by Sean Michael
Dev was laughing, so happy, so focused on Linds. Yeah. He loved the gorgeous bastard.
Dylan kicked and gurgled like he was agreeing.
“Thank you for your approval, kiddo.”
Dev and Linds moved to the teeter-totters, Dev helping Linds on one end and then going to the other and straddling the seat. Grabbing the handle, he pushed the teeter-totter up and down. It was sexy—a man who was good with his kids, who wasn’t afraid to get down and get dirty.
God, he had it bad.
“Daddy D! Whee!” Linds was having a blast.
Dev let the seesaw hit the ground a little harder, making Linds shriek with laughter.
Logan came over to grab juice boxes for Sarah and the twins. “How’s it going?”
“Good. The babies are doing great.”
“Dev’s got Linds well entertained. She’s going to sleep like a log tonight.”
“She is.”
“She’s calling him ‘daddy.’”
“She is.”
“You okay with that?” Logan asked, that left eyebrow of his going up.
“I think I am, buddy.”
“No shit?” Logan’s smile was genuine. “Good for you. Good for you all.”
“Yeah?” He really trusted Logan’s instincts. The man knew how to read people.
“Yeah. He’s a good guy. He loves that little boy you’re holding with everything he has, even though it hasn’t been easy. That bodes well.”
“He loves Linds and Bee too.”
Logan looked out to where Dev was still playing with Linds and nodded. “Yeah, I can see that.”
“I think he loves me too. God knows I love him.”
“Yeah, I guessed that. I can read your face pretty well.”
He blushed and leaned over to check on Bee.
Logan chuckled. “Okay. I better take the juices over to the troops. We’ve got maybe twenty more minutes before they’ve had enough I’d guess.”
“Good deal. We heading over to the Bean for lunch?”
“I think the girls would revolt if we didn’t. You want me to send Dev over to spell you so you can play with Linds?”
“Yeah, I totally do.” He wanted a little of that joy and to hear her talking to him.
“You got it.” Logan headed over, giving the girls their juices first, then talking to Dev.
Dev came jogging over immediately. “Sorry, sorry. You should have said something!”
“What? I just thought we could switch out, love.”
Dylan was cooing and struggling, eager for his dad.
“Of course we can! And you totally should have said something to me and I’d have traded sooner.” Dev picked Dylan up. “Hey, squirt. You’ve been a good boy, haven’t you?”
“He’s been an angel. Bee’s still snoozing. We’re going to head over for lunch in fifteen minutes.”
“Do they do grilled cheeses at the café?” Dev asked. “I’m having a craving for grilled cheese and tomato soup.”
“I know they have tomato soup daily. I bet they’ll make you one. If not, I’ll make you one tonight.”
“Thank you.” Dev gave him a warm smile, looking schmaltzy as hell.
“Daddy!”
“Coming, Linds.” He winked. “Her Majesty calls.”
Dev laughed for him, face all lit up. “She does. She’s a harsh taskmaster.”
“She’s going to be prime minister one day.”
“I can totally see that.” Dev turned his attention to his boy. “And will you be her aide? Would you do that? Or are you going to be an artist? A magician? A mathematician?”
“Astronaut,” Aiden suggested, sounding sure.
“Daddy!” Linds called.
“Coming!” He jogged over, grabbed her, and swung her around, Dev’s happy laughter following him the entire way.
He played with Linds until he heard Bee starting to complain, but when he looked over, Dev seemed to have it in hand, putting Dylan in the stroller and picking Bee up, popping a bottle in her mouth.
Linds tugged at his hand. “More seesaw, Daddy!”
“One more time and then lunch!”
“No, Daddy, I don’t wanna go.”
“You don’t want to see Uncle Zack and play Legos?”
She frowned mightily, clearly torn. And just as obviously verging on exhausted. Someone needed a nap and there was a fifty-fifty chance she was going to have a meltdown.
“I bet there’s chocolate milk,” he wheedled.
“I like chocy milk,” she conceded. “Two more times, then go?”
“Sounds fair to me.” He kissed her cheek. “Love you, Lindsay-Lou.”
She threw her little arms around his. “Love you, Daddy! Now play!”
“Playing!” He laughed and went to play with his little girl.
Chapter Twelve
DEV walked around the kitchen and through the living room before turning around and going back the other way again, trying to get U to settle for him. They’d had a great day, but the girls had all gotten overtired and overhungry. By the time they’d been seated at Zack’s café to eat, Linds had pulled a huge hissy fit.
It wasn’t her fault, but at the same time, Aiden hadn’t wanted to reward it, and they came home with the food in takeout containers. Linds had eaten half her food and thrown the other half. The babies had picked up on the mood, and neither Bee nor U had been happy to drink or play or even be held.
Aiden was dealing with his girls and Dev was walking, trying to get U to settle. He had a blinding headache and was working very hard not to growl at his boy.
Aiden came to him, bouncing a crying Bee, his face a thundercloud. Linds was screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking her door. “I’ve shut her door. Can we switch babies for a second? I’ll take him downstairs.”
“You got it.” He didn’t figure it mattered which fussy baby he dealt with. It might even work better to have each other’s for a while. He slid U out of the sling and passed him over, taking Bee in his other arm. He began bouncing her.
Aiden headed downstairs and started singing to U.
“Daddy! Daddy D! Please! Come get me!” Christ, she was pissed off.
“No, Linds. You have to deal with your daddy.” They hadn’t talked about anything like disciplining each other’s kids, and anyway you had to have a united front when dealing with a hysterical three-year-old, right?
Right.
He swung Bee in his arms and talked nonsense to her, asking her to stop crying and generally trying to calm her. God, how had such a great day turned to shit so fast?
Bee blinked at him, then started to coo and jabber like she was desperate for him to understand her, like she was answering him.
“Oh. Oh, sweet baby. I hear you. I do. Are you unhappy because of all the goings-on? It’s not fun when everyone is in a bad mood, is it?”
She told him all about it, the sounds amazing and wonderful, making him chuckle.
He nodded and agreed with her, then went and sat, putting her on his lap and bouncing her gently. “You preach it, sweetie.”
He realized Linds had gone quiet, so he headed to her door, opening it a crack to discover her in her bed, naked except for her Pull-Up, sound asleep.
Thank God. He closed the door quietly and headed down to let Aiden know, Bee sitting on his hip still chattering away at him.
He went down, surprised to find his grumpy son sound asleep with Aiden, both of them cuddled on the couch. Heat bloomed through his belly, and he watched them for a moment.
“You see that, Bee? Your daddy got little U to fall asleep, and all he had to do was fall asleep himself.”
Bee giggled happily and blew bubbles. Lord, she was one cheery little one. It made him smile, made him laugh, and he hugged her close.
“Come on, silly baby. Let’s go upstairs.” He rubbed their noses together.
“I bet you’re hungry, hmm? You want your bottle or you want to play? I’m easy. Easy like you.”
At the word b
ottle, her eyes went wide and the kicking started again.
“Bottle it is.” He kept her on his hip as he went to the kitchen and made up her bottle. He continued talking, nonsense, so she heard the sound of his voice. She “talked” right back. Lord, she was going to be something once she figured out words.
He hoped he was around to hear her, to watch her grow and become the woman she was going to be. Whoa. He wanted that. To be a part of Aiden’s family. Like permanently. Now. With his lover.
He didn’t have a huge dating history, but he’d never felt like this about anyone he’d ever dated or slept with before. Hell, he and Aiden had skipped the whole dating thing. That’s what happened when you had kids, he guessed. Whatever. It seemed to be working for them.
He got the bottle warmed to the right temperature and popped it in Bee’s mouth, and she started sucking like she was starving, her whole body into the action.
He’d check if she needed to be changed after he fed her, then see if she would go down. He supposed he should try to get to sleep himself while everyone else was down. He had to admit, it felt a little strange being the only grown-up awake here at Aiden’s place. It also felt weird to contemplate going to sleep—should he sack out on the couch in the living room? Go lie in Aiden’s bed? The guest bed? What was the etiquette of this?
“Hey, babe. Mr. Snoozy heard the sounds of a bottle.” Aiden shocked the hell out of him with a soft kiss to the back of the neck. “We crashed for a few. Linds wore herself out?”
He was glad it hadn’t surprised him so much that he dropped Bee. “Yeah, she’s crashed out on her bed. Thank goodness. She started begging me to come get her, and it broke my heart that I had to say no. She called me ‘Daddy D’ again.” And how cool was that? He hoped Aiden didn’t mind, hoped his lover was on the same page as him.
“I know! The cutest thing ever, huh? We need to talk about whether we’re going to sell the guest bed to give Dylan his own space.” Aiden shot him the cutest worried look. “Assuming you stay, of course.”
He took a breath. Wow. Yes. He nodded. “I could spring for some paint and we could decorate it for him.” He could sell his condo, start an education fund for the kids…. “I probably should pack up the rest of the condo, put it on the market.”
“I’ll help. We’ll have to see about hiring a sitter for the hooligans.”
“So we’re really doing this? We’re moving in together? Are you sure you want the troubles I’m bringing with me? I know Logan’s telling me not to worry about it, but I know my mother, and I think it’s going to be a hell of a fight before everything’s done and dusted.” He held his breath, hoping like hell Aiden wanted him anyway.
“We’ll fight her, Dev. We’re a family now, Daddy D.”
“God, I love how that sounds.” He wrapped Aiden in a hug, their babies between them. “Thank you. I mean really, honestly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
“You’re more than welcome.”
One of U’s little fists lifted and clocked Dev in the chin. Someone was hungry.
“You better feed my boy before we start the screamfest all over again.” God knew he’d had enough of that for the day. Hell, they’d had enough for at least a couple of months.
“Uh-huh. He’s been patient, haven’t you, sweet boy?”
U gurgled and fussed, and Dev was happy he’d made up a second bottle when he’d gotten Bee’s ready. He handed it over, grinning at the way U latched on. He thought his boy was gaining weight—being here was good for him.
“You wanna go, uh, nap when the babies go down?” Dev suggested.
“Is this an orgasm nap?” Aiden asked.
He grinned, cheeks heating a little, caught. “That’s the hope.”
“Those are my favorite kinds.”
“Of orgasms or naps?” He put Bee over his shoulder and rubbed her back.
“Naps.” Aiden laughed and Bee burped right in his ear. At least it hadn’t been a wet burp.
“What’s your favorite kind of orgasm?” He’d like to give that to Aiden. Get the day back in the good column.
“Right now, one that is mutual that ends with a nice nap.”
“That’s cheating!” Dev had to laugh, though. It sounded pretty much perfect. Especially if it didn’t involve a whole lot of work. He hadn’t gotten any nappage in at all yet, and he was tired. “I’m going to go change her and warm the bed up, okay?”
“I’ll be there in a few.”
“I’ll be the one under the covers.” He gave Aiden a quick kiss on the lips, then took Bee to the nursery to change her diaper and see if she’d go down.
She could barely stay awake as he changed her butt, which was wet but not poopy. By the time he had her snapped back into her onesie and in bed, her eyes kept drifting closed.
“Good nap, sweet girl.”
She gurgled at him and gave him another reverse blink. He double-checked that the baby monitor was on and headed for Aiden’s bedroom.
He stripped down to his undies and slid under the covers. He fell asleep before he’d figured out what would be an enticing pose.
Chapter Thirteen
“DO you want to bring the coffee maker, honey? We could put it downstairs.” Lord, Dev had a lot of stuff and most of it was cool. Aiden was going to have to donate a few things to make room in the house.
“Is that too decadent? Having a coffee maker downstairs? On the other hand, that’s our office, and if we’re working after the kids have gone to bed, it’ll be nice to not have to go upstairs and make noise in the kitchen just to have coffee. Yeah, let’s bring it.”
“Rock on. What about the dishes? I’m easy. Tell me whether you like yours or mine.”
“I’m not married to mine. We might want to pack them up and store them, though. Do you have room for storing stuff? I’m thinking as the kids get older, breakage might be an issue.” Dev packed the waffle maker and the grill.
“We do have some, yeah. There’s that one wall along the garage. We’ll have to mark everything.”
“You’ve done it again. I’m always so impressed by how organized you are. I’ve always kind of be-bopped along, and then U showed up and it’s been panic at the disco ever since, trying to keep on top of the baby stuff.” Dev began to pack away the dishes, leaving a couple of mugs and glasses out. “Those are favorites, and I’d like to be able to add them to the cupboard now if that’s okay.”
“Sure, it’s your home too, right?” They were a family. Two work-from-home dads, three kids—totally normal.
“I know, I know. That’s going to take some getting used to, though, you know? I’ve been on my own since I was sixteen, and it’s a bit weird to suddenly be a part of a family again. Not that I’m unhappy about it or anything. I love that you want me and U. It’s just different from how it’s been for a lot of years.”
“Yeah, I missed being a part of a couple. It’s how I’m made, I guess.”
Dev bumped their hips together. “I like being a part of a couple with you. I made a good single person, but being a part of a ‘we’ is… really nice. Of course I’m not sure packing up my place is how I wanted to spend our first one-on-one time without the kids….”
“Yeah, well….” Aiden leaned over and kissed Dev good and hard. “I’d say let’s sneak it in, but we have too much to do as it is, and oh my God, I’ve become a responsible adult!”
Dev cracked up. “I keep finding myself thinking that ever since I got U. Maybe we can break for lunch at some point and go somewhere nice to eat? I was hoping this would be a couple-hour job—it’s not like the place is huge, but I think we’re going to be lucky not to have to come back another day.”
They’d rented a U-Haul for the day, so they had to make it work even if that meant coming back after the kids were in bed to finish up.
“Yeah, I’m going to see if Logan will come this afternoon, and we have those two guys willing to help with heavy lifting.”
“Dirk and Bill? Did you know Dirk has a l
ittle girl Linds’s age?” That was right, Dev had used the guys before. “He’s a single dad too. I was thinking we should invite Dirk to our daddy-and-kids meeting days.”
“Sure. Totally. Zack likes him or he wouldn’t have recommended him.”
“Cool. It was such a boon to me to have somewhere to go, I’d like to pay it forward, you know?” Dev stretched to grab the stuff from the top of the cupboards, his T-shirt riding up and affording Aiden a glimpse of what he knew was warm, smooth skin.
He tickled, but only for a second, because he needed to get the pots and pans under the sink, which were not coming with them because Dev was absolutely not a cook. They could sell these off easy as they looked like they hadn’t been used even once.
Dev laughed and danced away from him, nearly dropping a large serving dish. He managed to catch it before it hit the counter. “That would have been a mess. Do you need any serving dishes or do all these go into the sell pile?”
“Save ones that are special to you, honey. I have tons.”
Dev snorted. “I don’t have any special dishes. Games? That’s a different story, and I’m not getting rid of any of them. Even our doubles I’m keeping, in case one of them gets worn out or eaten by a teething baby or something.”
“Lord. I wonder if cold CDs work….”
“God, no. They’d crack and splinter and there’d be sharp bits everywhere.” Dev shook his head. Aiden usually had good instincts when it came to baby safety. “Some of the controllers, on the other hand….”
“Yeah, yeah. We’re going to have to make sure we bag all the cords for the equip—”
Someone banged on the door, the sound sharp and weirdly unfriendly, which was stupid. That’s not how it worked.
“I have no idea who that could be.” Dev headed to the door, a serving bowl still clutched in one hand.
“Maybe the guys are early,” Aiden offered.
“They’re going to have to help us pack if they are. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing.” Dev was chuckling but the sound cut off hard as he opened the door. “Mother.”