That smile lingered, heart-stopping and lighting his face, as he lifted his head to look up at Damon, then gingerly lifted himself from the bedside and crept toward the doorway. Neither of them spoke, though, until they’d stepped out into the hall and eased the door closed behind them.
“That was easier than I expected,” Rian whispered, looking over his shoulder and peering through the last crack in the door. “Normally we have to practically fight them about nap time.”
“I have a feeling the sitter knows tricks we don’t, and this is one of them,” Damon murmured, slipping his arm around his husband’s waist and drawing him close—until he could feel every inch of slim, supple warmth that Rian concealed in the flow of his loosely swirling clothing. “Now I know how she always gets them to go down without a fuss. She wears them out.”
“We can always keep them busy over the summer. Are we still taking them up to Cape Cod?”
“I just need to check the dates for the pow-wow.” Damon settled to lean against the wall with Rian draped against him.
“Are you certain you’re okay with that...?” Rian settled a worried hand to Damon’s chest. “How long has it been since you last went?”
“Almost ten years. But I don’t want them to grow up like me, babe. I don’t want them to grow up not knowing where they came from, or what it means. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel like I have a place there...but they should.”
Because maybe he could never get that past back; that lost history, that lost life.
But he could make sure it was always within his children’s grasp.
“As long as you’re sure.” Rian pressed his lips to the corner of Damon’s mouth.
“I’m sure. I promise.” He grinned. “We could make a vacation out of it. Come back before it’s time to send them off to school.”
“Mm. With the girls starting kindergarten late, I do wonder if we should try to get them on a more standard schedule before the school year starts.” Rian sounded troubled as he rested his head to Damon’s shoulder, his brow creasing. “I know it’s because they’ve been in the system for so long, but I’m worried about them, Damon. Starting school years behind their peers.”
“It’ll be all right. They’re smart girls, and they’ll catch up. We’ll work with them.” Damon pressed a kiss to the top of Rian’s head, into the soft ripples of his hair. “As long as we’re patient with them and give them what they need, they’ll be fine.”
“I hope you’re right.” Rian nestled into him in that way Damon loved—as if Rian just needed to be as close to him as possible, even if it meant burrowing in like a little silky-pale ermine. “I feel like all I do is worry about them lately. Is that normal?”
“It is when you love your kids.” Damon smiled against Rian’s scalp. “I worry, too. It’s pretty standard for new parents. We love them enough that we’re terrified of breaking them by doing something wrong.”
“He says as if he has any more experience with parenting than I do.” With a snort, Rian poked his side. “No one told me it was this exhausting. I think I need an afternoon nap.”
“Yeah?” Damon turned his head to catch the upper curve of Rian’s ear in his teeth, tugging back gently and scraping his teeth along the soft flesh. “...you sure about that? We haven’t actually had a minute of quiet in a while.”
...especially when at night, more often than not the kids still woke with nightmares. The social workers said that, too, was normal and it would calm down with time, but until then...
Sleep was a little restless for everyone, when they were tense and waiting to snap awake to handle an emergency.
And it felt like forever since it had been safe for them to fall into each other without getting interrupted.
Rian inhaled softly, his body going tense against Damon’s with that particular tightness that whispered of heat shivering through pale flesh. “Ah... Damon...mmnnh. It’s...it’s been...it feels like forever.”
The husky note of longing in Rian’s voice made Damon smile to himself, flicking his tongue out against the flesh he’d just nipped before rumbling against Rian’s ear. “You miss me, Ri?”
“So much,” Rian whispered with a ragged sound, curling his hands against Damon’s chest and knotting up handfuls of his shirt. “I just...want one night with you...”
“Not sure we’ll get that unless we convince Fox and Summer to take the kids for an overnight trial run before they decide to adopt their own. But they might be willing, if it means letting us have a date night.” Damon chuckled, slipping his other arm around Rian, gathering him close until there wasn’t room or breath or even the slightest longing, loss-filled space between them. “But we’re alone now, and as long as you don’t make too much noise...”
“With what you do to me?” Rian let out a choked sound that was half groan, half laugh...before his slim figure twisted deftly out of Damon’s arms. He took a few steps backward, his fingers trailing along Damon’s arm, then lacing their fingertips together in a gentle tug; hazel eyes sparked wickedly, soft depths the color of amber and brimming with enticement, need. “Race you to the bedroom?”
Damon grinned. “...if that’s how you want to play it,” he said, “you’d better start running.”
He gave Rian half a second to realize what he’d challenged Damon to—half a second to widen his eyes, half a second to gasp, half a second to turn and bolt down the hall with a tiny suppressed shriek of breathless laughter.
Before Damon was after him, hot on his heels.
Just hot, period—when all it took was one look from his husband to ignite him all over again. Rian had always left him heated—with anger, with frustration, with passion.
With love.
And once he started to burn...
There was nothing that could calm him down but Rian’s kiss. His touch.
His love, and the promise reinforced every time their bodies crashed together in a tangle of flesh and need and wild, burning heat.
Damon couldn’t get enough.
And if this might be his only chance for the next—who knew how long?
He wasn’t going to waste it.
* * *
Rian barely made it through the bedroom door before Damon’s heavy weight hit him—and he wasn’t sure if Damon fell into him or he fell into Damon but suddenly they were crashing, tangling, the bed slamming into his back as Rian fell to the mattress with his entire body nearly vibrating with the force of impact.
The force of impact, and the force of his need for Damon.