Page 91 of Guarding Colton’s Witness

*Aiden Colton has left chat group*

*Matti Colton has added Aiden Colton to chat group*

Kelly: Why did I get left out of this bet?

Ryan: Hi

Wyatt: Oh, look, it’s Doc.

Cal: Who’s gonna tell Doc that a newbie to the group buys the beer?

Ryan grinned as he looked up from his phone. “You people are funny.” Something warm settled inside him that he was being included in the siblings’ chats.

Matti, sitting next to him on the couch, her own phone in her hand, grinned back. “They can be ridiculous. You might end up being sorry I added you.”

“I need some ridiculous in my life.”

“You’re going to fit right in with my brothers.”

“I’m not embarrassed to admit that all that alpha testosterone going on in your family is a bit intimidating. Is there some kind of initiation they’re going to put me through that I should be scared of?” He was kidding…mostly. With her brothers, though, one never knew.

She laughed. “I don’t think so, but I wouldn’t put it past them.”

“That doesn’t ease my mind, sweetheart.” He set his phone down. “How long do we have before Kelly gets here?”

She looked at her watch. “If she leaves the office when she said she would, about twenty minutes.”

“Hmm, enough time for a little suck face?” He waggled his eyebrows.

“You’re incorrigible.”

“That’s not a no,” he murmured, as he leaned over, brushing his lips against hers. He wrapped his arms around her, intending to pull her onto his lap.

“Matti. Doc,” Sam said, walking into the room. “I need to ask you something.”

“Hey, buddy. I thought you were asleep.” He reluctantly left Matti where she was.

“I can’t sleep because I keep thinking.” He came to them and leaned on Ryan’s leg.

“Yeah? And what deep thoughts are you having?” The kid was adorable in his SpongeBob pajamas and his hair looking like he’d stuck his fingers in a light socket.

Sam’s brows furrowed. “What’s a deep thought?”

“It’s when you’re thinking something important, so what important thing is on your mind, my little man?”

“Well…”

Sam stuck his finger in his nose, and next to Ryan, Matti snorted, then coughed to cover it up. Ryan swallowed his own chuckle as he pulled Sam’s finger out of his nose. “You can tell us anything, you know.” He tapped the side of Sam’s head. “So out with it. What’s on your mind?”

“I was thinking…um, if I’m going to live here, can I call you Mommy and Daddy?”

Ryan had been riding waves of emotion since he’d realized he was in love with Matti, who when he told her he was falling for her, had said she’d never marry a doctor. From the high of realizing he loved her to the low of sitting in his apartment heartsick and thinking it was over, to the gut punch of thinking he might never see Sam again, Ryan had thought he’d felt it all. But nothing—nothing—could have prepared him for the tidal wave that just crashed into his chest with Sam’s innocent question.

Matti sucked in a breath beside him. She didn’t speak, didn’t move. Ryan looked at her, needing to see her face, and what he saw made his throat close tight.

Tears shimmered in her eyes, her lips parted in stunned silence. She reached for Sam and pulled him onto her lap. “Sweetie,” she whispered, brushing that wild hair back from his forehead. “You really want to call us that?”

Sam nodded solemnly. “Yeah. I like living here. And you and Doc don’t think I’m a bad boy. I feel…happy.” He shrugged, like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.