“After? Like his money?”
Shane looked around at the acre property and two-story house. “That’s obviously not it. Looks like you do okay.”
“Yeah, Ward is good to his employees.” He moved a few of the burgers to the top grate and shut the lid. “Shane, I plan to ask your dad to move in here with me. I have room for a nice-sized workshop and he wouldn’t have to worry about neighbors. It makes sense.”
Shane smirked. “You’re moving him here because you want him here.”
“Of course I do.” He watched Shane’s face with his next words. “I’m in love with your father. Deeply, completely, and madly in love.”
“I know.” Shane nodded. “I can tell. Like I said, you never take your eyes off him. You look at him the way I look at Quinn—like you’re wondering what the hell you ever did to land someone so wonderful.” He didn’t even have to look around to find his own boyfriend, his eyes zeroing in like he knew exactly where he was at all times. Quinn and several Ward employees and a few other people were sitting at the tables Dom had put under the trees. Tiki torches surrounded the yard, doing their best to drive away the mosquitos and failing. Citronella candles in buckets centered on each table were hopefully picking up the slack.
The air smelled of hamburgers, beer, and the honeysuckle growing wild across one side of his property.
Dom had strung lights in the trees and one table held a covered cake he hadn’t let Abe see. Grinning at the thought of Abe’s reaction to that, he flipped a couple of burgers.
Shane’s attention came back to him. “Thank you for throwing him a birthday party. I’d planned to take him on that trip to the cabin last month, but he had better things to do.”
“He sure did.” Dom winked, then looked for Abe when laughter broke out once again. All his coworkers who were off for the night had come. Royce, Garrett, and Seth. Royce’s boyfriend, Marc, sat chatting with Noah Keegan. Dom had managed to find the numbers of most of Abe’s friends, too. A woman who worked at Krohn Conservatory and a few of his neighbors had come. Even the elderly lady who lived across from Abe sat next to Quinn, talking up a storm about how to kill rabid zombies in some video game.
Chuckling, Dom searched out Abe again and this time, the man was staring back at him. Their eyes locked and that swell of warmth in his chest happened again—the one that told him he’d found everything he’d always wanted in this man.
“He loves you too,” Shane said. “I’ve never seen him this happy.”
“The plan is to keep him smiling like that for the rest of his life.”
“Good plan.”
“I’m known for my good plans.”
This time, real amusement laced Shane’s laughter. “Yeah, that’s not what I understand. In fact, I heard this story about a job Royce was on and some high-powered laxative…”
The heat in his cheeks suddenly had nothing to do with the grill. “Quinn is a dead man.”
Snorting, Shane bent to grab a couple of beers from the cooler. He handed one to Dom. “So, about that cake.”
“You peeked?”
“You already said Quinn is a dead man.”
Dom shook his head, then took a swig of his beer. “He and I are gonna have a long talk.”
Shane’s good-natured laughter warmed his heart, but it was time for some payback.
“You know,” Dom said as he scooped all of the burgers onto a plate and set it on the table next to the grill. “If I take this relationship with your father where I really want it to go, you’re going to have to start calling me Daddy.”
The horror on Shane’s face was worth everything.
“What are you telling my son to put that look on his face?” Abe asked as he walked up behind Dom. He wrapped his arms around him and plopped his chin on Dom’s shoulder.
Shane glared at him, but humor twinkled in his eyes. “He was telling me about your cake. Come on, Dad. Let’s go look at it.”
“Oh, good. I’ve been dying to see this.” He tugged Dom along with him, and everyone gathered around the table as Dom grinned and lifted the cover.
Abe took one look at the cake and threw his head back, laughing.
It was a perfect cartoon replica of Dom with a purely wicked sex grin and his jeans around his ankles. A bunch of obviously picked wild flowers was held out in his hand—strategically over his crotch.
Abe’s laughter choked to a stop, and he wiped his eyes as he grinned at Dom. “I should have known my ecdysiast would find some way to get naked at this party.”
“Yeah,” Dom answered. “But I only strip for you now.”