This was the first tree he’d helped decorate in fifteen years. And even more healing to his soul was that this was the first Christmas in about that long that he’d been to church on Christmas Eve. Actually, he’d take all this sentiment a step further. This was the first time in a long time he’d even wanted to celebrate the holiday. In the past, he’d done something small with Paulie and the staff at the restaurant, but tonight was different. The comforting notion of being truly at home embraced him. He belonged right there. Kane slumped further into the chair and dropped his head against the back, but his gaze stayed focused on the twinkling lights adorning the large fragrant Douglas fir. He toed off his shoes, making himself comfortable.
“What’re you doing?” Avery asked, rounding the corner, effectively pulling him from his thoughts. He looked up to see Avery had wasted no time in making himself comfortable. He was dressed in a bathrobe tied loosely at his waist. Somehow, he looked sexy and put together even in the silky robe. Avery had a huge smile on his face and was waving Kane’s favorite robe in front of him. That simple little action made Kane smile. Avery was always thinking of him. The tree became secondary to the magnificent man coming toward him. Avery’s untamed lock of hair fell across his forehead, proving how he had hurried to get back out there to him. That knowledge touched his heart. God, he loved Avery.
“What’re you doing?” Kane countered, not moving a muscle as Avery stalked closer.
“It’s Christmas morning. We have presents to unwrap.” Avery lifted a leg to straddle Kane’s thighs and dropped the robe to the arm of the chair before pulling Kane’s loosened tie from his collar. Avery absently tossed the silk tie to the side and started unbuttoning his shirt. “You’ll be more comfortable if we get you out of your dress clothes,” Avery murmured, his amber eyes twinkling with mischief.
“It’s one o’clock in the morning. I don’t think this counts as actual morning,”
“I’m pretty sure it does. And besides, it’s our first Christmas together. Now help me get you undressed.” Avery pushed the shirt off Kane’s shoulders. Avery’s weight shifted on his lap, then he tugged the belt free. The hiss of his zipper opening encouraged Kane to help in his disrobing. He shrugged out of his dress shirt and undershirt as Avery scooted off him. Kane lifted his hips, allowing Avery the chance to help him out of his slacks. His determined lover dropped to his knees in front of him and slid his socks off his feet before standing and again straddling his thighs.
“Now, doesn’t that feel better?” Avery trailed a fingertip along his exposed collarbone.
“Yeah, but you being here on my lap feels even better.” He rested his palms on Avery’s waist and arched his hips forward, grinding against Avery. Kane lifted his face, hoping for a kiss, and it didn’t take long for Avery to figure out exactly what he wanted. Avery’s lips were firm and demanding as they pressed against his. He slid his tongue along the seam of Avery’s lips, tasting him before pushing inside. Avery deepened the kiss. Their tongues collided in a heated passion. He wrapped himself around Avery, drawing the man snuggly against his body as they kissed, losing himself in the man he loved.
Just as it started to get promising, Avery slowly ended the kiss and pushed back out of his arms. He hovered above Kane. “I’ve got something for you.” Excitement rang in his voice as he shoved off Kane’s lap and got to his feet.
Kane watched him make his way across the room and pull a brightly wrapped box from under the Christmas tree. He’d bought something special for Avery too, and he guessed they were doing this now. Kane stood, going for his coat in the entry closet. He removed the small gold covered box from the pocket. As he started back to Avery in the living room, the wind howled outside, drawing his attention to the window beside the front door. Big flakes of snow were just beginning to fall. They were going to have a white Christmas after all.
Their first Christmas together was already perfect, just being here with Avery made it that way. He reached for the robe Avery had left on the chair. His heart beat rapidly against his chest. He’d never celebrated Christmas with someone he felt such a connection with, not ever. What he and Avery shared was special.
“Babe, what’re you thinking about? You look like you’re a million miles away.” Avery’s soft voice drew his attention back. He glanced up as he lowered back in the seat. Avery stood in front of him, holding a beautifully wrapped gift.
“I was just thinking about how blessed I am to have you in my life,” he answered truthfully and opened his arms, wanting Avery back in his lap.
“That’s exactly how I feel about you, too,” Avery said, straddling him again. He tilted his head and quickly pressed a kiss to Avery’s lips as he settled in place.
“Merry Christmas, Avery.” His voice was almost a whisper. The pressure built in his chest as he offered his lover the slender box. “I hope you like it. I thought about you when I saw it.” He was a little nervous about his gift. Avery had everything, so it was hard to know exactly what to get him, but lately, he had been complaining about his watch losing time. Avery’s fingers worked the ribbon and the paper, tossing it to the floor as he ripped into the present, just like a kid on Christmas morning. Avery’s face lit up as he flipped open the lid and removed the beautiful watch.
“I love it. I looked at this very one the other day. How…” Avery stopped suddenly as he turned the watch over in his hands. Kane knew exactly when Avery read the inscription, and his heart skipped a beat as he waited for his response. “Always,” Avery said softly and looked at him. It was a word Avery used all the time to describe them, and Kane absolutely agreed. Emotion filled Avery’s eyes as he leaned in and captured his mouth in a tender kiss. “Thank you, babe. It’s perfect.”
“Always…won’t be long enough.” Kane didn’t know why he was explaining. He wasn’t good at the gift buying or giving thing, but he wanted Avery to know he meant what he’d had engraved on the back of that watch. “You wrote that in your first note to me. I wanted something to remind you how much I love you every time you look at it.”
“No one has ever given me anything that means as much to me as this.” Avery handed the watch to Kane. “Will you?”
He smiled up at Avery after fastening the watch around his wrist. “It looks good on you.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Avery agreed and picked up his gift, handing it to him. “Merry Christmas, Kane.”
Kane carefully unwrapped the gift, laying the paper on side table next to them. When he opened the box, his heart skipped a beat. Emotion welled inside him as his heart filled with love. This man knew him so well. He couldn’t believe Avery had given him a Bible. “It’s perfect.”
This gift meant so much more to him than he could explain, so he wouldn’t even try. He’d never bought himself one in all those years after leaving his parents’ home. How could Avery know? He took the Bible out of the box and ran his finger across the leather binding, smiling as he noticed his name embossed into the front cover. “Thank you.”
After running his finger across his name for a third time, he set the Bible on the table next to them and slid his fingers through Avery’s hair. He stared into his lover’s eyes. His breath caught in his throat, and the love he saw reflected in their depths overwhelmed him with emotion. He wanted Avery, needed to show him how much he loved him. Kane firmly cupped the back of Avery’s head and pulled him down for a kiss.
Father’s Day
“Babe?” Avery Adams called downstairs to his husband. “Change in plans!”
Kane cringed at the tone Avery used—whatever happened couldn’t be good. He quickly continued to buckle Autumn, into her infant carrier. He waited a second or two, watching to make sure his daughter stayed asleep before turning and heading up the staircase, mentally readying himself to deal with whatever had made Avery say those words.
“Baby?” Panic now laced with urgency infected his tone as Avery called out to him again. That made Kane pick up his steps, taking the stairs two at a time.
&nbs
p; “What happened?” he asked, heading straight for the twins’ bedroom.
“I don’t think it can be saved,” Avery said, holding their son Robert at arm’s length, facing out toward Kane, meeting him at the bedroom door.
“No!” He stopped abruptly, staring at Robert, who smiled happily, spit-up covering his brand-new Father’s Day outfit—a cute little sailor ensemble they had spent hours shopping for. The only one they could find that matched Autumn’s outfit perfectly for their first family portrait. Kane immediately took the baby, looking to see if the clothes were salvageable.
“I guess I didn’t burped him enough. I’m sorry,” Avery said, and Kane looked up to see what had to be the saddest expression on his face.
“Dang it,” Kane declared. “I should’ve waited to dress him when we got there. He spits up too much. It’s my fault.” This whole outing had turned into a debacle. From coordinating a time with the photographer to fit his and Avery’s busy schedules to getting out of the house on time…it had all become a difficult task. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, and Kane took Robert to his changing table to undress him, trying to negotiate the outfit off his son without further damage.
“Here. This one kind of matches Autumn’s.”
Kane looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of the spit up trailing down the back of Avery’s dress shirt.
“He got you too,” Kane said and gave a small smile when Avery looked down the front of his shirt then down each sleeve.
“Where?” he asked, turning in a half circle as Avery included his slacks in the search.
“All down your back.” Kane winced as Avery looked over his shoulder, clearly spotting the trail of white splattered down the length of his shirt.
“Damn, he’s a sneaky little shit. He must have done that first. He wasn’t even on my shoulder when he spit up.”
“Language,” Kane said, lifting his eyebrows in challenge. The vow Avery made to watch his foul mouth might have only increased its usage, but at least he tried. “You promised.”
“That was way before I realized how much he’d throw up all over me. I’m going to change.” Avery pulled his shirt from his slacks. “Is it on my slacks?”
“I don’t see any,” Kane said, his hands on Robert, but his eyes on Avery as he started to walk past, setting the new outfit on the edge of the table.
“All right, I’ll meet you downstairs,” Avery said and left the room. Kane looked down at the happy bundle staring up at him. Robert’s legs and arms were moving, his giant smile beaming at Kane. He was lost to this little guy.
“No more spitting up today. We have pictures then Granddaddy Paulie’s excited about us coming over,” Kane cooed, looking down at his wiggling bundle. His gaze turned speculative… He’d have to ask the pediatrician on their next visit. “Maybe that’s why you throw up so much. You move all the time.”
“Get in here!” Paulie’s gravelly voice boomed excitedly as he opened the front door of his home. Paulie lived on the outskirts of Minneapolis in a small two-bedroom home with a large workshop in the back. The shop was bigger than the house. Kane could never understand why Paulie needed that building. Avery tended to agree. In all the years he had known Paulie, the man had never used the space for anything more than storage. But when they voiced their opinion, Paulie would set them both straight, stating clearly that someday he’d need to build something, and when that time came, he’d have the shop.
“Hi, Paulie,” they both said in unison.
“I’m sorry we’re late. Robert had an accident,” Kane explained in the doorway, letting Avery inside first. Avery carried Autumn in her infant carrier with both kid’s diaper bags slung over his shoulder while Kane held Robert in his arms, trying to gently pat a burp out of him.
Avery positioned a foot at the bottom of the screen door, encouraging Kane inside with a squirming Robert, aka little LB, so named after Linda Blair of The Exorcist fame. Well, not so much Robert, but his spiting up ability. Avery swore and regularly placed bets that Robert matched the child in The Exorcist in both distance and volume. Kane was covered in baby blankets, making damn sure if Robert projectile vomited it would be caught without destroying anything else today.
Their sweet little demon baby gurgled and played happily with his hands. He was wide awake and turning his head every which way, looking for the man who owned that loud voice.
“Get over here, big boy,” Paulie said, taking Robert from Kane’s arms. Just like always, Robert was more than happy to go to Paulie. In a few years, he could see both their children being more than happy to follow their doting granddaddy Paulie to the moon and back.
“He’s throwing up again,” Kane said, draping a blanket over Paulie’s shoulder to help protect his clothes from the potential mess.
“Is he now? He’s grown a foot since I saw him last week. He can’t be throwin’ up too much.”
Kane looked over at Avery. He met his gaze straight on.
“Oh yeah, he can,” Avery said. He placed Autumn on the sofa and unbuckled her from all the restraints.
“I think it’s time to give this growing boy some table food,” Paulie advised, walking to the sofa, taking Autumn from Avery with his free arm.
“We aren’t supposed to feed him table food for another two months. Are you sure you can handle them both?” Kane asked, coming up beside Paulie, extending a hand to take either one of the twins.
“I got this, and back when my boy was young, Marjorie fed him food from the time he got home from the hospital—”
Kane usually let Paulie go on his bigger than life tales, but not this time. With a grin tugging at Kane’s lips, he interrupted Paulie. “From the time he came home?” Kane asked, looking back at Avery who couldn’t help his smile either. Man, he loved his family.
“Absolutely! From the day he came home. And he never woke up one time in the middle of the night,” Paulie declared.
“Paulie, that’s not true,” Kane said, trying again to take one of the babies.
“Get back. It’s Father’s Day. They need to be with their grandfather.” Paulie sidestepped Kane and walked with the babies to the kitchen.
“Where’re you taking them?” Kane asked, trailing close behind, ready to jump in if Paulie needed help.
“To their room,” Paulie cooed at Autumn. It was an awkward sound coming from the gravel hard voice that boomed at everyone he met.
Kane jerked his head in Avery’s direction, confusion on his face.
“Did he just say their room?” Avery whispered.
“What did you do?” Kane called out. Avery was already across the room, following with Kane behind Paulie.
“You’ll see…” Paulie’s rough voice crackled, causing Autumn to burst into sudden tears. “Shhh, baby girl. I’m sorry. I gotta get better about that.”
Hours later, Avery, Paulie, and Kane sat at Paulie’s kitchen table. The babies were in Kane’s and Avery’s arms, fast asleep. Paulie was finally sitting back, resting after the huge dinner he’d prepared.
“I can’t believe you did that for them. It’s amazing,” Avery said, putting words to Kane’s exact sentiment as he sipped from a glass of wine. It came from a special bottle, a 1945 Château Mouton-Rothschild, that Paulie had given to Avery and Kane as a Father’s Day gift.
“My grandbabies need a place to sleep when they come to my house,” Paulie said proudly, topping off Avery’s wineglass, but Kane lifted a hand to stop him.
Paulie went immediately to Avery’s defense. “It’s Father’s Day. His first Father’s Day. Let the boy have a third glass of wine.”
“Paulie, it’s for his health. So he can have many more Father’s Days with his children,” Kane tried to explain, but ultimately he relented, sitting back when Robert started to move. “I’m driving.”
“I think three glasses of wine in four hours is fine,” Avery started. Kane lifted Robert, bringing him to his shoulder as he looked over at Avery, giving him the eye—the look that made it clea
r there was no arguing this out. After a minute, Avery nodded in his direction.
“Did you do all that painting yourself?” Avery asked, bringing them back in to the conversation they’d had on and off since they walked into that wonderland bedroom.
“Nah, I paid someone. I can’t see well enough anymore.” Paulie had gone over the top, having a tribute to Bugs Bunny painted in the twins’ new bedroom. He had always liked Bugs Bunny, something Kane hadn’t known until they’d been picking out a layette. He’d pushed and pushed, trying to get Kane to select Bugs. In the end, he and Avery had gone with Minnie and Mickey, and at the time, he thought he had broken Paulie’s heart. Apparently not.
“And my boy here only had a little bit of a stroke when he saw those bunk beds,” Paulie said, cocking his head toward Kane, causing Avery to laugh because it wasn’t too far from the truth. “I knew he would.”
“You promised they can’t get on the top bunk until they get older,” Kane reiterated the vow Paulie had given before they’d left the bedroom.
“I just can’t believe you built them yourself,” Avery added, winking at Kane. They both knew Paulie had a way of telling Kane what he wanted to hear and then doing something completely different when it came time for action.
“I told Kane that someday I was gonna need that shop. I’ve been working on them since Sophia got pregnant. And I didn’t jinx anything by doing it,” Paulie said smugly, looking directly at Kane as he spoke, because Kane hadn’t let anyone buy a thing for the kids until they’d hit the twenty-week mark of the pregnancy.
“But wouldn’t you have felt bad if something had gone wrong?” Kane asked with an air of confidence, causing Avery to laugh. This was completely their way of things.
“You would’ve never known,” Paulie replied, crossing his arms tightly over his chest in indignation.
Always (With Bonus Material) (Always & Forever Book 1) Page 32
