Page 17

Pierce

“The more I think about it—”

“Daddy?” Merritt cut me off before I could drive him any crazier than I already had.

“Yes, cutie?” I was hoping looking sweet would help him forget I’d been going to poke at our plans again, but his smile said there was no way that would work. He looked too understanding. “Did you forget something? Change your mind about dessert?”

We’d stopped by to grab some of his stuff, but in the mix of toys and clothes, it was entirely possible he’d forgotten something random and special.

“Let’s plan a road trip.” His words were unexpected, so it took me a few seconds to process them. “Once we get the portal situation fixed, we’ll plan a road trip to go down to visit your family.”

I had a really good mate.

“You like trips. I remember you mentioning that.” His smile said he approved of my attempt to let him steer the conversation. “I’ve never done a trip that long but it sounds like fun.”

Swinging my hand as we walked up to my room at the motel, he nodded and gave me a smile that made it clear he was proud of me. “I think a slow trip would be fun, one where we could stop and see silly things like the biggest ball of yarn or things like that.”

That didn’t sound too bad.

“It would give you time to play and for us to have fun.” Leaning closer, I kissed the side of his head as we got up to the door. “Maybe we can find all the good bakeries between here and my parents’ house.”

That got a giggle and he seemed to stop worrying about me, which had been my goal, but it sounded delicious as well.

“Once we’re all done here, we’ll wait one day to get organized and packed and then we’ll start driving.” He was doing his best to give us a plan and while I appreciated it, I realized I needed to work on not overplanning everything.

After the portal apocalypse, though.

Overplanning was still necessary until that was handled.

“One day, Daddy.” Squeezing my hand, he looked adorably serious as he slid deeper into his little side. “You’ll have to plan a lot to make sure we’re ready to go.”

I had the best mate ever.

Returning his serious expression, I nodded. “I will do my best to make sure we’re ready to go with stops planned along the way.”

Perking up, Merritt did a little bounce as we stopped by the door, most of his grown-up side gone for the time being. “Stops. Yes. Food and stuff to see and museums and silly things.”

Silly things usually meant adult things, so I gave him a questioning look. “Silly things?”

He snickered like a cartoon villain. “There are stores by the road, Daddy. Silly stores.”

He wanted to hit up every adult store between North Carolina and Texas?

“Some of the silly stores.” Stopping at all of them would bankrupt us. There were just that many and his wicked grin said he knew it too. “I can’t decide if you’re teasing Daddy or not.”

He just giggled again and was saved from answering by Wren popping out of his door. “You’re being naughty.”

That did not help Merritt’s giggling problem, but he didn’t mind and nodded excitedly. “We’re planning. Daddy likes that.”

“He does.” Bouncing and smiling even wider, Wren gave a happy wiggle. “He can plan lots of stuff to be happy. You can ask him about helping you plan big-big vacations like when we get old I want to …that kind of stuff. Oh, and you can help him plan meals for the week and how to organize things. That’ll make him happy too.”

For fuck’s sake.

“Oh, those are good ideas. Thank you.” Merritt looked like he was ready to start bouncing but he held his excitement in check. “Daddy likes to plan, but I was running out of ideas.”

Dragons above.

They didn’t need to work at giving me things to do just to keep me happy.

Wren nodded, clearly commiserating with how hard it was to tend to me. “He doesn’t like not knowing what you’re going to do next. You can talk to him about that too. Like, scene stuff or spankings or naked stuff or anything like that.”

His being helpful was going to give two people a heart attack… me and whoever he had in his room because that guy sounded very confused.

“That’s a good idea too.” Merritt lit up and looked like he thought Wren was brilliant. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Doing another happy wiggle, he inched back into his room. “I’m…I’m going to go play toys now. Have fun doing stuff.”

Sure. He was going to go play toys.

Rolling my eyes got a giggle from Merritt but he waved at Wren. “Have fun playing toys. Say hi to your toy for us.”

Wren snickered and hopped back from the door, shutting it and locking it quickly. “Hi, toy.”

His singsong tone was clearly meant for us to hear and got more laughter from Merritt. “He said hi to his toy.”

I hoped his toy wasn’t offended by that description, but from the whispered words I was catching, his reaction had made Wren laugh too. So when it all seemed fine, I did my best to tune them out and focused on my giggly boy as we went inside our room. “Silly goose.”

That had him laughing even louder and he collapsed on the bed, dumping everything he’d been holding on the ground and splaying his arms and legs out. “Silly little mage, Daddy.”

“Yes, you’re definitely my silly little mage.” Locking the door, I stretched out on the bed beside him and kissed his nose. “And possibly a sneaky little mage or maybe a naughty one. You were getting ideas from Wren.”

The family had clearly been managing me for years based on how many random calls and conversations I’d gotten into about planning future luxury vacations and playing what-if about all kinds of random things.

Merritt wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against him in a big hug. “I like happy Daddy. You weren’t happy.”

How could I be frustrated with that explanation?

“I will admit to being more relaxed when I can predict what’s coming next. I don’t need to have everything planned out in minute detail, but the whatever comes next plan makes me…uncomfortable.” How could I take care of him if there wasn’t a plan?

Looking adorable and thoughtful, Merritt gave me the cutest thinky frown and made several hums that I knew were supposed to indicate how hard his brain was working. After a few seconds, he hopped off the bed and gave me a light bulb over his head smile as he started organizing his loot. “We can pick out places and plan that, Daddy.”

What did that mean?

“I like planning.” That was easy to agree to and made his smile even wider, and I gave him a good distraction by grabbing him as he bounced by and wrapping my arms around him. As he squealed and laughed, I pulled him against me and flopped back so he was stretched out down my body. “Tell me how that would work.”

Bingo.

That was the magic phrase to get an explanation from him.

“We can plan to live here because I like the funny men, Daddy.” He shrugged when I groaned and didn’t let it stop him. “We can plan to live in Texas because you like your family and I like Wren. He’s funny and we can play together.”

Those were good points in Texas’s favor, but I wasn’t sure that was a good reason to stay. “Where else could we live?”

I wasn’t ready to agree to living next to the crazy men even if Merritt thought they were funny and he liked being able to let his little side out anywhere he wanted.

And even if he was making friends.

And even if there were a few locals who hadn’t made it their goal in life to drive me insane.

“Lots of places, Daddy.” Head bobbing side to side, Merritt frowned and pulled his brows together. “The men at the diner said Kenzie liked going to the beach. I’ve never lived next to the beach. The lady at the post office said living in a forest was the best. Oh, and a castle in a big field would be pretty. Wheat is pretty.”

He wanted me to consider a castle in a wheat field?

“I’m not sure we could keep a castle in a field hidden, little goose.” His exasperated huff and the way he collapsed down onto me almost made me laugh. “That would require a lot of magic.”

And I wasn’t sure it was practical for other reasons as well.

“How about we pick out places where there are other mages and dragons? Where are some of the people at the meeting from?” The wheat field image was distracting. “Scotland and Canada. Where else?”

“Florida, Daddy.” Merritt seemed to think I was a moron for forgetting that.

He was probably right.

“Yes, Florida. And there’s the Montana people. They seem nice.” Slightly paranoid and standoffish but polite, and they hadn’t asked any stupid questions so far. “There are a lot of places.”

I just wished more of our ancestors had traveled to places that were easier to get in and out of. Some of them weren’t practical for career purposes too.

“Lots, Daddy.” Wiggling higher up me, Merritt kissed my cheek. “You can plan and then we’ll pick.”

He was doing his best to keep me busy and happy, but it wasn’t a bad idea. “Okay, big goose. I’ll start doing some research and see which options are the most practical to start. I want to make sure you can find a job you like and that we’ll have enough space for your castle.”

“And your dragon, Daddy.” Lifting his arms out to the sides, he made a rocking, soaring motion. “Whoosh.”

Chuckling, I nodded and kissed my flying little mage. “That’s a good point too. I’ve been living in the city for so long I’ve gotten used to ignoring that.”

Merritt stopped pretending to fly and rested his chin in his hands. “Does your dragon play toys?”

It took me a second to figure out what that meant because my brain hadn’t immediately jumped to dragon-style toys.

“It’s little enough my dragon side could play with big dog toys, but my dragon is slightly lazy when we’re lounging around the house.” I was more dangerous house cat than playful pup. “He likes stretching out in the sun and taking naps.”

I usually spent time in my smaller form every Sunday afternoon I didn’t have anything else to do. It’d been enough to keep him content as long as I got out to the ranch to fly around at least once a month or so.

“Fly?” He lifted his head and looked at the room, clearly trying to imagine me swooping around the space.

“No. I do that at the ranch when I go visit. Our animals are used to it and we have plenty of privacy.” There were other ways we made sure we couldn’t be seen, but the incredible amount of space we had helped as well.

“Whoosh.” Merritt’s arms went wide again. “Daddy can have playtime too.”

“Thank you.” He still didn’t seem to have any desire to fly with me, but I appreciated him thinking about me. “What do you want, silly monkey?”

He groaned dramatically, flopping down on me again and burying his face against my neck. “Not a monkey, Daddy. Not a goose. I’m your boy.”

“You are?” Playfully acting dumb, I frowned. “Are you sure? How do you know?”

He made adorable thinking sounds and wiggled side to side like he needed the movement to let me know he was coming up with the perfect response. When he popped up, he looked cute and manipulative, even doing his best to hold back his naughty grin. “You said so, Daddy.”

“Hmm?” Still looking confused, I frowned and cocked my head. “When?”

He obviously thought he had the best answer ever because he was nearly giggling like an evil villain. “I was your good boy. I get to pick.”

He got to pick?

Oh.

I was the one trying not to laugh that time.

“You’re right. You were very good, so I promised you’d get to pick how we played tonight.” I wasn’t sure what game he was thinking of at the moment, but I was up for almost anything. “Okay, you win. You’re my good boy and not my grumpy crocodile.”

That was so funny he tipped over sideways and fell onto the bed. When he could finally breathe, I rolled over and poked his chest. He barely contained his laughter long enough to pretend to frown at me. “Not a grumpy ‘dile, Daddy. You.”

“Hey.” Letting my dragon side out just enough to growl at him, I loved the giggles he made. “I’m a scary dragon, not a crocodile.”

He gave an oh well kind of shrug. “The science man on TV said they’re dinosaurs too. Daddy’s a dino too.”

At one point my mother would’ve said I had the manners of a dinosaur, but that hadn’t been an issue since I was a child.

“The science man is a crazy mage. I’m a dragon.” Flashing my eyes at him, I let my dragon come closer to the surface. “A scary dragon.”

He patted my cheeks, getting littler again. “Aww, so cute, Daddy. Show. Show me.”

And this wasn’t the game I thought we’d be playing either.

“Are you sure?” We hadn’t known each other very long and some mages never got completely comfortable with dragons in our natural form. Merritt didn’t seem conflicted, but I wanted to make sure he’d thought it through. “You want to see my little dragon? He likes cuddles. I’m warning you.”

There was just something about that form that turned me into a cat ready to stretch out and get attention. I couldn’t help it. Primarily because I’d never tried to fight it, and I wasn’t sure how successful I’d be if my lazy attention-whore side bothered Merritt.

Throwing his arms around my neck, Merritt gave me a big hug. “I cuddle good, Daddy. I’m a good cuddler.”

Okay.

Kissing his nose as he let me go, I scooted back and tugged at my shirt to remind him that I’d get naked first. “You ready?”

“Cuddles!” Popping up like he had a spring in him, he bounced higher on the bed until he was sitting on the pillows. “Ready, Daddy.”

Well, we were as ready as we’d ever be.