Page 152 of The Protective Gryphen

Ian was off to the races.

“You are a catch, and look at you. You’re freaking gorgeous. I said that because a surrogate is going to look at how big you are and think ‘well, there goes my vagina’. I was thinking about how brutal that childbirth would be, and if we want her to do multiple kids for us, we can’t break her first time out. We save that for the last one.”

He realized what he was saying, and began laughing. At his explanation, his heart stopped hurting. It had been silly of him to think the man didn’t want his genes.

Clearly, he was a thinker, and had already thought all of this out. That’s why he loved Ian.

“How much did you weigh as a baby?” Ian finally asked him.

Gryphen laughed.

“I have no clue,” he said. “I’m going to guess somewhere between an ounce and now.”

Well, that didn’t help.

“How tall are you?” he asked, trying to do the math on this one.

“I’m six six-ish, and I weigh two fifty.”

“And your foot?” he asked, even though he was well aware.

“A sixteen.”

That was his point.

“I’m six feet tall, I weigh one eighty, and my foot is a thirteen. No one’s running from my sperm screaming ‘the baby won’t come out’! That’s my only reasoning, and that you think I wouldn’t want to hold a baby with your beautiful eyes and smile…you’re an ass.”

He snorted.

“You’re cursing a lot in church.”

Ian didn’t care.

“You made me do it by putting yourself down. I’m never going to think less of you than perfection. You yelled at me for doing that. Maybe you should take your own advice.”

And there it was.

Ian was right.

“Point made. Now help me up. You know I’m awkward when I go down with this prosthetic leg.”

He was aware.

When he pulled him up, Gryphen took that moment to hold him in his arms.

“I love you, and I want to have kids with you. I want to give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of in life. I know you like children. I’ve seen you with the Blackhawk brood. You smile, and you wear that bracelet that Addison made you.”

He did.

Ian knew how much this meant to him, and Gryphen. His one sentence was a huge sacrifice, since most of his dreams involved watching those little girls he didn’t save over and over.

That he’d try…

“I’m a sucker for kids.”

Yeah, Gryphen knew.

When he kissed him, Ian tipped his head and opened for him, inviting him to go deeper.

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