Skyler lets out a soft huff, puffing warm air across my cheeks. “Let’s not kid ourselves, Jax—we both know a huge reason of why you’re always so eager to pleasure me is because it’s your instinct to take care of me. But that’s not something that bothers me anymore—not since I started reading up on asexuality and the different kinds of attraction.”
It didn’t surprise me in the least when I learned he’d been researching. It’s Skyler. When he doesn’t understand something, he learns about it. I’m sure by now he’s far more knowledgeable on the topic than I am.
“But I kind of figured you knew that, given…you know,” he says, drawing his face away a little so he can quirk his eyebrow suggestively.
I shrug, offering a fond smile. “Just checking.”
He leans in again and we’re just about to kiss when a familiar voice intrudes on the moment.
“Well, if it isn’t the happy couple themselves—what are you two doing hiding here in the shadows? Don’t you know there’s a whole party gathered over there in your honor?”
Skyler and I turn in unison at the sound of Charlie’s dry comment, finding him approaching with Paxton flanking him on one side and Spencer on the other.
“We needed a little breather,” Skyler says with a shrug. “It’s exhausting being so adored.”
“Tell me about it,” Pax says with a wry grin.
“Yeah, but someone’s got to do that one hour a day of sitting at a desk and looking nice and pretty while they read shit off a screen,” Charlie drawls, slapping Paxton on the back. “Appreciate the sacrifice, man.”
Good natured as always, Paxton just shakes his head with wry amusement. “For the record, I’m not theprettycable anchor. I’m thesexycable anchor.”
Skyler’s brows draw together as he scrutinizes Pax. “Dude, right now you look like theoldcable anchor. Are those my glasses?”
“I thought he stole them off Anderson Cooper,” Charlie says with a snort.
“No, they’re his foolproof disguise,” Spencer explains. “Just in case there are any pissed off Republicans around. No one will ever recognize him in those.”
Paxton rolls his eyes and slides his thick-framed glasses—which really are almost identical to the ones Skyler wears for reading—off his face. “OrI left my contacts in Raleigh today and didn’t get a chance to replace them before the party.”
“Why did you go to Raleigh if Kaley was coming here anyway?” Skyler asks in obvious confusion. It’s a valid question; the only reason Paxton ever sets foot in North Carolina is to visit his daughter.
Pax’s expression is a mix of exasperation and fondness as he explains, “It’s her birthday today so I made a quick visit down there as a surprise. And then she pretty much begged to come back with me so she could come to the party.” He turns his glance to Skyler. “Has she cornered you yet to talk your ear off about Columbia?”
Skyler shakes his head. “Nope. She’s probably the only person at the party whohasn’tcornered us.”
“I think she and Will are locked in a bigDoctor Whodiscussion,” Spencer explains. “Top level, invite only stuff.”
Pax groans and rubs a hand over his face before setting his glasses back in place. “Doctor Who’s British isn’t it?” Several of us nod in confirmation, which causes Paxton to groan again, his face formed into a scowl. “Fucking England.”
“Did I miss a big news story?” Spencer asks, looking genuinely perplexed. “What did England do?”
Pax lets out an aggravated sigh. “England didn’t do anything. Exceptexist.On the other side of the fuckingworld.”
Charlie shakes his head in mock dismay. “Honestly, the gall of some countries. How dare it just exist like that?”
“Mark and Sean are moving there and they’re planning on taking Kaley,” Paxton grates out through a clenched jaw, throwing some much-needed clarity on the situation.
“What?”Spencer demands, his passionate reaction reminding me that this is his niece we’re talking about. “Pax, no! Thiscan’thappen. Kaley can’t move to another country!”
“Thanks, I only kind of didn’t want her to go before, but now Ireallydon’t want her to go,” Paxton shoots back in a tone jam-packed with sarcasm.
Spence holds his palms up. “Just trying to be supportive.”
Pax lets out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. “Sorry. Just a little wound up right now.”
“Spencer’s right,” Charlie says, the levity gone from his expression as he launches into lawyer-mode. “It can’t happen. I mean itliterallycan’t happen if you don’t consent to it. Estranged same-sex parents—and I’m using that term in the legal sense,” he clarifies, as though waiting for us to call out the political incorrectness—“have the same rights in this area as estranged heterosexual parents. So unless Mark wants to be charged with kidnapping…” He trails off as a thoughtful frown touches his lips. “Or does she already have a passport? Because that could complicate things.”
“No, she doesn’t have one yet. And I already knew all that,” Paxton says, not sounding as happy as you’d think after that kind of reassurance. “I have no intention of signing anything. But then what? We’ve gone eleven years without things getting combative. We never needed lawyers, or any formal custody agreements. We just got on with shit and did what was best for Kaley. I don’t want to have to start fighting now.”
