32. Madden

32

Madden

H arry runs into the kitchen and hops onto a chair at the table. "Are we having pancakes?" he asks hopefully.

"Not this morning, kid. Today we're having eggs, bacon, and toast."

He looks momentarily disappointed at the thought of missing out on his favorite breakfast pancakes, but soon perks up when I give him a plate with two fried eggs and some toast soldiers to dip in them.

"Eggs contain protein, which you need to build muscle," I tell him.

"So if I eat eggs every day, I get big muscles like you?" He flexes his arm, tries to pop a muscle, and fails. I smother the chuckle of amusement that threatens to burst from my chest and nod.

"That's right. Eggs every day. And vegetables. You need plenty of those, too."

From the way Harry scowls, I fully expect him to ignore that piece of advice. And sure enough, when I drop some fried mushrooms on his plate, he shoves them to one side, refusing to even contemplate them as a source of nutrition.

"Will Chloe eat some eggs with toast?" I ask Tessa when she walks in, Chloe balanced on her hip.

There's something different about her this morning. Her eyes are brighter and she looks more relaxed. Maybe she slept better. I didn't hear the kids at all once she disappeared to settle Harry. Part of me hoped she would come back to the living room so we could pick up where we left off, but after 10 minutes, I'd called it a day and headed to bed, leaving Cin to turn all the lights off.

"She's fine with porridge, thanks." Tessa straps the baby into her high chair and starts preparing some baby porridge while I make a coffee and sit down with my breakfast. Cin can do his own when he returns from his run.

Just as I eat my last mouthful of eggs, Cin strolls in, sweaty and glowing. Almost immediately, the atmosphere changes from relaxed to charged. Tessa continues to spoon porridge into Chloe's mouth while Harry chatters away, but from the way she refuses to look at Cin, it's obvious something happened between last night and this morning.

Cin's acting funny too. He saunters over to the refrigerator, pulling a protein shake out, sneaking looks at Tessa the whole damned time.

My eyes narrow as I watch them both. Yeah, something happened between them. I'd put my fucking life savings on it. But what though? Knowing Cin, he picked up where we left off last night. I've no idea how since Tessa went to bed, but I intend to find out.

"Something you want to tell me?"

Cin looks up from his laptop and quirks an eyebrow. Tessa has taken the kids to their room for a nap, leaving me and Cin with the living room to ourselves.

It's drizzling outside and the air is a lot cooler today. It won't be long before we have the fire on in here. Which reminds me, I need to fetch the fireguard from the store.

I should be working right now, but the weird-as-fuck vibe between Cin and Tessa has killed my productivity.

All morning they've acted off around each other. Nothing's been said, but Cin has been more on edge than usual. I can't work out if they've had an argument I wasn't privy to, or if it's something else.

"Huh?"

"Has something happened with Tessa?"

"You mean besides the little show we put on last night?" He's right. It could just be that, but my gut tells me it's something more. She's been no different with me. Polite but distant. Like she always is.

"With you, I mean."

He smirks and something clicks. I've seen that smirk before. Usually, the morning after he's fucked one of our clients. Cin never dishes the dirt on his conquests - he's not that kind of asshole - but the way he smiles at me is his way of letting me know he crossed a line last night.

"What did you do?" I grind out while clenching my fists in an effort not to ring his fucking bell. From the way he smirks a little more, he knows I'm pissed off. And rightly so. Tessa is vulnerable. She doesn't need us acting like horny teenagers around her.

If I can control my baser urges, so can he.

His smirk fades, and he looks away. "She's had that asshole in her head telling her she's fat and unattractive, which she fucking isn't. I wanted to make her feel good."

"Then pay her some fucking compliments!" I hiss. "She's our guest, not your fucktoy!"

"Look, I like her, OK! This isn't just sex, and for the record, we didn't have sex."

"She's vulnerable, you asshole. The poor woman has gangsters after her. She needs our protection, not you trying to get into her pants."

"Fuck you, Madden. I know you like her too, so get off your high horse and admit you're fucking jealous!"

I shove the laptop aside and lunge toward him, grabbing him around the throat. The sexual tension between us flares to life like it always does. Anger and sex go hand in hand with Cin and me. He pisses me off and I fuck the sass out of him.

It's a game we like to play.

But I'm not playing this time.

"Keep your hands, mouth, and dick away from her, or we'll have a problem. Are we clear?"

He glares at me but doesn't fight back. I loosen my grip just enough for him to suck in a breath and speak.

"Yes, Daddy." The little shit is still trying to taunt me, but I let it go this time. We can't start anything now. Not with Tessa and the kids nearby.

"Good." I'm hard and he can see it, but he doesn't comment. Which is just as well as I'm skirting the edge of my control. One more snarky comment and I'll end up dragging him into my study and choking him with my cock.