Page 40 of Bradley

Memorial Day was a few weeks away, and I wondered where my relationship with Nolan would be then. Maybe we’d have built something solid by then, and we could let the family know. Although how did you build something that was supposed to last a lifetime in only a couple of weeks?

I glanced at Henley, Wes, and Hunt and thought about their relationship. They had fallen in love in days or weeks, and they were all happy.

For the first time in years, I craved that feeling. I hadn’t felt loved like that in many years. Maybe since shortly after Tyler was born. God, had it been almost ten years since I felt emotionally and physically close to another person? I stared at my plate, wondering how so much time could have gone by without feeling what I had shared with Nolan earlier today.

“You okay?” Riley asked from beside me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about something.” I put my hand on her back and rubbed it for a moment as I sat back in my seat and stared at my family. Cameron wasn’t here, but everyone else was, and I realized that for the last several years, I had been hiding from them all, hiding my loneliness behind my work and kids.

I wanted what they had. I wanted someone to love, to be with, to grow old with, and holy crap. I wanted it with Nolan. Suddenly I couldn’t hold the words back. “I slept with Nolan today.”

Conversation at the table halted, forks scraped over plates like a needle on a vinyl record, and there was a gasp or two.

“Um, kids,” Wes immediately began after he cleared his throat. I wanted to face-plant myself into my plate. “Why don’t you go out to the barn and feed the horses?”

Marisol was already scooting out of her seat, not caring in the least about the conversation at the table. Tyler was right behind her, but Tonya eyed me carefully as she slipped out of her chair. I was going to have to explain this to her later. She was old enough to understand some of what I’d just said. I tried to smile at her, but it was probably more of a grimace.

The moment the back door closed, Riley spun on me. “You actually had sex with her? Like in bed, and not by yourself as you fantasized over her.”

“Riley!” my mother exclaimed as a few people laughed.

“Is this what you needed to fix today?” my father asked seriously.

“Yeah” I told him. My face was burning with embarrassment, but I had brought it on myself.

My father’s serious face broke into happiness, and he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “About time you got back out there, Brad. I’d been hoping you’d find someone for ages.”

“Yeah, man,” Hunt said. “It’s about damn time.”

Everyone was grinning at me as I looked around the table. My gaze paused on Kayley as she spoke. “I told you that you’d like her.”

“Yeah, I guess you were right. I do.”

She winked at me, and Riley leaned closer and whispered, “Was it as good as you remembered?”

“Better,” I replied with a grin as she giggled, and Ethan shook his head at her.

“Now that you all know that—” Henley smirked my way, and I put my hand up.

“You don’t have to tell that story.”

“Oh, yes! Yes, I do,” he said as he chuckled loudly, and everyone cheered him on to continue with a story that they all knew would embarrass my ass.

I hung my head as he started. “I was at the pharmacy picking up something for the firehouse, and I saw Brad standing in the middle of the aisle looking dumbfounded.”

“At what?” Wes asked.

“At the condom selection,” Henley replied, and everyone at the table broke up laughing—even my parents.

“Hey, last time I wore that kind of protection, there were like five choices. There were four shelves full of them now. I was confused.”

“Did you help him decide?” Daniella asked.

“Yeah.” Hen grinned. “I handed him a box of Rainbow Fantasies in extra magnum size.”

The table roared with laughter again, and I shook my head. “You did not!” I said with a chuckle. “Yes, he did help me out, and I’m glad that is over.”

Daniella was giggling but then got serious. “Hey, I know there are a lot of them out on the market. I had to research them for a book I was writing, and I started clicking on them to see more about them.”

---