A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies - Christina Lee Page 0,63

you?”

“Nah, it feels nice,” Rhys replied, a little white lie. He ached, but it felt like a good sort of ache after an incredible orgasm. Rhys braced his forearm across Emerson’s back, while his other hand fingered the hair at his neck in a soothing motion. He caught his breath for a couple long minutes as he floated back down to the land of the living.

At some point, Emerson reached for a shirt from the floor and carelessly swiped at their abdomens to clean them up. Once he lay back down, Rhys was filled with crushing relief that there didn’t seem to be any regret on Emerson’s end. Instead, Emerson curled him up in his arms, his softened cock resting against his hip as Rhys fell into a deep slumber. And this time, his dreams were only filled with a complex pattern of warm and inviting colors.

22

Emerson

Emerson thought he heard the soft trilling sound of his phone, and just as he turned toward it on his nightstand, it stopped. He must’ve been dreaming, he absently considered before falling back into a deep sleep. Who could blame him with Rhys’s warm limbs entangled with his own?

It was the sound of the front door being thrust open that finally roused him. He sat up in a panic, swiping the sleep out of his eyes, when he heard the sound of Aunt Janice’s voice downstairs.

“Holy shit, it’s almost noon!” Emerson rolled out of bed, cursing at himself for being so irresponsible, as he hastily pulled on sweats and a T-shirt. Rhys hardly stirred, his hair a mop of dark brown against his cream pillowcase, and Emerson barely had time to digest how surreal it was to have him in his bed after a night he wouldn’t soon forget. “Kids are home. Gotta get up.”

He shut the door behind him as he raced down the stairs.

“Sorry to barge in,” Aunt Janice said in a concerned tone as she stood in the entryway. “You didn’t respond to my text, so we just headed over.”

He pulled down at the hem of his shirt, hoping he didn’t give himself away. “I’m sorry. I overslept.”

Janice smiled. “Good. You needed it.”

He could feel his cheeks heating up as he glanced toward the kitchen, where the kids were arguing in front of the refrigerator with the door wide open.

“Don’t hog the juice, Sam,” Audrey complained as she reached for the container in his hand and poured some in her own glass. “Go find your swim trunks.”

“What’s going on?” Emerson asked around a yawn. He felt like he was in the twilight zone or something as Sam gave his waist a quick squeeze before jogging up the stairs to his room.

“The kids were invited last-minute to a birthday party at Splash World.” It was an indoor water park he’d taken them to a handful of times, normally when they were going stir-crazy in the winter. It always reeked of chlorine, which Sam had informed him was sure to kill all the germs from the hordes of people. “I hope it’s okay if they go.”

“Of course it’s okay. Thank you for including them,” he replied but was distracted by Audrey, who seemed to be avoiding interacting with him, unless it was his imagination. She pretended to look at her phone or in her bag every time he made eye contact.

He walked to the kitchen to push the button on the coffee machine, then wrapped an arm around her shoulder. When she stiffened, his pulse pitched. “Hey, everything okay?”

She nodded, then muttered, “How about you?”

When he was again reminded of his night with Rhys, his stomach dipped. “Everything’s great.”

“Oh…that’s…that’s good.” The dimples in her cheeks indented as a dazzling smile broke across her face. “Gotta grab my swimsuit.”

He was thrown off-balance as she sprinted for the stairs with an excited giggle. He had no idea what that was about, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever understand her moods.

“Coffee?” he offered Janice, who declined, so he reached for a mug and poured himself a cup. At the last minute, he pulled a second cup down and placed it near the machine for Rhys. It was something he did frequently, but this morning—or afternoon, he should say—seemed to hold deeper meaning.

As Janice talked to him about the kids’ marathon Monopoly session last night that she’d needed to put a stop to before sending them off to bed, he noticed Rhys and Audrey whispering about something at the top of the stairs. He knew they’d gotten