amazing support system. Tears of grief for the loss that Logan had shared with me last night. And tears of relief that there were no more secrets between me and my siblings—because that’s what all three of these men were. My brothers.
“Hi,” Logan said softly upon entering the kitchen after putting Jakey to bed. It had been two days since our first pizza night. Sunday, after telling my brothers about Logan’s and Jakey’s loss, and asking their opinions about how to help them and how to keep Logan from worrying about the things he’d overheard them saying about me basically being a manwhore, I’d gone home and called him. Jakey had already been in bed by then, so we’d talked for hours about all kinds of things; growing up, our favorite foods—which I’d already guessed Logan’s correctly, anything edible—and some of our dreams. “You didn’t have to do the dishes.”
Drying my hands on the towel hanging on the wall by the sink, I said, “Why not? You cooked us a lovely meal. We both worked all day, so you went through your nighttime routine with Jakey, and I cleaned up. It worked perfectly.” He startled as I stepped in close to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. I tilted my head up, and he rested his forehead on mine. “Is this okay?”
His eyelashes fluttered closed. “Yeah,” he whispered, bringing his arms up to wrap around me.
Being close to him like this reminded me how solid and strong his body was—he could easily pull me into him and literally crush me in a bear hug—but it made the fragile heart that beat within even that much more precious. I closed my eyes, too, and just breathed him in.
After basking in his presence for several minutes, just soaking up this forming connection, I said, “So you know how I was at my brothers’ yesterday?”
“Mhm.”
I grinned. He kept his eyes closed and leaned more heavily into me. “I told them about you and Jakey.”
That did it. His eyelashes flew open. “What? Were they okay with us? I mean, did you tell them about us?”
Kissing the corner of his mouth, I said against it, “Of course, I did. Come on. Let’s go talk in the living room.”
I grabbed his hand and tugged him onto the couch, then pulled him over until he rested his head on my shoulder, and his arm rested across my stomach. He let me settle us in, but his body remained tense next to me. “Hey, relax. It went great.”
“Yeah?” he asked dubiously.
“Yep. Conrad suspected already when I was in college, Shane’s a goof and had worried at the time that I’d been about to replace him as my bestie, so he was relieved, and Davis…I can’t wait for you to meet Davis. He’s like this anchor that holds that ship in place.”
He tensed further. “I’ve already seen them. The night at the bar when I met you.”
I squeezed him closer. “That doesn’t count. You have to meet them properly. And they can’t wait to meet Jakey. A lot of our friends have children, but Shane’s excited he’ll have a kid around to play with.”
“Really?” Logan mumbled.
“Yep. I told them to give us a couple of weeks for Jakey to get used to me, and then we’ll set something up.”
Logan didn’t respond right away, but I felt the tension in him melting under my hands. “That…sounds nice. Thank you for thinking of Jakey. It might be a lot.”
I rubbed up and down his back reassuringly. “I know. And you let me know if I start coming over too much. As much as I want to spend every minute I can with you, I don’t want Jakey to feel uncomfortable or worry that I’m trying to take you away from him. I want my presence to benefit you guys, not be a hindrance.”
Logan took his time answering. I could almost hear him mulling over my words in his brain. “I’ll tell you, but…if you really want to work on this, I think we should let him get used to you being around.”
“Okay, baby. But just remember, you can let me know. I won’t get offended.”
“Is this really happening?” he asked, softly.
Cupping my hand under his chin, I tilted his face up toward me. Davis had said he respected where I was coming from about not wanting Logan to feel like a secret booty-call, but he’d also cautioned not to let Logan think that it had been so long since I