“This is so awesome, Henry. What about the rest of the factory building? What’s downstairs?”
“Oh. Nothing. I just left it alone.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t need that much space.”
“Then why did you buy a factory?”
“I fell in love with the industrial building and the open floor plan and…” I hesitated and bit my lip for a second. Did I want to tell him the real reason? Before I could overthink it, I shrugged and raised my hands again. “It’s easy to secure, and I thought that no one would look for me in an old, unused factory.”
“You’re probably right about that. But now you have us to make sure that this place is safer than Fort Knox.” Sam raised his hands to sign something else, but then he turned his head; it looked like he was listening to something before signing again. “That was the timer. We should go back. I’m starving.” Without any hesitation, Sam took my hand and practically hauled me to the dining table.
Tears gathered in my eyes because of what I saw before me. It was a sight I had always imagined having someday—Sunday family dinner. There were lovely place settings, glasses, bowls with salad, steaming garlic bread, and a hug pan with homemade lasagna. It looked and smelled terrific. It was perfect, and I smiled. Sam walked around the table to where Jakob had pulled his chair out. My eyes widened when Jakob bound a cute bib around his neck before sitting down on the chair next to Sam.
Caden distracted me from the view in front of me when he sat down beside me and tapped my leg. “Can you eat like a big Boy, or do you need a bib, too?”
“I can eat like a big Boy, Daddy.” Calling him Daddy in front of Jakob and Sam earned me one of my favorite nose kisses and a huge smile.
“Good Boy. Now let’s eat so you two can go and play some more.”
By the end of our lunch, I understood why Sam needed a bib. It was impossible to hold back my smirk and a little giggle when I looked at Sam. He had tomato sauce all over his face and on his hands. He even had sauce in his hair. Sam caught my giggle, glared at me, then stuck his tongue out. He ducked his head, and I could only guess that his Daddy had admonished him for it. That made me laugh, but then I was on the receiving end of a slap on my wrist. My head whipped around towards Caden, who had an eyebrow raised.
“It’s not nice to mock Sam, Henry.”
“I wasn’t…” I blushed and glanced at Sam, and no surprise, he was smirking. “He stuck his tongue out.”
“Because you made fun of him.”
“He has tomato sauce in his…”
“Henry.” I didn’t need to hear Caden’s voice to know that I was in deep trouble. Well, shit. “That has nothing to do with you. You do not make fun of your friends.”
“I…I’m sorry, Daddy.”
My head dropped, and I blushed. When I glanced at Sam, I felt terrible. He wore the same guilty expression as I probably did. I let my gaze linger on Jakob for a second, and yep, Sam got reprimanded. Blinking, I watched Sam get up with a pout, and then he walked towards the kitchen and stood in the corner, his back towards the room. My gaze fixed on Sam, I got up to join him, but Caden held me back.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Umm…to stand in the corner with Sam? Because I was mean to him. For my punishment.” For a second, it looked like Caden was going to start laughing, but he caught himself.
“Who decides your punishment?”
“Umm…you?”
“Do you want to rephrase that, Henry?”
“You, Daddy.”
“That’s right. Sit down.” Swallowing hard, I did as he said and watched Caden get up. He walked over to my desk and came back with a pen and one of my notepads. My mouth dropped open.
He can’t be serious, can he? He won’t make me…Caden tapped my shoulder, and I looked up at his lips.
“You’re going to write. I will not mock my friends or talk back to Daddy until you’ve filled the page.”
“Why can’t I go and stand with Sam in the corner?” I couldn’t hear myself, but I hoped my voice was whiny enough to get my point across.
“Two pages.”
“But—”
“Do you want to make it three pages?”
Caden raised an eyebrow, and I quickly shut my mouth and shook my head. I didn’t want to write at all, because I hated writing. Mostly I just used my notepads to write down notes, but whole pages? It was going to suck so much. Glancing over at Sam, I felt a bit of jealousy because he got corner time and I had to write lines. Caden tapped my shoulder, and with a deep sigh, I looked at him.
“You better start writing. There will be no ice cream until you’ve finished.”
“You are so mean.”
“Keep up that attitude, and you’ll find out how mean I can be.”
My mouth dropped open, and I stared up at him. I was equally shocked and turned on. Yeah, okay, I was more turned on than anything. Then Caden pointed to the notepad, and with another deep sigh, I started writing.
By the time I finished, my hand had started to cramp. Dropping my pen on the table, I moaned and sat back.
“Done.”
Caden was at my side within a second and kissed my head before making me look up at him.
“Good job, Cupcake. Now apologize to Sam for mocking him, and your punishment is over.” Caden pointed to the other side of the table, where Sam now sat.
“I’m sorry, I made fun of you being messy, Sam.”
“I’m sorry, I stuck my tongue out at you.” Sam smiled at me, and I grinned back at him. It made me smile more when he asked, “Can we have our ice cream now?”
“Yes, ice cream.” I
