whole lot of kids in the other room. Do you want to play?" Jack asked, his attention on his son.
Damon’s eyes got big and he nodded. Eli put Damon on the floor and then took his hand and they walked into the living room. Jack introduced Damon to his nephews and niece.
"Haley, will you look out for Damon, please?" Jack asked a pretty reddish-brown haired girl with beautiful hazel eyes who couldn’t be older than six. Before she could answer, a boy with the same hair and eyes volunteered. "I will."
"Thank you, Leo," Jack said. "This is Damon."
Leo put his hand out, and Damon looked up at him for permission. Eli nodded and his son slipped his hand out of his and took Leo’s.
"I’ll show you my Legos, and you can play, too." The little boy led his son over to a table set up with Legos, although he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be making.
Before too long, Damon was engrossed with playing, and Eli actually felt at ease leaving him.
When they finally left the kids’ play area, Jack asked, "Would you like to meet my brothers?".
"I would." Eli hoped he didn’t sound too eager. Technically he’d met Colt, but not really since it had been brief and at work. And your attention was zeroed in on Jack.
Jack walked him over to where a few guys stood around talking. Jack cleared his throat, and they looked in their direction.
"I’d like to introduce you to Eli," Jack said.
"This is Colt," Jack said. Colt was the one that had come in this morning, and another guy who had dark brown hair with traces of auburn. Like Jack, he was tall, and Eli could see the resemblance in the eyes.
Jack pointed to the next man. "Braeden" This brother was slim but as tall as his other siblings with a headful of brown hair down to his neck which had dark blond highlights. His cheekbones were sharper than the others, and he had gorgeous hazel eyes.
"Aiden." Eli noted he was tall as well with dark auburn hair, slightly darker than Colt’s, and he was easy to remember with the fancy English accent.
Jack moved to the last in the group. "And Quinn, Aiden’s husband," he said. He was not as tall as the other men, but he was beautiful. Jack rubbed at the little bundle in Quinn’s arms. "And this here is the newest member of the family, Lila."
"It’s a pleasure to meet you all." Eli smiled. His eyes were drawn to the beautiful baby in Quinn’s arms "She’s adorable, and thank you for allowing me to come into your home for your party."
"You’re always welcome," Aiden said.
That brought a smile to Eli’s lips. Jack slipped his hand into Eli’s and excused them. They left the crowd and made their way further away from everyone. Jack actually made sure to peek in on Damon before leading him to a small living room and closing the door behind them.
Before Eli could even take the room in, Jack said, "Thank you for giving me a chance to explain."
"I’m so sorry for not being honest with you." They kind of spoke at the same time.
"Shhhh…" Jack shook his head, "None of that. You had a right to tell me when you were ready. We can talk about it later if you want but no apologies needed. I’m the one that owes you an apology. And maybe you’ll be open to hearing it on a date with me?"
He actually looked worried like he thought Eli would say no. No chance of that.
"Tomorrow night?" Eli asked.
Jack nodded his agreement. "Dinner. I have the perfect location."
Eli nodded but didn’t question it. He trusted Jack, and this was a chance for them to talk, put their cards on the table if they really wanted to have a life together, and he wanted that more than he’d wanted anything in a long time.
"So where is this perfect location?" Eli asked. They hadn’t spoken much since Jack picked him up. It was like they knew the talking would have to come, and they were biding their time.
"You’ll see." Jack sounded pleased with himself.
Weirdly, that was good with him. He wasn’t in a hurry. And he quite liked that Jack planned a surprise and didn’t want to ruin whatever it was that Jack had come up with for them. It was probably another fifteen minutes when Jack pulled into a driveway. Eli looked around, utterly confused.
"Uh…are we viewing the house again?"
Jack shut off