by RJ Scott
Jack sighed. “On a Saturday morning, without candles, romance, good food and the ring in a champagne glass? I hope not.”
Riley huffed a laugh. “We never had all that,” he said. “We just had a contract, and the intent to defraud.”
Jack caught something in his husband’s voice hidden under the humor, a regret maybe? “Yeah, but what we did have is a story to tell the grandchildren one day.”
Riley turned to face him then. “I’m handling the proposal right now; don’t go adding in grandchildren already.”
“Logan’s one of the good ones.” Jack cradled Riley’s face, and Riley pressed against his hand.
“You remember the day she told us she was going to marry Logan? What was she? Ten or something?”
“Yeah, so convinced that Logan was the man she would be with forever.”
“You think she knew right from then, that she would love him?”
“I don’t know,” Jack answered honestly, because Riley was angling for something, some kind of answer that would clear the worries from his expression.
“We never did that either. When we met you were just this man who would help me get what I thought was mine.”
“Riley, you need to let go of this, first the proposal, now the fact we didn’t fall in love at first sight? What matters is that we soon realized we were meant to be together.”
Riley moved closer, and Jack folded him in for a hug, which was always awkward at first with Riley’s height. Somehow they had this way of Riley slightly bending his knees, and Jack reaching up, and then Riley burying his face in Jack’s neck. They’d done that so many times over the years, they’d found the perfect way to fit together.
“The day I fell in love with you, for real, was the moment Jeff offered you fifteen million to back away,” Riley murmured, “It was my mirror moment.”
“What?” Jack asked, with affection, leaning back against the stall so he could hold Riley even closer. This big man with his family and memories that shaped him sometimes just needed to be held. And hugged.
“I read about it. That single moment that you look at yourself and realize how desperate you are for things to work a certain way. I would have given everything at that point for you to stay with me, but I didn’t do it because I loved you, I needed you.”
Riley’s voice was muffled against his neck, and Jack nudged him so he lifted his head.
“You so loved me,” he teased.
Riley kissed the side of Jack’s neck. “I know that now.”
“And you’ll always love me, because I am just that good.”
The small kisses on his skin became little nips, and Jack squirmed away. Trust Riley to do that single thing Jack liked so much to get him harder than iron in what seemed like seconds.
“Good at burning bacon,” Jack said with a smirk.
Riley mouthed Jack’s earlobe and then whispered. “Good at sucking you, and fucking you.”
“And?” Jack feigned boredom, but the instinctive baring of his neck for Riley’s kisses belied the presence.
“At loving you. I’ll always be the best person at loving you.”
There, that is what Jack needed to hear, and he was so ready to answer.
“Of course you will, we were always meant to be together, love at first sight or not, we fit.”
The kisses turned to more, Jack trying to drag Riley closer, aware that burnt bacon and breakfast or not, their barn was no more than thirty feet away. He wanted to be inside Riley, in his body, his heart; he was impossibly needy whenever it came to Riley, and he could never have enough.
“Dad! Pappa!”
Jack released his grip on Riley and Riley stepped back. They were good at this, the ability to switch from lovers to fathers in a split second. Connor’s voice was loud, he wasn’t too close yet, but any minute now he would be.
“Lexie spilled milk everywhere, and Toby pulled the bacon off the counter, and he’s hiding under the table, and Max is there with him and has a whole carton of orange juice, and you need to come in right now.”
“We’re coming,” Riley said, with a rueful smile, pulling out his shirt to hide the same kind of erection that Jack was sporting. “Later,” he said for Jack’s ears only.
Then, holding hands, they went into the house.
And all Jack could think when he walked into the chaos, at orange juice on the floor mingling with milk, and one very satisfied dog wagging its freaking tail, was one thing.
Not my bacon.
Chapter 20
Riley was like a cat on hot bricks. They’d heard nothing from Hayley.
Not a single word.
“I still think we should text her and ask her.”
“No, Riley.”
“But she knows he asked us, so she’d be expecting our call, right?”
“No.”
Riley punched Jack lightly on the arm and Jack feigned pain and grabbed his arm letting out a soft ouch.
Three days had passed since Logan’s visit in the barn and the declaration he was going to propose to Hayley, and then nothing. Nada. Zip.
Riley pulled his horse to a stop near the edge of the bluff, and Taylor stopped on a dime. Solo halted as well, and Jack edged her forward, so they were next to each other. The view from here over the ranch was a familiar one, and if they turned to face the other way they would see Legacy Ranch. Beyond their house was the riding school, the fences, newly painted, gleamed white in the dimming light.
“What if she said no?” Riley mused. That was a possibility. She was twenty-two, days away from graduating; maybe she was in love with Logan but wanted to wait.
Jack laughed at that. “This is Hayley, of course, she said yes.”
Riley sighed and went back to looking at the view. “So why hasn’t she called?”
“Maybe it hasn’t happened yet, maybe at her graduation on the weekend? You need to chill and let it happen.”
Riley turned to Jack and shook his head. “Says the man who took his cell phone into the shower with him wrapped in plastic, just in case.”
Jack smirked. Riley was just as bad, he’d not let his cell out of his sight, and checked his email every five minutes. Tomorrow they were flying up to Denver for Hayley’s graduation, Connor and Lexie were coming with them, along with Logan, Donna, Neil, Sandra, and Jim. Riley had chartered a jet for them all, the company jet long since gone after Riley realized how stupid it was for CH to have something like that, for various environmental reasons. But for the graduation he’d decided that they were making this special. Luckily, Jack hadn't argued, and didn’t bat an eyelid at the hotel they were all staying in. Everyone else who wanted to see Hayley would have to watch the video Connor had promised to take and then everyone was invited to a huge graduation party back at the ranch in a couple of weeks when she came home.
Home. Here.
Where was she going to live? Would she move into Logan’s small place near his work? Would she want a place in Dallas near her work? Would she want to come home? She could come home; her room was still there. It was where she stayed during the holidays, because she was still Riley and Jack’s daughter.
But things were different now. She was going to be a graduate, engaged, and she’d be married and then who knew what life would be like?
Blindly Riley reached for Jack’s hand. This was the happiest time of their lives, seeing their daughter start her new life, but fuck, why did it have to be so damn hard?
Seeing her walk up onto the stage, receiving her diploma, shaking hands, listening to speeches and watching her entire year of graduates throw mortarboards into the air was something Riley wouldn’t ever forget. He and Jack were bursting with pride, and at that moment in time, when they clapped and cheered for her, he felt as if everything in his world was right.
They met her after the ceremony, hugging her, and Logan was there, hugging her too. Riley had to back away and let him, handing over some of the love she needed to come from him.
The air was hot, th
e shade given by the huge trees in the grounds of this beautiful campus were welcome, and then it happened.
In front of grandparents, parents, and her sister and brother, Logan went down on one knee, and a hush fell over their small celebratory group. The sounds of everyone else faded into the background. This time Jack and Riley reached for each other’s hands at the same time.
“Hayley Campbell-Hayes, will you marry me?”
She didn’t even hesitate, said yes, and he slipped the ring on her finger, and then swept her up in a hug before kissing her. Donna and Sandra moved closer, Jim was crying, Donna couldn’t seem to let Hayley or Logan go. Then Hayley was in front of them, with tears bright in her eyes.
“Daddy? Pappa?” she asked.
Something hot and wet slid down Riley’s face, and he dashed it away.
“I love you so much,” he said, his voice broken, and then he and Jack held out their free hands, and she moved into their circle of love, and they hugged, Hayley shifted a little in their hold, tugging Logan in as well.
“We need to FaceTime Mom and Dad,” Logan said to Hayley, with Connor telling everyone he’d recorded the proposal.
That was it, then.
Hayley Campbell-Hayes was getting married to the boy she’d loved since she was ten.
Back in their room, after the celebration dinner, Riley was quiet, and Jack was equally subdued. The emotions today had been a rollercoaster of pride and love and he didn’t know about Jack, but Riley felt wrung out. They stripped for bed, and climbed in at the same time, hugging. Riley was done with emotions, but he had one more thing to say.
“Thank you,” he said, and that seemed like such a small number of words to explain what was in his heart. “For Hayley, and Max, and the twins, and for being mine.” There, that added something else.
Jack rolled Riley onto his back and sprawled on him, kissing him. They didn’t have to say words to love each other, but sometimes a thank you had to be given in words. Simple, gentle words that meant everything.
“Thank you, back,” Jack said.
“I love you.”
Jack smiled into a kiss, “Always,” he repeated. “I’ll always love you.” And then he couldn’t resist teasing Riley it seemed. “Even when you burn the bacon, I’ll still love you.”
“Always?”
“Yeah Riley, always.”
Breakfast was a noisy affair, and Riley was pleased that they’d managed to snag a private room, because he doubted their brand of celebration would go down well with the snooty clientele of this place.
Connor was on his third plate of bacon and eggs, a boy after Jack’s heart, while Lexie was staring enraptured at a notebook Hayley had of ideas for her wedding. Hayley, Donna, Sandra, and Lexie were huddled around it as if it held the answers to the mysteries of the universe. Logan had decided to sit at the other end where there was more in the way of sanity.
But, was it just Riley who wished he were down there looking at wedding ideas? Neither Logan nor Hayley had said where they were getting married, but he hoped, right inside, that the wedding would be at the D. He could imagine the same beauty that Eden had created for their wedding, but instead of him and Jack it would be Hayley and Logan.
It wasn’t his place to say anything; he wasn’t going to interfere. He would stay here with the guys and play his part which was that of a hands-off dad who did things as paying for the wedding and giving his daughter away.
Wait. What about Jack? Maybe she’d want Jack to give her away. Or both of them.
Jesus, I am losing my mind over this. It’s a wedding. It’s one day.
“Uncle Jack, Riley?” Logan asked, and Riley snapped back to reality and realized Jack had to do the same. He and Jack exchanged rueful glances, and Riley wondered if Jack had been thinking about the same things. “Hayley and I were thinking we’d like to have the wedding at the D, if that was okay?”
“Of course, we’d love that,” Jack said before Riley could.
“Yes,” Riley added. Just in case Logan thought Jack hadn't been clear.
“And we were thinking…” He glanced down at the table to Hayley who was talking about colors. “Of a Christmas wedding, this year.”
Jack held out a hand, and Logan took it to shake. “We can do that,” he said.
And like that, not only were Hayley and Logan getting married, it was happening on Christmas on the D.
Max was the hardest sell about Hayley and Logan because his concept of marriage wasn’t really formed. He understood a daddy, a pappa, a sister and a brother. He even seemed to understand the connection between his daddies and their parents, but weddings? Not so much.
So Hayley began calling it a big party, and he seemed more on board with that. Logan was spending more time at the ranch, and Riley noticed that a lot of that was spent attempting to connect to Max through the horses, and with the twins over photography and ballet.
“You think Logan will draw the line at wearing tights?” Jack smirked as he and Riley sat on the porch, feet up with a beer, watching Logan help Lexie with lifts in the yard. Hayley was on the fence smiling and laughing as Logan and Lexie performed a complicated set of moves that ended with Logan sprawled on the ground and a cackling Lexie sitting on his chest. Through all of it, Connor was taking photos, and Max had wandered into the scene and sat on the fence by Hayley.
“I think if Lexie asked him he probably would.”
“True.”
They watched some more. “You excited for Hayley’s first day?” Jack asked, quieter, so it was just between them.
Hayley was starting at CH tomorrow in a formal intern position, not just as holiday experience. She’d be learning the floor, and actually be assigned to a team. Of course, she wasn’t a normal intern, after all, one day CH would be hers to run for the family. She was working with JJ and Edward who were an effective and solid presence at CH. They had been there for several years now, married each other and had cut ties with Josiah Harrold, who Riley heard wasn’t in the best of health. It seemed as if he’d overdone the drinking and smoking, and was paying the price, but at seventy-five he’d done well not to have someone like Riley stab him with a pitchfork.
“Yeah, I am, and nervous. She could hate it, I know she won’t, but she might.”
Jack raised his eyebrow, and Riley sighed. With just that small movement Jack told him he was an idiot, and he knew it.
He leaned farther back in his seat, feeling sleepy, soaking in the warmth of the day and the laughter of his children.
“You going to sleep, old man?” Jack teased and poked at his side.
“I’m forty-two, not forty-five like you, old man.”
The poking turned to tickling, which turned to Riley shaking his beer and pouring it all over Jack.
It was okay though. Showering together after the kids went to bed was one hell of a lot of fun.
Chapter 21
Jack couldn’t have stayed away from CH even if he tried. He was drawn to the place to see their daughter working, but he didn’t want to make it obvious. So he slunk by Kathy without saying a word, only exchanging wry smiles, and slid into Riley’s office, closing the door and pulling the blind.
“What took you so long?” Riley teased from his desk. “It’s been at least an hour since she started.”
Jack tilted the blind a little so he could get a good look out to the desks beyond. “How’s she doing?”
Riley joined him at the blinds and rested his chin on Jack’s shoulder.
“Well, she knows where the coffee machine is, and Edward explained that we use red folders for research, blue for active investigations, and that green and yellow indicate active sites. I saw her writing it down very diligently, even though she already knew that. She didn’t stop him once, because, and this is her words to me in the car, I don’t want anyone to think I know more than them about the office.
“She hugged me in the elevator and then said I wasn’t to hug her in the office, or talk to her, or even look at her.”
Jack couldn’t help laughing at that. “How will you manage that?”
Riley huffed. “Well, how would you manage it?”
“Poor Riley. Do you remember the day she helped you choose the folder colors? What was she? Thirteen?”
“Yep, but she sat there and listened to JJ explaining and didn’t interrupt once.”
“What will she do today?”
“More of the same, coffee runs, filing, the same kind of thing any intern does when they first come in, and then when she’s ready she’ll take on her own caseload of projects. JJ is taking her under his wing, apparently.”
Jack glanced back at Riley and frowned. “You’re sure?” He was skeptical about JJ showing Hayley the ropes, even if it had been four or so years since JJ had joined Riley’s company, moved in with Edward and had become part of the CH team. Riley had said then that he’d be stupid to let Edward leave, and JJ had a whole lifetime of knowledge. He’d been right, the two of them had fitted in nicely at CH. He didn’t know why he was suddenly feeling like that; after all, he’d given Riley the benefit of the doubt that he’d changed way back, so why not JJ?
“I wish it was me showing her,” Riley admitted. “I think I’m jealous.”
It hit Jack right then that this was what he was feeling. He wanted Riley to be Hayley’s mentor, to show her the business, to be there for her.
But he couldn’t. Eventually, she would be sitting in this office, and she needed to learn different perspectives.
“JJ will do well with her,” Jack said, with confidence in his voice, “and you’ll keep an eye on her.”
Riley pressed a kiss to the side of Jack’s neck. “Always.”
Jack got back home and went straight to his horses. He couldn’t help Hayley at work, had to trust that everything would go as well as her studies had done. He’d worried about that and it had all been unfounded. Their daughter was out in the big, bad world now and he had no control over that.