“He didn’t fuck up with you,” Dom said quietly, brushing my hair out of my eyes. I was long past needing a haircut, but I secretly loved it when he did that. So much so that I kept quietly changing my appointment at the barbers. “That’s what makes me forgive him the most. He kept you safe, and helped you up when I failed to. I’ll always owe him for that.”
I raised a brow warningly. “No revisiting the past, remember?”
Dom just rolled his eyes. “We’re literally doing that by being here, Shadow. It’s not like we can forget it completely.”
I kissed him until his ire dissolved. “I’m sorry. I don’t want us to forget it, I just don’t want you punishing yourself for it.”
A sly smirk twisted his lips. “Maybe you should punish me by spanking me.”
I barked a laugh. If he was making innuendos, then Dom was back to his usual self. “Behave during this dinner, and maybe I’ll make that happen.”
Dom sighed and raising a hand to use the knocker. I had my keys, of course. Frank had offered Dom a set too, but he didn’t think the time was right.
The time wasn’t right for me to just let us in either. Dom had to be the one to take this step.
“Thinking about it, I’m not sure I’ll fit on your lap. Is there a special spanking bench or something we can invest in?”
Frank opened the door halfway through Dominic’s sentence. Dom, being Dom, saw it all the way through to the end. By the time he got there, both me and his dad were blushing furiously.
“Hi, Frank,” Dom chirped, tucking his arm around my shoulders. “Ready for dinner?”
Frank blinked a few times as he collected himself. Then a slow grin worked over his face. “Sure am. There’s a few minutes though, if the two of you have some online shopping to do.”
Dominic barked a laugh, slapping his father on the shoulder as he disappeared through the front door.
I watched after them, torn between utter joy and slight trepidation.
Dinner with two Walker men.
I hoped I knew what I was letting myself in for.
“See? That wasn’t too bad,”I said as we closed the door behind us. “Although I could’ve lived without the two of you ganging up on me.”
“Frank was just catching me up on some of what I missed.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you were losing sleep not knowing about the time I fell face-first into the maggot tray. And I’m definitely sure he needed to learn about the night at sixth form when I drank too much rosé and started talking to a tree.”
Dom kissed my temple. “You know it was all said with love.”
“I know.” I sighed dramatically. “It’s a full-time job being loved by the Walker men.”
“Speaking of, did you see how he blushed when you mentioned your mum?”
I snickered. “Oh, there’s definitely something going on there. I told her we were having dinner with him when I saw her last week. She got so flustered that she put milk in the detergent slot of the washing machine.”
Dom smacked his hand against his face. “Yep. They’re definitely something, alright.”
“Think they’ll tell us soon?”
“Hopefully.” Dom paused as we got to his car. “Although if I thought this dinner was weird, how odd will family dinners be then?”
“At least Christmas will be easy to navigate. No worries about who to spend it with if we’re all together.” I nodded at the car. “Are we getting in or just admiring the paintwork?”
“Actually, I was thinking we could take a walk.” He held out a hand. “If you fancy it?”
I shrugged and slid my hand into his. “Sure.”
“Feels nice doing this,” he said after a few minutes.