Page 45 of Tessa

Thirty minutes later, they rode the elevator up to the penthouse and knocked on the outer door they’d installed to afford Baze and the girls some privacy. Previously the elevator had opened directly into Baze and Luna’s bedroom.

“Tessa, your Daddies are here,” Baze called over his shoulder when he answered.

It was clear by the surprised confusion on Tessa’s face that Baze had not had time to fill her in. She was still in her jammies and looked like she’d just rolled out of bed but she appeared beside Baze, her face crinkled into a worried frown.

“You said eleven,” she accused. “Baze was making us French toast.”

A breakfast disappointment had not been on the bingo card of things Beau was prepared to deal with. Luckily Dax was unfazed.

“I know, sweetheart, and I’m sorry. But Daddy Beau forgot he had to go out of town for an important meeting today and he just wanted us all to have some time together before he took off. But that means you and I have the whole day to do whatever we want and I’ll make sure that includes a super yummy breakfast. Is that a deal?”

Seemingly appeased, Tessa nodded solemnly. “I just gotta grab my stuff. Is that okay?”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Beau answered, finding his voice again.

She scampered away and he looked to Baze. “Sorry about the early interruption.”

“It’s no problem. I have a meeting later too and we needed to get up anyway.”

“Was she good?” Beau asked just as Tessa reappeared with the same bag she’d had the day before, Gus tucked dutifully under her arm.

“Mostly,” Baze answered with a smirk.

“Mostly? What does that mean?”

“I’ll let her explain.”

Tessa shifted from one foot to another, a blush rising up her cheeks.

“Tessa?” he and Dax asked in unison.

“I’ll tell you, Daddies, I promise. But can we go first?”

“I guess we’d better. Come along, little one.” Beau held his hand out and Tessa slipped hers into it. Baze closed the door behind them and they stepped onto the elevator.

The trip back to their room was a short one and as soon as they were back, Beau got down to business. He had no time to waste.

“All right, little girl, explain yourself,” he said sternly. “Did you get in trouble at your sleepover?”

“Yes, Daddy Beau.” Tessa hung her head and spoke to the floor. “We all did.”

“I see. And what was the agreement we made about what would happen if you got in trouble with Baze?”

“That I’d be in trouble with you too.” Her voice was a faint whisper that rose indignantly when she lifted her head to explain herself. “But it wasn’t big trouble!”

“Hmmm,” Beau hummed. “I don’t remember adding a caveat about the size of said trouble. Do you remember that, Daddy Dax?”

“I do not. But, why don’t you tell us what happened, little one?”

Tessa nodded. “The sleepover was really fun. We had pizza and ice cream and watched a movie and at ten Baze sent us to the room and said we didn’t hafta go to bed but if he heard us being noisy past eleven we’d all get spankings.”

“I see. And I’m assuming that’s what happened? What were you doing to be so noisy?”

“Just talkin’.” Tessa hesitated, and the lilt in her voice when she answered let him know she wasn’t telling the whole story.

He wanted to press but he didn’t have a lot of time and he figured if it had been something bad Baze would have let him know.

“All right, little one. That’s not too terrible but we had an agreement, did we not?”