Page 46 of More than Need

“Let me guess; you’re the pen-and-paper guy?”

“Riley doesn’t go out on calls.” Gideon scooped some whipped cream off his coffee and made a show of licking it off—had to be a show; no one ate their cream like that.

Riley wanted to slide Gideon under the table and make him lick his cock like that, with slow licks of his tongue. Gideon could eat something else while they had their lunch.

He adjusted himself and focused on his coffee. Hopefully the food would get out here soon.

“Right,” Dawson said. “You’re the boss man. That’s kind of hot.”

How? “I go out if no one else is available,” Riley said. Life happened, and murderers didn’t wait for it to be convenient for his detectives.

Luckily, he didn’t have to elaborate further since their food—steak sandwiches with hot chips for him and Dawson and potato wedges for Gideon—were delivered. The talented woman, who managed to juggle all three plates with ease, slid them onto the table.

“Next question,” Dawson said as soon as they were alone again. He picked up his steak sandwich and took a bite out of it, chewing contemplatively. “If you were on a deserted island—”

“No.” Riley had no idea why he still found Dawson attractive whilst talking with his mouth full and a smear of sauce on the corner of his lip. Dawson’s eyes would darken further if Riley licked it off.

“I didn’t even finish the question,” Dawson protested. He wiped his mouth with his napkin, sadly taking Riley’s opportunity to taste away.

“I’m not answering that.”

“Fine. What question doyouwant to ask since you’re such a question-asking expert?” He took another bite, and more of the gooey barbeque sauce oozed over his bottom lip.

Riley hadn’t initiated this. Why did he have to think of a question? What did he want to know about Gideon that he didn’t already know? What did he want to know about Dawson?

“Do you have siblings?” he found himself saying without thought. Skirting too close to the entire reason they’d met and something Riley had failed every day since to not constantly think about.

Dawson wiped the sauce off with his thumb and sucked it into his mouth. Too distracting for his own good. “Just the one: an older brother, Marshall.” He bit his lip. “Do…” He hesitated. “You said you had, um…” Red spread across his cheeks, giving them an attractive hue.

“I have five,” Riley offered, giving him a lifeline. It was the least he could do since he’d been the one who’d initiated this disastrous line of enquiry. He should have known better. Both these men made it hard for him to think. “One older, the rest are younger. Kellan is the oldest, by three years. Then me, then Lucas, Danny, and the twins—Parker and Peyton.”

“Wow. That’s… a lot of brothers. I can barely handle one. Are you close in age?”

“Relatively. Lucas and I are four months apart.” Easy to forget that he and Riley were roughly the same age, considering Lucas’s maturity levels. Their mother had already been heavily pregnant with Lucas when she’d adopted Riley. He’d never really understood why she’d chosen to take him in when she already had a family, with no reason to believe that she wouldn’t be able to have more if she wanted.

He’d never asked, and he’d tried his best to move past it. She’d chosen to love him, and that’s all that mattered.

All those feelings had come back at him like a freight train in the last few days, all without his permission. Why had Theresa taken him, why had she loved him when the ones who had created him hadn’t?

“And the rest?” Dawson asked.

He’d startedthistrain wreck, and he had no choice but to follow through. “Mum got pregnant with Danny about six months after Lucas was born. He turned twenty-eight last October. Peyton and Parker are twenty-six this year.”

“Your parents really liked each other, huh?”

Riley let out a small, surprised laugh. “A little bit. After almost forty years of marriage, I guess they still do.”

Dawson’s smile disappeared. “It sounds like you have a wonderful family,” he said sincerely.

Riley didn’t know how to answer that. They were perfect, in their own way. His siblings constantly got on his nerves, got themselves in trouble, and took on the world without a thought for their own safety. And they were his. He’d quite literally do anything for them.

Everything had been fine, and Riley had been content with his life. Until Sadie and Dawson had swept into it like a hurricane and turned everything upside down.

He didn’twantto care and hated that he couldn’t stop it.

“How old is Marshall?” Gideon asked. “I myself am an only child, so I can’t tell you anything about my non-existent siblings. Icould, but only my imaginary ones.”

“Explains so much about you,” Riley said. Gideon’s parents attended the police family barbecue every year, along with Lucia and Hudson. Gideon’s warm vibrance came from them both. As well as his love for art, regardless of his lack of talent for it.

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