you get to explain to her exactly what was going on."
"Ian?" Gabby begged. "Don't tell my mom!"
"Little late for that." I pointed toward the backyard. "March."
When we rounded the corner, I could see the lights on at my place. Every last one of them. By the fence, Lane slunk in the shadows, a deep rumble showing he was not happy about being woken up - or the threat to his mate. Voices proved that Trent and Pax were still on our side of the fence. Having been dead asleep, it took them just a couple of minutes longer than the rest of us.
"Just kids," Seth yelled at them. "Go back to sleep, guys."
"You sure?" Trent asked.
I answered, "Oh, yeah. Sorry, you two." Then I looked at Roman. "Still think this was a good idea?"
"Sorry, sir," he breathed, the fight fading out of him completely.
But Gabby wasn't quite as ready to face her punishment. "I didn't leave the yard," she insisted.
"Not for me to decide," I told her as I reached up to bang on the door. "Elena, it's fine."
I heard the lock click first, then she opened her back door to reveal the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Her hair was down and wild, a thin satin robe clung to every one of her curves, and I could just make out the black nightgown beneath it. Even worse, she seemed to have no idea how seductive she looked, because her attention immediately snapped to her daughter.
"Gabby?!" she hissed.
"I didn't leave the yard!" Gabby tried again.
Her mom handled it the same way I wanted to. "I don't really give a fuck. Go to your room, now, and stay there." Then she turned that maternal glare on Roman. "And you, young man, have some explaining to do. Do your parents know where you are?"
"No," he mumbled.
I cuffed the back of his head. "Try that again, pup."
"No, ma'am," he said this time.
"This," Elena told him, crossing her arms - which only lifted her breasts, revealing even more of her amazing cleavage, "is not how I intended to get to know my daughter's new boyfriend. What exactly were you doing with Gabby, outside, in the middle of the night?"
"We were just talking."
This time, Seth whacked him. "Bullshit, bro."
"Kissing," he amended.
"And you couldn't wait until a decent hour to get your mouth on her?" Elena asked. "You didn't think that maybe some people in this neighborhood wanted a full night of sleep?" Then she sighed. "Or is it because you wanted to do a little more than just kiss her?"
Roman's face was the reddest I'd ever seen. "I just missed her, so I texted her, and she..." He shut his mouth and glanced at me.
Good boy. I knew what he was about to say, and I had a feeling Elena did as well, but he hadn't thrown his girlfriend under the bus. That would earn him a few brownie points. Unfortunately, not enough to get him out of trouble.
So he tried again. "I asked her if she'd let me have one goodnight kiss."
"Uh-huh," Elena said. "Well, Roman, the next time you want a kiss, do it before ten on a weeknight, or midnight on the weekends. Sneaking around is a good way to make sure that the two of you end up raising a little Roman Jr., and I'm pretty sure neither of you want that."
"No, ma'am," he agreed.
"But," she told him, "I get it. Believe it or not, I really do. You were hoping that if you kissed her long enough or hard enough that she'd let you put your hand up her shirt, or maybe down her pants, right? Well, let me make one thing very clear. Your dick won't fall off if you have to wait a night. Now go home and just be glad I'm not calling your mother."
I heard the kid swallow in fear. "Yes, ma'am," he whimpered.
Seth dropped a hand on his shoulder. "I'll walk him there. Just to make sure he makes it all the way."
"Thank you," Elena told him, but she didn't move, not until they were out of sight. Then, she pushed the door open wider, her demeanor changing completely. "It's freezing out here, and you don't have on either a shirt or shoes? What were you thinking, Ian? Get inside."
"I was thinking," I told her, "that someone was trying to break into your house."
"Kids," she groaned, ending on a chuckle.
I couldn't help it, I laughed too. "I think you scared the shit out of