“Is he shy?” Ash asked.
James smirked.
A much shorter guy poked his head out behind the door. “I’m not shy!”
I couldn’t help but grin. He was wearing a hoodie of some sort with ears. Bear ears or dog ears, I wasn’t sure.
It was clear that James was coaxing Jordan out, and it seemed to work after a while. But that wasn’t a hoodie. Jordan was in aonesie. Like the pajamas our children had worn as toddlers.
If I found that adorable on a grown man, Ash didn’t stand a chance as a Daddy Dom.
As if he heard my thoughts, he turned around and shook his head in amusement. “Unless he’s working or running errands, he’s always in one of those onesies. I think he owns like twenty.”
Impressive.
He came over to me and slipped his hand into mine. “Lemme introduce you.”
Okay, time for a deep breath. This was going to go well.
Right?
I swallowed hard as we trailed down the porch steps.
Ash threaded our fingers together and gave my hand a squeeze.
We’re in this together.
I exhaled.
James was certainly…very, very handsome. He and Ash shared that rough-around-the-edges, bad-boy look. Except James was slightly shorter, not as broad-shouldered, not as stocky. Sun-kissed, charming blue eyes, a smile that bordered on a smirk, and yet…I detected something sweet and almostdemure about him. He flicked a glance my way that lasted less than a second.
“Baby, I want you to meet the best neighbors we could ask for.” Ash squeezed my hand again. “James, we work together. Jordan, the brat who knows his way around cooking and making trouble. Guys, this is my husband, Nathan.”
I smiled politely and shook hands with James first. “Very nice to meet you, James. Ash has told me a lot about you.”
“Yeah, definitely—I mean, it’s real nice to meet you too.” He cleared his throat and took a step back. I liked his accent. He was Southern. “I think I know everythin’ about you at this point.”
“Close to it.” Ash grinned.
I was gonna ask him about that later.
I tilted my head as Jordan extended his hand, but he seemed to struggle with eye contact far more than his husband. In fact, I was sure the hood on his pajamas felt like protection to him when it fell down past his forehead like that. The boy was in hiding.
“Hello, Mister Rigger, I’m Jordan,” he said shyly. “I was so happy to hear that you and Mister Ash reunited.”
I shook his hand—not as firmly as I’d shaken James’s hand. “That’s sweet of you, Jordan.”
Ash, who couldn’t spell finesse, ruffled the boy’s head and pushed back the hood.
“There’s no reason to be scared, kiddo. You’ll eventually beg Nathan to torture you.”
Jesus.
Jordan shot Ash a scowl, which was just fucking cute, but I guessed I was standing too close, because he got stuck on me a beat later.
He was undeniably gorgeous, and I recognized those beautiful eyes from his profile picture online. This was Lilducky, who’d signed up for my session tonight.
Those freckles were something else too.
