Obsessed (The Protectors #13) - Sloane Kennedy Page 0,99

either Calliope or one of us with him.

Things had changed on that front with the Barrettis’ help too. The family was notoriously large and between Declan's relatives and members of the men's families who made up Ronan's team, there was a passel of kids for Ryan to interact with. While the little boy hadn't been ready to go back to school, he’d been okay with children coming over to his house to play. Those children had just kept coming. All different ages, all different personalities. They’d played games with Ryan, watched movies, eaten junk food and basically done what they did best.

Be kids.

It'd all helped to bring some normalcy back into Ryan's life. It'd become an eye-opener for me and Sam as well. Neither of us were particularly good at accepting help, but we’d gotten it in spades. Not just with Ryan, either. Yes, it had started off that way with many of the Barrettis and Ronan's guys offering to babysit so Sam and I could take a break, but things had gradually started to shift.

A few days earlier, Mia Barretti, who was married to Vin Barretti, a co-owner of Barretti Security Group, had begun talking gardening shop with Sam. They'd ended up elbows deep in dirt as they'd weeded some of Sam's flowerbeds that had been neglected over the winter. Several of Mia’s kids had played with Ryan in the backyard as Vin and I had watched while chatting over a beer. By the time the couple and their passel of children had left, they'd wrangled us into coming over for dinner at their house just as soon as Ryan was comfortable with it. Once the little boy had heard about the menagerie the couple had, he’d been all in.

I myself had easily given up my life of bachelorhood. I hadn't even once been tempted to look in the rearview mirror upon the life I'd left behind. If anyone was having doubts, it was Sam, and that was only because he seemed certain that I would buckle under the pressure of being responsible for a special-needs child.

Ryan's mobility issues meant that he needed a lot of hands-on care, something I hadn't really understood when I’d first started seeing Sam. But as the weeks had gone on, I'd marveled over the fact that Sam had cared so well for his son on his own. Nothing about the job was easy, but it was rewarding all the same. Ryan's trust was everything as far as I was concerned. I loved listening to him talk about dinosaurs and learning all the different expressions and sounds that were his way of communicating with us. I'd never considered myself father material, but the more I watched first Sam and Ryan interact, and then later Ryan play with other kids, I'd started to wonder if maybe it was something I'd been too dismissive of.

"Are you talking about Father of the Bride?" Sam asked.

"That's the one," I said. While Sam wasn't a huge fan of scary movies, it turned out he loved romantic ones. It didn't matter how small the romance was, he was all in if it had even the tiniest romantic subplot in it. Since I hadn’t watched many movies growing up, most of them were all new to me. Not that it would've mattered, because I took more pleasure in watching Sam's reaction to the films than anything else.

"So you're saying my plan was to sabotage Elliot's wedding?"

"What? No—" I began.

"Okay, so then, you're saying I freaked out about the cost of the wedding and that's why I insisted on having the reception here at the house. Because I’m a cheapskate."

"Um," I said lamely.

"Did you even watch the movie, Matias?"

Since I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't, I did what I did best and held my tongue. But only for so long as it took me to close the distance between us. I didn't stop when I reached him. I merely wrapped my arms around him and covered his mouth with mine. Like clockwork, Sam sighed and then his arms wound around my neck. I swore I heard him mutter “No boundaries,” but then he was eagerly kissing me back.

"I have something for you," I murmured against his mouth.

"I noticed," Sam said huskily.

I laughed and said, "Something else." I released him long enough that I could take his hand and pull him toward the garden shed.

"Hang on," Sam said as he dragged me to a stop. "Are you seriously