“A bit.” Robbie didn’t want to give all his private thoughts away.

“Me too.” Eli went and stood against the far wall and turned with his hands flat on the wood. He waggled his ass. “Remember this wall?”

Robbie blinked as he made sense of what Eli was saying; then he recalled exactly what had happened against that wall not more than a week before. Instantly hard at the memory of pushing Eli around and fucking him until he begged, Robbie swallowed hard.

“Yeah,” he said.

Eli turned around and leaned back, then crossed his arms over his chest. “The new place has walls too,” he said helpfully. Then he ruined the seriousness of his words with a smirk. “And a walk-in shower big enough for two men at a time and a queen-size bed and a yard that isn’t overlooked.”

“Are you trying to say that it doesn’t matter where we are, it’s the fact that we’re together that matters?” Robbie deadpanned.

“Nah,” Eli huffed. “I was just thinking about all the new places we could make love.” He pushed himself off the wall and crossed to Robbie for a hug.

“You’re an ass,” Robbie said without heat.

Eli looked up and Robbie stared into the green depths of Eli’s eyes that sparked with laughter and promised sin.

“But you love me.”

“Yeah.”

“So, big guy, let’s take this last box over and get ourselves settled.”

After one last look at the apartment, they walked the distance between the D’s main ranch and their new house. The place was set back and away from the D to give privacy but was close enough to the stables for Robbie to keep an eye on things the same as Jack did. It was a similar L-shape to the ranch house, but only one story tall and painted the red of the closest barn. Two bedrooms meant Eli had somewhere else to store his crap, and yeah, the shower was as impressive as Robbie remembered. Robbie hung up clothes, only because Eli made him do it, and they finally stood in the large kitchen with coffee in hands.

“I need to get back to work.”

“I thought Jack and Liam were covering for you today?”

“They are, but Liam’s all mooning over Marcus, and Jack is Max this, and Max that. Seems like neither of them are concentrating much.”

Eli moved to trap Robbie by the sink. He pressed against Robbie and grinned up at him. “An hour won’t hurt. We could go christen that new bed?”

“It’s eleven am.”

“So we live dangerously.”

“But the horses—”

Eli stopped Robbie’s talking with a kiss so erotic it made Robbie’s head spin, and before he knew it, Eli was pulling him backward, still midkiss, toward the bedroom. They stopped only to pull the drapes, then fell onto the bed. Eli arranged himself and pulled Robbie between his legs. They fit perfectly and Robbie deepened their kiss and ground himself down against Eli’s hard cock.

They were good together, in bed and out, but this time would be special, the first time they made love in their new house. They stripped clumsily, not breaking the kiss, and when Robbie settled back between Eli’s legs, he let out a moan of need.

“Your turn, cowboy,” Eli said.

“Do we even have lube in here?” Robbie groaned. They didn’t even have tables next to the bed yet. Eli slid a hand under the pillow, and concentration creased his forehead before he pulled out the lube.

“Hid it when I made up the bed,” he exclaimed with a grin. “You didn’t know I was a boy scout, did you?”

“Stop talking,” Robbie said without heat. He was slicked and pressing fingers inside his lover before Eli managed to get any other words out. After he crooked his finger to tap inside Eli, that was the end of coherent talking.

“In,” Eli managed and that was it.

Robbie chuckled as he pressed his cock inside, but amusement soon gave way to the mind-blowing need to come straight away. He couldn’t get enough of Eli, he never would. They pushed and slid, and only when Eli bowed upwards with a soft sigh and Robbie felt his come between them did he let himself go. Three strokes and he was done.

“I love you,” he shouted as he came.

“I love you too.”

Cleaned up and lying flat on their backs, the two men held hands.

Eli snapped the fingers of his other hand. “I had an idea, tell you what we need.”

“Besides sleep?” Robbie murmured, then yawned. Orgasm always left him boneless and tired.

“A housewarming. We’ll have everyone over after the nanny arrives, maybe get Jack and Riley to relax a bit.”

“A housewarming.” Robbie sighed. Nothing Eli organized ended well. “Really?”

“Hush with your fretting,” Eli chided. “It’s going to be great.”

Chapter 12

Jack and Riley had waited so long for this day that somehow Rebecca dropping Max with them was both anti-climactic and the single most terrifying moment of Riley’s life. They’d done all the paperwork, met with the placement team, and Carol was settled into her small apartment taking care of the twins today. Which left Jack, Riley, and Max.

“Want to see the horses?” Jack asked. Max hurried alongside him, and Riley heard Jack mention Hatty’s name as they left. He watched from the door as Max and Jack tacked Hatty. At each stage Jack placed Max’s hand where things needed to be checked, and Max didn’t hesitate each time to help. He even put Thomas down on the floor and covered it with straw. Probably so no one would steal it, although Riley couldn’t be sure. Max settled in the saddle and Jack checked him over, then gently led Hatty out to the corralled paddock. Max had a look of intense concentration on his face, but he didn’t stare down at Hatty’s neck or at the ground, nope, their new son was staring straight ahead as if daring the world to bring it on.

Riley went back indoors and found Eden in Max’s room finishing off the walls with adhesive Thomas characters, including a large James, steam, hills and rails, and every so often a fluffy cloud. They’d painted the walls a pale blue and the quilt cover and curtains all matched the Thomas design.

“Looks amazing,” Riley said in appreciation. He held his arms open for a hug, and Eden was quick to walk into them. They’d been closer since Riley had gotten his head out of his ass over the Eden/Sean situation. “You should do this for a living.”

“I don’t need a living,” Eden murmured. “I just need to be useful. Speaking of which, I went and volunteered at the hospital.”

“You did?” Riley released his hold on Eden.

“We had so many appointments in the eye clinic with Sean and there is this special place for the kids, so I decided that is what I want to do. Work as a volunteer with the kids, designing stuff with them, helping them if their sight is affected in both eyes. I anonymously donated a whole bunch of money to the hospital to cover medical bills for the kids who couldn’t afford it. I like it there.”

“That’s amazing,” Riley said with pride. His little sister with the big heart was finally getting to be happy for real. “What does Sean think?”

“He likes it that I’m busy.”

“What is he doing now?”

“Still convinced he’s writing another book, about PTSD, he’s maybe fifty percent in, but he won’t let me read it.” She shrugged like it didn’t matter to her, but Riley knew it had to hurt that Sean wouldn’t share some of what he was writing with his fiancée.

“You want me to talk to him?”

With an accompanying grin, she poked him in the stomach. “You need to stop scaring him.”

Riley grimaced. “I still scare him?”

Eden laughed. “Not really. Just, you can be overprotective still even after promising you won’t be. I’ll get to read the book when it’s finished, but at the moment it’s cathartic for him. Anyway, big brother, changing the subject and deflecting to you, what’s it like to be a family of six now?”

Riley wasn’t sure how to answer. Six of them, when it just used to be him, was something that hadn’t happened overnight. Slowly his and Jack’s little family had grown, and judging by the grin he could feel split his face, he was feeling more than okay about it.