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“It’s not like I’m moving her in. I’m well aware of the difficulties our relationship would need to navigate. I just . . . I like her. Even if I just see her on the side, away from Beau for the most part. Just until I get her out of my system.”
“And then what happens? You fall in love with the girl. You want to marry her. You want to move her into the house. She wants you to send Beau away to boarding school or some shit.”
Of course that was what this was about. The issue wasn’t Will having a girlfriend. This was the stepmother thing. Their own stepmother had despised Grant. Will had always been the dutiful, obedient son, so when their father had moved Kim into the house it hadn’t been the end of the world for Will. And of course she’d liked their baby sister. Grant, however, had been seven and full of mischief, which Kim had failed to find endearing.
“You’re jumping the gun here, Grant. I’m thinking of offering her a collar on a trial basis. I want to make things exclusive and start training her, but that doesn’t mean I’ve decided to propose.”
Grant shook his head in disbelief. “You seem to think your family life and your personal life can stay separate. I guess they can for a certain length of time, but eventually you’re not going to be satisfied with that. You have to be looking ahead now. If things aren’t going to work out long term, why put yourself in that position?”
Will grumbled under his breath. “I’ll take your concerns under advisement.”
“Hi, Will.” A blonde woman appeared at his elbow. For the life of him will couldn’t remember her name or the name of her kid. They both looked familiar, and he was pretty sure she’d talked to them a couple of weeks ago about stingrays.
“Hi. Back to the stingrays again?”
The boy grinned up at him. “They’re pancakes with faces!”
“They probably wouldn’t taste very good with syrup,” Will observed.
The kid laughed wildly and then threw himself on the floor and started spinning in a slow circle on his side.
His mother smiled indulgently. “Today is all about spinning, apparently. Did you get the memo? I know I didn’t. “ She gave Grant a long look, then shifted her gaze back to Will. “Wow. Your parents do know that cloning humans is illegal, right?”
“They liked me so much they wanted two of me,” Will said conspiratorially.
“And women everywhere are grateful to them.” She smiled flirtatiously and urged her son to his feet. Predictably, they headed off for the stingrays, her son pirouetting all the way to the door.
Grant stared after her, brow furrowed. “This place is a fucking meat market.”
“You’re just used to submissive women now. A few years ago, you wouldn’t have thought anything of it.”
“True. It’s sort of nice not having to guess who may be interested in you.”
“Yes, it’s a shame how you never get any action.”
“It’s been a while, actually. Maybe I should forget about the one I have my eye on and find a vanilla girl to play with to get the taste of disappointment out of my mouth.”
Will chuckled. “Well, I’d introduce you to some of the women here, but there’s this weird phenomenon when you have kids where you only know the other parents by their kids’ names. Most of them just call me Beau’s dad.” He jiggled the baby, who had fallen sound asleep. Time to head home soon.
“I don’t care if she doesn’t remember my name,” Grant growled, tapping a finger on a fish tank. “If she’s screaming later, it wouldn’t be my name anyway, it would be her safeword.”
Will whistled low. “Yeah, you should probably stay away from vanillas until you get that out of your system.”
The look Grant shot him conveyed a depth of frustration Will hadn’t seen on his brother’s face for a long fucking time. What the hell was going on with him? He thought of trying to ask again, but when Beau woke up she was going to want a bottle, and he’d already given her the last one in the diaper bag.
“Come on, weirdo. Let’s get you home so you can stew away from innocent bystanders.”
“You go on ahead. ‘I paid twenty bucks to see the high-diving act, and I’m a-gonna see the high-diving act.’” He stalked off, and Will sighed under his breath. Hopefully, the scowl on his face would warn the unsuspecting vanilla women away.
* * *
* * *
Dex danced around Will’s bedroom, cheek to cheek with Beau. For her part, the baby just looked confused. Dexter tended to have that effect on people.
“No, not that.” Dex flicked her finger at what Will had just put on and frowned. “Are you going to ask her to wear your collar, or are you going to sell her a used car?”
“I’ve only done this twice before—once in my room back at my father’s house, and once at a club. I’m not really sure what the dress code is if I’m asking at a vanilla restaurant.”
