Embracing the Storm

by Marie, Carly

  I playfully rolled my eyes. "Come on, baby, let's go get you ready."

  Grayson giggled. "I get to be a dragon tonight, Miss Alice."

  "You'll be the cutest dragon back there."

  I wasn't going to point out that he was the only dragon at the club. We'd found that out from talking with several other pups and their handlers a few weeks earlier at a munch. Grayson was smiling too brightly for me to mention that.

  I took Gray's hand and he slowed up enough to walk more or less beside me through the lobby and into the locker room. We were immediately joined by a very excited little Aiden, while Trent was busy trying to get Curious's kneepads on. I was pretty sure Curious was as excited about the evening as my little Storm was.

  Gray hadn't stopped talking about this night since I'd brought it up two weeks earlier. He was so excited to be able to come back to DASH for another Littles Night that I'd ended up spanking him the night before just to get him to calm down. It had done the trick until he'd woken up horny four hours later.

  I grinned at the memory. He'd begged for the spanking, and even I'd been surprised he'd fallen asleep so quickly afterward. There was a reason I'd taken an extra-long lunch break in my office that day. Waking up at 3:00 a.m. with a very horny husband had been enough to have me contemplating calling in when my alarm went off at six thirty.

  "Let's get your hood, Storm," I said, coaxing him away from Aiden. Storm held out his hands and wiggled them. "Yes, and your gloves too." I'd found a pair of gloves similar to the ones Curious used, but they were covered in sparkles and looked a lot like his dragon hood.

  With Storm taking over, at least I knew he'd be quiet for a little while. After the last few hours, it would be a much-needed reprieve. I felt more confident this time around, and that seemed to make all the difference in the world for the feeling of the night.

  Gone was the man who had no idea what he was walking into. Gone was the boy who was nervous, evasive, and confused. Gray and I had grown a lot over the last three months. Both as Daddy and boy slash dragon as well as husbands. We'd had numerous conversations about likes and dislikes, wants and needs, and they’d all aligned well.

  There were still nights I read situations wrong. Sometimes figuring out if he was little Gray, Storm, or a combination of the two was more confusing than I cared to admit, but I was learning.

  This night, there hadn't been any question. Grayson was all Storm. I suspected my little boy would be making an appearance here and there, though, so I'd come with a bag stocked with a bottle of milk, a sippy cup of apple juice, and a water bottle. There were also two changes of clothes in the largest compartment: one for my husband, one for my boy. Bases were covered for however he felt at any given moment.

  As I pulled Storm's hood and gloves out of the bag, Travis finished getting Caleb ready and volunteered to take Caleb and Aiden out to the play area to give Trent and I time to focus on what we were doing. Aiden had a way of getting so excited he distracted us, though it never bothered us. That being said, it was much easier to get my distractible dragon to focus on me rather than his friends without Aiden bouncing around the locker room.

  Hood, gloves, knee pads—even though he didn't often crawl around as Storm, I'd thought it was a good idea for the night—and we were following Trent and Curious out when they were ready. Curious was, if possible, even more of a pup that night than he had been at the club the last time. He'd been in sweats and a T-shirt that time, with a tail that clipped to a belt around his waist. This time he was clad in an aqua jock with a matching harness and a tail that was actually a butt plug.

  The noises Curious had made while Trent got him prepped had been distracting to me—I couldn't imagine what Trent was feeling like by the time the pup was ready.

  We'd barely made it to the play area, and I heard Storm let out an excited chuff as he began to point at the gold and silver balls in the middle of the area Aiden and Caleb had set up. They were just like the balls that had materialized at our house shortly after the snowstorm, and Aiden and Caleb both looked ridiculously proud of themselves.

  "Aiden may have asked Master Zachary if they could donate"—he used air quotes around the word donate—"those to the club. I think they really just wanted to make sure that they were here for Storm."

  I gave my dragon a kiss on the top of his head and he scampered off to be with his friends, Curious hot on his heels yelping excited barks as they went. The combined squeals, barks, and chuffs of the four of them filled the room quickly. I was worried that they'd scare the quieter littles, but everyone seemed to be lost in their own worlds or simply amused at the four in front of us.

  "They are having the time of their lives," Travis mentioned when we'd finally taken seats and gotten comfortable.

  "There's no way in hell Gray is making it home awake. He's going to be asleep before we get out of the parking lot."

  Trent hummed in agreement. "Logan will probably be wired until I get him into bed. It’s going to make the drive home interesting. He's going to need to cum badly. Aiden's not going to care—he's going to be dead to the world before we hit the highway."

  "With that plug in his ass, you're going to be lucky to get out of here without Logan begging you to take him to a private room and fuck him," Travis said on a chuckle.

  It was a weird friendship we shared. Weird but perfect, and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. These two men had gotten me through when I’d had more questions than answers, and they’d continued to have my back ever since. Their boys and Curious had helped Grayson accept Storm and believe that what we had wasn't too good to be true.

  "What are they doing?" Trent asked, squinting at where the four were huddled together in the middle of the room.

  Travis tilted his head. "That's a damn good question."

  Before I could even speculate on what they were doing, Aiden, Curious, and Caleb crawled away, pretending to be scared while Storm rawred at them from atop his… his nest of sparkling balls.

  "I gotta egg!" Aiden cheered, just as Caleb collided into him.

  "I got two!" he announced proudly, holding them up.

  Storm saw them, and I watched as he scurried off his nest and toward the three that had made it about ten feet away. "Puppy!" Aiden yelped. "Protect us!"

  I couldn't help it—I laughed. I laughed so hard my sides hurt and tears came out of my eyes. The four were so lost in their own world that nothing else mattered to them but the gold and silver balls in the middle of the floor. They were squealing and laughing, rolling around on the floor.

  "Okay, maybe Logan will sleep," Trent said, hope filling his voice.

  Travis snorted. "There's no way in hell. You and I both know that."

  "A man can dream," Trent responded, never taking his eyes off his pup and his boy.

  "Nothing like dreaming big," I said with a chuckle.

  We watched the guys tumble around on the ground in play, all of them oblivious to anything and everything, until it became obvious that they all needed a drink. Trent surprised me when he gave a low whistle and the four on the floor in front of us stopped and looked our way.

  Travis held up a bottle of milk and Caleb was making his way to us—on his hands and knees—faster than I'd thought possible. Then again, Curious, Aiden, and Storm were hot on his heels, all four of them skidding to a halt in front of each of us at nearly the same time.

  Logan knelt in front of Trent, a little whimper escaping as his ass came to rest on the floor. Even through the leather jock he was wearing, his erection was pronounced. I couldn't imagine how turned on he had to be after wearing a plug for as long as they'd been playing.

  For a brief second, I wondered what Storm would do. Would he sit on the floor like Curious or would he climb up beside me like Aiden and Caleb had done with their Daddies? I'd barely had the thought completed when he curled up into my lap and reached for the bag he knew contained snacks and drinks.

  I grabbed it and held it open for him so he could pick what h
e wanted. Since I didn't have a clue what my dragon would want, it seemed like the best option. He picked the sippy cup out, then held it to me as he leaned his head on my shoulder.

  So, not quite little but also not quite big enough to want to hold his own cup. I kissed his snout and could feel the heat radiating off him from around his eyes. "You've been playing hard, baby." He nodded, then nudged at the cup with his hand, pointedly showing me what he wanted.

  Trent's words from earlier in the winter came back to me. He'll show you what he wants. My dragon could get his needs and wants across just as easily as my boy could. We sat in silence for a few minutes as Storm drank his juice. I'd left the bag close enough to him that he'd reached inside and found his favorite dragon stuffie: a black dragon with rainbows printed on its fur. That dragon had become a staple at bedtime and pretty much any other time Gray was feeling the slightest bit little.

  In the past few months, I'd grown accustomed to searching the house for it before bedtime at least once a week. Earlier in the week, I'd found it under the couch in the living room. How the hell it got there was still beyond me, but at least I'd found it and Gray had slept through the night.

  "Daddy?" Gray's voice sounded a bit off, probably from not talking the last hour or so combined with the rawring and squealing he'd done while playing.

  "Yeah, baby?"

  "I gotta go potty." He wiggled around as though he needed to make a point.

  "Well, let's get to the potty then." I pushed him up and headed toward the bathroom across the club.

  With the door locked behind us, Gray began to dance and wiggle about. "Gotta go!" he told me as I helped him get his shorts and training pants down. I'd barely gotten him to the toilet and he was peeing, letting out a loud sigh of relief.

  It was just another in a long list of things that had changed from the first night here when everything was new and confusing to both of us. Tonight I'd walked into DASH confident in my role as the Daddy of both Gray and Storm, secure in the knowledge that I knew how to care for him no matter what mindset he was in.

  Gray had taken my life by storm fifteen years earlier, providing undying love and acceptance of me. He'd been patient as I’d worked through insecurities my family had instilled in me as a teen, he'd been by my side as James and I reconnected. We'd been through a lot over the years, and until we’d walked in here three months earlier, I hadn't thought my love for him could grow more.

  My confident and opinionated husband had rarely seemed vulnerable or unsure of himself before he'd discovered age play. Experiencing this with him, knowing that he'd trusted me even when he hadn't been able to explain it himself, had made my love for him grow even deeper.

  I'd gotten to be Gray's rock for a bit while he discovered a new side of himself, but in the process, I'd learned more about myself as well. I loved caring for Gray—I always had—but being his Daddy was a permanent part of my identity , not just being his Dom for a night here or there.

  Gray finished going to the bathroom and I pulled his pants up, tucking his half-hard dick back into his undies and leading him to the sink. As I washed his hands, I kissed the side of his cheek. "I love you, baby."

  His eyes crinkled with a smile. "Love you too, Daddy," he responded without hesitation. His eyes met mine in the mirror, and I could see worry cloud his expression. "Are you okay?"

  He wasn't quite big, but whatever he'd seen in my eyes had pulled him out of his world just a bit. "I'm fine," I reassured him quickly, genuine sincerity in my voice. "Better than. I was just thinking about how much I love you, my little Storm."

  He smiled again and turned in my arms to hug me, wet hands and all. "You're the best Daddy in the whole world." He pressed his snout to my cheek in an attempt to kiss me, then pulled back slightly. "And the best husband."

  I squeezed him back. "And you are the best husband, boy, and dragon I could ever ask for."

  ~*~

  Not Ready to Say Goodbye?

  Wondering what happened to the treasure cereal? Or how about all that snow that fell overnight? Click here to read a short bonus scene of Grayson and Spencer’s first snow day!

  Want to read more about the other couples? Find their stories below!

  When desires and reality collide, Caleb is sure it’s too good to be true. With a few pushes in the right direction from his best friend, and an ever-patient boyfriend, Travis, Caleb discovers that his sometimes dreams really do come true. Pick up Desires today!

  Curious about how two best friends who couldn't find a way to make a relationship work finally found love with a third? Read all about Trent, Logan, and Aiden in Curiosity. A serious Dom, a bouncy pup, and a sweet little find out that together they are stronger than apart.

  Wondering how James and Dexter got together? Find out how Dexter opens James’s eyes to what’s right in front of him, and in the process helps him find the brother he’s been missing most of his life, in Attraction.

  While they don’t make cameos in this book, Travis talks about knowing a little who is very cautious about his little side. Meet Derek, an exhausted country musician, and Colt, a workaholic sheriff, in At Home. Follow their journey from bar hook-up to Daddy and boy.

  A Note From the Author

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Embracing the Storm. Grayson and Spencer first made an appearance in Attraction. While they were originally supposed to be a supporting couple, I knew there was more to their story as soon as they all sat down for coffee the first time.

  I loved getting to know Spencer and Grayson more throughout this book. As is true to form for me, I can’t leave my couples alone, so the odds are, we’ll see more of Spencer and Grayson—and the rest of the gang—in future books. Make sure to click the links on the next page to follow me for the release date for this and other books, as well as other updates.

  With love,

  Carly

  About the Author

  Carly Marie had stories, characters, and plot bunnies bouncing around in her head as long as she can remember. Today, she is a USA Today Bestselling author, lover of all things romance, and avid reader.

  Carly spends her days writing sweet, kinky stories about men who love each other and her nights as a wife, mother, and chauffeur. She spends far too much time reading books, or in hockey rinks or driving between them, and far too little time cleaning her house.

  Carly lives in Ohio with her husband, four kids, two cats, and has lost count of the number of chickens in the backyard. The numerous plot bunnies that run through her head on a daily basis ensure that she will continue to write and share her stories for years to come.

  Keep up to date on all the latest by following me at:

  Mailing List: Carly's Connection

  Website: www.authorcarlymarie.com