Page 350 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

“I don't know…with four parents around to take care of them? I'm sure we could handle a whole litter.”

“Yes!” Dom said and Stella and Fox both gave him a high five.

“Here's my baby girl's theme song,” Fox said, grinning at them and struck up the Talking Heads “Stay Up Late.” “Baby, baby, please let me hold her, I wanna make her stay up all night. Sister, sister, she's just a plaything, We wanna make her stay up all night…”

She rolled her eyes. “Great. How will she ever make it in kindergarten if you three have her staying up all night?”

They all laughed at that and Stella swatted her butt. “Now I know why you wouldn't take any alcohol or coffee.”

“But you still haven't told us what's with the ring,” Fox pointed out.

She pulled the quiche out of the oven and served it up to exclamations of how good it smelled.

“Kate has agreed to marry me,” Dom said when she didn't answer.

“Congratulations,” Fox said warmly. Stella gave her cheek a kiss. “I'm so happy for you both,” she said equally warmly, and she felt relieved. Though she'd never felt any jealousy from Stella, she didn't want there to be any tension, especially with her moving in.

“When's the big date?”

Dom looked at her. “We haven't really discussed it yet. My vote is as soon as possible, but I know women have ideas about how these things should go, and I want Kate to have the wedding she always dreamed of.”

Her eyes misted and she slid out of her seat to sit on his lap and kiss his temple. “I love you,” she murmured.

“I'm pretty fond of you myself,” he teased, reminding her of the first time she'd inadvertently uttered those words.

He looked at his watch. “So, I have a moving crew meeting you down at your place at 4 pm.”

“What?” she exclaimed.

“Well, you don't have to meet them, but I thought you might want to be there. In case there's stuff you don't want to move here.”

She stared at him and he held his hands up, palms out. “Not that I'm suggesting you can't bring all of it.”

She laughed, touched again at the exaggerated way he showed his consideration of her feelings. “No, I'll probably get rid of most of it. But I can't stay long there, because we have somewhere to be after sundown tonight,” she said with what she hoped was an air of mystery.

“We do?” He looked surprised. She supposed it was unusual for her to take charge of him for a change.

She hid her face in his hair. “Yes.”

“Are you going to tell me about it?”

“No,” she said in a tiny voice. It was hard to keep it from him. She wanted to blurt out her surprise all at once, but that would ruin it, of course.

“I want a real wedding with a white dress and cake,” Kate announced when he picked her up after sundown. She stuck her chin out a little, as if it took some resolve for her to admit that.

“You got it,” he said. “Your dream wedding, whatever that is. So long as I'm the groom,” he added.

“It will have to be soon, I don't want to be showing. But enough time to plan. How about in a month?”

“Yes. Now where are we going?”

“Take Broadway to Country Club.”

He sighed. As out of character as it was for Kate to lead their date, it was equally odd for him to be the follower. Not uncomfortable exactly. Well, maybe it was uncomfortable. He didn't like not knowing what to expect, or where they were going. She directed him to a residential address. When he pulled up and parked, he turned to look at her. “You have to tell me what we're doing here,” he said.

She smirked. “You can't stand not being in control, can you?”

“Don't get too sassy. I still haven't tried out either of those paddles you bought me yet.”

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