Page 4 of Their Little Helper (The Lactin Brotherhood #22)

DALLY

He was so stubborn and short-sighted.

“I’m here.” I touched my legs, indicating Harley’s lap. “And the cheek you can kiss is here.”

Stroking Harley’s face got a sexy shiver from him. “We’re not supposed to make people orgasm in here, so we’ve got to keep his pants on. Therefore, my location is not a problem.”

I was pretty sure my cutie was trying not to laugh, probably because he wasn’t sure how his dramatic Papa would react to that. He seemed to find dramatic grumps sexy, though, because even though his hand was shaking, he touched the green line on my shirt. “Good boy.”

He was doing so good with that.

“I’m going to need to give you a big reward once we have some privacy.” Kissing his cheek, I ignored the huffs and groans coming from Pokey. “You’re doing so good at making your limits clear.”

I was really glad we weren’t going to have to guess what Harley wanted, but Pokey was still being a slow poke. “Kiss him. He gets rewards when he’s brave.”

“Stop telling me what to do.” Pokey kept glaring at me, but his expression softened when he focused on Harley.

He clearly had a thing for my boy and was stubborn as all get out, as my mother would say.

Ugh.

I hated it when she was right.

“I’m very proud of you for making sure I understood your limit.

” Pokey Papa stood up and leaned over the arm of the chair, giving Harley a gentle peck on the cheek that had him going five different shades of red before he settled on a strawberry color.

“And thank you for letting me give you a kiss.”

He was smooth…I’d give him that.

But I was fast and impulsive and kissed his cheek.

Harley’s eyes went wide but Pokey narrowed his and glared at me. “That’s from Harley since he’s too shy to do it yet. You’re welcome.”

Pokey rolled his eyes as he fell back in his chair and sighed at Harley. “Do you see how wonderful I’m being? I’m incredibly patient and a great Dom because I realized right away you wouldn’t want me strangling him while he’s on your lap.”

Well, he wasn’t exactly wrong. “That wouldn’t be messy but it would be traumatizing, so good decision, Pokey.”

Curling back into Harley’s chest, I rested my head on his shoulder and whispered just loud enough that I knew Pokey would hear me. “That five-o’clock shadow is kind of scratchy but you’re going to like kissing him.”

Harley seemed like a texture kind of sub.

“If you want him scratchy when he’s near delicate bits, though, you’re going to have to confess that. He seems like the type to worry.” He was certainly dramatic enough to be a worrier about that kind of stuff.

Harley’s eyes were still a troubling size, but he slowly nodded as his face changed back to a normal color…well, a mostly normal color.

Green.

Perfect.

“Good boy.” I was never going to be able to wear anything else. “Now, if you want to say thank you to your Papa for being so sweet to you, why don’t you touch green again.”

I was amazing…and thoroughly enjoying the way every touch made Pokey twitch.

Thankfully, Harley didn’t seem to notice. We were at his limit of overwhelming his brain and I was pretty sure he was going to need a recap later.

Green.

Pokey melted and sighed as he smiled at Harley. “Thank you, Harley, that’s very sweet.”

His smile was a killer, so I was glad he hadn’t used them enough on Harley before I’d gotten to my boy. It would’ve been a lot harder to work my way in if Pokey had claimed him first. The only way I still had my boy was keeping Pokey off-kilter.

“Thank you.” Harley was thinking clearly enough to smile at Pokey and give him words, but it still didn’t give me a lot to go on when it came to the dating part. “I…I don’t know if I should call you Papa yet.”

Oh, more words.

We were on a roll.

“Well, my name is Santos if you’re more comfortable with that, but if you’re asking if I’m okay with you calling me Papa, then yes.” Pokey, aka Santos, shifted in his chair like he was reminding himself not to crowd Harley.

And probably not to get too close to me.

“We’re keeping you, so Daddy and Papa are perfectly fine, but you might need to take things slower, so names or Sir or options like that are fine too.” Giving him a shy smile, I shrugged. “But I remember that a brave boy gets rewards.”

Pokey groaned. “Don’t bribe him. He needs to make those decisions on his own. And stop looking so cute.”

I shrugged as Harley’s smile peeked out. “We’ll get to the same place eventually. I’m just making sure he knows the best path.”

There was nothing wrong with increasing the odds of getting what I wanted and if he thought I was going to apologize for looking cute he was insane.

“And it makes my desire to be his Daddy and to establish my place in his life clearer.” Unlike Pokey over there.

Who was so dramatic he even sighed.

“You know…” Pokey let out a long, thoughtful sound. “I think a Papa is the type of Dom to need a big playroom in his house and maybe even an indoor treehouse depending on what his boy liked.”

Cheater.

“If I can’t bribe him with ass wiggles, you can’t use money.” That was blatantly inappropriate…I definitely approved…but not when it was being used against me.

Harley’s eyes went wide again but Pokey simply settled back in his chair. “I didn’t bribe him with anything. I was just providing information. And your ass is still on his lap.”

“But not wiggling.” Just clenching.

Harley’s snicker had his Papa giving me a hard look. “Do you really want me going over the fine print on that?”

“What are you, some kind of lawyer?” My tone might’ve made Harley want to laugh but it was Pokey’s grin that really set him off.

Papa over there was very pleased with himself and I had to admit how sexy his smirk was. “Yes.”

“He’s going to be a pain in the ass.” As I shook my head and sighed, loving Harley’s happy sounds at my silly response, Pokey nodded. “It explains why he’s so dramatic, though.”

Harley clamped his lips together and nearly killed himself holding his laughter back. It was all Pokey’s fault and I had to make sure he knew it. “Look at our boy. He’s going to pass out from lack of oxygen because he doesn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

Pokey raised one eyebrow. “From you calling me dramatic? You?”

He was not helping Harley.

“Yes.” He had no common sense whatsoever. “Tell him you understand you’re dramatic and you won’t be upset when he laughs.”

Pokey rolled his eyes and focused on Harley who seemed to be trying not to choke to death. “This is how serious I am about getting to know you.”

That was not what he was told to say.

“I’m sorry, baby.” Kissing Harley’s cheek as he coughed, I shot Pokey a glare. “He’s not upset. He’s just nuts.”

If we weren’t careful, our fighting was going to kill Harley.

Ugh.

Some littles were just very sensitive.

“We’re not upset with each other.” We could fix the situation. “Papa’s going to give Daddy a kiss and you’ll see we’re fine.”

“Not until you’re off his lap and I’ve got a guaranteed date with my boy.” Pokey looked like he was going to be stubborn. “I will put up with a lot of nonsense, but guarantees before crazies.”

So much drama in one sexy body.

“Your Papa is going to be a pain in the ass.” But sexy was sometimes worth it as long as he wasn’t too nuts.

I’d dated truly crazy and that hadn’t been a pleasant experience.

It was just way too hard to get a restraining order.

“But being a lawyer means he’s rational most of the time, so we should be able to use logic to fix most of our issues. ”

Pokey cocked his head. “I sincerely doubt that, but I trust you’ll do your best to give me what you think is logic.”

Harley laughed quietly and touched green as he glanced at his Papa…and of course, it made his Papa wonderfully happy. “Such a smart boy.”

My smart boy…but it seemed like I had to share.

“Now, my guarantees.” Pokey looked like the king of the castle waiting to be served his banquet. “I’m showing my boy we’re fine.”

He sounded dramatic, not fine, but Harley needed to see both his guardian Doms getting along. It wouldn’t do to start out a relationship looking like we were getting a divorce.

“Will you be alright if I take care of Papa for a moment?” Ignoring Pokey’s dramatic sounds, I focused on our boy. “You need to see we’re going to be fine and Papa needs to know that I can be trusted.”

If he didn’t stop snorting, I was going to buy him allergy medication and one of those weird teapot things that put water through his nose.

“I…” Harley paused, blinking a few times before he nodded. “Yes. I’ll be fine while…while you help Papa.”

He didn’t seem fine to me, but Pokey had a different response. “It won’t feel more normal to say until we’ve actually gone out on a date and the bulldozer stops thinking he can control the world.”

Did all lawyers behave so badly?

Harley humored his Papa and smiled. “I feel like I should tell you that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Safewords…safewords are for everyone.”

I was pretty sure that was the longest sentence he’d said to either of us, so I nodded and took it very seriously.

“We’re all going to remember that, but don’t forget, I said something I thought should happen.

Then your Papa put limits on what he was willing to do.

We renegotiated the activity and we both agree with the plan.

See? I don’t think either of us needs to safeword. ”

Pokey just wasn’t ready to admit he wanted a kiss yet…but he wasn’t the only patient person in Harley’s life.

“Papa seems…stubborn.” Swallowing, Harley forced himself to continue. “I just want him to think about what he wants.”

Such a good boy.

Yep…he was a keeper.

“I’m thinking about it.” Pokey finally sounded like he’d taken the stick out of his ass that’d been lodged there since he first sat down. “I’m considering a lot of things very carefully, but I don’t need to safeword.”

Of course not…he was curious about me.

“We’re all going to keep processing and taking small steps. If we run into something that’s an issue, like your Papa wanting to schedule a date before he takes another step, then we talk about it. Communication is very important.” Especially if I was going to get what I wanted.

Pokey made another rude sound that had Harley smiling. Littles had curious senses of humor, so I had to be nice about it and kissed his cheek. It also made Pokey jealous which made me smile, so it was all absolutely perfect.

“We’re going to work on your Daddy’s definition of communication.” Pokey sighed, making Harley snicker. “I’m not sure he understands what that word means.”

Lawyers just had to make everything more complicated than it needed to be.

“If you gave me what I wanted the first time, we wouldn’t have to communicate nearly as much.” He was really making life much more difficult.

“I’ll remember that.” Pokey’s dry response had Harley silently laughing and the way it made his body shake reminded me that I actually had to move to give Pokey the attention he wanted.

“Be right back.” Giving Harley one last kiss on the cheek, I grinned as he blushed. “Oh, how about we go out tomorrow for lunch. Easy first date and then we can do something fun if you’re feeling little and we can do something naughty if you’re feeling big.”

Oh, that blush.

Pokey huffed. “We can do fun things if he’s big too. Everyone likes museums and things like the aquarium.”

Well, the aquarium would be fun.

“We’re going to have to work on your Papa’s definition of fun if I have to relearn what communication means.” I got another happy sound from Harley, but the best part was the way he nodded as I got up.

“Yes…I…” He paused as I stood, taking a breath before he tried again. “Lunch tomorrow sounds good. I’d like…there’s a deli…there’s a deli over by the science museum?”

Ugh.

I was going to have to work on both of them.

But he’d made his Papa happy which would work to my benefit, so I smiled and leaned close to give him one more kiss just to make his Papa nuts.

And if I wiggled my ass, that was just to get a sexy growl from the drama queen.

Harley blushed again but seemed fairly confident in the direction we were taking as he watched me wiggle over to his Papa. Pokey was already in fine form, glaring at me like he wanted to gobble me up. It really was sexy and he was going to have to stop it if he wanted me to behave.

He didn’t.

So I plopped myself down in his lap and smiled at him. “Our date is scheduled and I’m not in Harley’s lap any longer.”

“Fine print, brat. Fine print.” Pokey might’ve still been glaring but he wrapped one arm loosely around my back to make sure I was steady. “Don’t dawdle.”

Because he was worried I’d changed my mind?

“I’m making sure our boy has enough time to safeword. He needs time to work up to that and I’m not close enough for him to touch my shirt.” I shrugged as Pokey rolled his eyes.

“That’s a godawful shirt.” His glare got worse as I traced over his boring light blue button-down. “And you’re still dawdling. Don’t fuck with me.”

Or?

I debated pushing him on that, but he was just Dommy enough at the moment that he’d flip me if I wasn’t careful.

So I was careful.

“But it’s so much fun.” Careful was overrated, but I made up for that with the perfect distraction.

I kissed him.