Liam frowned and then said, “It’s a place to sleep, that’s all that matters.”

“And it’s yours. I came here tonight because I wanted to see your place.” He stepped close and cradled Liam’s face with his palm. “And you.”

Liam pressed his face into Marcus’s hand.

Marcus continued, “We’ll go find things to make it a house, but it’s the person who lives in the house who makes it home.”

Liam smiled and the smile actually reached his eyes. “You sure know what to say at all the right times, don’t you?” he observed.

“They don’t call me silver-tongued Marcus for nothing.”

“No one calls you that.”

Marcus pressed a gentle kiss to Liam’s soft lips. “True. But it sounded good in my head.”

“I made a pasta bake thing.” Liam gestured to the oven. “And I have one beer we can share.”

“And after that, some kissing?”

Liam moved his hand to rest against the one Marcus had placed on his face. “I’m not sure I’m ready for anything else.”

Compassion swelled inside Marcus, even though his baser instincts screamed at him. What did he do? What did he want? A quick fuck or something that could be more. His brain and heart won over the persistent semi-erection he always had around Liam.

“As long as you like,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“There’s one thing though. I’m not entirely broken. I know I didn’t deserve what happened to me, and I am convinced, when I find the right person, that everything will slot in place. And I want to have fun with that person as well as the serious stuff.”

Marcus’s chest tightened at the words. He wanted to be the right person.

“We can have fun,” he said thoughtfully. “I’m having fun here and now, with pasta bake, beer, and kisses.”

Liam grinned. “You are an easy date.”

Marcus shook his head sadly. “Sadly true, throw in dessert and I’m anyone’s.”

Liam’s wrinkled his nose. “No dessert,” he said with a sad shake of his head.

Marcus kissed him again and this time Liam melted against him with a soft sigh.

“I’ll just take more kisses then,” Marcus said gently.

Chapter 14

Jack stood as still as stone and simply stared. He’d never seen anything so picture-perfect in his life. Carol was in the kitchen with Hayley and Max passing on her patented cookie experience. Connor was in his crib, and Jack had gone in search of Riley and Lexie. Laid out lengthways on the long sofa in the good room, Riley softly snored and held Lexie on his chest. His six four didn’t exactly fit on the sofa, and his legs from the knees down hung over the end. Lexie had her diapered butt up in the air with her tiny hands clinging to Riley’s T-shirt. Riley in turn cradled her safely. Pulling his old cell from his pocket, he wanted to capture the image forever. He frowned down at the cracked screen and wished he had Riley’s shiny new phone at hand. His had seen better days for sure.

Framing the scene he pressed the button and took a succession of photos. Peering through the dusty screen, he was pleasantly surprised that he’d actually caught what he wanted. He considered sending copies to the rest of the family, but he’d really have to ask Hayley or Riley how to do that. Probably Hayley because Riley got irritable when he couldn’t get connection, which sometimes happened on the D.

He crossed to the opposite sofa and sat on the very edge. He was tired and his head hurt from trying to balance figures for the past hour. A shower would be good, maybe some Tylenol to ease the pain in his head and the itch in his throat. He was coming down with something, that much was clear, probably the same thing that had kept Hayley off school for two days last week. He copied Riley’s position on the other sofa, but he was too short to get his legs over the end as neatly as his husband. He also didn’t have the benefit of a baby on his chest as a hot water bottle, and he was cold.

Any minute now he would get up and grab a coffee and some meds, then maybe have an early night. He had a training session with a new owner in a few days and he wanted to be prepared. He closed his eyes and willed himself to relax.

When he opened his eyes next, the room was darker and Riley was crouched next to him. He had a palm on Jack’s forehead and he was talking.

“…hot. You need to be in bed.”

“’M’kay,” Jack murmured.

“You’re burning up.”

“No. ’M’cold.”

“Come on, cowboy, up and at ’em.”

Riley helped Jack to stand and the room spun. Jack gripped Riley. This was way worse than the dizziness he’d felt this afternoon; this was the kind of dizziness that you only got after an entire bottle of Jack Daniels. They shuffled into the bedroom.

“Feel like shit,” Jack muttered. Then it hit him. Riley was in the room, touching him, getting in the way of germs and all. “Go ’way, you’ll catch it,” he added.

“Think I’m already marked out to be ill next,” Riley said firmly. “Not going to matter now.”

Jack pushed at Riley, but he didn’t have the energy. Instead, taking a step back, he stumbled and ended up flat on his back on the bed. Riley pulled off Jack’s boots and socks, then eased down his jeans. He somehow managed to support Jack’s weight and peel off his shirt and T-shirt. Finally something soft surrounded him as he was wrapped in the quilt. Riley made him swallow meds and finish off the water in the glass. Jack knew the routine: meds, hydration, bed rest, wait for the temperature thing to break, and in a couple of days he’d be fine. He just needed to be sure that Robbie and Liam were on the ball about the training day.

“Remind Robbie about the booked visit tomorrow,” Jack mumbled.

“Will do, babe. Sleep now.”

“Is Pappa okay?” Hayley’s voice filtrated through the fog in his head.

“He just needs sleep,” Riley reassured Hayley.

“Can I kiss him?”

“Sure you can.”

Jack felt the bed dip as Hayley clambered up, then the gentle touch of a kiss on his cheek. “Get better, Pappa,” Hayley whispered.

Jack answered with an okay, and she climbed down. The door shut and abruptly the room was silent.

Being ill kind of sucked.

* * * * *

Riley walked back into the kitchen and hoisted Max up into a carry on demand. The new game was Max walking his fingers on the ceiling, and Riley couldn’t get enough of his little boy’s wide-eyed fascination with being so high. Part of him sometimes considered Max’s parents. He knew the mom was dead, overdosed on the same drugs that made the few months after Max’s birth so hard. The dad was nowhere to be found; there was nothing on the birth certificate, and even Riley paying for private investigators had turned up no results. Max’s mom dying was the end of the road, and he didn’t have any siblings or grandparents. The closest the investigation got was a third cousin to Max’s mom who was serving time for bank robbery.

He’d wanted so much to find a family for Max. It had taken Jack simply stating that Max had a family now to finally stop the edge of sadness that gripped Riley whenever he looked into Max’s blue eyes. Where you came from was important. He knew that well. Finding out the man he thought was his dad actually wasn’t was the answer to every single question Riley had in his head. And now he had his real dad in his life, and Max had a grandpa and a gramma, two sets of them actually.

“How is he?” Carol asked from the sink.

Riley hefted the weight of his son in his arms and rubbed noses with him. Max still shut his eyes when Riley got too close, but he at least giggled when Riley tickled him.

“I think he has what Hayley had, some kind of viral thing probably.”

“How are you?”

“Me? I’m fine so far. What about the twins and Max?”

Carol shrugged and dried her hands on a towel. “Depends, they may get ill, I’ll get some more Tylenol in case, but there’s nothing really for the twins, pediatricians don’t recommend over-the-counter meds for children under two. But there’s Infant and Children’s Tylenol and it never hurt Marcus.”