Harmless(44)

Roan hated talking about his mother, but he found he liked sitting here with Seg, getting to know him on more than a physical level. Although, he was having a damn hard time keeping his hands to himself. His palms itched with the need to touch him.

Shaking off the thought, he remembered what Seg had asked. "She left when I was a teenager. Actually, she left when I came out to my family. She insisted the devil had inhabited my body and she wasn't about to subject herself to that."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. So, when she left, I vowed never to hide who I truly was to anyone. If people don't like it, they can mind their own fucking business."

Seg glanced down at the table and Roan realized what he'd said. He hadn't meant to be so harsh about it.

Roan sighed again. "I didn't mean that it's wrong of you to keep your secret. I get it, even if I don't like it. I've paid attention. It's not easy for professional athletes to come out."

"No, it's not."

"Hopefully that'll change at some point." Roan wasn't going to hold his breath, but he got it. He really did.

"One day," Seg noted before taking a long pull on his beer.

"And until then … ?" Roan had to know. He wasn't about to invest his heart in this man only to have him refuse to go out in public with him. It was one thing not to show affection in public, but Roan wanted what his friends had. He wanted to live his life, proud of the man he was with and vice versa. 

"Can we take this one day at a time?" Seg inquired, his eyes imploring Roan.

Knowing he wanted to see where this thing was going, Roan had no choice but to agree. After all, he'd spent the past year and a half thinking about Seg. And the man was right about one thing. Whatever this thing between them was, it didn't happen every day. Hell, he wasn't sure it happened every lifetime.

Roan nodded, but before he could say anything, a familiar wail sounded from the monitor sitting on the bar. He glanced over to see Seg smiling from ear to ear. Seg must've seen his confusion because he got to his feet.

Seg shrugged off his suit coat and laid it over the back of the chair. "I get to meet him, eh?"

Strange how Seg's eagerness went straight to his heart.





Thirteen

AFTER FOLLOWING ROAN DOWN A short hallway off the living room, Seg paused while Roan opened the first door they came to. For whatever reason, Seg's chest felt as though he'd been inflated. Why he was so excited, he had no fucking clue.

The blue-tinged glow from a nightlight allowed him to make out the furnishings in the room. Crib, changing table, rocking chair. When Roan flipped on the light, the colors came to life. On the wall were several black-and-white framed pictures. They were mostly of Liam and Roan, with a couple of a woman Seg assumed was Roan's sister. Looking at them had some unnamed emotion filling Seg's chest.

A baby.

Roan was a dad.

Seg watched as Roan went right to the crib, smiling down at the little boy, who was dressed in blue pajamas and clearly unhappy about something. Truth was, Seg really didn't know the first thing about babies. He was an only child and his parents didn't have any siblings either. Which meant, without any brothers or sisters or cousins, and without any friends who had small children, Seg was completely out of his element. This was new for him.

Exciting.

Like he'd told Roan, he wasn't up to speed on all things baby, but he could use his common sense. The little boy probably needed a clean diaper or food or both.

Sure enough, Roan deftly changed the squirmy baby's diaper, in record time at that, then lifted him into his arms. The ear-splitting cries simmered down to a pathetic little sob that wrenched Seg's heart. He was so consumed by the sight in front of him it took a second for him to realize Roan was staring at him. It took another second to notice the surprise in Roan's eyes.

Seg offered a tentative smile as he reached out and rubbed the baby's downy-soft head. The little boy stared at him, seemingly taking in his facial features. Seg wondered what his first thought was.

"Can I hold him?" Seg asked. "You know, so you can get a bottle or whatever."

That request seemed to stun Roan even more, but he didn't argue. Seg took instruction from Roan on how to hold him. Apparently, at four months old, Liam was capable of squirming out of Seg's arms if he wasn't careful, especially if he threw a tantrum, which, according to Roan, was bound to happen any second now. That scared him a little, so he kept a firm grip on him.

"You're tiny, little guy," Seg whispered to him as he followed Roan out of the bedroom toward the kitchen. "You're gonna have to get some meat on your bones so you can play hockey when you grow up. That or baseball. Maybe your dad likes baseball."

Roan did his thing in the kitchen, putting together a bottle, then turning back to him expectantly.