Family Camp (Daddy Dearest, #1)(69)

Jayden hugged Travis’s waist and Travis squatted down to talk to him and Lucy, telling them he’d missed seeing them and asking how they liked the game. While Jayden chattered on, Travis looked up and met Geo’s gaze.

We’re really doing this, Travis’s shocked expression said.

We are, and please pass the smelling salts, Geo’s exaggerated grimace said back. And Travis laughed.

That night, Geo and the kids were in a suite at a nearby hotel that Travis had booked. The hotel had a pool and there was a separate room—with a lovely, solid, lockable door—for the kids.

The kids got a swim in and then crashed early. Travis didn’t come in until nearly eleven. Geo and Travis didn’t talk. They just held each other for a long while standing by the door.

There was a silent communication that surrounded them that went deeper than words. They’d known each other less than two months. But in that brief time, they’d been through so much. And even through the owies and the outings and the drama, the pull they felt for each other had never loosened its grip, not for a moment.

As far as Geo was concerned, they were in this together for better or worse, hell or high water. And that was that.

They finally made it to bed. They made love with lazy neediness. Afterward, they put on their sleep pants in case the kids came in, and then held each other under the covers.

“I don’t give myself easily,” Travis said to Geo. “But you… you slipped right under my defenses.”

“Good. ’Cause I’m not going anywhere.”

“That’s one of the things I love about you, Geo.” Travis gave him a quiet smile. “You’re the sticking kind.”





Epilogue




2 Years Later

At Family Camp

“Dad, I was gonna go to the campfire with Jasmine. Please?”

Jayden gave Geo big, soulful puppy-dog eyes. Man, the kid could milk it.

They were on the porch of the Mayhews’ cabin, where they were staying for Family Camp, Geo in Travis’s room, and the kids in a large bunkroom the Mayhews had built for grandkids. The setting sun was beckoning them to roasted marshmallows and ghost stories, and Geo was eager to heed the siren call. Only he had to wrangle the kids first.

“Fine. Go with Jasmine. But no slipping into the woods and making out. Pinky swear!” Geo held up his pinky and gave Jayden a warning glare.

Jayden rolled his eyes. “Why not? You guys do that.”

“Uh, no we don’t. Because we share a bedroom, dude.”

“You still make out in the woods, dude,” Jayden insisted.

Did they? There was that one brief kiss-and-grope session on the hike yesterday, but Geo had thought they’d been discreet.

“Yeah, well, we’re not fourteen. Come on. Pinky swear.”

With a sigh, Jayden linked pinkies and shook. “No making out in the woods. Swear.” He dropped Geo’s pinky. “Which leaves the rest of camp. Dad, you’d never make a lawyer. See you later! Love you!” Jayden ran off.

“Yeah, well… I love you too!” Geo called after him.

Unexpected parental problem: Your son is a chick magnet at fourteen.

Jayden had sprouted up last year, growing like a magic beanstalk. Geo told Travis he could swear sometimes he heard the cartoon zzzzzzzooooppp sound effect of Jayden getting taller, it happened so fast. He wasn’t as tall as Travis, but he was now taller than Geo—a fact Geo had denied until Jayden made them stand back-to-back and Travis took a picture. With the growth spurt he’d lost any trace of baby fat, and he was getting muscles from working out with Travis in their home gym. He’d cut his crazy curls down to a cool ’do that had short sides and was longer on top. And suddenly—bam!—he was a boy-band poster.

Geo wasn’t sure how he felt about that. But Jayden didn’t give them much to complain about. He was doing great in school and was obsessed with sports. He liked baseball, but it turned out his real love was soccer. On any given weekend, Geo and Travis could be found at one of Jayden’s soccer games. The kid was fast and uncanny at manipulating a ball with random body parts. A month ago, he’d made a goal with his right ear.

Geo went back into the cabin to collect Lucy. He found her in the bunkroom with Aimee, both of them absorbed in putting on what looked like a Barbie fashion show. Lucy was “walking” a doll down a paper runway, making up commentary. It cracked Geo up so much he had to stand there and listen for a moment.

“… and now here comes Mary in this elegant sheath. It has daisies based on…based on Princess Marabelle’s wedding dress. Oh, it was the wedding of the year!”

Geo wiped his face to keep from guffawing out loud. Dear Lord. Elegant sheath? He didn’t want to know. He could have stood there for hours, but the clock was ticking.

“Girls! It’s time for campfire. Come on. Let’s do the do! Let’s thing the thing.”

Aimee smiled and jumped up. She was dressed in purple from head-to-toe—barrettes, T-shirt, shorts, and sandals. “Hey, Uncle Geo, baby Sam’s been teething all day so mom’s staying here with him. So can I go with you guys?”

“Sure, kid. Where’s Joe?”

“Joe went to the grocery with Grandma Ida. I think it’s for the cooking class tomorrow.”