“Oh…Oh…” Del coughed. “Okay, well, I’ll just…leave you to it. Sorry!” He retreated from the bathroom and made sure the door was closed behind him.
His relationship with Justin was obviously changing. They were becoming something different, slowly but surely. There was still no rush, but it seemed like his subconscious was ahead of him. The thought of Justin taking care of his problem followed him down the stairs.
Scarlett saw him and let out a joyous squeal, holding out her grubby hands. A quarter of her dinner was smeared on her face and front. Nothing to take your mind off sexy things like cleaning up a squirming toddler. Del wondered if this was what parenthood felt like.
Blue balls aside, he liked it. 11
Justin was sure his face was still bright red after he dried himself and dressed and came downstairs to eat. He’d thought, when he’d almost dozed off in the tub, that slipping into a relationship with Del was just like slipping into a hot bath: easy, relaxing, and it felt so good. He hadn’t been expecting Del to come and check on him. To touch him like that. There had been nothing relaxing about that touch, that was for sure. Even jerking off quickly once Del had left hadn’t put the fire out. Justin had been left simmering instead, like one of Del’s pots on the stovetop.
The kids were still sitting around the table, eating ice cream for dessert. Justin was pretty sure it wasn’t even store bought—of course Del would make his own ice cream. There was probably nothing he couldn’t make.
Justin slid into his seat across from Del, and Del pushed a dish of something in front of him. The famous Stew, Justin thought, leaning forward to inhale the aroma. It smelled great, but he could understand why the kids didn’t love it. There was definitely a beer smell to it. Not the sort of cheap beer that Justin and his friends used to drink either, but something richer and heavier. Justin stabbed a piece of beef with his fork, and lifted it to his mouth. The flavor burst across his tongue and he couldn’t bite back the pleasurable moan that came from him.
He flushed when he made the sound and met Del’s gaze.
Del’s eyes were dark with desire, and Justin felt a sudden rush of power and excitement at having made Del—stoic, sensible, always-in-control Del—want
“Good?” Del asked, his voice pitched lower than usual.
“Mmm.” Justin swallowed. “It’s so good.”
“It tastes like beer,” Harper announced.
“Yeah,” Justin said. “Some grownups like beer though.”
Del had been shocked to find out that Harper knew what beer tasted like. Justin wished he was, but he didn’t even need to draw the dots, did he? He could remember Uncle Steve giving him a can of beer to drink when he was about eight or nine. Could still remember the way he’d laughed with Justin had made a face and spat it out. Uncle Steve had made him drink the whole thing to prove he wasn’t a pussy. And he’d laughed more when Justin had thrown up afterward. And that memory wasn’t even one of the bad ones. It was just how things had been when Justin had been growing up. He got the feeling that Del wouldn’t understand that at all.
Wyatt made a face.
“Wyatt thinks beer is gross too,” Harper announced, digging into her ice cream.
“It is, mostly,” Justin said. “But I like it in this.”
He liked the Stew, he liked eating around the table with Del and the kids, he liked coming home to this house instead of his own—and there was probably something dangerous in that. Not that he didn’t trust Del. He didn’t trust himself, maybe. He was scared of how much he relied on Del, and how easy Del made things. He was scared that if that was ever taken away from him that he’d crash and burn. As much as he wanted Del to be the answer to all his problems, Justin knew he couldn’t let that happen. He needed to be able to stand on his own two feet, didn’t he? And that had been hard enough back in Pendleton when it was just him, but with the kids it seemed almost impossible. The more Justin thought of the future, and of everything that could go wrong, the more he just wanted to curl up with Del and let Del handle it. But that wasn’t fair to Del, and it wasn’t fair to the kids. Because if this thing with Del didn’t last—and nothing in Justin’s life so far had prepared him for the idea that good things would last—then Justin needed to be
But then he thought of how Del had touched him in the bath, his finger circling his nipple in a way that had made his whole body light up, and he wanted that. He wanted everything Del could give him, even if it was selfish and unfair. Even if it meant he’d have farther to fall if things went wrong.