‘Thom is happy for us,’ he tells me after a long while. He bites his lip, then raises the first finger of both hands to his lips and makes the sign for ‘Pah!’ and wriggles his first finger like a question.
‘Denver didn’t teach you?’
He shrugs. ‘Finally? At last?’ He spells those words for clarification.
I nod. ‘I guess we were obvious. I didn’t know.’
He snorts a laugh and leans in to steal a fast kiss from the corner of my mouth. ‘I knew. I didn’t want to tell you in case it made you run away.’
‘Wow,’ I sign, and he laughs harder. I don’t actually mind. I’ve been accused of having my head up my ass a lot, and most people weren’t wrong. ‘Do you mind?’
He gives me an incredulous look. ‘No.’
“Good,” I say aloud.
He reaches up and touches my lips with the tips of his fingers. ‘Why speak now?’
I shrug. “Your language is importanttoo. And I know how.”
‘Better than Robbie,’ he tells me.
I puff up at that. Not that I give verbal speech a lot of credit, but I do like being better than Robbie at most things. And it makes Dex laugh.
I settle back and look at him as he perches on my thighs. “I took speech therapy for years when I was young.”
‘You always Deaf?’
I nod. “Born that way,” I continue speaking. “My dad’s family has a gene. My grandfather had it. Skipped my dad. But he learned French sign growing up. Learned ASL for me.”
‘Denver says that’s rare.’
I grimace and switch back to sign. ‘It is. A lot of hearing parents don’t learn sign. Most dads don’t even try. I have a good one.’
‘I want to meet him.’
‘He wants to meet you,’ I answer back. ‘I was telling him about you before I heard about the fire.’
He winces briefly, then settles. ‘I don’t think I could’ve done this without you.’
I shake my head quickly. ‘You’re strong. Brave. Smart. Perfect.’
‘Too much.’
‘No,’ I argue back. I lick my lips, then say aloud, “Dex. You are important to me. And I know you could do this on your own. But thank you for letting me be here.”
Something in him snaps, and he pins me to the lounger, kissing me until I can’t breathe and my dick is half-hard, my toes are curling in my socks. He kisses me for all I’m worth. And then so much more that I’m in debt.
I don’t care. I want this.
I want him.
‘What happens now?’ he asks when he pulls away.
‘With us?’
He shrugs, then nods. ‘With us.’
‘I still have to work on my A+…’
