Uncomplicated Choices

by Cara Dee

  After a moment of silence, I glanced up at Marilyn, my opinion on her beginning to change. "This is a new side of you." I kept it honest, as it was what I did best. "We've never talked like this before."

  "Yes, well." And because of that, she went back to stiff and formal. It was comical, and I grinned at her. "Ellis has always spoken so fondly of you. I think you've been special to him for quite some time, platonically or not, and I suppose I'm understanding why now. I see why he looks up to you."

  "Thank you, Marilyn." It meant more than I could say. "Does this mean you'll be coming over to Ade and Lincoln's more often?"

  Welp, that was a firm no. She literally squeaked at the notion.

  I chuckled.

  I guessed Ellis hadn't been lying. "Ellis told me you find us loud and meddling."

  "Why would he blab on me?" She sounded endearingly miffed. "I'm just…private."

  I nodded, understanding that. "I'd like to get to know you better, though. You seem very accepting of everything—with Ellis and me, I mean. With my becoming a part of your son's life."

  That earned me a playfully superior smirk. "Dear, when the lipstick comes off, the truth comes out. You weren't around for my meltdowns—in private, thank you very much—where I paced around my house chanting, 'oh God, he's gay now, oh God, he's gay now' for hours on end."

  I exhaled a laugh, picturing it. "Could've been worse."

  She shrugged slightly. "Thank goodness there's one issue I don’t have."

  Definitely seeing this woman in a new light. It lifted a weight off my shoulders I hadn't even known was there.

  "You do have one issue," I was kind to point out. "You're gonna have to tell Ellis all this—and once again, you let me in on the news before him."

  She winced. "It would help if you put in a good word for me."

  "I'll do my best." I winked.

  Chapter 18

  "Casey."

  I rolled over—or tried—and smashed my face against the back of the couch. "Balls…" Why wasn’t I in bed?

  A quiet chuckle coming from behind me stole my attention, and I blinked sleepily and looked over my shoulder. Ellis was home. Shit, at what time?

  "What time is it?" I yawned and forced myself to sit up.

  "Almost eleven." He slid in next to me, still dressed sharply while my sweats and tee had seen better days. "I came home as soon as I saw your text, but by then, you were already asleep on the couch."

  I hummed and glanced around us. The living room was dark, and I remembered Haley was at Lincoln's. Then the memories from my talk with Marilyn rushed back, at which I whipped my head to find the nearest clock. It was how late? Holy crap, eleven. Ellis's words had barely registered.

  I'd slept away the evening.

  I scratched my head and squinted.

  Ellis smiled. "You're too cute sometimes."

  Another yawn escaped me, and I leaned against him as I let the relief from earlier sink in. "Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?"

  "I was going to." He loosened his tie. "Then Marilyn called, so I drove over to her, and we talked. We—" He laughed softly. "We talked for a long time. It was almost pleasant."

  "Almost," I snorted, half amused.

  "Mm." He gathered me close and dropped a kiss to my temple. "It's been difficult for both of us, I think, which is ironic. It's easy to walk away from something you haven't put much effort into—at least for several years. Much harder to reconcile the fact that we have none other to blame than ourselves for all the time we wasted."

  I tilted my face up to look him in the eye.

  He searched my eyes, one hand coming up to stroke my cheek. "What Marilyn suggested today about our son's living arrangements is everything I want, but you have a choice to make. We haven't been together very long, and it's understandable if you believe I'm rushing into this for the wrong reasons."

  Hadn't I already made that crap abundantly clear? I was done giving a fuck about how long we'd been together. A few months or a few years—I knew Ellis. I trusted him. I loved him. This was something I refused to complicate.

  "I want you to quit holding back, Ellis. You know me. I wouldn’t play house with you if I didn’t want it to be real."

  He exhaled and pressed his forehead to mine, his eyes closing.

  "I'm serious." I covered his mouth with mine and kissed him slowly. "I should have known I was toast from the first night we spent together." I'd been a fool for thinking it could ever be a silly infatuation. The chemistry and sense of rightness had been there from the start.

  "I think I did know," he murmured. "You woke me up."

  "And you anchored me, okay?" Heat and need rose within, and I scrambled up to straddle him. The kiss grew hungry as he whispered a curse and palmed my ass. "We're doing this. We'll learn together."

  He nodded and angled my head to go deeper, and when he spoke again, there was no surprise. It just fit. "I love you, Casey."

  The words didn’t rock me. They stabilized me.

  "I love you, too." I pushed his suit jacket down his shoulders and swept my tongue across his, reveling in the perfection of the moment. We fucking clicked. Maybe the notion of soul mates was completely bogus, but damn it if I didn’t feel our connection on every goddamn level.

  *

  The following Sunday, brunch became lunch because Ellis and I had errands to run before we headed over to Adeline and Lincoln's. Basically, Ellis agreed to get past his hang-ups—or fears that he was imposing—if I picked something out for what was going to be a boy's room.

  I'd never picked shit out for boys before, so I owned up to my cop-out. Rather than driving to the nearest toy store, we went shopping for paint. Haley was a solid excuse; she was with us, and she never would've wanted to leave the toy store. She didn’t have the same attachment to checking paint samples.

  "Have you narrowed it down anything?" Ellis wondered.

  I pursed my lips, eyeing the wall of swatches. "Green. Some lighter shade." It was easier to match with other colors than blue, in my opinion.

  While he grabbed a handful of samples, my phone vibrated, and I checked it to see Marilyn's reply.

  Wednesday is perfect. Around one?

  I nodded to myself, keeping Haley in my periphery, and answered the text.

  "Is Adeline telling us we're late?" Ellis asked. "She sent me a message earlier."

  I grinned, pocketing my phone. "No, I'm having lunch with Marilyn on Wednesday." Haley picked that moment to reach for a paint roller, so I let out a sharp whistle. "Hey! Baby, be careful. It almost fell on top of you."

  She let out a disgruntled noise and put it back. "It's boring here, Daddy."

  Luckily for her, I wasn’t gonna be long. There was one called mint green that was cute.

  "You're having lunch with Marilyn?" Ellis was giving me an odd look.

  "This one. Yeah." I handed over the sample. "Is that not okay?" It hadn't occurred to me he might have a problem with my getting to know her better.

  "Of course it is." He killed my concern and held out a hand for Haley. "Let's go, sweetheart. We're done." She ran over and took his hand as if she'd done it a million times before. It made me happy. Then we walked toward the counter to order the paint, and Ellis leaned in slightly. "Am I focusing too much on the baby? It's all I can think of, it seems. Meanwhile, you're bridging gaps with Marilyn and—"

  "I think it'd be pretty weird if you focused more on her than your son," I whispered back. When he met my gaze, I smirked. "Relax, princess."

  He sighed whereas Haley giggled madly.

  "He can't be a princess, Daddy. You're silly."

  "Didn’t you have us call you Prince Haley before Disney?" I retorted.

  That gave her a thinker.

  *

  "Whose truck is that?" Ellis asked.

  "No clue." I stepped out of the passenger's seat and helped Haley, noting that Madigan's car was here. Maybe the other guest was a friend of Ade's or coworker of Lincoln's. "You ready for lunch, baby?"<
br />
  Haley nodded and held up her arms.

  It wasn’t often she wanted me to carry her anymore, so I was all for it. I picked her up with a smile and shut the door.

  She played with my hair. "Can you tell Lyn that the new baby will be a little more mine?"

  I furrowed my brow at her. "He'll be what, now?"

  She rolled her eyes, making me narrow mine. The girl was picking up some attitude from Lyn; only, Lyn did it playfully, and she was older.

  "Because he will live in my house, Daddy," she explained exasperatedly. "I will see him more. Lyn has two brothers! I want one."

  "Oh." I didn’t know what to say, although it made sense…

  Thankfully, Ellis had this one covered. He passed us and kissed her cheek. "He'll be your baby brother."

  She beamed at him. "I can help with his homework."

  "Aw, my adorable little shit." I laughed and blew raspberries on her cheeks. This from the girl who hadn't reached the age where she got any homework herself. But God, she was excited to become a big sister. Even if it was to a boy.

  The three of us headed up to the house, and Ellis and I decided to be quiet about our poorly kept secret until the surprise guest had left. At this point, it was a miracle no one suspected there was more going on between him and me. For fuck's sake, if Haley and Lyn argued over where the baby would live, it felt like Adeline would've picked up on that by now.

  "Auntie Ade, Uncle Lincoln!" Haley shouted as we entered the estate. "I'm here!"

  There was laughter coming from the kitchen.

  The moment she was on her feet, Haley ripped off her jacket and shoes, then bolted into the kitchen where I heard Adeline was quick to greet her. Questions about what we'd done today and how Haley's weekend had been followed, but I tuned into the other voices. Was that Jameson I heard?

  I arrived in the doorway approximately two seconds before Ellis did, long enough to confirm everyone was already seated, and yeah, Jameson was here.

  We got through the rambunctious greetings, and Ellis leaned in and murmured, "That's Jameson, correct?" as I directed Haley to her seat next to Lyn. And I nodded once in response, okay with the whole thing, albeit unsure of whether or not he was.

  To be honest, I didn’t believe Jameson would mention anything.

  I bumped fists with Madigan and gave Jameson's shoulder a squeeze. "Who are you hiding from by being here?"

  More laughter erupted, and my eyebrows shot up. Lincoln, in particular, was having fun.

  "Did I actually guess it right?" I asked incredulously.

  "I'm not hiding," Jameson bitched.

  Madigan snorted. "No, it's just a coincidence that his stepdaughter is over at his house."

  That was funny. Ellis had already sat down between Haley and Adeline, which left me with the only option of becoming the meat in a Madigan and Jameson sandwich.

  "Don’t worry, man." Lincoln clapped Jameson on the shoulder. "We've all been there."

  "Excuse me?" Adeline raised a brow. "I may have been young, but I was by no means your daughter."

  "I am!" Lyn raised her hand.

  "Damn fucking right." Lincoln winked at her, then turned to Adeline. "Can't you see I'm trying to offer the man some comfort? Lord, woman."

  I tuned them all out for a few seconds while I got comfortable. There were a tad too many loud voices and too much gesturing. Pushing up the sleeves of my pullover, I eye-fucked the food instead and dug in. Trust Adeline to be the one who went overboard with food. I filled my plate with mac and cheese, a couple sliders, a few wings, and cheesy rolls with bacon.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Ellis helping Haley with her food, the two of them grinning and whispering about something. It was a sight that never got old.

  A hand on my leg not only startled me but stole my attention, and I snapped my head sideways to see Jameson inching closer.

  "Are you still single?" he asked under his breath.

  I smirked, thankful the others were as loud as ever.

  "I'm not, no," I chuckled and removed his hand. "Shit's that bad, huh?"

  "Ah—sorry. Yeah, you can say that." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to hell."

  I grinned lazily and forked some mac and cheese into my mouth. "So enjoy the ride."

  He scowled. "That ain't helping."

  I laughed.

  *

  After lunch, we decided to take advantage of the weather. Coffee and pastries were brought up on the roof, and Lincoln and Ellis arranged the heaters and the canvas cover over the lounge area.

  I was looking forward to sinking into one of those luxurious love seats when Ellis asked for "a word, please."

  "Why does that make me feel like I'm in trouble?" I Eskimoed Haley and tossed her into one of the seats. "Keep that one for Daddy and Uncle Ellis, okay?"

  "Okay," she laughed.

  On my way back inside, I winced when I heard Madigan ask, "Why's he calling dibs on Ellis?"

  How were people not suspecting us?

  Trailing after Ellis, I added up all the little things that'd changed, and I honestly couldn’t see how blind people could be. We were kinda obvious by now. We arrived together, left together, Ellis and Haley had grown a lot closer, we practically lived together—even as far as the others knew… The only thing missing was Haley chirping about Daddy making kissy faces with Uncle Ellis, something we'd started introducing her to be around, however PG we kept it. Or possibly that my spare room was turning into a nursery.

  When Ellis reached the second floor, he veered right instead of left where the stairs continued down, and I followed him to the hallway where the "kids'" rooms were. Are we heading to the bathroom? Sadly not; Ellis stopped outside of Abel's room and pulled me in for a hard hug.

  It wasn’t the hot rendezvous I had in mind, but this always worked.

  He backed me up against a wall, cupped the back of my neck, and kissed me deeply.

  This definitely works.

  "My first experience with jealousy was highly unpleasant." He spoke into the kiss and didn’t allow me to speak until—shit, I sucked in a quick breath, and then he was back. His tongue invaded my mouth in sensual strokes, his body pressing firmly along mine, and he got deliciously handsy. "What did he say? Jameson got close."

  I chuckled, all but breathless, only to groan as he left a trail of openmouthed kisses down my neck. "Fuck," I exhaled and exposed my neck some more. "I, uh—God, that feels good. He only asked if I was single. I said no. He backed off. He's a good guy—no one you need to worry about."

  "Good. That’s good." His mouth returned to mine, and to my disappointment, he slowed things down. I was ready for a quick getaway to the bathroom. "Do you know how terrifying it is to go from not giving a rat's ass to suddenly have so much to lose?"

  Of course I knew. I kissed him back, and it was impossible to wipe the smile off my face. "I love you, Ellis."

  "Right," he chuckled huskily. "I love you, too. I'll work on unclenching."

  "You don’t have to do that for my sake." Because there really was nothing hotter than having your man walk up to you and claim you. "Just wait 'til it's my turn to get insecure about all the models you have around you at work."

  He shook his head, amused, and rested his forehead to mine. "You honestly seem to believe I have a catwalk outside of my office, as opposed to a standard cubicle area with too much noise."

  I laughed under my breath and—

  "You two got news to share?" The unmistakable drawl of Lincoln's voice was a complete mood killer.

  With a wrinkle of my nose, I turned to the intruder and found both him and Madigan standing by the stairs.

  Madigan knew. He didn’t seem too surprised. Maybe 'cause he was there when I professed my undying crush for Ellis.

  "Maybe," I replied slowly. "To be fair, I thought we were being obvious."

  Ellis hadn't moved an inch, so at least he wasn’t backing out, though his discomfort was evident. I moved my hand from his
hip to his hand and gave his fingers a gentle squeeze that seemed to work a little. His shoulders looked less stiff.

  "Not gonna lie, I've had questions for a while…" Lincoln cleared his throat and stepped a bit closer. "Haley called Ellis hers…because he and Kid live together now."

  Ellis and I exchanged a brief look, and if he was half as happy about Haley's statement, we were good.

  "I am sort of hers," Ellis murmured, shifting his gaze from me to Lincoln. "I suppose it's safe to say a lot happened while you were in France."

  "No shit?" Lincoln gave us an incredulous look while Madigan snorted. "Okay, since I know both of you, I can assume this is serious. I fucking hope you wouldn’t involve Haley for anything less. So…" He sighed and scratched his bicep, then started with Ellis. "If you hurt Kid, I'll hunt your ass down. There isn't anything he won't do for the people he loves, even if it ends up hurting him. We clear?"

  I was taken aback by that, not to mention humbled.

  "You have my word, Lincoln." Ellis took his cousin seriously.

  "Good." Then Lincoln figured it was my turn. "And you, you better keep your drama queen on a leash. Ellis lives in his head and just got out of his marriage. Practice patience, yeah? He's a good man."

  Now he was only cute.

  I saluted him. "Copy that, Daddy-o."

  He shot me a look, and then he was done. He muttered about the imminent reaction of Adeline on his way up the stairs again.

  I scratched my nose.

  "Right. Congrats, guys." Madigan walked forward and shook our hands. "Glad I was right. Be happy and all that."

  "How did you know?" I had to ask, 'cause he wasn’t around as much. My drunken declaration a few months ago couldn’t be enough.

  He shrugged. "I pick up on these things, I guess."

  It hit me instantly why. If you didn't go looking for something, chances were you weren't gonna see certain things that were clear to others.