Page 4 of Enforcer’s Little Warrior (Little Paws Haven #3)
Romy
Three days later
It was exhausting watching Bash run around, but one thing was clear—he was trying his best to make sure everyone’s needs got taken care of. So Romy offered encouraging smiles and did his best not to think about the scent of his mate when he’d first caught sight of Romy in his animal form.
No, not thinking about that at all. He didn’t think about that for the remainder of that day. He didn’t think about that as the boys shifted to get in the wallow just the day before to play with Bash in his human form. Splashing and playing with the boys like it was the most natural thing to him, when clearly he had little experience. Romy most definitely didn’t think about it with the way Bash’s clothes clung to his wet skin, showing off all the muscles he had. His days were definitely none thinking ones…
Romy sagged against the bathroom door where he’d come to escape. He shut and, for good measure, locked the bathroom door, needing to give himself a minute to regroup from all the non-thinking he’d done.
All right, he’d thought none stop about the delicious smelling Bash and all the hotness and Daddyness that made Romy want to swoon. What he’d seen the couple of times he’d peeked out the window from daycare to spy on Bash—not to mention the time he saw Bash cuddling Cosmo in daycare, which was when Romy finally figured out that Bash was his mate—had not prepared Romy for just how wonderful Bash could be.
Nothing disputed his mate was the most caring person that Romy knew. Ab-so-fucking-luty-ly, nothing could deny it with days of watching and yearning. The achy feeling happening inside his baggy shorts, the only ones that hid his problem, spoke to a bigger issue. He’d volleyed the ball at Bash, basically leaving all the chasing to him. Romy had done it on purpose because he’d been more than a little miffed at how Bash behaved with Cosmo in the past.
His rational side, with all the understanding that Cosmo and Bash were playing a part, sharing information so the big rhino could get back the stolen crash members, got that. The irrational side of him hated the idea that Bash might have preferred someone as pretty as Cosmo. Someone trained to look out for himself and be able to handle any situation.
Romy was not that.
Yes, he’d survived when his family had not. Witnessed things no child should see happen to his parents and sibling, along with other members of his crash. He’d suffered through their torture, but he’d no skills to fight them. He’d escaped through cunning, but that still didn’t make him like Cosmo, did it?
“You alright in there?” Bash asked, his voice more a rumble, but Romy heard concern.
He supposed the way he’d fled after the boys had gone to sleep said something was up, more than he needed an urgent pee. “Just need a moment,” Romy replied, going to the sink to run some icy water to splash on his overheated face.
“Erm… yeah… okay.”
The sound of booted feet hitting wood faded away and Romy stared at himself in the mirrored cabinet above the sink. “Why can’t I just ask for what I want?” Because he wasn’t built that way. He liked someone else to be in charge. It was why, when he discovered the daycare at Little Paws Haven, he’d felt an immediate kinship with the others who liked to go in there.
Sinking into that playful place inside him had saved him. Watching how the Daddy’s took care of the boys, that had struck a deep chord in Romy. One that the man in the house was playing a damn fine tune on despite the fact they were mates.
Bash was a wonderful Daddy.
He slipped his hand into his pocket as he continued to look at himself in the mirror. Fate had chosen for him. More than a week in Bash’s company and Romy was more than willing to admit Fate had done a good job. Romy wanted him as his Daddy.
He gave himself no time to worry about how to achieve that alone, instead he dialed the one man who understood Bash’s daddy side: Cosmo.
Four rings and Cosmo answered breathlessly, “Hey Romy.”
“Hey,” he replied, starting to feel a little uncertainty creep in.
“Whatsup? Problem?”
“I… yes…”
Cosmo chuckled. “Okay… can you give me a little more to go on?”
He sighed, disheartened around his own lack of verbal skills right then. “How did you entice your Daddies to…” he blushed scarlet, “claim you?” The latter was hardly a whisper, but he knew Cosmo’s cat would hear him.
“I wouldn’t recommend doing what I did.” The chuckle turned into full on gales of laughter.
“What did you do?” Romy asked intrigued, he tugged at a stray lock of hair and tucked it behind his ear.
“I kicked Nomad into my house and ran into a burning building, resulting in Harley chasing after me and setting his clothes on fire. I got spanked!”
The way he said it, his voice full of awe, got Romy frowning. “You did all that to get them to claim you?”
“Nah, I did all that to save some things, and it turned out it was a hard limit, one I hadn’t encountered before and proved to me just how much my Daddies wanted me, even with all the stuff I’d done.”
“Oh.” He could see why that was a hard limit. Problem was, none of that helped Romy figure out how to move Bash along to the claiming side of things.
“That didn’t answer your question, did it?”
“Not really.” He sighed, his shoulders slumping.
There was a pause before Cosmo spoke again. “Bash wants you.”
“Does he?” It didn’t feel like it. All right, it did a little, he’d gone to so much effort to provide him and the children with a safe place. What worried Romy was that Bash was just being an enforcer and looking out for them. He said as much to Cosmo.
“Bash is an enforcer. It’s what he knows.” There was a sound of scratching in the background. “If you want my advice, then you have to show him how to be your mate. Bash will follow your lead on this. It’s what I did with my mates eventually, and it worked out great.”
Romy thought on that as they finished the call, with Cosmo planning to come the next day to have a play date with him and the children. Cosmo was more than a little excited to see them in their human form.
He slipped the phone back into his shorts and considered how to show Bash what he wanted. He rubbed his jaw and eyed what he had on.
Baggy clothes hid everything…
A grin formed full of cheekiness, one that Romy hadn’t seen in years. He swung around and opened the bathroom door, creeping out down the hallway, not once considering the surveillance cameras.
He went into the bedroom that, as yet, he’d not slept in and eyed the bed before going to the closet, opening the door to eye the shelves. Something on the middle shelf caught his attention, and the smile he wore widened.
Perfect.