I smile, drying off as quickly as possible before grabbing my boxer briefs. The last time I made the mistake of forgetting to grab some before I jumped in the shower, I swear Cohen spent an hour talking about wiener-rings after that. Melissa thinks it’s hilarious, but I keep envisioning my little dude going to school and announcing to his class that he wants to have earrings in his wiener because his daddy does. That shouldn’t make pick-up awkward.
“Daddy, Daddy, DADDY!”
When I step out of the bathroom the first thing I see is Cohen jumping on the bed, his little arms flapping wildly and his ever-present cape flying behind him. With a smile, I hook his little body around the waist with my arm and toss him in the air. Pretty soon he’s not going to be small enough for me to toss around, and just the thought of him growing up too quickly makes my chest tighten.
“What’s up, little dude?”
His tiny hands cup my face, pulling me closer until our noses touch. “Daddy,” he whispers.
I bring my hands up and frame his head, rubbing our noses slightly. “Cohen,” I whisper back.
He giggles, his smile growing larger. “Mommy has a funny belly now.”
“Yes, little man, she sure does. But, Mommy has your sisters in her funny belly, and pretty soon they’re going to be here and she won’t have that belly anymore.”
His brows crinkle for a second while he processes this. It doesn’t take long before he asks the question I’ve known was coming.
“Daddy?”
“Cohen?”
“How is mommy going to get my babies out of her funny belly?”
Shit. This isn’t something Melissa covered.
“Uh…”
His face loses all traces of confusion and his crooked little smile takes its place.
“You don’t know! I’m going to ask Dilbert! Dilbert knows everything, Daddy!”
Damn, Sway! There’s no way in hell I’m going to let Sway—also referred to by his given name, Dilbert, by only Cohen—give my son sex-ed. I can picture it now. Sway would have Cohen out of his cape and into a wig and heels in no time.
“Come here, son.” I take a seat on the bed and hold my arms out, waiting for Cohen to crawl into my lap. His little knees almost take out my dick a few times, and I’m pretty sure I’ve lost my nuts. He finally settles, sitting on his shins with his knees pressed painfully into my thighs and his tiny hands holding on to my shoulders. “All right, little man. When Mommy has your sisters, the doctor is going to give her a shot so she doesn’t feel anything. Then she’s going to lie down, and the doctor will carefully take your sisters out. It’s all big doctor secrets, and no one will tell Daddy. They even put up a special blue wall that makes it invisible.”
With every word I speak, his mocha-colored eyes grow larger and larger. His mouth is hanging open, and the look on his face is nothing short of amazed. Yeah, I know Cohen, and there isn’t anything he loves more than a big mystery.
“You with me, C-Man?” I laugh, tickling his sides.
He giggles, jumps down with a large chant of excitement, and takes off to find the magical invisible wall.
“Cohen, get your shoes on! I promised your mommy we wouldn’t be late.” I can hear him banging around the house, hopefully on the way to his shoes.
*~*~*
It takes Cohen and me forever, as usual, to get out of the house. He couldn’t find his sneakers, so my kid is rocking his red cape, jeans, a tee, and bright orange rain boots. It hasn’t rained in Georgia in what feels like years, but Cohen’s wearing those damn boots with pride. When we walk into the restaurant where we’re meeting everyone, my eyes immediately take in my beautiful wife so that I don’t miss a second of her reaction to our boy’s outfit.
As she’s mid-sentence with Asher, her eyes grow as wide as her beautiful belly, and her hand shoots up to cover her mouth. I can clearly see the laughter shining bright in her eyes from across the dimly lit room. It’s not abnormal for Cohen to end up looking like a misfit when I’m in charge of getting him ready. At least it’s better than last weekend’s bathing suit, tank top that said ‘my uncle is cooler than yours’—thank you, Maddox—his cape, and a damn sombrero.
Cohen takes off the second he spots Nate, Axel and Izzy’s son, sitting at the end of the table next to his mother. Even with almost two years between those two, they are thick as thieves. I laugh when Cohen immediately starts flailing his arms around and moving around in the wild movements he’s so fond of. Nate lets out a laugh so loud that a few diners around the table look over with smiles.
I greet the table, getting friendly welcomes from the ladies in the group and the normal chin lifts and grunts from the guys.
I walk over to Melissa, gently pull her into my arms, and hold her close. I can feel my girls rolling around in her belly when she presses closer.
“Hey, you,” she says, her lips a breath away from mine, just begging for me to close the distance.
“Hey back.” I pull her close and savor the taste of her on my tongue. I feel her lips tip up, and her moan tingles against my lips. Yeah, my girl missed me today.
“Maybe, just a wild guess here, but maybe those two will remember we aren’t in their bedroom, the porn music isn’t playing on a loop, and it probably isn’t the wisest move to start molesting each other in the family restaurant?”
I break away from Melissa’s lips, licking my own when I see the fire burning bright in her eyes.
“Shut up, Ash,” I growl and give my wife one more chaste kiss before helping her take her seat again.
“’Shut up, Ash,’ he says. No, ‘thank you, Ash, for reminding me that I can’t drive the boat into the canal in the middle of family dinner’?”
It takes me a second. For one, I can’t stop looking at him as if he’s lost his damn mind, but mainly he sounds so much like Coop right now that I have to remind myself who is speaking to me.
“HA! You just called his…hotdog a boat!” Dee starts laughing so hard she’s bent over, banging the table with her fist.
Beck just shakes his head with a smile, looking at his fiancée’s actions.
“I bet it’s more like a tugboat!” Izzy chimes in, gaining Axel’s and Chelcie’s laughter.