“Here it comes, baby. Here it comes.” Laurence pushed the hair back from Alex’s forehead, his excitement building to an oscillating peak. Alex was a dream come true—a necessity he’d never known he needed. He would claim him. He would show him love like he’d never known itbefore.
The same kind of love that Alex had inadvertently shownhim.
A groan escaped Laurence’s lips as his orgasm came and the urge to knot consumed him. The base of his cock flared, locking him into Alex as he thrust deeper to better shoot hisload.
His.
The instincts he’d felt the first night they’d met hadn’t been a temporary lapse of judgment—they’d been the first stirrings of the sexuality he’d held back for so long. He’d traded being a sexual creature for being a father, and now it was time to right that wrong. Laurence could be both. His feelings for Alex proved to him that it waspossible.
“I love you,” Alex whispered. Tears streamed down the sides of his face from behind his closed eyes. “I love you somuch.”
The statement came as naturally as a laugh, and Laurence felt its warmth flood through him and fill his heart. It didn’t matter how long they’d known each other, how different they were, or how many years separated them. What he’d found in Alex was true. Their souls had needed each other, and now that they’d met, they wouldn’t be parted. Alex completed him, and Laurence would keep him safe, and warm, and happy as long as Alex allowed himto.
There was no doubt in his mind when he replied inkind.
“I love you, too.” Laurence stroked back Alex’s hair and uttered soothing nothings against the side of his head until his body went slack and his breathing slowed. By then, Laurence’s knot was receding, and he was able to pull free and settle down beside hislover.
The ephemeral wasn’t so ephemeral anymore—what they had was for keeps. He’d figure out a way to make it work. He didn’t only owe it to Alex and the future of his growing family—he owed it to himself aswell.
29
Laurence
Bacon sizzled.Its scent filled the kitchen, opposed only by the coffee Laurence was brewing for himself. He stood by the stove, watching the bacon start to brown, and heard footsteps across the kitchen tile. Matthewyawned.
“Apology bacon?” Matthew asked. He pulled out a stool from beneath the kitchen island and sat. “Are you going to make me I’m-sorry eggs,too?”
Laurence grinned. “Am I thattransparent?”
“You’re lucky that you texted me ahead of time so I was able to prepare. If you’d come home with a date out of the blue while I was watching TV on the couch, you probably would have had to make me forgive-me meals for the rest of the week.” Matthew glanced toward the percolator. “By the way, the whole coffee thing isn’t helping your case. Did you know you can’t have coffee when you’re pregnant? Dr. Eckers was telling me about it. I mean, maybe a cup or something, but a cup doesn’t seem like much atall.”
“Wait until you learn about cold cuts.” Laurence poked at the bacon with his kitchentongs.
Matthew hesitated. “Wait… what do I have to learn about coldcuts?”
“You can’t eat them coldanymore.”
“What’s the point of a cold cut, then?” Matthew leaned forward and glared at Laurence, like he believed Laurence was lying. “You don’t cook cold cuts… you put them in sandwiches and eatthem.”
“Unless you’re pregnant—then you have to cook them until they’re steaming. It’s the same for all precooked or cured meats. Heat them before you eatthem.”
“Really?” Matthew sighed and sank onto the counter, defeated. “Well, whatever. I’ll just be over here eating bread sandwiches with my decaffeinated coffee, dreaming of a day where I can eat lunch meat without potentially ending theuniverse.”
“There are plenty of things you can eat,” Laurence said. “Likebacon.”
“Andeggs?”
“And eggs.” Laurence smirked. “But forget seafood. Absolutely nosushi.”
“Kill menow.”
“You’ve got seven months to go. It won’t last forever.” Laurence transferred the bacon onto a plate covered by a folded paper towel. The grease drained. As it did, he laid a few more uncooked strips on the hot pan. “You’ll be pregnant through exam period and summer break, which means that you’ll have plenty of time to cook food at home. Until then, we’ll figure out other options. Are you going to talk to your school guidance counselor today to make plans for the rest of the school year and the beginning of thenext?”
Matthew yawned. “Yeah. I’ve got an appointment today to take care of all of that. I’m so fed up with appointments, though. I know it’s still early, and that Ineedto make sure I have everything in order before I can relax, but… they’ll stop eventually, right? I won’t have to worry about spending so much time and energy talking to people I really don’t want to talkto?”
“Sortof.”
“Sort of isn’t reassuring,” Matthew replied. He didn’t lift his head from the table. “What do you mean by ‘sortof’?”
