Fingerprints and Muddy Feet

by Carol Lynne

“Soooo, what’re you thinking?” Rio eventually asked.

  Ryan rolled over and buried his face against Rio’s neck. “Just wondering which one of us is going to break first,” he mumbled. “I don’t begrudge Nate at all for bringing the kids here—hell, we both know what the alternative would be—but there are times when it’s hard enough keeping the three of us together. What’ll happen when we throw two children into the mix?” He shrugged. “I guess I can’t see it working out, and it makes me wonder which one of us will be left out.”

  Rio nudged Ryan with his chin until Ryan pulled back enough to look up at him.

  “I’ve always heard how hard it is to be a single parent. Which makes two-parent households that much easier. We’ve got three, so we outnumber the kids. How hard can it be?”

  “It’s not that it’ll be hard. I’m just used to always having at least one of you around when I need attention.” Ryan noticed the way Rio’s eyes narrowed slightly. “It’s not just about fucking. Although we already know our sex life is going to suffer.” He sighed. “I’m spoilt, okay? Is that what you needed to hear? I don’t want to share you and Nate with two damn kids.”

  “Why didn’t you say something before?” Rio asked.

  “Because Nate doesn’t have much choice, and I’m not willing to lose him without giving it one hell of a fight.” Ryan kissed Rio’s jaw. “And because I didn’t want to admit what an asshole I am.”

  “You’re not. I’ve had some of the same worries, and I bet Nate’s had his share as well. I think the best thing for us to do is sit down together and form some kind of game plan. Maybe we can schedule weekly date night for the three of us. I’m sure it won’t be hard to find someone to sit with Will and Hannah one night a week. It doesn’t matter to me whether we have kids in the house or not, I’m not sleeping anywhere but in my bed with the two of you, and if you think there won’t be some fucking going on, you’re delusional.”

  “We’ll have to buy Nate a ball gag or something,” Ryan said, feeling only slightly better. He hoped he was being a pessimist and the relationship he shared with Nate and Rio would hold together until Will and Hannah went off to college, but he wasn’t willing to walk away, so he had little choice but try to make it work.

  Chapter Five

  Nate waited until they were all loaded into Rio’s truck before leaning over to give his partner a quick kiss. It was something he’d warred back and forth with himself about since they’d landed, but finally decided Hannah and Will needed to get used to the fact that Nate, Ryan and Rio liked to kiss, often.

  “I talked to Oggie. He’s gonna bring some of the kids around on Saturday to go sledding,” Rio announced.

  Nate glanced in the backseat to see if that sounded fun to Will, but found himself looking at two shocked faces. He realised immediately what was wrong. “I assume neither of you are used to seeing two men kiss. Am I right?”

  “I’ve seen it on TV,” Hannah replied. She pointed at Rio. “But he doesn’t look gay.”

  Rio chuckled. “I can assure you, I’m very much gay.”

  Nate slapped Rio’s thigh before turning back to the children. He thought of his own childhood and what he had been ready to understand about sex at their ages. “When people love each other, it’s natural to want to touch and show their partner how they feel. What I feel for Ryan and Rio is no different than how husbands and wives love each other.”

  “My mom and dad didn’t kiss very often,” Hannah informed them.

  “Neither did your grandparents,” Nate told her. “I hope someday, you’ll find someone you can’t be near without wanting to kiss them.”

  “Better not be anytime soon,” Rio added.

  Will tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms. “Are you guys married?”

  Nate shook his head. “It’s not legal in Wyoming. They talk about it, but I don’t know if a law will ever pass.”

  “But if you could, would you?” Will asked.

  “In a heartbeat,” Nate said. “Of course it would also be a sticky situation because they’d only let me marry one, and I’d never choose between them.”

  “What kind of a name is Rio?” Will asked. “Are you legal?”

  Rio chuckled again, but Nate found the question offensive. He knew where Will had heard talk of legal and illegal residents, and he wanted no part of his father’s bigotry in his home. “It’s impolite to ask people that,” Nate admonished. “Whether or not a person is a US citizen has absolutely nothing to do with who they are. You understand what I’m telling you?”

  “I just wondered,” Will mumbled. “The only time I’ve heard the name Rio was on that cartoon with the bird who wanted to go to Rio de Janeiro. I thought maybe”—he pointed at Rio—“he was from the same place.”

  “I was born in Argentina, and I’ve been a legalized US citizen for years,” Rio said, pulling onto the highway.

  Will turned his attention to the view out the window. “That’s all I wanted to know,” he said with a heavy dose of pouting in his voice.

  Nate started to apologise but decided against it. The fact that Will had asked Rio if he was legal wasn’t okay, and Nate refused to disregard the question. He settled back and readjusted the seatbelt. He noticed Rio glancing at him and subtly shook his head.

  They rode in silence for a while before Rio finally broke the quiet. “Did you remember their transcripts so they can start school after the first of the year?”

  “I contacted the school and they said they’d send them electronically,” Nate replied.

  Rio glanced in the rear-view mirror. “You guys like school?”

  “I do,” Will said, his earlier mood forgotten.

  “What about you, Hannah? What’s your favourite subject?” Rio asked, trying his best to get Hannah to open up.

  “Art, I guess. French is okay, too, but art’s probably my favourite,” she answered.

  “Not sure they teach French in Cattle Valley. Spanish, sure, but I don’t know about the other. They do have art, though. The teacher’s a real nice lady. She has a booth at Cattle Valley Days where she sells some of her paintings and pottery and stuff.”

  “That’s the celebration where all those people got hurt, right?” Will asked.

  “Yeah,” Rio said.

  “Did you see any of the bodies?” Will asked.

  Nate clenched his hands into fists. He knew it was an innocent question. Boys were morbid sometimes without even thinking about it. “Yes, we saw the bodies, and I can guarantee you that all of us wished we hadn’t. That sort of thing has a way of following you for the rest of your life.”

  “I didn’t see Mom and Dad. They wouldn’t open the coffins so we could say goodbye,” Will said.

  Nate could only imagine the shape Laura and Robby had been in after the plane crash. “That’s a first. For once I agree with your grandparents.”

  “Will was afraid they weren’t really in their caskets,” Hannah informed Nate. “He wanted to make sure.”

  Nate could see Will’s point. “I guess I can understand that. When my grandmother passed away, my parents wouldn’t allow me to attend the funeral. I thought for years that they were lying to me, and they just didn’t want me to see her.”

  “When I woke up this morning and saw it was after nine, I tried to figure out why Mom hadn’t been in to yell at me,” Hannah said. “It took a minute before I remembered.”

  It had been obvious that Hannah had been crying when she’d come down for breakfast, but Nate hadn’t acknowledged it. Right or wrong, he hadn’t wanted to push because they were still getting to know each other.

  “That happens to me at night a lot,” Will chimed in. “I try to go back to sleep before I remember they’re gone.”

  Nate reached over and squeezed Rio’s hand. Maybe he should talk to Dr Pritchard about the best way to help Hannah and Will cope with their parents’ death.

  * * * *

  Nate set a big bowl of salad on the table. “Will, go put your toys away and te
ll Hannah dinner’s in ten minutes.”

  Will gathered his stuff off the table. “Are we still going to meet the horses later?”

  Ryan glanced at Nate, waiting to see what his partner would say. He could tell Nate was absolutely beat after the long flight.

  “I said we would, didn’t I?” Nate smiled at Will. “Rio has a surprise he wants to share with you and your sister, so as soon as it gets a little darker outside we’ll go.”

  Letting out a loud whoop, Will dashed from the kitchen. Ryan crooked his finger at Nate. Other than a quick kiss when he’d returned from the station, he hadn’t had a chance to get a proper hello.

  Nate crossed the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Ryan. “I missed you.”

  “Not half as much as I missed you.” Ryan bent down and gave Nate a deep, probing kiss. God, he loved the taste of Nate’s mouth. “How soon after we show off the horses can we go to bed?”

  “Not soon enough,” Nate replied before sucking on Ryan’s lower lip.

  Ryan groaned and moved his hands down to rest on Nate’s ass. He pulled Nate against him, ready to strip and fuck the smaller man on the kitchen table like the good old days.

  “Steaks are done,” Rio said, opening the sliding glass door. He stomped the snow from his boots before setting a platter of steaks on the table. He did a double-take at Ryan and Nate. “I thought we weren’t having kitchen sex anymore.”

  “We aren’t.” Nate gave Ryan another quick kiss before breaking away. “Will! Hannah! Dinner!”

  Ryan grabbed the milk from the refrigerator and set it on the table. He sat in his usual seat and stared at the steaks. “Did you have any trouble grilling?”

  “Not once I knocked the snow off the damn thing.” Rio washed his hands and took his chair seconds before Will came running into the room.

  Will skidded to a stop before sliding into a chair. “Hannah will be here in a minute. She’s on the phone talking to one of her friends.”

  Nate filled Will’s glass with milk. “What about you? Hannah told me you had a friend at school. If you want to call him sometime, just let me know.”

  Ryan had seen his share of guilty men squirm in an interrogation room, and Will was doing a damn good impression of one. “What’s your friend’s name?”

  Will looked up at Ryan. He opened his mouth to speak before giving a shake of his head. His gaze went to the doorway. “I don’t really have one. I told my mom and Hannah that I did so they wouldn’t keep worrying about me,” he confessed.

  Ryan glanced at Nate. He knew what it was like to go without friends. “Maybe you’ll find someone to hang out with at your new school.”

  “I doubt it. I’ve tried to figure out why kids don’t like me, but I haven’t come up with anything, so I’ve decided I don’t need them.” Will stabbed several pieces of lettuce with his fork. He stuck the salad in his mouth and sighed, giving Ryan a glimpse of the uneaten food. “Does that make me weird?”

  “Guess that depends on why you think you don’t need them,” Nate replied.

  “I like me. When I go outside for recess, I don’t wanna play football or stand around and tease the girls. All I wanna do is swing, and I can do that by myself.”

  “Yeah, but what if you found someone else who wanted to swing with you, would you be open to that?” Rio asked, joining in on the conversation.

  “Depends. They’d have to really like me. I’ve had boys pretend to like me before but then I hear them laughing about me with their friends.” He pointed to the steak. “Are we going to eat that?”

  Ryan swallowed around the lump in his throat. Dammit. He hated to think about the little brown-haired boy being bullied. Will was too young to be so jaded.

  Hannah came into the kitchen. “Sorry. Cricket was having a major freakout.”

  “Cricket?” Ryan asked.

  “Hannah’s third best friend,” Nate informed Ryan. “So what was the freakout about?”

  “Our teacher, Mrs Weiss, confiscated a note Cricket wrote to Tony, who is the best friend of John Paul, who is the guy she likes.” Hannah’s arms waved in the air as she gave a dramatic retelling of the story. “So, Mrs Weiss reads it and says in front of the whole class that she doesn’t approve of passing love notes in class. Well, John Paul, who was sitting a few chairs from Tony, believed Cricket had actually written the note to Tony and not him.” Hannah rolled her eyes. “It’s a real mess, and Cricket can’t get the note back from Mrs Weiss to prove to John Paul that it was about him, and today was the last day before Christmas break, so she’s not sure what to do.”

  Ryan, Rio and Nate exchanged looks, but it was Nate who answered. “Tell Cricket to call John Paul and tell him that he’s way cuter than Tony and why would she ever go after second best when he’s what she wants.”

  Shocked, Ryan blinked several times. “Have you done this before?” he asked Nate.

  “It’s typical junior high stuff. Every guy likes to think he’s the hottest kid in the school.”

  Will cleared his throat. “I’m done with my salad. Could I pleeeease have some steak now?”

  * * * *

  Rio opened the drapes and turned off the lights before getting in bed. “Sure is pretty,” he said, looking out at the barn dripped in twinkle and icicle lights.

  Hannah and Will had been awed by the big reveal, but it had been the horses that had captured their full attention. It had taken the promise of another trip in the morning to finally pull them away and into bed.

  Rio stood over the bed and watched Ryan and Nate kiss for several moments before he slid in behind Nate. With a chuckle, he pressed against Nate’s warm naked back only to find Ryan’s hand already working Nate’s hole. “Christ, you didn’t waste any time.”

  Ryan broke the kiss. “I don’t know how people do it.”

  Rio pulled Nate away from Ryan. “Then let me show you.”

  Ryan tried to pull Nate back, but Rio refused to let him go.

  “From one of my favourite Charlie’s Angels episodes, Angels in Chains, I quote, I’m not a yo-yo,” Nate protested, breaking away from both of them and sitting up. “What the hell has got into the two of you?”

  “Sorry, but we’ve waited for hours to show you how much we’ve missed you,” Rio said. He brushed Nate’s upper thigh with his hand.

  “We’re sorry if we got too grabby, but we’re not used to waiting,” Ryan echoed Rio’s apology.

  Nate sighed. “Don’t you think I missed you guys, too? You’ve been here together, and I’ve been trying to piece together a relationship with two kids that I’m suddenly responsible for.” He groaned and lay back down between them. “I’ve given everything I have to Hannah and Will, and all I want right now is to be recharged with love so I can get up and do it all again tomorrow.”

  “That’s what we were trying to do,” Ryan argued.

  “No, you were acting like little boys fighting over a toy.” Nate elbowed both Ryan and Rio in the ribs. “I already feel like I’m being split in two. Believe me, it’s not easy trying to deal with Hannah and Will, knowing I’m in no way qualified to help them. There are times I feel so goddamn mad at Laura I could scream, but I can’t do that because those kids have no one else.” He reached out and held Rio’s hand. “I need what we have to be one less thing I have to worry about, at least for a while. I keep telling myself it’ll get better, that things will eventually fall into place and I can go back to focusing on city budgets, how to keep Carol’s smart mouth in check and fucking the two of you, but it’s not there yet. I’m not there yet.” He leaned up and glanced from Rio to Ryan. “And I need you guys to help hold me together for a while longer.”

  Rio felt like a complete ass. Nate always made everything look so simple that he hadn’t even considered what all the changes were doing to him. “Tell us how we can help.”

  “You can start by sticking your cock in my ass while I go down on Ryan. Then you can both hold me between you until morning,” Nate said.

  Before Nate had fi
nished his sentence, Rio reached for the bottle of lube. He could tell by the expression on Ryan’s face that he, too, felt like a heel for attacking Nate as soon as they got him alone. Rolling to his side, he poured lube onto his fingers and coated Nate’s hole before using the remaining slick on his cock.

  Ryan scooted up in bed until his back rested against the headboard. Despite the slight chill in the room, he kicked off the blanket, exposing himself entirely. “We’ll make up a list of everything that has to be done during a normal day and decide which is the best way to divide up the duties.”

  Rio moved closer to Nate and fit the head of his cock against the hole Ryan had stretched only moments earlier and spoke in Nate’s ear as he eased his length inside. “I’ve always considered us a good team, but if we put aside the petty shit, we can become a great one.”

  Nate released Ryan’s cock and glanced over his shoulder at Rio. “I know we can,” he said before slipping his lips over Ryan’s cock again.

  Rio met Ryan’s gaze as he continued to pump in and out of Nate’s ass. Sure, their sex life would definitely slow for a while, but Nate was right, if they stuck together, they could grow into a closer, even more loving, family.

  Rio closed his eyes and groaned as Nate’s body clenched around his cock. He bit his bottom lip as he tried to keep his yearning need to fuck Nate silly in check. Nate needed to feel cherished, he reminded himself with each thrust of his hips.

  “Oh, fuck, Nate, my dick’s missed you so much,” Ryan ground out between clenched teeth.

  Rio reached under Nate and wrapped his hand around Nate’s cock. It was unlikely they’d all come at the same time, but that was no reason not to try. After years of jacking Nate off, Rio knew exactly how to handle the stiff, plump cock. He applied pressure to the sensitive area just under the head.

  Nate whimpered.

  “Come for me,” Rio rasped, riding the edge of his own orgasm. He remembered Hannah and Will sleeping down the hall. “Quietly.”

  A cry, muffled only by Ryan’s cock that was shoved down Nate’s throat, filled the large master bedroom.

  “That’s it, babe.” Rio fucked Nate harder, giving his partner everything he had. He knew one loud noise coming from the bedroom shouldn’t raise too much suspicion, but a chorus of them would be a dead giveaway. He leaned over Nate’s back and took Ryan’s mouth in a deep kiss, grunting his release as he lapped and explored with his tongue.