? We’ll make sure he gets food and encourage him to take several small breaks if one longer one isn’t reasonable.”

“I think that’s a good start.” I’d just never dated anyone who was deliberately exhausting themselves for a job. Most people I knew worked as little as humanly possible and exhausted themselves doing stupid shit. “Do you think we need to make him talk to a therapist?”

Harley didn’t seem to have much family and the ones he had he didn’t talk to, but I didn’t think he was punishing himself. It was just a matter of only children having only children and being kind of cold.

Santos frowned and I could see his mind whirling. “I don’t know. I think we should watch out for him and come back to that idea in a few weeks? We technically haven’t been dating that long.”

He needed to have more faith in knowing his partners…but we’d work on that just like we’d work on Harley overstretching himself and my being patient because we couldn’t move in together yet.

Being a good partner was hard sometimes.

“I think that’s a good plan.” It wasn’t but it made Santos happy, so I would go along with it for the time being. “Now it’s time to keep your promise to Harley.”

He’d start worrying instead of decompressing if I didn’t distract him.

The smirk that flashed over his face said I was already on the right track. “What did you have in mind? With the boss over there already asleep, we don’t have to follow his orders.”

“He’s cute when he’s stubborn.” But I was the boss and we weren’t going to forget that part. “But yes, it’s up to us now.”

Me.

It was up to me.

“I think you wanted kisses first.” Sliding lower down the bed, Santos leaned in and kissed my neck. “What should we do second?”

I was flexible as long as I got attention.

“I could kiss you.” There were lots of places on him that would probably like my lips.

“Hmm…” His low, pleased hum sent a shiver through me, but it also could’ve been because his lips found my ear. “I like the sound of that plan.”

What could I say…I had great ideas.

“Let’s start with your kisses first, though.” His lips teased along my jaw, working their way toward my mouth. “We were interrupted the first time.”

I was the best partner ever and didn’t point outhowwe’d gotten interrupted, but his lips finally meeting mine might’ve helped with that.

Especially since he went right for deep kisses with his tongue stroking mine, sending sparks of pleasure through me.

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