Atonement (The Protectors #6)(52)
I chuckled as he hurried off. "Jesus," I said with a laugh.
"Yeah, we can do way better than ten minutes," Dante said as he dropped his hand to my inner thigh, wiping the remnants of my smile from my face as my dick jerked to attention.
I settled my hand over his and leaned in to whisper, "Too many prying eyes here, but they've got a decent sized guest bathroom."
The reminder of the day that had started it all for us had Dante dragging me to him for a long, deep kiss.
In the month since Aleks had made the decision to take off his collar, he'd had good days and bad which meant Dante and I'd had the same, since we were both so invested in his recovery. There hadn't been any hesitation on my part in having Aleks come live with us full-time because I'd become increasingly fond of the young man. His strength and resilience reminded me of Dante, but he was also very different from his older brother in so many ways. He was quieter and more reserved and often struggled to find his voice. I wasn't sure how much of that was just part of his nature and how much had been driven into him from his past.
While Aleks had made a lot of progress in some areas, he still faltered in others. Namely that he refused to talk about what had happened in the years after he was abducted. Not with me, not with Dante and not with any medical professionals. We'd managed to get him to see a regular doctor for a physical exam, but it had been touch and go the entire time and that had been with a female doctor. But as reluctant as he was to talk about the past, he was moving full speed ahead towards the future. Specifically, his desire to get an education and ultimately a job. It wasn't that he wanted to move out and be on his own anytime soon; it was more like he wanted to know that he could. We'd gotten lucky in that both Connor Devereaux, one of Leo's fathers, and Savannah Matthews, a Barretti relative, were both teachers and had agreed to tutor Aleks to help him get his GED when he was ready. We'd garnered enough information to know that Aleks had been given some education in the past, albeit informal, but the focus had been on speaking, writing and reading English. He had next to no skills in math or science, but like Dante, he was sharp and driven and he excelled at whatever was put in front of him. He'd expressed interest in someday working for a florist, though when we'd mentioned that he could someday own his own shop if that was what he wanted, he'd seemed reluctant to believe himself capable … another trait he had a tendency to share with his brother, though Dante had improved in that area quite a bit.
Starting with his parents.
Juliana and Pedro hadn't been as hard-nosed about Aleks staying with us as we'd assumed they'd be. My guess was they'd had the fear of God put in them when Aleks had disappeared on them for a second time. And it had helped that Aleks had stood up to them, choosing the life his brother could offer over the one his parents wanted him to have back in Brazil. Dante's parents hadn't warmed up to him at all and I doubted they would, but when Aleks had been out of the room, I'd made it clear to the couple that when they were in mine and Dante's house, they would show their oldest son the respect he was due.
Aleks had stuck close to home the first couple of weeks after permanently moving in with us, but he'd pushed the boundaries of his comfort zone by attending dinner with me and Dante at Hawke and Tate's house on more than one occasion. While he was still hesitant around other adults, especially men, he thrived around kids and he and Matty had gotten along famously from the start. It wasn't that Aleks identified as a child; it was more like he understood them and needed that freedom that playing with little kids could only bring him. The same way his flowers still managed to calm him.
We hadn't taken him to any of the bigger family functions and suspected it would be a good long while until we did, but he had made himself a tentative new friend in Remy. Dante had explained the young man's role in bringing Aleks home and Aleks had asked to meet him. Remy, for his part, was doing as well as could be expected. Memphis had gotten him set up with an apartment and had also arranged for him to enroll in an outpatient drug rehab program so he could continue with his recovery while Dom Barretti had offered the young man a job at his security firm doing office work. We'd invited Remy over to our house a week ago to meet Aleks and had left the two young men alone to talk. The only hint we'd gotten that things had gone well was when Aleks had asked Dante to show him how to work the texting function on his phone so he could text Remy.
Aleks's need for my approval and permission had eased, though he sometimes looked at me first when he had to make a decision about something. But instead of expecting me to tell him how to proceed, he would ask both me and Dante for our opinions and then ultimately reach his own decision. And every time he did it, we saw him grow just a little bit stronger.
My relationship with Dante had flourished, even during the times we'd had to deal with Aleks's darker days. Early on, I'd questioned whether Dante had moved in with me so quickly because of his brother, but he'd set me straight pretty quickly. We hadn't talked much about the future, but we both knew today was exactly the same place we'd be in ten, twenty, even fifty years.
Together.
I could see Dante was about to take me up on my suggestion to move things to the bathroom when the front door flew open and Matty and Leo dragged Aleks into the house.
"Come on, hurry," Leo urged as he nearly tripped over Matty's puppy, Storm, who'd been lying near the door waiting for her master to come back.
Aleks sent us both an exasperated smile, but I knew it was for show. He adored both kids and would rather spend time playing with Matty's superhero dolls with the boys, than interacting with the adults. I knew there would be a time when those roles reversed for him, but he'd earned the right to be a kid whenever he needed to, and for as long as he needed to.
"Dinner in ten," Dante called as the trio hurried past us.
"How very grandmotherly of you," I said with a smile which garnered me a punch on the arm followed by a soft kiss.
"I don't care how many superhero dolls it costs me, that kid is not calling me MawMaw."
"And what are you going to give me not to call you that?" I asked.
Dante's hand traveled towards my groin and had nearly made contact when Matty came barreling down the hall. "Pop-pop, MawMaw," he said as he reached us and Dante snatched his hand back.
Matty smirked at the dark look Dante sent him and then he put his hands on Dante's knees. He curled his finger towards Dante, motioning him forward so he could whisper into Dante's ear.
"Did he ask you yet?" Matty said softly.
Dante made a show of putting his mouth to Matty's ear and cupping his hand, but his eyes were on me. "Not yet, but when he does, I'm gonna say yes."
I felt my heart swell painfully in my chest at that.
"'Cause he makes you happy," Matty said, making no effort to quiet his voice.
Dante skimmed his finger down Matty's cheek. "Yeah, Matty, he does." Dante's eyes shifted back to mine and he brushed a chaste kiss over my mouth.
It was my turn to lean over when Matty motioned me forward. "He's gonna say yes, Pop-pop. You're gonna ask him, right?"
I made sure to keep my voice low enough that I knew Dante wouldn't hear me and said, "Tonight, buddy."
Matty smiled widely just before Leo called his name from the bedroom.
"Gotta go Pop-pop," he said and then he gave me a quick hug. "Love you lots."
"Forever and ever," I said as I hugged him back.
Dante was next and I saw my man's eyes go bright with emotion when Matty told him he loved him. "Forever and ever," Dante dutifully responded.
"Ok, be back in a bit, MawMaw," Matty said with a laugh and then he was running for his room.
"Matty, we need to talk about the MawMaw thing!"
But Matty was already gone.
"I heard what he asked you," Dante said knowingly.
I studied him for a moment and then smiled. "Yeah, but you didn't hear my answer."
Dante eyed me for a moment and then frowned when I called his bluff. "You're not going to tell me?"
I pulled him to me and sealed my mouth over his. Once we were both breathless, I pulled back enough to say, "I'll tell you tonight."
"Deal," Dante murmured and then he was dragging me back to his mouth. "What do you say we go check out that guest bathroom?"
"I say hell, yeah." I glanced at my watch and said, "We've got about seven minutes till dinner. Think you can do something with that amount of time?"
"I think I can do it twice in that amount of time," Dante said with a cocky grin. "Come on Pop-pop, I'll show you how it's done," he said as he pulled me to my feet and linked our hands together.
"Lead the way, MawMaw."
The End
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Revelation (The Protectors, Book 7) (M/M)
Sloane Kennedy
© 2017 by Sloane Kennedy
Prologue
Cain
"Thanks for coming," Ronan said as he nodded at me. I was glad he didn't extend his hand to me. It wasn't that I didn't respect the man – I did … a whole hell of a lot. But touching wasn't my thing and never had been. Luckily, Ronan Grisham and his second-in-command, Memphis Wheland, the two men I dealt with on a regular basis as part of my job, had picked up early on that physical contact was something I liked to steer clear of and they'd respected the boundary.