Page 20 of Hot Dad Summer

“Someone needs to put a damn bell on that door.” I turned around and went to the sink, needing to hide my face and just how red it was. I turned the water on and just stood there with my hands gripping the edge of the sink like it was the only thing holding me to the earth.

No one said anything. Max, Wes, Flynn. They all went silent and it was killing me. I slumped forward just the slightest bit so my hip rested against the cabinet, pinching my wrist against the sink. I didn’t even feel it. I could only feel my burning skin and the slight pain from the ringing in my ears as I strained to hear even the smallest sound from them.

“We’re hungry!”

“And the movie ended and we’re bored!”

“And Hank ate all my crayons and Charlie said he’s going to poop a rainbow.” Poppy’s voice was the loudest as the three kids raced into the kitchen. “Is that true, Aunt Daisy? Can Hank poop a rainbow?”

Hazel giggled. “What kind of gold would be at the end?”

I let out a strangled laugh, thrilled for the three of them and their demand for an instant topic change. “I don’t think any of us would be interested in that kind of gold. Sorry, Poppy, Hank will poop the same disgusting poop as always. He might just do it with a little more flare than normal.”

“You lied, Charlie!”

Charlie was busy following Hank around with his head ducked down near Hank’s butt. “You’ll see. I’m going to watch him until he poops and then you’ll all see!”

Hank had a pattern in the evening when Wes got home, though, so he wouldn’t be pooping anytime soon. He went straight to Wes, the one person in the house who didn’t want his attention, and sat on his feet. He rested his chin on Wes’ knee while staring up at the man with his big eyes set to dangerous puppy eyes.

Charlie nudged Hank aside until he could sit on one of Wes’ feet. “Good choice, Hank. Uncle Wes has giant feet. If you poop a rainbow on them, there’ll be plenty of room for the gold.”

I pressed my fingertips to my lips to fight back a hysterical laugh. Things were out of control. The kids were nuts. The men were too hot. I was losing my mind. But I wasn’t sure I’d ever had more fun. Even with the scalding embarrassment still strangling me when I met the gazes of any of the brothers.

I knew a conversation had to happen if I wanted things to be any kind of normal again. Ignoring whatever was happening in the house wasn’t working. I kept catching the men looking at me with questions all over their faces. I had to be an adult and handle it, no matter how torturous the idea sounded.

“Adult only talk later?”

Wes grunted an agreement while staring down at the breathing weights on his legs. Flynn murmured an agreement while passing behind me, close enough that he brushed his hand over my waist. Max just locked his gaze on mine and gave a single nod before disappearing out the silent side door.

I looked around at everything I’d made for dinner and accepted that I wasn’t going to be able to eat any of it with the talk looming in the very short distance.

16

***Max***

Daisy Harper was a test that I couldn’t fail. She was a fucking wet dream wrapped in fifties housewife cosplay, topped with a smile that made me feel ten feet tall for doing exactly nothing. She was dangerous. I’d known she was dangerous for three years but her change from Tyler’s partner to his ex-partner took her from a storm watch to a Category 5 hurricane. I knew being anywhere near her was the equivalent of leaving my doors and windows open before the hurricane blew in but she was proving my self-control to be weaker than I’d believed.

I’d spent the entirety of my late teens and half of my twenties living without a moment of self-control and the six years since Poppy’s birth fighting to make up for it. I was rigid with myself. I didn’t cut corners or do anything that could risk the life I still wasn’t sure I deserved. And outside of the visits Daisy had made to the house over the previous three years, nothing tested me. Not women. Not alcohol. Not drugs. Not a night out for fun. Nothing.

And then Daisy moved in for the summer and she was free from Tyler’s chains. I’d always known that he made sure to keep Daisy contained as much as any man could contain a woman like her. I’d noticed the flannel robe that matched nothing else about her. I’d noticed the way he kept her within reach, but only when other men were around. He’d let her work in the kitchen all alone for hours but the moment one of us walked in he was there, touching her, claiming her. Without his toxic bullshit Daisy’s full personality and clothing choices filled the house- hell, filled the entire cove- and made my normal control as flimsy as overcooked pasta.

I’d taken to pacing my workshop to avoid the woman. That night was no different. We were supposed to be having an adult conversation after the kids went to sleep but I couldn’t wait in the house. Her scent filled every square inch of my home. Her baked goods were always on display, begging me to eat every one of them. Even her damn dog had proven to be an instrument of her destruction on my mental health and focus.

My workshop was my safe place. I was a grown ass man who needed a safe space… It didn’t have her scent, her food, her husky voice, or any of the other things that made her such a test. It was the one place I could be alone and breathe air that hadn’t been touched by the woman. Yet there was her dog, sitting in the open doorway, watching me with big eyes and its lip tucked into its mouth. His teeth were showing, making him look goofy and dumb when I knew the monster was anything but.

“Get out of here, Hank.” I glared at him, knowing he was up to something. “Go back to your human.”

He tilted his head and stood up to stroll over to me. He sat by my feet and let out a deep sigh. His eyes were on the land outside the open door and his silence made me feel like I was a kid again, staring at nothing with my dad after a long day at the marina. It hit me right in the chest and made me momentarily weak enough to drop my hand to his head. I petted him once and then cleared my throat. It was probably time to go inside and face the talk Daisy had requested.

I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders. I was going to have to inhale her sweet scent and listen as she and Flynn announced they’d hooked up. My hands shook with barely controlled jealousy at the images the idea had my brain conjuring. There was anger, too. I wanted to shake my brother and demand to know why he got to cross the line that I couldn’t. His charm had always gotten him everything he wanted for very little cost to him and knowing that extended to Daisy made me want to strangle him.

Hank barked once and walked to the door. He looked over his shoulder, as if he was asking if I was coming. Gone was the goofy, innocent look. He was back to being so fucking human that it creeped me out at times.

“I’m coming. Don’t bark at me.” I shook my head and wiped my hands on a rag before shoving it in my back pocket and following him back to the house.

Wes was alone in the kitchen when I walked in with Hank. He looked over, noted that we’d come in together, and grunted. “Cute.”

I glared at him as I walked past to wash my hands. The oil I used on the boat tucked away in my workshop clung and I had to focus on getting it off. “He came into the workshop and didn’t eat anything. I think he likes me.”