“We’renot going back home. We’ll create a family together somewhere else.”
It was only when he realized Kit was barely breathing that Red understood what he’d said. A family. The two of them. Red waited to panic. Maybe he did, just around the edges, but he meant what he said. He wanted to be together with Kit, Daddy and boy.
“What about Tony?”
“I don’t know what will happen there,” Red admitted. “But he has no say in you and me, boy.”
Kit raised his head and his cheek and chin had Red’s scruff imprinted like crazy paving. “Will you still be my bodyguard?”
“I don’t know how that’ll work,” Red said. “This is new territory for me.”
Kit sighed and wriggled down to rest his head on Red’s chest, his hand over Red’s heart.
“What do you know the answers to?”
“I know how to protect you. It’s my job right now.”
Red tried to sound as positive as he could. He was a damn good bodyguard, okay, babysitter. He could do that. But he stared up at the ceiling. Red had to admit the future worried him. He was a rinse repeat kinda guy. He hated not knowingwhat came next. He’d liked his job at Monaghan. The same clients, the same routine. The same team even. If he transferred across the country, what would he do? Kit didn’t have the best record for holding down jobs and even in WITSEC they were expected to work for a living. They needed to have plans for getting on with their life. Red had been in security for a long time. Too long. He wouldn’t know what else he could do.
“You’re doing a lot of thinking,” Kit said, although he hadn’t raised his head.
“It’s my job right now,” Red repeated.
Kit sat up and drew his knees to his chest. “What will you do with your home?”
“CDR will pack it up and transport it to us.”
He didn’t know that for sure, but Griff Carlton had moved to London and that’s what had happened for him.
“I’ve only got what’s in my condo. Everything else was in the clubhouse.”
Distraught by Kit’s dejected expression, Red sat up and tugged his boy against his chest. “I know, sweetheart. We can’t replace what you lost but we can make sure you have a home again.”
“Do I deserve a home?”
What on earth? Where did that come from?
Red held Kit tighter. “I promise you, you deserve a home, a Daddy, and love.”
Kit let out a slow sigh and pressed a kiss over Red’s heart. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. Holding Kit in his arms was enough.
They slept again,Kit curled up against him like a baby hedgehog, until finally bodily needs drove Red out of the bed. Kitmust have been out like a light because beyond a sleepy grumble, he didn’t stir as Red left the bedroom.
Red did a quick patrol, reassuring himself the cabin was secure, then he messaged Mo.
“All quiet – Ronan.”
He breathed easier as he headed into the bathroom to take care of business. Then he sniffed his armpit and grimaced. He smelled rank.
Shower. Patrol again. Dinner. In that order, and somewhere in there, Red would wake his boy and love on him again.
Hot water was a blessing as he closed his eyes and let it stream over him. Then he picked up the bodywash, sniffed it, and decided it was acceptable. Maybe more spice than flowery. Red had loved his mom, but he had deep seated issues about the floral bodywash he’d been forced to use as a kid. He scrubbed his armpits, sniffed, then did it again, before washing the rest of his body, finally bending down to scrub his calves and feet.
“Is there room for me?”
Red looked up at a sleepy voice. Kit stood outside the stall, picking at cum dried into the fine hairs on his belly, his morning wood lifting as if seeking out Red.
“Sure.”
