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Oh shit. He knew what was happening. Pressing his lips together, he did his best to shut down the thrill sparking in his chest at the fact that Caden had been jealous.
Maybe he was as terrible as everyone said.
He stepped away from Robbie, knowing Dare had him covered. Caden wasn’t really a threat though. Not really, and definitely not after he understood what he’d walked in on.
Pointing to the ground in front of him, he said calmly, “Come here, kitten.”
Caden looked behind him at Robbie and then back at Quinten before darting forward. He stopped right in front of him, barely any space left between them. Slowly, Quinten settled his palm against the side of Caden’s neck.
Immediately, his eyes dimmed, and his canines shrank back to their regular size. His body wavered for a second, like a cattail in the breeze, and then he was pressing his face into Quinten’s throat and inhaling deeply. His exhale was shuddery, a tiny sound pressing into his thin skin. Needy fingers grabbed at his suit jacket, wrinkling it all to shit, no doubt, but he couldn’t care less.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, keeping his hold on the side of Caden’s neck and wrapping his other arm around his waist. The bare skin of his hip was so warm he almost jerked his hand away in shock.
“Fine,” Caden grumbled as he nuzzled closer.
“That’s good,” he said. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Caden stiffened against him.
Quinten gave his neck a squeeze in reassurance and then slowly separated their bodies. When he turned, he found Dare planted between them and Robbie. His eyes locked on Caden.
“Stand down, Dare,” Quinten said firmly.
“Yeah,” Robbie added, slapping at his arm and stepping up next to him. He rolled his eyes. “Always so overprotective.”
Quinten didn’t miss the fact that Robbie didn’t actually look all that annoyed and suppressed a sigh. He was pretty sure he’d had a crush on Dare for years, and he just knew one day it was going to break Robbie’s heart.
“Caden,” Quinten said. “This is Robert.”
“I go by Robbie,” he interjected quickly, sending Quinten a glare.
“He does.” Quinten smiled at him and then turned to his prickly cat. “Robbie, this is Caden.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Caden said stiffly.
“Wow, not even I believe that, and I just have dull human senses.”
Quinten suppressed a laugh. “Caden, Robbie is my son.”
Caden’s head jerked around to stare at him wide-eyed, and then he looked back at Robbie. They didn’t look much alike, he’d give him that.
His son had gotten his height and build from his mother and barely topped out at five foot three compared to Quinten’s six two. His hair naturally had loose curls, and he kept it cut short on the sides, spending a lot of Quinten’s money on different hair products to keep the longer section on top just the way he liked it.
His skin had just the barest hint of a tan year-round, a throwback to his mother’s Mediterranean heritage from a few generations back, but it was his eyes that always caught people’s attention. Just like his mother, he had the most gorgeous violet eyes. Most people assumed they were contacts. Sometimes, parahumans thought they were from a spell and tried to get him to share his secret.
His round cheeks made him look younger than his twenty-two years, especially since—much to his dismay—he couldn’t grow facial hair to save his life.
Quinten had never loved anyone the way he loved his son, not even Liam, who he would die or kill for.
He’d only been a sixteen-year-old idiot when he knocked up his girlfriend. A few months after she gave birth to Robert, she’d disappeared. He wasn’t sure what exactly had happened to her, if she just couldn’t handle being a teenage mom, if her family had moved her away so she could start over somewhere. No one ever told him, and he hadn’t bothered looking for her once he had the means. She’d left them and never looked back.
Thankfully, his parents and Callie had helped him so that he could finish high school and then college, making sure Robbie had everything he needed growing up.
Most people outside his inner circle had no idea that he had a kid, let alone one that he’d had when he was a teenager. He’d been careful to keep Robbie safe as he’d started expanding his business into the grayer area of importing. It had been important to him to make sure that Robbie could have any future he wanted, even if he wanted nothing to do with the family business.
Caden kept staring, having a hard time processing, it seemed, and then his face flushed bright pink, and his eyes dropped to the ground. “I’m so sorry for growling at you.”
Robbie laughed. “Hey, it’s not the first time, and it definitely won’t be the last. Have you met this guy?” His son pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Dare. “Every time I see him, I swear he growls at me, just so grumpy,” Robbie teased and then clapped his hands together. “Okay, I’m starving, and I want to hear all about how this happened.” He waved a hand between Caden and Quinten.
