True. “Your brothers really are great.”
“You're great,” he said, then he kissed me. While we took a few minutes alone, kissing and hugging, I marveled at how much my life had changed in a month. With Creed’s presence, I’d begun to truly grieve for the two most important people in my life, and with that came the healing I’d desperately needed. Jakey had always been a smart little boy, and it was becoming more obvious that even though I tried to hide it, my grief had been keeping him stuck, too. Life wouldn’t ever be the same, but maybe it’d be better than I’d imagined.
We broke from a particularly passionate kiss when Shane stomped in yelling, “Davis, Conrad cheated! He bought bubbles and didn’t tell me.”
Creed laughed against my lips. “Welcome to our circus.”
Chapter Twelve
Creed
After eight weeks together, Logan and I had developed a nice little routine. I only spent the night on either Friday or Saturday because I still didn’t want Jakey to ever feel like I was intruding on their space. Other than that, I had dinner with them several nights a week, and as long as work permitted, I visited Logan for lunch each day. Vonda teased me all the time that since I spent so much time there, and with my outgoing personality, if I wanted a job, she’d put me on the schedule. I hadn’t admitted it to anyone but Shane, but I thought it was probably a good thing that we had to be mindful of Jakey’s needs or I probably would’ve suffocated Logan with clinginess. I’d gone from a guy who could barely make it dating the same woman for longer than a week, to wanting to see this man every minute of every day.
And then there was Jakey. He may have been Logan’s everything, but my world was starting to rotate around the little boy as well. His somber eyes or his appropriately placed giggles showed his quick wit; he didn’t need words. With only one more week until he turned three, I was pretty positive that he was the smartest kid alive.
We now had it down on the nights I went over that we’d leave the dishes for later and hang out in the living room, then while Logan gave Jakey his bath, I cleaned up, and then we all met in Logan’s room where we took turns reading a book to Jakey. Sometimes the little con-artist even managed to get an extra story out of me.
Unlocking the door with the key Logan had given me when I expressed concern over him always leaving the door unlocked—to which he rolled his eyes, but hey, bad people watch for patterns—I was surprised when I made it all the way to the living room without Jakey running to greet me with a hug around my legs. “Logan? Jakey?” I called.
Logan sauntered down the stairs in a tight pair of jeans, and a steel gray long-sleeved shirt rolled up to his elbows. Lord, my man was hot. As much as I adored his big heart, it didn’t hurt my feelings that he made such a ruggedly handsome picture with his towering height, that sexy as sin beard, and those lickable tattoos. “Hey. Good, you’re still dressed for work.”
“What’s going on? Where’s Jakey?”
He got all up in my space and leaned down and kissed me, drawing me in close. The feel of his solid form under my hands just kept getting hotter every time I touched him. I held onto his biceps for balance as he assaulted my mouth in a way that had my dick plumping up in a totally inappropriate way for a night at home with the little one. Finally, his moist lips separated from mine with a pop. “Surprise.”
I glanced around and still no Jakey. “What?”
“My parents are feeding Jakey tonight so that we can go to dinner just the two of us.”
“Really? Are you okay with that?”
Logan bent down and nuzzled into the side of my neck, his warm breath sending shivers down my spine. “Yeah. I want to take you out to dinner. You’re so good to us, and I know I’ve been hesitant about leaving Jakey, but we need some adult time.”
I kissed his temple. “As psyched as I am about having you to myself, don’t ever think for one minute that I consider your nephew an imposition or that I feel like we’re stuck at home because of him. I’m perfectly content being here with you two.”
Logan kissed my neck, and then I felt the warm heat of his tongue licking across my skin before he moaned and pulled back. “We better go before I start begging you to have your way with me.” The adoration in his gaze, even as he teased, caused my breath to hitch as the knowing that I was staring at my future clicked into place—my heart and mind in total agreement. “Don’t you think I know that? But Mom and I have been talking about it. J.J. and Haley tried to make time for date night, and they were his parents. Plus, the easiest way to encourage Jakey to have healthy relationships is to demonstrate them.”
“I’m not sure I think Jakey’s ready for a relationship quite yet, Logan,” I teased. “I think we need to get him out of pull-ups before we’re worried about that.”
Logan tickled my side—a less than handy fun-fact my brother and Shane had decided to share with him. “So, you wanna go out with me or what?”
“I’d love to.”
“Bobby, the bartender I was working with the night we met, told me that the food here is amazing, and it hasn’t been open long, so it’s still somewhat of a hidden treasure,” Logan said as I held the door open for him to another bar and grill on the other side of town from where he worked.
“That’s cool. I’m good with whatever.” I clasped his hand firmly in mine.
“You don’t mind it’s not a fancier place, right? Mom and I only decided tonight that they were keeping Jakey for dinner, and since I didn’t make a reservation anywhere…” He shrugged his broad shoulders.
He’d grown so comfortable with me over the weeks that I’d forgotten how attractive he was when he was nervous. “You’re adorable.” I raised his hand to my lips and kissed the back. “I would’ve been happy going through a drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant as long as we were together.”
“Well, I think we can do better than that for our first grown-up date.”
With fake indignation, I gasped. “What’re you talking about? Our first grown-up date was at the diner the night we met.”
Logan brushed our arms together, and the blush I loved so much worked from under the side of his beard as he fought a smile.
We were following the hostess to be seated when we heard a squeal as we passed the bar. Turning, the bartender Logan had mentioned was waving us over. We let the young lady show us our table and then made our way back to the bar. “Come to the pass-through,” Bobby said.
“I thought he worked with you,” I said to Logan.
Logan chuckled. “He does, but he works at a few other places, too. He says he needs the variety.”
We waited for Bobby to finish making a drink, watching as he chatted with the patrons in front of him while he worked. When he was done, he launched himself at Logan, who picked him up until just the toes of his feet touched the floor. When he set him back down, Bobby waggled his eyebrows at me. “I heard rumors that Logan finally had a man. I wondered if it was you.”
“Why?” Logan asked, sounding completely baffled.
I turned to him, shaking my head as if disappointed. “Uh, probably because I couldn’t take my eyes off of your big sexy body that whole night.”