Page 77 of Finding You

“Right,” Kylen said, though Monty could have been Idris fucking Elba and it wouldn’t have mattered. He was in love with Dallas.

“He has an emergency custody hearing tomorrow morning, and he’ll know the rest after that. He said he’d like to take you up on your offer, which…” He watched her scroll up. “Oh. To come here?”

Flora bounced on him, shaking all the air out of his lungs. “Yeah,” he wheezed as he set her aside. “Is that weird? He’ll have his baby.”

“I love babies,” Flora breathed.

“I know. But this is a real baby, so we have to be careful with her,” Kylen said, tugging gently at the end of her braid. “Promise?”

She held her hand to her heart, then shot up from the couch. “Gonna clean my room so the baby doesn’t choke and die!”

Dani laughed softly and set his phone in his hand. “Text him back. Tell him you can pick him up after you drop me off at the airport. What time do you fly tomorrow?”

“I’m not on Mondays,” Kylen said.

Dani’s eyes shone. “So you can go with him. Or you can watch the baby so he can focus on what he needs to do.”

Kylen swallowed heavily and took her hand in his. “This is very complicated. Why did I have to fall for him?”

“Because you’ve never taken the easy path, mi amor. And you never will. But I like him, okay? He has my blessing. Maybe one day, we’ll all live on some big commune together with us and the kids and my lovers, Henry Cavill and Eva Longoria.”

He rolled his eyes but yanked her close and wrapped his arm around her. “It’s a deal.” Closing his eyes, Kylen took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He could actually picture it. Maybe not with Henry Cavill or Eva Longoria, but some equally gorgeous human that made Dani feel like she was the only woman in the world. And with Dallas in his arms and the kids playing in the yard.

And a feeling of peace lodged deep in his chest.

He still didn’t trust he’d actually find his happily ever after, but he was starting to feel like maybe it wasn’t entirely out of his reach.

Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, Kylen stared at Adele’s front window. It was hard to see anything with the shadows from the covered porch, but he could see movement. Flora was dozing in the back seat, and Kylen was still smarting from seeing Dani off, but his heart was beating fast with anticipation.

He half expected Dallas to cancel on him, but when he made the offer to spend his day off supporting him however he needed, Dallas had just gotten a little quiet and then whispered thank you before hanging up. Now, Kylen was waiting for him and Audra.

The door opened, and Kylen sucked in a breath. He couldn’t remember feeling like this for anyone before. His skin got warm, and his nerves started firing off at just the sight of him. Dallas looked so fucking good with his muscles bulging under the weight of Audra in her little car seat. He looked like a natural. And his smile was something Kylen wanted to see every day.

“Hey,” Dallas said, lowering his voice when he realized that Flora was out. “Will she be okay with the baby?”

“She’s more than excited,” Kylen told him. “She even cleaned her room.”

Dallas snorted a laugh. “She’s always my best cleaning helper in class. That doesn’t surprise me.” He went quiet as he got Audra’s car seat situated, but instead of turning back to the house for the rest of his stuff, he walked over to Kylen’s window and tapped on it.

He pushed the button and rolled it down, grinning up at the man he loved. “Hi.”

Dallas’s eyes went soft and warm. “Hi.” His voice rumbled across Kylen’s skin, and then Dallas leaned over and kissed him. It was chaste—a slow, careful press of lips—but it was exactly what Kylen needed to feel settled. “Give me two minutes? I have a shitload of stuff.”

“Take all the time you need.”

It was more than two minutes but less than five before Dallas had his baby’s things packed up in the trunk and he was sliding into the passenger seat. He offered Kylen a sort of sheepish smile and ducked his head down as he buckled up.

“Thank you for this.”

“Don’t thank me. I’m being ridiculously selfish and taking advantage of you,” Kylen fired back.

Dallas cracked a laugh and grabbed his hand, kissing his knuckles. “If I get to benefit from it, you won’t hear me complain.”

They sat in comfortable silence for the rest of the drive, and Flora started to stir just as they turned onto their street. She yawned, then looked over and gasped, pressing her little fingers to her lips.

“Baby.”

“Her name’s Audra,” Dallas said, twisting in his seat.