13. Justin

13Justin

“Goodnight, Unca Jussin,”Sara said in her sweet and innocent voice. I hugged her and gave her a kiss.

“Goodnight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” I repeated the old bedtime rhyme her mothers used to say before I placed another soft kiss on her forehead and ran my hand over her pretty blonde hair. When she turned over on her side, I tucked the blanket around her so that she could snuggle into the covers. With one last kiss on top of her head, I turned and headed to Theo’s bed. He was already asleep or at least appeared to be. I could hear his soft, rhythmic breathing. Leaning down to him, I placed a light kiss on his forehead then tucked him in as I had with Sara. Running my hand over his curly locks, I smiled at his sweet babyface. As I headed to the door, I heard Sara’s little voice call out to me.

“Unca Jussin?” I turned to her and smiled. She looked so much like her mom.

“Yes, angel.”

“I wuv ew.”

Those three words melted my heart. “I love you, too, Angel. Goodnight!”

“Goonigh!”

I turned on the sweet butterfly nightlight that Kairo had gotten for them and stepped into the hallway. When Kairo came home with that nightlight the first night we were here, it gave me a tiny glimpse into the man he really was. He didn’t want them to be scared of sleeping in a new place. Pulling the door almost closed, I was met with what I had been yearning for all day. Blessed silence.

Unfortunately, the silence brought with it the memories tonight as they came crashing back to the forefront of my mind. I shook my head, just thinking about what awaited me in the living room. The house was in complete disarray, and now it was my responsibility to clean it up. Kairo’s nonchalant attitude over what he had come home to was so confusing. He didn’t even bat an eye at all the destruction around him. I knew by the look of his condo when we arrived that he preferred a clean palate of color and organization. The images were terrible in my mind, and I couldn’t fathom anyone, let alone Kairo, just shrugging it off. But much to my amazement, that was exactly what Kairo had done. It was crazy. And utterly amazing at the same time.

Taking in a calming breath, I made my way down the steps and rounded the corner to the living room. I stopped my forward movement when I spotted Kairo kneeling at the pile of toys in the middle of the floor. The puzzle pieces before him were scattered everywhere, but Kairo was simply collecting those wayward pieces to put the puzzle back together. The image before me continued to astound me at his reaction to the chaos he’d walked into tonight. It was just another sign that I had read him all wrong and that Kairo wasn’t as cold as I thought he was. For once, I actually loved that I was wrong, and I wanted to know everything there was to know about him. I didn’t realize people could still surprise me, but I was glad he kept doing it.

As I quietly observed him on the floor with the puzzle, I was further convinced that Kairo only let people see what he wanted them to see. I was so glad he was showing me this side of him. Kairo appeared to be the type of person that just rolled with the craziness that life seemed to throw your way. I’d been panicking that he’d take one look at his previously perfectly kept house that looked like a tornado had rolled through and lose it. But somehow, he’d proven me wrong. Not only did he shrug it off, but he’d also jumped in with the kids to color the walls. He didn’t yell or scream at them for the destruction they had caused. But he was surprisingly calm and encouraging to, in his opinion, the budding expressionist artists in the making. I wasn’t sure I knew anyone that would be so chill about that, and I felt extremely fortunate that my mate was someone like that.

“You don’t have to do that,” I said as I walked in on him tidying up. “My niece and nephew are the ones that made this mess, and I’ll clean it up. I promise.” I looked over the room and winced. “We should have made them stay up so they could help clean up. This is completely unacceptable behavior. I’m so embarrassed, Kairo.”

“I think this is what you call a recipe for disaster,” he said, “maybe we wait till they’re old enough to give them chores.”

My heart held on to we, but he probably didn’t mean it the way I took it.

“Still, I’m really sorry about all of this,” I gestured to everything.

“Kids will be kids, Justin,” Kairo laughed, shrugging it off. “Besides, what kind of host would I be if I left you to clean up. I don’t mind doing my part to take care of this mess. Lucky for us, they wore themselves out and into exhaustion. Just getting them fed and into bed was enough of a challenge for the evening. They need their rest now.” Kairo looked up and locked on my gaze. “And despite what you may think, Justin, this disaster was actually the highlight of my day.” He chuckled loudly. “Go figure, right?”

Unlike Kairo, I wasn’t amused in the slightest with the catastrophe that Theo and Sara had caused in the house today. There was nothing funny about it at all. This was the destruction of someone else’s home, and I didn’t feel that was something that I could just shrug off.

“But, your walls….” I motioned around the room. “Tomorrow morning, I’ll run right out and get some paint. I just need to know what brand it is and the name of the color.”

“I’m almost positive you have to go to work at the bakery in the morning,” Kairo pointed out. “But Justin, I’m much more concerned with the worry that’s etched all across your face. Was I anticipating coming home to see this all over the house?” He motioned with his arms, then snickered. “Not at all. But now that I look at it, the crayon colors give the room a colorful vibe. You have to at least admit that.”

I smirked and shook my head at him, still unable to understand his viewpoint. “That still doesn’t make it right, and I will fix it. I promise.”

Kairo shook his head and dropped the puzzle he was working on. “Let’s have some coffee, shall we? We need time to regroup and relax a bit.” Kairo got up to lead the way to the kitchen. Before he left the living room, he looked over his shoulder. “You coming?” Oh god, I wish I was.

Shaking my head in agreement, I turned to look at the mess left behind in the living room and cringed. Just the thought of going to bed while the house looked this way was too overwhelming. Perhaps the coffee was his way to make sure I didn’t fall asleep. If so, then mission accomplished. When I stepped into the kitchen, I cringed at the sight before me.

“God, I forgot about the mess in here too.”

“If it’s just these two rooms, then we’re doing good, right?” Kairo laughed and winked at me. That one wink sent my heart spiraling out of control. Was that my sign that Kairo wanted something more than the friendship we had going on right now?

I couldn’t allow myself to think that way. As the coffee brewed and we sat at the table, there wasn’t any flirtation or hint of desire coming from him. We were just two guys chatting it up. But it was still nice to have that interaction with another adult.

“Tell me why you’re so on edge over this little mishap,” Kairo began, tilting his head, waiting for my reply. I let out a humorless laugh.

“Little mishap? Are we even looking at the same house? Do you need to see an eye doctor?”

Kairo laughed, and the way his face lit up at my snarky comments made me smile a little bit more. Okay, maybe I should relax and allow him to just carry on the conversation. If he wanted to make things easier on me, there wasn’t any point in trying to change his mind. He looked quite determined to play this off. But, as that reality sunk in, I couldn’t detach from my thoughts about how amazing this man truly was. If he could forgive the kids for destroying his home, then why should I think otherwise? I should follow his lead like the good omega I was.

Kairo studied me for a moment like there would be a test. “I would say there is something else, other than this mess, that’s bothering you. Wanna talk about it?” When the coffee stopped brewing, Kairo got up and lithely moved toward it to get us some.

I wanted to tell him everything, but bringing more drama into his home was probably something he would frown upon. Still, I had to be honest with him.

“Hazel came into the bakery today. Her sister, Willow, was my sister-in-law and one of the moms to the kids. I know she’s upset that Willow and Teagan left the kids to me instead of her. So she is constantly watching and scrutinizing how I take care of the children and always threatens to have CPS come take them from me. To top it all off, today, she went by the house to see the kids and found all the construction instead. Of course, she came stomping into the bakery about not being able to see the kids. When I explained everything to her, let’s just say she didn’t take kindly to the fact that I hadn’t notified her of my change of address for the week.”

Kairo placed a mug in front of me. “Do you think she’ll actually cause trouble? For you, I mean?”

I shrugged, taking a sip of my coffee. “I guess the thought has entered my mind. But I guess I can only hope that she finally realizes the kids aren’t and never were in jeopardy.”

Kairo smirked, and that look did things to me. “I like to think they’re happy here. Messes and all.”

That brought a smile to my face, and from that point, we just let the conversation flow and ebb naturally between us. By the end of the last drop, I knew that if Kairo couldn’t see the way we seamlessly meshed together, then maybe I was the one that needed to show him. Prove to him that this connection and pull we both seemed to be feeling was more than just good conversation.

After depositing our mugs into the sink, we left the kitchen, and I turned to go start the rehab in the living room. Kairo smirked and reached out to gently take hold of my wrist, stopping me from moving forward. I turned to look at him, and his eyes were like swirling dark caramel. “I would say the cleaning can wait until tomorrow. Perhaps we should just go to bed and forget about the mess.”

I slowly turned back around to face him and nodded in agreement. “I like the going to bed part,” I whispered and leaned in, ever so slowly while looking deeply into his eyes, to kiss him. My slow progression gave him ample time to pull away from me. At any given moment, I anticipated that he’d pull back before our lips touched if he didn’t want us to go further. Instead, Kairo turned me around, my back toward the wall, his leg wedged between mine to hold me in place in his arms. My breath caught in a surprised gasp as his lips found their way to my ear, making me shudder at the feel of his warm panting breath ghosting over the rim of it.

“You may not know what you’re getting yourself into,” Kairo purred, the heat and sexual tension radiating off him. “Are you ready for that?”

“Damn right, I am,” I spoke between parted lips just before Kairo pulled back, only to press his body and mouth hard against mine, entrapping me against the wall. Fuck, I was so ready and needy for whatever Kairo wanted to do to me.