“Not really, I will be working late on that case, and my dad had something he needed to take care of and won’t be able to get him.”
“Like I said, it’s no problem.” He smiled, Stephen fished out his house keys and threw them at Brenden, who caught them effortlessly. They were staring at each other. Brenden licked his lips, Stephen was looking exceptionally delicious, and he couldn’t wait to undress the other man later. They forgot where they were until Jaxson stood up.
“I’m getting out of here since you two are going to keep eye-fucking each other.”
Stephen blushed, easily embarrassed, and Brenden shook his head at his friend. “It’s no different from you and Christen. I swear he’s got you whipped and trained.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said then turned to Stephen. “If he gives you any trouble, come to me, I’ll kick his ass for you for free.”
“Aw… thank you, Jaxson,” Stephen gushed.
“Get the hell out of my office, both of you.” Both Jaxson and Stephen left chuckling.
** ** ** ** **
Stephen pulled up to his home and smiled when he saw Brenden’s car in the driveway next to his dad’s. He needed to decompress before he entered his home. The latest case he was working on was bringing up so many emotions. He could blame it on hormones, but it wasn’t. Having pregnant males being kidnapped and their bodies were found with evidence that their babies were removed, left him angry and scared at the same time. He was grateful that he was adopted by two great guys and he’d never once thought about finding his birth parents.
That was why he was working hard to find the person killing pregnant men and doing God knew what with their babies. They were tracking down every lead they had. Tracking what’s being sold on the black market. But with technology things tend to change quickly, sometimes it was hard to keep up.
The good thing was that they’d caught a small break in the case and he had to follow the lead, which was why he’d asked Brenden to pick Nicholas up from school. They were so close to catching whoever was behind it, he could feel it. It was frustrating him to no end that he was overlooking a big piece of the puzzle. Getting out of his car he grabbed his groceries, he froze when he had the strangest feeling that he was being watched.
Slowly, he turned and scanned his street up and down, looking for signs to go with what he was feeling. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary he shrugged his shoulders, chalking it up to hang-ups about the case and walked inside. He stopped short when he saw Brenden and Nicholas sleeping on the couch. Nicholas was lying on Brenden’s chest, clutching the collar of his shirt.
“I came home and found them like this.” He looked up to see his dad leaning again the doorframe leading to the dining area. “I saw no reason to wake them.”
Stephen smiled, he agreed with his father, they looked adorable together. Trying not to wake them, he headed for the kitchen. He placed the bags of groceries on the counter and started putting the groceries away.
“I snapped a quick photo for you,” Julian told him. “It’s time you guys start capturing moments of them like this together, don’t you think?”
Stephen had to admit he missed a few adorable moments between Brenden and Nicholas. It all boiled down to the fact he still couldn’t believe Brenden was around. “How’s work going?”
“Same problems different state,” his father told him. “I love being back at work. Being back made me realize there are parts of my job I still don’t like. It breaks my heart when I have to visit a child in the hospital that was abused by the family they were entrusted to by the same system that swore to protect them. I wish I could save every child the same way I saved you.”
“I know what you mean,” Stephen answered.
“Are you talking about your latest case?”
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I’m here if you want to talk.”
“Thanks, Dad, and you too,” Stephen assured him. “But you know you didn’t have to get a job.”
“I know, but I’m doing this more so for myself. I was bored during the day, and Nicholas needed to be around more kids his age,” Julian explained. Stephen said nothing in response.
Stephen put the last of the groceries away, he turned around expecting to see his dad still standing there and was shocked when it was Brenden, yawning and clearing the sleep from his eyes.
“Hey, when did you get home?” he asked.
“A few minutes ago,” Stephen answered. He leaned against the counter, folding his arms over his chest. “I hope Nicholas wasn’t any trouble.”
“Nah, he was fine,” Brenden responded. He walked over to Stephen and sandwiched him between the counter and his body. “So,” he leaned down and grazed his lips against Stephen’s, “I went home and got a change of clothes before I picked up the kid…”
“Were you expecting to stay over?” Stephen asked as he closed his eyes, tilting his head to the side as Brenden peppered kisses down to his neck.
“Is that a problem?” His deep sultry voice vibrated through him.
“It depends.” Stephen wrapped his arms around Brenden’s neck, tilting his body toward the hard muscles, only to have his baby bump remind him he no longer had a flat stomach, at least for a few more months.
