Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

K yler woke up to the sound of giggling.

He was warm, his body snuggled up to something firm and wonderful, and he didn’t want to move. But that giggling was out in the front room, and that was… ominous.

He opened his eyes, finding his arms full of tall, gangly, pale man.

He couldn’t stay here.

He had to figure out what the kids were doing.

Had to.

“Hey.” He shook AJ real gentle, amazed at how easy it was to wake up with him. “The kids are up to something.”

“Oh fuck. Okay.” AJ woke up, lurching up to standing. “I’m up, I’m up.”

“Mmmmhmm.” He rolled out of bed. “Clothes.” They had both pulled on their shorts, but they really needed sweats at least. He grabbed a pair and shrugged on a T-shirt.

AJ threw on his jeans and sweater from last night, hopping into socks. “Fuck, it’s cold. Hopefully they’re not cooking. ”

“God forbid.” He shuddered. “Or on the ladder trying to put up more decorations.”

“Shut your mouth.” AJ shot him a horrified glance. “Can you imagine?”

“No. Yes. God.” He skimmed into his socks, then sprinted for the front room, his morning wood totally deflated. “Paige?”

“Yes, Daddy?” Paige smiled up at him, a box of Corn Flakes and a huge bowl in front of the kids, two spoons stuck in. “We’re watching Paw Patrol !”

Relief made him sag for a moment. “Oh, cool. How much milk did you leave?” He’d been planning on pancakes, but it seemed like cereal was the breakfast of the day.

“We wanted yogurt in it, and you promised pancakes.”

Dallas nodded, smiled. “This is a snack. A par-feet. I read about it.”

“Parfait,” AJ corrected, heading for the coffee machine.

Kyler chuckled. “Yogurt, huh?” He grabbed the cereal box to close it up. Nothing was worse than stale cereal. “Well, thank you for being so careful.”

“We don’t want Santa to get mad, Daddy!” Paige’s eyes went wide. “Santa watches. All. The. Time.”

Santa as serial killer stalker. Yay.

Dallas nodded, so serious. “He sees you when you’re asleep.”

“He knows when you do bad thi-i-ings,” AJ sang, sotto voce.

His lips twitched. They were in such trouble.

“We didn’t, Poppy! I promise. We didn’t make a mess. We watched our shows. We are so good.”

AJ chuckled. “I believe you.”

“Did you and Daddy watch movies in Daddy’s room?” Paige asked.

He glanced at AJ, but it was his kid who’d asked, so he guessed it was on him. “We did. You know our couch isn’t as broken in as Mr. Austin’s.”

“I know, and it’s not big like his either. It’s good, because your bed is big, and so are you and Mr. Austin.”

“Poppy is so tall,” Dallas put in.

“He is at that.” He sent Austin a long glance.

“True story.” AJ handed him his cup of coffee, then went back to make his own.

“Thanks.” He sipped, humming at the hot, strong brew. He’d need it to make pancakes and wrangle some very excited kids.

“Anytime. Do you hooligans want hot chocolate?”

“Does your daddy have marshmallows?” Dallas whispered.

“Uh-huh,” Paige said in the loudest stage whisper ever. “Big ones, little ones, and ones with chocolate inside.”

“Chocolate in marshmallow in chocolate?” Dallas grabbed his chest and toppled backward.

“I know!”

Kyler rolled his eyes, his grin too big to contain. God, he did love those two.

“So, I assume that’s a yes?”

“Poppy! Didn’t you hear?”

Austin’s eyes went comically wide. “I heard!”

“You want some hot chocolate in your coffee, honey?” He paused, wondering if it was okay to call AJ honey in front of the kids.

“Oh, that sounds good. How about you? I can make three cups, and we’ll share the last one.”

“That sounds grand.” He liked sharing.

“Perfect.” AJ moved around his kitchen as though he belonged there, and Kyler loved it. He wanted to see more.

They’d spent a lot of time at Austin’s condo while their house was getting finished, he loved how AJ looked in his house. How easy it was for the kids to settle in .

They fit better here. Dallas and AJ made the house seem less…big.

“Daddy! Are we gonna finish stringing all the lights and put up the stuff?”

“We are, kiddo.”

“Can I help? I want to be part of your family too. Poppy says you and Paige are part of ours!”

Paige smiled up at him, nodding as if to say ‘don’t fuck this up, Daddy’.

“I had planned on it, Dal.” He ruffled Dallas’s hair. “That’s why you guys spent the night.” Among other reasons.

“Oh, good. Good. I love helping. No one here hates me.”

“No one hates you, son,” Austin said, and Paige rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, they so do.”

He glanced at AJ again, and Austin shook his head slightly, so he let it go. AJ could talk to Dal. “Well, we adore you.”

“I’m glad. I like being your family. Paige is my best friend in the whole world. When she grows up, I’m going to be her maiden honor at her wedding.”

“Wow. That’s pretty cool.” He grinned, thinking of adult Dallas in a bubblegum-pink dress with a bow on the butt.

AJ chuckled softly. “Where do you keep the magical marshmallows, man?”

“In the cabinet next to the fridge on the top shelf.” Where Paige couldn’t reach, even with her stepstool. She could devour a whole bag in one sitting.

“Ah, I understand. That never works with me, you know.”

No. No, Austin had a great length of leg.

“I can see that.” He grinned as AJ grabbed the bag of marshmallows and tried one, his eyebrows rising. “Yum. Best go sparing on those, though, huh?”

“Oh, they’ll run it off.”

“Can we each have half, Poppy Austin?” Paige asked. “Otherwise it fills the whole cup and it’s gloopy.”

“Yes, ma’am.” That was his girl. He had dried mini marshmallows for when they wanted more halfway through. He fixed up cups, handing them out, then grabbed a bowl to stir pancakes. “Can you start that electric griddle, Austin?”

“Sure. No problem.” AJ smiled at him, and he felt it, deep in his balls.

He felt like a teenager, like he could start bouncing at any moment.

The kids were moaning over the marshmallows, and he whipped the batter, then started the sausages. It was… He loved the vibe of how they were together.

How come it had never been like this with Henley?

As soon as he had the thought, he knew it wasn’t fair. Henley and he had been younger, they’d been rodeoing, they’d been nomadic, and their energy had a totally different vibe.

Henley and he had been kerosene and lightning. AJ was warm, but not fiery, like snuggling together under the perfect blanket on a winter’s day, a fire crackling in the fireplace and snow falling outside.

He was easy enough that Kyler knew he would have to work hard not to take it all for granted.

It would be so easy. AJ seemed as if he’d always been here, somehow.

It was magical and a little scary, all at once.

“You okay?”

“Huh?” Kyler glanced down and realized he was standing there with his whisk in his bowl, not moving. “Just admiring.”

“What? I— Oh!” AJ blinked at him, eyes going wide. “Me?”

“Yes.” He winked, which made Austin flush. That was adorable .

How anyone had walked away from this man, from Dallas was beyond him.

From baby Dallas.

“Daddy! What are you going to put in the pancakes?”

“Do you want blueberries or pecans?” He cut her right off from asking for more chocolate. That, she didn’t need.

“Dal? Booberries or nutties?”

“Booberries!” Dallas was so excited. “I love booberries.”

“Paige?” he asked.

“Yep!”

“Okay, you got it.” That had gone easily. He was always grateful when that shit happened. Paige was a lot like a really rank horse sometimes—smart and wicked and not particularly easy to please.

The pancakes came up piping hot, blueberries bursting out, and he warmed the syrup while Austin put the sausage on a paper towel-lined plate to drain off the grease.

“Breakfast, ahoy!” he called.

“It is time to have breakfast,” Paige said, shaking her butt all the way over to the kitchen table, her crookedy pigtails bouncing like weird springs. Dallas, on the other hand, followed more quietly with less bouncing. On his hands.

“You know that kid is really good at gymnastics,” Kyler noted.

“I know.” AJ grinned at him, shook his head like he was a touch bemused. “Go figure, right? He’s got too much length of leg though. He’s gonna be tall. I think, at least.”

“You gonna let him be on the team?”

AJ shrugged. “There’s time to think about that, I guess. I’m not opposed to it necessarily, although those little girls that are on the team here, they’re fierce, they’re very committed. Those dads spend a lot of time on the weekends at events.”

“Rodeo dads are the same. We spend a lot of time driving back and forth. Unloading and reloading horse trailers. And then there’s fair season…”

“Fair season. They have rodeos at fairs?”

God, Austin was cute.

“Well, sure. But I meant show animals for that, you know? Chickens, rabbits, goats, calves, that sort of thing.”

AJ tilted his head. “Who do you show them to?”

“Judges. You get ribbons and stuff.”

“Oh.” AJ took one of the kids’ plates to the table and got Dallas settled. “Well that’s cool. I’m a big fan of ribbons. So you and Paige would take Jennifer the chicken to the fair to show her.”

Paige nodded. “And then you sell it.”

Dallas blinked her. “You’d sell Jennifer?”

Paige frowned. “Who’s Jennifer?”

“The chicken.”

“What chicken?”

Austin grabbed the milk. “The chicken you’re going to sell at the fair.”

“Wait.” Dallas glared at Paige. “You can’t sell Jennifer. What if she’s friendly? What if she lays the golden egg? You’re going to sell Jennifer the golden egg chicken!”

Somehow, Kyler had lost control of the entire situation. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew it was happening.

“No one is going to sell Jennifer,” Kyler said, buttering Paige’s pancakes for her.

“Daddy, we don’t have chickens yet. Are we going to name one Jennifer?”

He stifled a grin. He would be willing to bet they did when they got chickens in the spring. “I think this is what you call a hypothetical situation, kiddo. Do you remember what that is?”

“Like a daydream that may or may not come true?”

“Something like that, yeah. ”

“Nice.” AJ’s approval felt surprisingly good. It wasn’t that Kyler thought that his kid was stupid. No way. He knew better. But sometimes Dallas was so smart, it was just a little intimidating. So to see Paige make those connections, and to feel like Austin understood what she had going on with her? That felt damn fine.

“Can we have a chicken, Poppy?” Dallas asked around a mouthful of pancakes.

“Son, we’re hiding the cat. I think chickens are probably out of the question. I am relatively sure you can’t teach her chicken to poop in the litter box.” AJ winked when Kyler snort-chuckled.

Kyler didn’t bother to mention that it was a bit unreasonable to ask a cat and the chicken to share an apartment. There were worse pairings, he was sure, but that one was yeah, no.

“You could have a bunny,” Paige said. “Bunnies stay in cages.”

“We really don’t have room for a bunny, Paige,” AJ said. “I’m sorry.”

“How about a llama? You could put him in the car park.”

Austin poured syrup over his pancakes, then began to eat. “I don’t know that I’ve ever even met a llama in person.”

That made Kyler blink and tilt his head. “Really? You’ve never seen a llama?”

I’m pretty sure. Maybe. You would think I’d remember that. They’re awfully cute, with their big eyelashes and the funny hats.”

“I think they only wear the funny hats in Peru.”

“What’s Peru, Poppy?” Dallas asked.

“It’s a country in South America, with a bunch of mountains, and llamas, and Machu Picchu.”

Paige’s eyes went wide. “What is a pachu pichu?”

“Machu.” Austin repeated, drawing the word out.

Paige grinned and she and Dallas said together, “Machu. ”

“Picchu.” AJ was obviously having too much fun.

“Pickachu!” Paige said.

“Pew pew!” Dallas added, shooting the air with a finger gun.

“You guys are nutbags,” Kyler told them, and they dissolved into giggles. “We’ll have to show you Machu Picchu after breakfast.”

“After we go outside and play, Daddy?” Paige asked. “There’s snow.”

“And after we finish decorating,” Dallas agreed.

“We have a full day.” AJ polished off his sausage. “I like it.”

“Me too.” Kyler liked this whole situation a lot. He gave Austin one of his best smiles, because that thought was for him alone.

“Well, finish eating, hooligans. That snow is waiting for y’all to make snow angels.” AJ licked his fork clean of syrup.

“Okay, Poppy.” Dallas beamed, and Paige giggled, stuffing her mouth full, and Kyler felt like the luckiest damn man on earth.

He would play this one by ear and enjoy it for now. See where it went.

Lord knew he was the king of that.