They’d just concluded a second course of dessert in bed after Abe had given Dom his Valentine’s Day gift of a hand-carved box he’d made for Dom to store all the random mementos that he collected.
“I forgot to tell you,” Dom murmured. With a grunt, he moved his head up to one of the pillows, so he could look at Abe in the face. “Your son called while you were in the shower after first dessert. He said that I’m not allowed to date you anymore.”
Abe rolled his eyes at Shane’s overprotectiveness. “Why can’t we date anymore?”
“He said if I can’t take you on a proper date, then I’m not allowed to date you.”
“How did he know—”
“There were news crews at the train depot with the cops. I’m guessing he saw us on the news when the robbers were taken away.”
Abe winced. He’d totally planned on telling Shane that their special dinner hadn’t exactly gone as planned, but seeing them on the news had not been the best way for him to find out. “What did you tell him?”
“That if he’s not comfortable calling me ‘Daddy’ when I marry his father, he can always call me ‘Poppa.’ ”
Abe’s laughter shook his entire body. He wrapped his arms tightly around Dom, pulling him even closer. “You’re an evil man, but you are also a hero to a lot of people. I don’t think you were told enough tonight. Thank you for risking your life to protect us.”
Dom leaned up and brushed his lips across Abe’s. “I’m glad everyone got out safe, but I have to admit that you were the only one I was worried about. I’ll do anything to keep you safe, Abe.”
“I love you,” Abe whispered, kissing him back.
“Love you, too.” Dom started to kiss him again and then pulled away. “Do you think it’s safe for us to go on vacation out west? I mean, this was just a little Valentine’s Day date. So much could go wrong with camping. Avalanches and bears.”
Abe smiled at him. “Bring on the adventure.”6February 18Quinn pulled on his winter coat as he reached the bottom stairs to the main floor of Ward Security. His brain was feeling fuzzy after a long day working through the bugs of a new security upgrade. He probably had another ten hours of work ahead of him on that project, but it was late enough, and he was looking forward to getting home to Shane. A good dinner and a few hours of snuggling on the couch with his man would do wonders for clearing out the fog and breathing fresh life into his limbs.
“Hey, Q-Man! Wait up!”
Quinn turned back to see Dominic racing down the stairs while Royce followed at a more sedate pace. The morning shift was clocking out for the day. Most of the guys had finished their duties and were getting ready to head home, while the evening security agents and support staff settled in.
“Sven told me that you ran into a rain delay for your special Valentine’s Day,” Dom said when he reached the ground floor. “I guess Mother Nature was in the mood for a cockblock.”
Quinn snorted. “Oh, we managed just fine despite Mother Nature. At least our Valentine’s Day didn’t include the cops.” Quinn stepped closer and poked his friend in the chest. “Shane is still grumbling around the condo about his dad being on the evening news.”
Dom just grinned. “Yeah, but we were heroes. That’s got to count for something. We weren’t the ones trying to steal something.” Twisting a little, Dom looked over his shoulder at Royce and winked.
“The word you’re looking for is ‘rescue,’ ” Royce corrected. He gave Dom a playful shove, moving him out of the way so he could finish descending the stairs. “We helped Interpol rescue a piece of lost art, and there was no cock-blocking involved.”
Sven’s low chuckle joined their laughter as he walked over to the small group, his coat in hand. “Well, next time you need to ‘rescue’ some art, I suggest you take Reuben with you. The little guy is a freaking escape artist.”
“And according to Geoffrey, a total cockblock,” Quinn snickered.
“Why do I feel like you four are plotting something you shouldn’t?” Rowe’s casual drawl had them all turning around to see their boss and his boyfriend, Noah Keegan, walking toward them with their coats on.
“No plotting, Boss,” Sven said.
“Just talking about what we did for Valentine’s Day,” Dom added. “What about you guys?”
Rowe grinned wide. “I’m the king of romance.”
Royce scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. “I don’t believe it.”