He rolled over and stared at Rick’s sleeping face. He was so handsome, but beyond that, Rick was a good man. He was caring, loving, and so much more. Honorable. Like a knight in shining armor. One Coop hadn’t realized he’d ever wanted or needed, but maybe he did.
Rick’s eyes fluttered open, and he groaned, seeing Coop staring at him. “What’re you doing?”
“Watching you sleep.”
“Why?” He turned to his side to face Coop, so they were staring into each other’s eyes. Such a simple, ordinary thing, but it felt so romantic.
Shit. Coop was giddy with all this love and marriage talk. There was also a bit of panic crawling up his throat. He swallowed it down. “It was really nice sharing a meal with your family.”
“They’re not my family.” Look how his brow creased when he said that.
“Yes, they are. Drew is your family, so they are too, by extension. And I love that.” Coop bit his lip. Time for truths. “I don’t have a lot of family aside from Vick. My blood relatives don’t even remember I exist. But Drew and his family? Wow. I’ve never seen anything like that. And what about your family? Am I ever going to meet them?”
“Maybe. We’d have to go there. My folks are lower-middle-class, and they both work full-time. Mom is a kindergarten teacher. And dad manages a grocery store. They don’t make much money, but they’re good people.”
“Okay. Maybe we can visit. Where are they?”
“We’re from Lexington.”
“North Carolina?”
“Yeah. Of course. Duh.”
Coop grabbed a pillow and smacked Rick in the head with it. Rick retaliated with tickling, making Coop laugh and squirm all over the place, until he had to resort to rolling off the bed and onto the floor to get away. “You’re evil.”
“You started it.”
Coop crawled back up on the bed. “I was trying to be serious. For once. I know. Don’t roll your eyes at me.”
Rick hadn’t actually rolled his eyes, but he probably should have. It was rare for Coop to be serious about anything, but if he was considering marrying Rick, he needed to know more about him and his family.
Rick put his arm around Coop’s shoulder, and he grabbed Rick’s hand, settling against him. “What about brothers and sisters and cousins?” Vick was only a friend, but they were more like brothers. He didn’t know his cousins, but they would still count.
“I have a brother, Christopher, but Drew is honestly more like a brother than him.”
“Oh? You fight or something?”
“No. It’s just that he’s twelve years older than me. I was kind of a surprise baby. Mom thought she was going into menopause and then pow. Baby number two.”
“That’s kind of cool. I bet your mom is sweet. Yeah, probably where you get it.”
Rick smiled, probably thinking about good memories of home. “She is. Honestly, they were great parents. I’d like to be able to visit and maybe help them out.”
“Is your brother’s family close to them?”
“Oh, he’s single. No kids or anything.”
“I bet they want grandkids.” Coop sat straight up in the bed. “Are they going to pressure you? Are we going to have kids?”
“Your eyes just bulged out of your head. Stop that. The question of children is a long way off, Coop.”
Coop settled back down beside him. “What about cousins?”
“None who are close. Coop. What’s going on? Why all the questions?”
Coop sucked his lower lip between his teeth. This was going to be a deeper conversation than he expected. “Maybe we should get coffee first?”
“Sure.” Rick got out of bed and put on some boxers. Coop loved sleeping naked and feeling that warm skin against him all night. His dick got a little hard thinking about it, but he needed to have this conversation with Rick. Maybe they could go back to bed for sexy-time afterward. If Rick wasn’t ready to kick him out.
