with a perfectly content expression on his face. Grinning, I looked at Devin. “Okay, so maybe I’m not just a guy.”
He laughed.
“To be serious, though,” I said. “She’s not upset?”
“Are you kidding? She adores you. And if you’re dating me, then she’ll probably get to meet you again. She’s, uh, definitely onboard with that.” He paused, sobering. “But there’s no pressure to do that. I’d like to have you spend some time with her, but we don’t have to rush that. Mostly, I just wanted her to know about us before some tabloid found out.”
A wave of panic ran through me, but I managed to tamp it down for the moment. “Ugh. Yeah. I’ve been dreading that. I should probably come out to my family before a tabloid outs me.”
Devin’s forehead creased with concern. “I don’t want to add any pressure to what we’re doing. I just… If someone finds out about us, and it gets out, I’d rather have her hear it from me than anyone else.”
“Yeah, I get that. Definitely.”
He searched my eyes. “So it’s okay? That she knows? She understands that you’re not out and that we need to keep this on the DL, but… I mean, is that okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course.” I absently petted Tony. “I’ve just, uh, never dated anyone with a kid before. It’s kind of new territory, you know?”
“I get that. Totally. Well, we don’t have to rush into that part. She knows we’re dating. She won’t find out about it from a tabloid.” He shrugged. “That’s the important thing.”
I nodded. Meeting Dallas as a fan had been nerve racking because I’d worried that everything I’d arranged for her wouldn’t be enough. After all, she was a big fan who couldn’t come to games, and I’d been trying to make up for that as much as possible.
Now? Jesus fuck. Now I’d be meeting her again as her dad’s…boyfriend? Partner? The guy he was dating, anyway.
He must have seen my apprehension, because he touched my face and brought me closer. “Whenever you’re ready, no rush.”
Grinning despite my nerves, I snaked an arm around him. “In the meantime, how about spending time with just you?”
Devin returned the grin. “Yeah I don’t see myself saying no to that.”
Then he kissed me, and that kiss went on, and my nerves about the future steadily gave way to excitement about tonight.
I leaned closer to Devin, and Tony abruptly got up off my lap and hopped down, probably annoyed with us.
The cat’s movement reminded me that the world still existed outside this embrace, and it occurred to me that it hadn’t been all that long since I’d walked in on Devin arguing with his shitty neighbor. Was he really okay brushing that aside and fooling around with me?
I looked in his eyes. “You sure about this tonight? We can just take it easy if you want to.”
“Oh, I’m sure about this.” He slid closer to me, and as his thigh pressed against mine, he said, “I don’t want to think about anything else tonight.” He carded his fingers through my hair. “Just you.”
And then he kissed me, and… oh, yeah. This I could do. I couldn’t think of a damn thing I could do to help with all the shit he and Dallas went through, but give him something else to think about for a little while? On it. I knew from experience distractions weren’t solutions, but they sure didn’t hurt anything either. For me, they sometimes meant the different between pulling myself up off the floor and just giving in to my brain’s bullshit.
Yeah, I was nervous as hell about meeting Dallas again, and about how she actually felt about me dating her dad. Yeah, I’d be losing sleep over it for a while.
But right now, Devin’s kiss and his touch had me too distracted to worry about anything except him, so I decided everything else could wait. Tonight, I had him, and that was all I had to think about.
“Have I mentioned lately,” he murmured, “that I love how you kiss?”
“Hmm, no.” I brushed my lips across his. “But I was getting that impression.”
“Well, just in case it wasn’t absolutely clear…” He slid a hand up into my hair. “I love the way you kiss.”
“Mmm, likewise,” I murmured between kisses. “And, um… The bed might be more comfortable than the couch.”
“Hmm, you’re right.” Devin kissed me again, then stood. “Let’s go find out.”
Chapter 24
Devin
Sinking into bed under Jase, hot skin against hot skin, was never going