I gestured at his church gear, eager to change the subject. “Is this how you help in the garden?”
Beckett chuckled, then flicked the tag on the inside-out-and-backward T-shirt Ren was sporting. “I have a couple of appointments this morning, so I was just dropping them off on my way. I’d been hoping to snag myself a cup of English Breakfast, but this tea is so much better.”
Ren pulled off his T-shirt while stepping into some very ugly shoes that I assumed were meant for gardening.
“Okay, joining Holden and Ru,” he said, tugging the righted shirt over his head. “Beckett, I owe you one.”
Beckett tipped an imaginary hat at Ren. “I expect my Son-in-Law of the Year trophy any day now.”
Ren pursed his lips. “You’d actually have to marry my son to get that trophy.”
Beckett winked. “I’m working on it.”
The back door opened and slammed shut, jolting us all over again.
“Jiji? Where are the seeds for the butterfly plants?” Ru asked, his light feet making their way up the stairs.
Ren pulled me down for a quick, fierce kiss, then stepped out of the room. “Ru, buddy! I can’t believe I overslept,” he said, smoothing the nerves from his voice. “The seeds are in the shed outside. Come on, let’s go find them together.”
Beckett and I stayed silent until we heard them go out the door. Then he let out a low whistle.
“Shut up,” I growled, but there was no heat in it.
He shook his head, utterly delighted. “Oh, hell no. I love everything about this.”
“I hate you so intensely right now.”
“Sure you do,” he said with a jackass grin.
Once we were certain that Ru and Holden were engrossed in the garden project, Beckett and I snuck downstairs, through the kitchen and laundry room, and into the garage. He carefully lifted the door.
“Shit. I still have to start the truck.”
Beckett shook his head. “Put it in Neutral. We’ll push it down the driveway, and you can start it once you’re in the cul-de-sac.”
The driveway had a slight slope that made backing out a fairly easy proposition, though we had to navigate around Beckett’s Subaru, which was a challenge. I felt like a silent movie bad guy, but we got the job done.
Once the truck was out of the driveway, I hopped in and started it up. Beckett came to the driver’s side window. “Just because I have other shit to do right now doesn’t mean that you and I won’t be getting into exactly what this is,” he told me, smacking the side panel.
I gripped the steering wheel, lightly bashing my forehead against it. “Okay.”
His amused chuckle followed me out into the neighborhood.
CHAPTER 24
ren
Beckett joined us in the garden wearing a shit-eating grin. “Is Jiji telling you all about the kinds of flowers we can plant to attract butterflies?” he asked as Hikaru showed him the flower he had picked.
“Yes. They love this flower!”
“And what do we normally do with flowers?” I asked, warily eyeballing Beckett.
“Let them grow,” Hikaru dutifully said. “But if the flower is about to die, like this one, we can pick it to make room for others.”
“Excellent. You are so smart,” I said, kneeling next to him and then pulling him into a big hug. Whenever I thought about how lucky we were to have Ru in our lives, tears came to my eyes.
In a similar vein, when I thought about what Major meant to me, I shivered. Given what Holden and I had gone through, losing Robert, I couldn’t allow anything to come between us. But there was no denying how much I needed Major. I needed his hands on me. I needed him drawing pleasure from me. I needed him listening to me.
