Chloe’s grandparents were coming to pick her up for their yearly pilgrimage to Disney and I was excruciatingly nervous. Wyatt and I weren’t even really a couple yet. The entire thing was confusing on a good day, and today wasn’t a good day. I was feeling off center. Chloe was leaving for a week. I hadn’t gone a day without her in…months. True, I’d get to spend that week with Wyatt, preferably kissing and licking and sucking and a whole slew of things I had lined up, but she would be gone.

And then there were the what if’s. What if Wyatt was content keeping things the way they were? Things were good, great, even, but I needed more. Not this second, but eventually. I understood taking it slow and I got the feeling that part of the slowness had more to do with finding alone time than anything else, but slow needed to come into more at some point. A man can only live off of fantasy and his right hand for so long.

But honestly, as much as I wanted to wrap my mouth around Wyatt’s cock and feel his knot as he exploded in me, that was only part of it. It was all of it if you asked my lower brain, which seemed to be on high alert at all times now. But for the rest of me, I needed holding hands and waking up in each other’s arms and planning for what our future might look like.

Which was probably why the day was so difficult already at not even seven in the morning. A headache was growing just behind my temples. Today I would meet his parents for the first time, and I had no idea what that even meant. Would I be Oliver, his nanny? Would I be his beau in some sort of an antiquated notion of casual, yet not? Would I be his boyfriend? Parents felt huge, and I was woefully unprepared for what this might mean.

I wanted to give Wyatt and Chloe a little bit of time alone before she left, so I waited until I heard them cooking breakfast before beginning my shower. The selfish part of me wanted to have had breakfast waiting when they awoke so I could savor every minute of us together before she left, but he was her dad and right now, I was only her nanny.

“Morning, everyone.” I rounded the corner into the kitchen.

“Morning, Oliver. Daddy and I are eating toast,” Chloe mumbled between bites of her tiny piece of toast. They sure had made a lot of noise cooking toast.

“I see that.” I poured a cup of coffee and joined them at the table.

“Her grandparents called and said they’d be by earlier than originally planned.”

I tried not to show my disappointment. Cutting what little time we had left this morning short wasn’t my idea of good news. It was only a week, I kept reminding myself. Just seven days. And honestly, I probably would spend today in bed, and not for fun. My head was aching more and more by the minute.

“When will they be here?” I barely got out the words before I heard a knock at the door. That answered that. Chloe bolted to the door and I mumbled, “Never mind,” before stealing a quick kiss from Wyatt.

“Hello, little girl.” An older male voice boomed from the front door. As he came into view, my face brightened. He adored Chloe. The adoration on his face sent my heart soaring. “We came here looking for our granddaughter,” he said with a wink.

“That’s me, Grandpa.” Chloe formed little fists at her waist, still not realizing it was his form of teasing her.

“Couldn’t be.” He shook his head and held his hand out indicating something short. “She’s little and you’re so big.” He raised his arm as he beamed. I already liked this man. I would need to ask Wyatt about why they didn’t come around more often or vice versa. They had seen Chloe a few times since I moved in, always on my days off, but living only two hours away, that didn’t seem like enough. Not when he so obviously loved her so.

“I’m four now.” She held up four little fingers, her smile still plastered across her face.

“Is that why there is a package on the porch with a big bow?” Her grandmother stepped in, her face almost as bright as Chloe’s. She held out her hand and led Chloe out to a dollhouse almost as tall as she was. Squeals of joy filled the air and probably woke a few neighbors.

“I think she likes it.” Wyatt stepped in behind me, close enough I could feel his warmth, but not close enough to feel his touch. I wanted to lean back into him, but his parents were here, and Chloe was here, and we were…complicated.

“Did the squeeing give it away?” I looked over my shoulder as I spoke, wanting to see his face. I was officially addicted to him and no part of me cared.

His dad held out his hand which I immediately shook. “I’m Marv, and this is Joan, by the way. Sorry I got tied up in our ‘surprise.’ I’m not normally this rude.”

“Don’t let him fool you. He’s always that rude,” Wyatt’s mother interrupted, stepping in and giving me a quick, unexpected hug.

“I’m Oliver, nice to meet you.” The awkwardness of introducing myself so late in the conversation started to give me a queasiness I was unprepared for and I leaned against the wall as nonchalantly as I could. “She’s loving the doll house. You might not get her to leave the porch.”

“Challenge accepted.” Marv perked up, pulling a headband out of nowhere, complete with sparkling giant mouse ears. “Chloe – ready for your ears?”

He had barely gotten the words out when she came barreling into him, ready for her ears.

“I’m pretty sure that’s cheating, Dad.” Wyatt laughed as he spoke. It was a beautiful sound. A sexy sound.

I needed to record it. You know, because that didn’t sound creepy or anything. My brain was a hot mess being so close to him, his scent distracting me. I needed to get some air before I spoke the words that kept filling my head. I was pretty positive his parents didn’t want to know about where I wanted my finger and tongue and that was the direction his laughter was quickly taking me. What the heck was wrong with me?

“I never claimed to play fair.” Marv shrugged.

“I’ll take her bag out to the car,” I offered as I snatched her bag from the alcove and booked it to the car. Air. I needed air, and not just any air. Scent-free air. I was getting hot and bothered and it sure as fuck wasn’t the time or place for that. I put her suitcase in the car and, because I’m a total car seat freak, checked to make sure their car seat was installed to my approval before heading back

“No, Grandpa, I didn’t.” Chloe was in his arms, her face very serious.

“Isn’t that little fur ball yours?” Marv looked down to where the little panting fluff was anxiously waiting his Chloe’s return to the ground, probably hoping for another bit of toast, the crumbs on his face giving away someone’s weakness for the dog. My money was on Wyatt. “Was he your birthday wish?”

“Yes, Grandpa, but I wished for something bigger.” She leaned in, whispering. I couldn’t get the girl to use an inside voice to save my life and now that I wanted to hear her, she was quiet as a mouse. Figures. When she was done, she pulled back, looking her grandfather in the eye, biting the tip of her tongue the way she did when she was thinking too hard. Whatever she wanted must be big.

“Oh, I see.” The grown man looked like a helpless child as he grasped for the right words. I would need to ask Wyatt to see if he could find out what was on Chloe’s mind, if for no other reason, we could be aware. “Well, grown-ups need to deal with that stuff. Us kids just need to see where the cards fall.”

“Oliver says to always pick things if they fall down.” She shook her little finger. “And you are a grown-up.”

“True and true.” He kissed her forehead before placing her down on the porch next to Sprinkles.

“Give your dad and Oliver a hug and I will get you buckled in and Grandpa can give your dad all the things he needs to know about our trip,” her grandmother instructed. She must’ve been the one wanting to leave early, because she was ready to go.

Chloe hugged us both before tearing down the steps to the car, Joan giving Wyatt and I quick hugs before joining her.

“Abridged version—” Marv said “—you should have all the info for the hotel and such here.” He handed him a folder. Darn, they were organized. “Call if you need anything. We promise to take all the pictures. That covers it.”

Worked for me and, from the look on Wyatt’s face as he perused the folder, it worked for him, too.

“Did you get the insurance card and letter?” Joan called from beside the car, Wyatt responding by pulling out an envelope from his back pocket and handing it to his dad.

“Of course, dear,” Marv called back before turning to us. “Bye, son. Nice to meet you, Oliver.” He started to leave before turning back to me, “And Oliver?”

“Yes, sir?”

“What she didn’t get for her birthday wish? It was you being her dad. As I see it, you guys have a full week to work on that.” He winked. The old man winked. “Have a good heat, boys.” He walked to the car, climbed inside, and drove off. Between Chloe’s reveal and his dad wanting us to move on it, I was flabbergasted.

“I might have told him about us,” Wyatt broke the silence as they turned the corner. He had told them about us. My heart was soaring. I wasn’t a dirty little secret. I was something more. I leaned over and pulled him into a hug. “Shit,” he mumbled into my neck.

“Shit?”

“Yeah.” He pulled back enough to see my face as he spoke. “Dad was right.”

“Right about…” Another wave of nausea hit me. Shit was right. I was going into heat. Freaking more than a month early.