Page 56 of Small-Town Secrets
I thought maybe I wanted to give him a warning, but he didn't listen, he just bopped his head, taking me down deeper, and that was more than I could take, really. Pleasure washed over me like a tidal wave as I came into Aaron's mouth and he swallowed around me as if it was nothing.
"Damn," I muttered, my head thrown back and eyes closed. A damn was exactly what I didn't give about anything just then. I heard Aaron laugh as I slipped out of his mouth, a kind, warm sound.
It was the last thing I heard before I drifted off.
25
Laurence
Iwas wokenin the middle of the night by someone tugging on my arm. "Daddy!" A young voice whispered. In my half-awake state, I couldn't make out if it was Chris or Tyler.
"What's wrong, baby?" Slowly, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My son hadn't turned on the lights and I could just so make out his shape next to the bed.
"I had a bad dream," he said, still whispering. Obviously, he was trying not to wake Aaron. I knew what he was scared of. Howard had always hated if the twins disturbed our sleep for silly reasons like nightmares. He'd accuse me of 'spoiling' them when I tried to comfort them too.
It was all such bullshit.
But we weren't with Howard anymore.
My kid seemed to realize this the same moment I did. "Why are you in Aaron's bed?" he asked. "I looked everywhere. I thought you were gone."
"I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart," I addressed his fears, hoping he would forget about his initial question. By this point, I was pretty sure I was dealing with Tyler, and Tyler never held on to any point of conversation for too long. "You want to sleep with us?" I glanced at Aaron, who hadn't roused, and figured he'd be okay with it. Probably. He'd said he would take care of me and the boys, hadn't he?
In that case he had better be ready to be woken in the middle of the night for no reason at all.
"Can I really?" Tyler asked.
"If you want to. We'll have to cuddle, though."
"I like to cuddle."
I smiled in the dark. Tyler liked to cuddlesometimes, but I wasn't going to remind him of that. I knew one day soon my kids were going to think they were 'too old' for hugs and kisses from Daddy, but until that time came, I would take every chance I got to hold them close to my heart where they belonged. I lifted a corner of the blanket so Tyler could crawl under it with me.
That moment, Aaron stirred. "Laurence?" he muttered sleepily.
"Tyler had a bad dream," I explained.
"Oh." Aaron turned and leaned over the edge of the bed to grab something. For a second or two, I had no clue what he was doing, but then I realized. He was fishing for his underwear. I almost had to laugh.
"Hand me mine too," I said, suppressing my amusement at the situation.
Aaron flung a pair of boxer shorts at my head. I glared at him, though I was sure he couldn't see it. "Did you aim at my head?"
"What? No! I hit your head?" Aaron laughed, and the sound was so contagious that I had to chuckle too.
"I didn't know you could be such a klutz!"
"I'm not a klutz."
"Then you're just rude," I said in between laughter. Aaron sounded so ridiculously offended that I couldn't help it.
"What are you laughing about?" Tyler asked.
"I don't know." I pulled my boy onto the bed and tickled his belly. "What are you laughing about?"
Tyler squealed and tried to escape. "Daddy stop!"
I did. "Okay, sweetheart," I said, putting on the underwear that Aaron had thrown at me. "You think you can sleep now?"
