“You may,” she said like an eighty-year old queen. A queen of the royalty, not of the drag variety.
Adam got to his feet and tipped his head in thanks. “Your highness is so generous and kind.”
Ron snorted beside her. “If her highness doesn’t keep her hiney in line, all her presents are getting thrown into the fire. Or donated to charity.”
“What did you do?” Adam asked Hannah as her face began to twist.
“Nothing,” she muttered.
“Were you calling your brother a piece of organ meat again?”
“No.”
“Yes!” everyone yelled in unison, including Greg.
“Tsk, tsk, Princess. You won’t be allowed to attend the ball.”
Hannah rolled her eyes, but her lips curled slightly. “I don’t have a prince to escort me, anyway. Dad said no princes ‘til I’m thirty.”
“Forty,” came from Ron.
“Grandpa!”
“Okay, young lady, fifty. Keep it up and I’ll add another decade.”
“You’re not my father!”
Everyone froze. No one moved.
That was, everyone except Ron, whose head turned slowly toward his granddaughter. “You’re right. I’m not. I’m your father’s father, so that makes me the king of this family. All hail the king!”
Greg laughed and boomed, “Grampa is king! He needs a crown! Gramma that means you’re... you’re the queen.”
“Uh uh,” Teddy butted in. “I’m the queen in this family. No one is usurping that position from me.”
No, they weren’t. But Teddy’s crown just might be a bit tilted.
Adam grinned at his fiancé, who blew him a kiss.
When he moved in front of his future husband, Teddy held his hand out, too. “This queen expects the same treatment, peasant.”
Adam chuckled and dropped to one knee onto the cold concrete, kissing his fiancé’s hand.
“Oh,” Teddy purred. “I like you on your kn— Ow!”
Amanda had given him a good shot to the ribs. “She’s ten. Remember? She’s not dating until she’s fifty. Let’s not give her ideas in the meantime.”
“Like you and that buck of yours don’t.”
“Mom wants Dad to spank her,” Hannah announced loud enough that even the crowd nearby turned. Everyone in the Bryson bunch once again froze.
Ron coughed sharply, trying to cover a laugh.
Teddy turned to Hannah as Adam got to his feet. “Get it right. Everyone wants your dad to spank them, girl. Ev-ery-one.”
“I don’t!” Oliver piped up down the row.
“I don’t!” Greg bellowed.
“My dad doesn’t believe in spanking,” Hannah announced.
“Oh, yes, he— Ow! Girlfriend, I’m going to have a bruise if you don’t stop it,” Teddy complained to Amanda.
Ron turned to his granddaughter. “You don’t think your father wasn’t spanked?”
“Oh, I’m so jelly right now,” Teddy whispered.
“Was he bad?” Hannah asked.
“Oh, please say he was bad,” Teddy said under his breath.
“I see I’m only second choice,” Adam teased.
Teddy flapped a hand around. “No, of course not. You’ll always be my number one. Just like I’m your number one, too, right?”
“Nobody but you, Teddy Bear.” And he meant that, even though Teddy was worried about his fidelity right now.
“Aww,” Amanda said and elbowed Teddy right in the ribs again, making him wince. “He’s so sweet.”
“Not always,” Teddy responded, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Okay, then, I need to keep moving.”
“Yes, you do, handsome. And make sure I have a clear view of that rear as you do so.”
Adam leaned over and gave Teddy a quick kiss. He tried not to do too much PDA, especially in uniform, since not all the folks in the area were accepting of his sexual orientation. He didn’t want Max to deal with any complaints. Though, the complaints Max had received, after some citizens found out one of their local police officers was gay, were handled quickly and efficiently. His cousin and chief had no tolerance for intolerance.
Max’s goal was to build a more diverse department, which was another reason why he was adding Adam’s sister, Jet, to the force. However, in the pursuit to make the force more inclusive, more and more Brysons were filling the rank and file.
But after Jet, there were no more Brysons out there who were, or wanted to be, cops. At least until the kids grew up.
After their Aruba trip, or even while on it, Adam planned on having a serious discussion with Teddy about putting into motion the process of having their own child. He knew Teddy was onboard, they just needed to hammer out the details. Maybe after he was done hammering Teddy.
He grinned.
“Oh, I like that grin,” Teddy purred.
Adam cleared his throat. The last thing he needed was to sport a hard-on while walking the parade route. “Gotta go.”
Teddy flapped his eyelashes at him and gave him a finger wave. “See you at home, lover.”
Adam jerked his chin up at him, shared a look with Amanda and headed down the sidewalk, eager for what tomorrow would bring.
He hoped it would be the best Christmas ever. He couldn’t wait to surprise Teddy with his gift.
Chapter Eight
Max & Amanda
A few hours after the parade, Amanda sat cross-legged on the bed, rubbing lotion on her hands and elbows. Max was taking a quick shower. They’d eaten dinner and now they were planning on having some adult dessert, since they were still child- and Greg-free.
Make hay while the sun shines was the saying. Amanda was ready to start baling that hay.
She smiled when she heard the water shut off. A few minutes later, her sexy husband opened the bathroom door and stepped out completely naked, his dark hair tousled and damp with his eyes focused on her.
Holy shit, he could still make her all tingly. How did she get to be so damn lucky?
He stopped just on the bedroom side of the open doorway, a wrapped gift box covering his junk.
“What’s that?” she asked innocently.
“I’m not sure. When I got out of the shower, it was on the counter.”
“Huh. Did it magically appear?”
“Well, it wasn’t there when I got in the shower. Do you think Christmas elves left it?”
“Could have been a burglar,” she suggested.
“A robber,” he corrected her.
“I thought a robber stole things.”
“You did. You stole my heart.”
“Max!” she yelled, slapping her hands on the bed and feeling a sting in her nose and eyes. “That was so unfair.”
He moved closer to the bed, still keeping the box in front of his nether region. He grinned crookedly. “How is that unfair?”
She sniffled. “Because it’s Christmas Eve and you’re going to make me cry. Get in this bed and open your gift.”
He climbed into bed, leaning his bare back against the headboard, setting the box in his lap.
“Well?”
“Take off the lid for me,” he ordered in his deep rumble.