Going Down Easy (Boys of the Big Easy #1)(44)

Her pupils dilated. “Yes. Definitely yes.” She shifted on his lap, pulling a groan from his throat.

“Meet you in the laundry room in five minutes.”

She kissed him hard. “Should I bring a condom?”

He pinched her ass. “I’ve got it covered.”

She giggled—actually giggled—and pushed herself off his lap while she pulled her dress back into place. They headed upstairs, giving each other heated, playful looks as they got the kids settled stringing beads onto strings and pipe cleaners to create pieces of art. Predictably, Cooper was interested but eased into the project, concentrating on sorting his beads by color and size before starting, while Stella dove in, combining the beads in a colorful, varied pattern.

“Okay, we’ll be just downstairs,” Addison told them, inching toward the door.

“Okay,” Stella said without looking up.

Cooper didn’t reply.

“Hey, bud, yell if you need anything, okay?” Gabe said.

Cooper looked up. “Okay.”

“Or he can tell me,” Stella said. “I know where everything is.”

Cooper looked at her and smiled. “Yeah, Stella can help me.”

Gabe shot Addison a look. She just nodded with a little shrug.

“Okay,” Gabe said. “Still, we’ll just be downstairs.”

“Yeah, we really should go downstairs,” Addison said, stepping through the door and giving him a wide-eyed, let’s-go-already look.

“Hey, guys, no eating the beads, okay?” Gabe asked as he moved toward the door.

Cooper frowned. “Why would we eat the beads?”

Gabe grinned. “I was just being funny.”

Cooper shook his head. “I don’t think you’re as funny as you think you are, Dad.”

Gabe gave a short laugh. “Got it. I’ll remember that.”

He and Addison ran down the stairs together and got the table shoved in front of the door of the laundry room. Addison slipped out of her panties and boosted herself up on the washing machine, hiking her skirt up around her waist. Gabe watched her, fire licking along his limbs as he undid his fly. He stepped close, and Addison ran her hands up under his shirt over his abs and chest.

“Wow, this was a good idea,” she said, skimming her nails over his nipples.

Gabe growled and kissed her neck, working the strap of her dress down again so he could get at a nipple himself. But as he ran his thumb over it, and even as he knew that this wasn’t the kind of talking they should be doing, he said, “The kids are fine, right?”

Addison paused, then looked up at him. “I’m sure they are.”

“But Stella won’t really try to fix anything, right?” he asked. “If there’s something big, she’ll come yelling for us?”

Addison flattened her palms on his ribs on either side. “Yes, she will,” she assured him. “Stella is really responsible. And she knows the rules around here—what she can do and get for herself and what she needs help for.”

“Okay.”

“But,” she went on, looking at him seriously, “as much as I’d love to think that we can figure out a way to have sex even with two kids in the house, if you’re not comfortable with this tonight, that’s okay.”

“I really want this, Ad,” he said, dropping his hands to her hips.

“I know. And so do I. But I’ve never had sex with Stella in the house. And I’m guessing with the whole living-with-your-mom thing and the apartment over the bar, you haven’t had sex with Cooper in the house before, either.”

He shook his head. “Nope. Never occurred to me.”

“So maybe we shouldn’t—”

“But parents do have sex with their kids in the house,” he said. “I’m sure married couples with kids find a way to have sex even when their kids are home.”

Addison smiled. “I’m sure they do. That’s how families of more than one happen, I’m guessing.”

“Exactly. And I think it’s important that you—okay, we—prove to ourselves that we can do this.”

Addison nodded. “I get it. But Gabe, you have to follow your gut. Sometimes your head will tell you things about your kid that make perfect sense and should be absolutely right, but something will still bug you about it or will tell you it’s not right. I think you have to trust that.”

He thought about that for a second, then blew out a breath. He leaned to rest his forehead on hers. “I can’t believe that you—the careful, prepared one, the woman who carries wet wipes and Band-Aids in her purse—is right here, pantiless, ready and willing, and I’m the one hesitating.”

She slid her hands out of his shirt and looped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a hug. Gabe wrapped his arms around her, the action feeling as natural as taking her hips in his hands and sinking deep. Or kissing her. Or holding her hand walking down Decatur. Or sharing a private look across a support-group circle. Or admitting that he wasn’t sure about how sex in the laundry room with Addison fit into his parenting plan. Or admitting that he didn’t really have a parenting plan.

“Gabe Trahan, I will take my panties off and get up on any washing machine for you anytime,” Addison said in his ear. “It doesn’t have to be tonight. We’re not losing any opportunity that we can’t get back. If this doesn’t feel right to you, then we shouldn’t do it.”