By the time he was finished, all Owen could do was collapse into the mattress, letting his whole body go limp. He’d never felt this wrung-out after sex before. Not like this.
Bottoming was exhausting in the best possible way. If he’d been the kind of man who told his friends how to have better sex, this would have been his number one tip.
All his friends probably already knew. They were all bi or gay.
He probably should have figured himself out sooner.
Jude curling up next to him broke Owen’s train of thought, but that was okay. It hadn’t been going anywhere exciting, anyway. He’d figured it all out now.
He was in love with Jude, and that probably made him bi, and that was okay. Jude definitely didn’t seem to mind.
Owen wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close, eager for post-orgasm contact.
“We need to clean up,” Jude said sleepily, punctuating the sentence with a yawn.
Owen was seconds from falling asleep, too, but Jude was probably right. Maybe they could take a nap first?
“Maybe we can take a nap first?” Owen said aloud, realizing the thought wouldn’t do any good in his head.
“No argument here,” Jude murmured, resting his head against Owen’s shoulder. “You enjoyed that.”
It wasn’t a question at all. Owen chuckled, happy to have been so obvious that Jude didn’t have to doubt himself. “We’re doing that again.”
“Later,” Jude said, sighing deeply, clearly ready to sleep.
Later worked for Owen.
Chapter Thirty
Jude padded down the stairs in his underwear, surprised that Owen had beaten him to getting up this morning. Normally, Owen was still in bed until he smelled bacon wafting into the bedroom, and then he and Kayla both appeared, waiting to be fed.
Jude really didn’t mind. Owen had been so much happier without his old job even though he hadn’t found anything else yet. It had only been a week. Jude had faith that he’d find something soon.
And now that he was back to full strength and had bigger, better-paying clients coming in because of it, he could afford to keep them on his own if he had to. That was part of married life.
He found Owen sitting at the kitchen table, playing with Kayla next to him, the smell of food already in the air. Jude didn’t bother looking over to see what was cooking—he was much more interested in Owen right about now.
He crept up behind him and then darted close to kiss his neck, nuzzling the back of his ear with a happy sigh.
Regular sex had turned them both into better, happier people.
“Good morning,” Jude purred lazily, resting his head on Owen’s shoulder. “What’s for breakfast?”
“You’ll have to ask mom,” Owen said.
The blood drained from Jude’s face, leaving him cold. He turned around to see Mrs. Jules on the other side of the counter, looking over at the two of them with a soft smile on her face.
Jude was suddenly extremely aware of being in his underwear.
“I’m so sorry,” he began, his heart pounding in his chest. “I’ll go and put clothes on.”
Mrs. Jules waved away his concern. “This is your house, and you can dress however you want in it. It’s not as though you’ve got anything I haven’t seen before. I was married, and I raised three boys.”
Jude blushed darkly, torn between sitting down at the table so he wouldn’t seem embarrassed, or running upstairs to put some clothes on so he wouldn’t have to be embarrassed anymore.
Owen chose that moment to press a kiss to his stomach. “Go put a shirt on. We’ll wait,” he said.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Jude made a U-turn out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs. He felt better the moment he had a t-shirt and pajama pants on, much more ready to face whatever Owen’s mom was there for.
She didn’t seem upset, so it probably wasn’t anything bad.
The smell of bacon greeted Jude again as he walked into the kitchen, making his stomach rumble. Owen was getting good at wearing him out before bed—and sometimes before breakfast—but he wasn’t about to complain.
He was hoping the honeymoon period would last until they were a hundred years old, chasing each other around their nursing home.
“Mom won’t tell me what she’s here for without you,” Owen complained the moment Jude stepped into the kitchen again.
“She respects that I’m the only responsible adult in this house,” Jude joked, winking over at Mrs. Jules.
“That’s right,” Mrs. Jules agreed. “Jude’s my voice of reason.”
“I’m starting to get nervous about this,” Owen said. He probably intended to sound like he was joking, but he did actually seem a little nervous.
Jude moved to stand behind him, putting his hands on Owen’s shoulders. “I’m secretly on your side,” he said, leaning down to kiss Owen’s cheek.
“Okay, boys.” Mrs. Jules brought plates over to the table—one with a stack of pancakes, the other piled high with glistening, crispy bacon.
Jude’s stomach grumbled again. He headed to the refrigerator to get his insulin, knowing he’d regret it later if he didn’t take it now.
He could start on the bacon while he waited for it to kick in. Bacon was sugar-free.
“Let me get to the point, then,” Mrs. Jules began, grabbing a pancake before Owen had a chance to. She knew him well.
“I’m old,” she said.
“You’re not-” Owen started, but he was cut off by his mother raising a hand to silence him.
“I am old. I’m not ready for the old folks’ home yet, but I think I deserve a break. I’ve raised three good boys who I’m very proud of.”
Jude glanced over at Owen to see him blushing. Sometimes, he wished Owen could see all the good in himself that other people saw, but he was very cute when he was being unexpectedly praised.
“So I wanted you to be the first to know that I’m retiring. And I need someone to take my place.”
A bubble of joy welled up in Jude’s chest. He could see now exactly where this was going, and why Mrs. Jules had wanted him to be a voice of reason.
Owen looked between the two of them as Jude stuffed his used syringe in the sharps container.
“Me?” Owen asked after a moment, obviously surprised. He shouldn’t have been. He was the perfect person for the job.
“I want the running of the grocery store to stay in the family,” Mrs. Jules explained. “And since my most mature son is available for the job…”
“Charlie’s pretty mature,” Owen pointed out.
“He is, but I couldn’t pry him out of that library with a crowbar. Besides, you're the one with the fancy business degree. Time you put it to good use.” She paused for effect, looking between Jude and Owen.
Jude didn't want to push Owen into something he didn't want to do, but he really hoped Owen would accept this. It was perfect for him.
“The job’s yours, if you’ll take it. Comes with pretty great health insurance.” She looked over at Jude and winked.
Jude felt overwhelmed all over again at how kind and good the Jules family had always been to him. He really hoped Owen wanted the job. He’d be a lot less stressed as his own boss, and he had the skills for it. He’d practically grown up in the store. They’d made a game of helping out there as kids.
“Think of all those ideas you had when you were little, and think of what you could do if I handed you the reins,” Mrs. Jules added.
Owen nodded slowly. He looked like he was taking his time to process.
Without even a scrap of guilt, Jude took the opportunity to steal a piece of bacon from his plate. There was plenty more on the table, but it tasted better when it was Owen’s.
“Mom, this is… huge,” he said. “I don’t even know where to start thanking you.”
Mrs. Jules smiled. “Thank me by accepting the offer and taking the place off my hands.”
“Done,” Owen said, surprising Jude. He’d expected Owen to need a
little more convincing than that.
Judging by the look on her face, so had Mrs. Jules.
“Good boy,” she said. “That wasn’t as hard as I expected.”
“I have a family now,” Owen said. “Stability is suddenly all I care about.” He took a bite of his pancake.
“Stability,” he continued. “And being able to come home every night to people who love me. Keeping those people close. All of that.” He reached out to take Jude’s hand over the table.
This time, it was Jude’s turn to blush.
“I love you, too,” he said softly.
“You two were always so sweet together,” Mrs. Jules said.
Jude smiled at the thought of that. It had taken them a while to get to where they were now, but it was all worth it.
He couldn’t wait to see what the future had in store.
Chapter Thirty-One
Owen padded down the stairs toward the kitchen, surprised that he’d woken up without Jude. Jude still got up before him most days, heading out for a walk at sunrise or up early to talk to an international client, but Owen had sort of…
Not expected, exactly, but hoped they might get a little extra time together this morning.
It was his birthday, after all.
He’d just finished thinking that when a handful of confetti fell on his head. Jude had been hiding around the doorway, waiting for him.
“Happy birthday!” he enthused, grinning broadly. “I’ve been waiting to do that to you for years.”
Owen remembered doing something similar to Jude at school, on the last birthday he’d been around for.
Before Owen could object, Jude kissed him softly. “I’ve been waiting to do that for years, too.”
“Kiss me?” Owen asked. Jude kissed him a lot. It was hardly new.
“Kiss you on your birthday. I told myself every year that I was going to do it on your birthday, so I could pass it off as a joke if you reacted badly. I never did.”
“You should probably do it again, then. Y’know, to catch up.”
Jude chuckled, leaning in again to press his lips against Owen’s, a soft, light touch to make him feel loved and wanted. Owen hummed into it, breathing in the scent of Jude’s favorite shampoo.
Behind them, Kayla shouted. Owen chuckled, heading to pick her out of her high chair and cuddle her. “I know, I know. It’s gross. We’re both gross. Adults are disgusting,” he said, bouncing her on his hip. Even though he saw her every day now, she seemed to be growing impossibly fast. Her second birthday was only a handful of months away.
“We have a gift for you,” Jude said, holding out what looked like a poster. “Kayla is the real artist here. I just did the linework.”
Curious, Owen unrolled the paper, turning it up the right way when he realized he was looking at it sideways.
He stared at it for a long moment, his mouth hanging open in awe.
It was a drawing of all three of them together, him, Kayla, and Jude, all hugging. His whole family, with Owen himself in the center, holding all three of them together. The symbolism of that wasn't lost on him.
Over the top of Jude’s beautiful, precise linework were streaks of watercolor paint, what looked like every color in the palette. That had to be Kayla’s work.
His heart clenched in his chest, tears springing up in his eyes as he looked at it.
This was the best gift he’d ever been given.
“This is beautiful,” Owen said, trying not to burst into tears. He knew Jude would understand if he did, but he didn’t want to go off to work with puffy eyes or tear tracks on his face. “Thank you.”
“It’s the very least you deserve. There are also socks, since I figure I needed to get Kayla started on giving you them for every occasion right away,” Jude said, handing over a pack of business socks. “Maybe you could throw away some of the ones with holes.”
“I like the ones with holes,” Owen said.
“I know, but these are from your daughter. You’re obliged to wear them.”
Owen chuckled at that. One of the pairs of socks had little rubber ducks on them, and another had trains. They were obviously intended for kids to give their fathers.
He knew he was being conned into loving them, but he loved them anyway.
“I need to put this on the fridge,” he said, holding the painting close to his chest.
“You’re not allowed to look in it,” Jude said as he walked over. “Your cake is in there.”
“I won’t look,” Owen promised, though he was so curious now. He hadn’t had cake in a while, since Jude didn’t eat it and he felt weird having it by himself. It was nice that Jude had done it for his birthday, though.
“Charlie’s babysitting tonight,” Jude said casually, sitting down at the table to feed Kayla a piece of toast. She loved getting toast from Jude, even if she did always squish it before she ate it. That was probably safer, anyway.
“Oh?” Owen turned back to the table, having pinned up the painting with the ‘J’ and ‘K’ alphabet magnets. He’d told Jude he bought them so Kayla would get used to the letters, but really, he liked spelling things out with them.
Jude probably knew.
“All night,” Jude continued. “Until whenever tomorrow. So I can give you your other birthday gift uninterrupted.”
“Other birthday gift?” Owen asked, a tiny spark of arousal flaring in his gut at Jude’s tone.
“There’s flavored lube involved,” Jude said.
“Really?” Owen swallowed.
“Really. It’s all about you. Because it’s your birthday, and I love you, and you deserve it for being the world’s best husband.”
“And you’re gonna make me go to work and think about it all day?”
Jude shrugged. “That’s part of the gift. Anticipation is hot.”
Owen couldn’t really argue with that.
This was shaping up to be one of his best birthdays ever, all because he had his perfect little family around him.
If this was his happily-ever-after, it had been worth waiting for.
Epilogue
Kayla’s second birthday...
Jude had never been as happy to wear a party hat while he blew up balloons and ate tiny quiches in his life. There were children of various ages everywhere, people were laughing over fruit punch, and Owen was glowing as he bounced the birthday girl on his hip.
It had been almost a year now since they’d gotten married, and Jude had been happier every new day than he had the day before. He wasn’t sure what the maximum amount of happiness was, but he hadn’t reached it yet.
Life was good. He had a family who loved him, a little girl he adored, a husband he really felt he could spend the rest of his life with.
Things were pretty great.
Owen sat down next to him and grabbed his own balloon to blow up, stretching it out first and then inflating it in one steady breath.
It made Jude’s attempts look amateurish, but that was fine. The balloons were Owen’s job now.
“This is actually one of the best parties I’ve ever been to,” Jude said, shuffling a little closer to Owen to lean against him and passing the bag of balloons over. “Which probably says something about me.”
“It says you’re a lot of fun,” Owen said, taking another balloon. “Kids parties are the best. There are tiny hot dogs, cupcakes, games that don’t end in having to kiss someone you don’t want to…”
Jude chuckled. He remembered a few games like that from when he and Owen were younger. The bottle had never managed to land on Owen for him, no matter how much he’d wanted it to.
Now, he could kiss Owen whenever he wanted, which seemed like a fair trade.
“Yeah. Kids have things all figured out. No responsibilities, no worries… they’re smart.”
Owen cleared his throat. “Speaking of, uh, responsibilities… I know it’s Kayla’s birthday, but I have something for you. It’s not exactly a gift. More of a request, but I think… you know what? I’m
just gonna give it to you and let you decide what it is.”
He took something out of his pocket and handed it over. It turned out to be an unsealed envelope with the Colorado Department of Human Services logo on it.
Jude’s heart clenched, his stomach flipping over. Was this what he thought it was?
He hadn’t wanted to broach the subject, not after what Owen had been through with Kayla’s custody, but…
He pulled the papers out of the envelope, tears springing up in his eyes as his suspicions were confirmed.
Adoption papers.
Adoption papers for Kayla.
“Oh,” Jude murmured, barely holding back tears. This was easily the sweetest thing Owen had ever done for him.
“No pressure,” Owen said. “Totally up to you, and I get it if you’re not interested or not ready or-”
Jude cut him off by throwing his arms around him, squeezing him tight. He burst into tears after all, sobbing against Owen’s shoulder.
“Thank you,” he said between hiccups. “I want this so much. I love her so much, and I love you, and I just need a second to process.”
Owen wrapped his arms around Jude, rubbing soothing circles into his back. Jude was sure everyone was looking at him, but he didn’t care.
He was really, truly, legally going to be Kayla’s dad. His little family would finally be complete.
“Take all the time you need,” Owen said softly. “She couldn’t ask for a better father than you. It’d mean a lot to me if you did this.”
Jude sniffed, backing away from Owen to wipe tears away from his eyes. His face couldn’t decide between smiling and crying, which probably looked awful, but he couldn’t bring himself to worry about it.
This was the happiest moment of his life.
“It would mean a lot to me to do it,” he said, trying to keep his voice even. “You have no idea. I didn’t want to say anything because of… you know.”
“I know.” Owen nodded. “I knew this was a conversation I’d have to start, and then I thought… I mean, I knew you’d want this. I know how you are with Kayla. You’re already her dad in every other way. This is just a formality.”
Jude hiccupped again, nodding to show he understood.
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