at me. I really screwed up.”
Aiden’s chest tightened. He dried his hands and walked over to Will. “Hey, it’s okay. Everyone makes mistakes. I get it. I’m not mad at all. I remember what it’s like to be your age, with so many things distracting you, and you’re not used to having animals to think about. Pretty soon, this will become second nature to you. You’ll do it without even thinking about it.”
Will’s face lit up, and he straightened. “Thanks, Aiden. I… You just looked so upset.”
Aiden ran a hand over his chin. “I’ve been told I can look kind of mean on occasion. Maybe it’s the scar,” he said with a rueful laugh. He hated that Will thought that. “But never be afraid of me, okay? I’ll never hurt you.”
“Oh, I know that. Okay. I’m, uh, going to go finish up my homework. Aunt Janie just got home; she’s showering.”
Aiden nodded, relieved that Will seemed okay. But most important was that Will blew off the part about Aiden never hurting him, like it never would have even occurred to him. That was the biggest compliment he could get. “I’ll call you when dinner’s ready,” he said, pulling out a bottle of Janie’s favorite wine.
Will was standing in the doorway, watching him with an odd expression.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, then disappeared.
…
A few hours later, after dinner and after Will had retreated to his room, Aiden sat beside Janie and refilled her wineglass, wondering how the hell he was going to watch her walk out of his life. But the fact that he couldn’t turn away from her, that the light in her eyes drew him in, made him realize how much he loved her. His world these past few weeks had become complicated as hell…and he welcomed it because she and Will were in his life. He loved sitting with her in his kitchen in the morning. He loved sharing the first coffee of the day with her. He loved hearing her laugh, seeing her smile. He loved the way she cherished his son.
He loved the way she loved. Unabashedly. It filled the house with her light. She taught him how to love and be loved. It was something he had never been around. And sap that he was turning into, he wanted more of that.
The only problem they both had was keeping their hands off each other with Will around. They had to be careful to never be caught in a compromising position, so that basically meant hands off all the time. They had both been working different hours, and whenever they were home together, so was Will. He knew this wasn’t going to last forever, and sometime soon they were going to have to figure out how to tell Will.
Janie pulled out her phone and handed it to him, her eyes dancing.
He looked at her quizzically. “You want me to call someone?”
She shook her head and smiled at him over the rim of her glass. “You mentioned how hard it was for you to know you missed so many years with Will. This won’t do much, but it’s a start. Swipe right. Pics from day one.”
A tremor ran through him as he tore his gaze from hers to the one on the screen. His heart raced, and he glanced over his shoulder, making sure Will was still in his room before looking at the pictures.
His eyes blurred at the sight of Maxi holding a baby. His baby. Anger and awe ripped through him until only self-pity was left behind. He flipped through the pictures, desperate for more. Maxi was only in the first few pictures, and they quickly turned to just Will and Janie.
As he went through them, he fell in love with the woman beside him on the couch even more. Hell, she’d been a kid herself—she looked so young. But there she was, holding Will in front of a first-year birthday cupcake, then a second. She was laughing. Holding him. And he… His little boy looked up at his mother, Janie, like she was his entire world. He looked like a kid who’d been showered with love.
Aiden cleared his throat and blinked rapidly, reaching for his whiskey and finishing it off, needing something to numb the pain. “Thank you,” he managed.
She reached out to hug him, and he held on to her tightly. He was going to want to go back and see those pictures again. There was no greater evidence of how much time had