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She hesitated, like she was still worried.

“Honey.” He wished he could feel her through the blood connection, but he must have slept longer than he thought. “We’re fine. We’re both totally fine. Go back to work. I’ll fill you in on the adventurous wilds of the kid’s brain when you get back.”

Thinking about that, he scowled again.

“Come to think of it, whyisshe here? Why isn’t she in school?” He growled the words, all ready to chew the kid out for playing hooky… again… but he didn’t get that far.

Wynter deflated his semi-parental irritation before it could really gain steam.

“Relax, papa bear. She had a free day today. It’s a teacher’s admin thing. All the kids are off today. I can see a lot of them through my window right now, in fact, being lazy bums outside their dorms. Not a book or a school tablet in sight.”

“Oh.”

“I was going to try to get out of here early so we can do something, but it’s not looking likely I’ll manage it before four,” she said regretfully. Nick saw her make a pouty face through her avatar and felt his cock twitch. “Maybe tonight? We could all go to that virtual movie thing in town… the new one. Supposedly there’s a giant squid-space creature that attacks the ship. You can feel the slime and the tentacles and everything.”

Nick grunted a laugh.

“Sounds awesome.”

“Doesn’t it?” Wynter sounded like she meant it. “Tai will totally dig it. I was thinking I might invite Mal and Kit, too.”

Nick scowled a little again at that.

The two of them were a little too kissy-face with one another these days. Still, he wouldn’t mind seeing them… either of them. He hadn’t talked to Kit in a few days. With Mal it had been at least a week. He wanted to check in with how they were doing.

Even if it meant having to put up with them pawing at one another.

Even if it meant him trying not to notice he could smell sex on them all the time now.

The two of them were having a lot of sex.

Which, okay, fine, Nick couldn’t say much in that area.

But he reallyreallywished he didn’t have to smell it.

Or know about it in any way.

Fucking vampire senses.

He was relaxing for real now, though.

He also had the beginnings of a hard on, and it wasn’t from Kit or Mal.

He knew that, like the relaxing thing, was one hundred percent Wynter’s fault.

“Squid monster mayhem sounds good. Inviting Kit and Mal sounds good, too.” Exhaling, Nick glanced at the door to her bedroom. He realized he was reluctant to hang up. But she was at work. She’d called to make sure he was okay, and he was. He needed to let her get back to it.

He exhaled, not hiding his reluctance.

“Okay. I’m going to let you go now, wife. I’m going to go talk to her. And maybe boot her out the door to get some actual sun and fresh air and exercise on her day off… before she decides she’d rather hang out in the dark with me all day, playing video games with her weird, quasi-dad vampire pal.”

Wynter snorted. “Or you could take her to the city. The two of you could go to the beach. Maybe I could even meet you in New York when I get done here. We could see the squid thing in the city instead. That way Mal and Kit don’t have to take the train all the way up here.”

Nick now found himself imagining his wife in a bikini.

She must have felt some of that, blood connection or no.

“Hey, pervert,” she mock-scolded. “Focus. Go talk to our fledgling. Do the parental thing. At leasttryto act like a responsible adult.”