“Hang-ups that include running away from me like I was a savage beast, wanting to claw his clothes off?”
“Yup.” He scanned my face, still stroking me. “You know he’s into you. You would have…been able to feel it.”
“Ah, yeah…” My eyes dropped down to his chest.
“We’re all going to have to give it time, even if it feels like it's gonna kill me.?
??
“Yeah?”
I glanced up to see him smile. His tongue flicked out to pass over his full bottom lip, and I watched its movement.
“Flick…” he growled, a low sound that felt like it vibrated through my every cell. “I need you to know I really, really want to kiss you.”
I had something flippant to say about that, but it died when I saw what burned in his eyes. All Ophelia’s statements made sense now. Had anyone looked at me with such a need before? Like he could taste me in his mouth before we’d even touched?
I leaned forward on impulse, his eyes heating up as I paused, but he waited, his breath little more than a weak whistle, waiting for me to close the gap. I moved slowly, so slowly I could hear the quiet separation of his lips, the shift of his tongue and then…
The door slammed open.
“Mum! Aidan! You said you were making me pancakes for breakfast, remember? You were going to try to make them look like Yoda or Boba Fett?”
“Right,” I said as Kade draped himself over my shoulder to put his face in mine.
“Pancakes,” Aidan said with only a little resignation. “I couldn’t possibly stuff that up, could I?”
“Don’t you dare!” I replied. “The house still smells from your last experiment.”
He reached over and swiftly dropped a kiss on my forehead, a sensation that burned long after he pulled away.
“First one in the kitchen gets to cook!” he called out, yanking on shorts and making for the door.
Kade and I lay around on the couch, the morning cartoons playing in the background. The guys had gone out for something, but I hadn’t really been paying attention. It was nice, nicer than I would have let on, just having my baby lying along my side, my fingers in his hair.
“Why didn’t you ask Peter to make you pancakes?” I asked as explosions of fast paced action played out on the TV. He looked up at me for a moment, then focussed back on the screen.
“Peter looks after you. Aidan looks after me,” he said, as if it was that simple.
“So you don’t think Peter can look after you as well, or Aidan with me?”
“No, that’s just what they do.”
“But have you ever asked him? Maybe he’s waiting for you to show that you want him to.”
“Hmph.” He shrugged. “I guess. Ophelia said that too.”
He’d been seeing her as well several times a week, and the nightmares had been dropping dramatically. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but he was improving.
“Mum, Mila and Kiralee said in Sanctuary, I could have more than one dad. Is that true?”
“Well, yes, if I wanted—”
“OK, I’ll ask Peter next time then.”
13
“Alright, Kade, bedtime!” I called out from the kitchen. Days had passed, and Aidan and I were doing the dishes.