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I tried to push down my excitement. “Uh, not really. Not meals, anyway. I quite like making desserts.”
“Just so happens that I like eating desserts. Cakes or something?”
“Chocolate,” I said noncommittally, taking a fussing Huey back from him.
Rigby’s eyes went wide. “From, like, scratch?”
I shrugged. “Kinda. When I have time.”
I could almost see the chocolate bars in his eyes. My cheeks flushed, and I turned away from the kitchen. Could you be sexually aroused by a double oven? Because I think I was.
It definitely wasn’t because of the way that Rigby’s back flexed as he strode toward the family room. Dev and River had finished hauling all of Huey’s and my stuff up to our rooms, and were now sitting on the couch, watching sports on the huge flatscreen mounted to the wall.
“You finished being a guide dog?” River asked Rigby, who just gave him the finger.
“Better than a beast of burden, asshole,” Rigby replied, flopping down on the other side of the sectional.
Dev looked at me, shaking his head. “The answer to your question is yes, they are always like this.” Huey took that moment to give another disgruntled cry. “He’s hungry?”
I nodded. “I was just wondering where you put the diaper bag, or even the suitcase with all the formula?”
River unfolded from the couch with an ease of a much smaller man. “I packed it all away in the kitchen. Let me show you.” He strode past me and into the kitchen area, then through to a butler’s pantry that ran along the back. He opened up a floor-to-ceiling cupboard. “I don’t know if Rigby showed you in here, but this is where we keep all the food. It goes without saying you eat whatever you want. This place is your home too now.” He looked down at me, his piercing golden eyes riveting me to the spot. He didn’t look away until I nodded my agreement.
“This is the Huey cupboard. I thought it would be easier for you, and us, if everything was in the one place. Filtered water is over there.” He pointed to a spout on the huge sinks. I’d seen bathtubs less deep.
It was thoughtful, I’d give him that. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. But River’s kitchen was the size of my whole apartment. Huey’s “cupboard” was the size of my closet. Honestly, what are we going to fill this with?
But when I looked inside, I realized someone must have bought out the baby store, because there was everything I could even think to need and then some. Tins of formula, rows of bottles, a sterilizer, sippy cups, weird little grippy plates so Huey couldn’t throw a plate at my head once he started solids. Pacifiers. Teething rings. Everything. Things I couldn’t even name, let alone have on my shopping list.
I swallowed the hard lump in my throat. “Thanks. If you could hold him, I’ll make him a bottle, then put him to bed. We’re both tired.”
River stared down at me for a long time, his hands reaching out to take the baby. He was assessing me, that much was obvious. I just didn’t know if he found me wanting or not.
So instead, I went through the process that had become such an ingrained routine that I could do it half-asleep. Literally.
By the time the bottle was ready, River was nowhere to be seen. I walked into the living room, and Rigby lifted his chin. “He went to get him ready for bed.” The giant stood, ambling over to me and wrapping me in a hug. “I’m happy you’re here.”
He still had no shirt on.
I tried to think of any other person in the last three months who’d hugged me just because they wanted to, and not because I needed it. Chloe wasn’t a hugger, though she did hold me when I cried. Rita wasn’t a hugger either, but they both expressed their affections in other ways.
Rigby was one hundred percent touchy-feely. If I was sane—which, considering I’d moved myself and my infant in with a bunch of strangers, was up for debate—I’d be uncomfortable being this close to a guy I barely knew. But instead, I let myself lean into his warmth, into his strength, and allowed my whole body to relax for the first time in months. I let someone else shoulder my weight, just for a moment, and closed my eyes.
Rigby didn’t speak, didn’t loosen his grip. His thumb rubbed small circles on my shoulder blade, but that was it. He didn’t ask me to hug him back; he just encompassed me in his huge arms and let me rest.
Finally, I let out a shuddering, cathartic breath and stepped back. Rigby let me go just as easily. I could feel Devan’s eyes on my spine, but I didn’t turn around. I just looked up into the pretty blue eyes of Rigby. “Thanks. I needed that.”
He gave me that soft smile, his eyes filled with empathy. “I know. Anytime.”
I knew in my soul he meant it too. Hell, a part of me wanted to step back into his arms again already. To ask him to carry me to bed, to tuck me in, to take away all the responsibility I held for just one night.
Instead, I gave him a tight smile. “Goodnight.” I chanced a look over my shoulder at Devan, who was watching me with an intense expression. I cleared my throat, feeling my cheeks flush. It probably looked like I was trying to hit on his housemate. “Goodnight, Devan.”
“Night,” he said gruffly.
Over the last couple of days, as I’d packed up my life for an extended, and unknown, period of time, Devan had been a quiet force in the background. He’d spoken less words to me in three days than Rigby had said to me in one tour of the house. But he’d been there whenever Huey needed anything, and had allowed me to focus on getting my life organized.
He’d also done small, thoughtful things that I still didn’t know how to interpret. Like hiring a company to come and secure my house and put in alarms that would go to a local security firm.
