Page 96 of The Long Game

Jack led the way inside the house and followed the sound of voices to the kitchen. Once there, he handed out food and gifts and flowers while he introduced Sam to Savannah, Garrick, and Fiona.

In hindsight, Jack should have given Sam a few more details about this unusual family before they’d arrived. He’d make sure to point out the need for discretion on the way back into town. Sam, for his part, looked confused for about five seconds, then accepted a cup of coffee and settled in to talk. Ten minutes later, he asked if he could hold Fiona.

“She’s fussy today,” Savannah warned as she placed the baby in Sam’s hands. “I’ll take her back if it’s too much.”

“I’ve got it,” Sam said easily, popping the baby onto his shoulder like it was nothing. Jack was terrified just watching them pass a tiny person between them.

Fiona fussed, as promised, but Sam paced the kitchen, bouncing with his knees and patting her back. The fretful noises stopped.

Savannah’s eyebrows went up. “Wow.”

“My mom used to call me the baby whisperer,” Sam said with a sad smile before adding, bitterly, “and then there was the year they made me hold a baby almost non-stop so my natural womanly inclination to bear children for the menfolk would kick in.”

Savannah pursed her lips. “How’d that work out?”

“Womanly urges aren’t really my thing,” Sam said dryly, his hand rubbing circles on Fiona’s back.

“Whatever the fuck those are,” Savannah agreed as she arranged the flowers in a vase.

Sam’s smile flicked back to life. “Yeah, right.”

“Your mom had a point about the baby whispering thing, though. She’s been fussing since dawn.”

“Awww, poor little nugget,” Sam cooed, kissing the side of Fiona’s head. “You do look sleepy.” Sam turned so Fiona’s parents could see her slow, heavy blinks. “If you point me in the right direction, I can see if she’ll let me put her down in her crib.”

“You’re hired,” Savannah said with a smile.

Sam chuckled. “I wish.”

Savannah gave Sam her undivided attention. “If you’re truly interested, we could use another set of hands around here for the rest of the summer. We go back to Boston at the end of August, so it won’t last long, but—”

“Yes. Yes, please.” Sam’s face lit up with a big smile. “I have a car so I can get out here any time. I’m waiting to hear if I got a job at a coffee shop in town, but—”

“We can work around your schedule if it’s not too much for you to take on. There’s plenty to do here any time of day.”

“For real?” Sam asked.

“Yes, for real.”

Sam grinned. “Awesome. Now, point me to the nursery and I’ll see if I can get naptime going.”

“You’re my hero,” Savannah said. “And you can’t miss it. It’s right at the top of the stairs.”

Sam was still grinning as he bounce-walked out the door. Fiona didn’t seem to like that much and got fussy again. They all listened to the creak of the stairs and Fiona’s little noises getting fainter until Sam’s voice and Fiona’s objections came through the monitor on the counter.

Garrick waved Jack to one side of the long table while he slid onto the bench on the other.

Savannah placed the vase of flowers on the far end of the table where they wouldn’t be in the way. “Think I can convince Sam to move to Boston with us?”

Jack grinned. “You can ask, but you’re going to have to fight Grady for him. He just got his little brother back. I don’t think he’s going to want to let Sam out of his sight for a good long while.”

“Can’t blame him,” Rhian said as he puttered around the kitchen, refilling Jack’s coffee and Savannah’s water. Jack noted the way he touched Garrick’s shoulder on the way past, just because he could, and realized he could do the same with Grady now.

Probably.

Unless…unless some people found that kind of thing annoying? Jack didn’t know ifhewould find it annoying. He didn’t think so. After years of going virtually untouched, or only rarely so, he wanted Grady’s hands on him all the time.

Maybe that was why he was so twitchy. With all four of them shoehorned into Grady’s apartment, there wasn’t time or space for, well, a lot of things.

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