Alistaire leaned him to kiss him once more, and Fox felt as if he was living in a dream. Soft, tender kisses passed between them—just when Fox wanted to deepen their kiss, Alistaire pulled back.
“Let’s save some of that for after the date.”
Fox sighed disappointedly. “If we must.”
“Don’t be sad, baby. I promise it will be worth the wait.” Alistaire nibbled on his earlobe then carefully got off the bed with Genesis in his arms, leaving Fox alone, who was wishing they’d agreed to a date at home instead of going out.
“Come on, let’s get going.”
Fox snapped out of his daze and stood, rushing around his bedroom. “Okay, give me a few minutes. I need to put a few things together for my parents. They agreed to watch Genesis while we’re on our date.”
Alistaire seemed as if he wanted to say something but held back and simply nodded after a few minutes. Fox shrugged and went back to work gathering the things he knew Genesis would need while he was gone.
“Okay,”Fox said, handing Genesis over to Aria and stepped back. Alistaire could see the reluctance in his movements. “She’s been fed, burped, and changed.”
Alistaire stood by the door holding their coats, waiting for Crevan so they could start their date. Crevan was giving Aria, a mother of two healthy boys, instructions on how to take care of Genesis as if they were leaving for a year-long journey rather than a couple of hours. Goddess bless Aria, who simply nodded, listening to her son without saying a word.
“I restocked her diaper cubby and the essentials. Here is her favorite binky,” he said, handing a purple pacifier to Aria. “I left two extra bottles. If I’m not back in time for her next feeding..” Alistaire watched Crevan bite on his thumbnail nervously. “Maybe I should make another bottle…”
“Crevan, dear. I don’t think that will be necessary,” Aria said gently. “I don’t think you’ll be gone for more than two or three hours. Right, Captain Vale?”
“Alistaire, please. And we won’t be gone past a couple of hours.”
“Two hours,” Crevan whispered. “I can do that. The most we’ve been apart is forty minutes, and during that time, I was thinking of other things. So two hours is a piece of cake.”
Oh boy, it’s going to be a long night.
Ten minutes later, they were sitting in the Hannigans driveway. Alistaire watched Crevan out of the corner of his eye, who kept looking back at the house and taking deep breaths.
“You can go back and get her if you want.”
Fox shook his head. “No, we’re going on our first date. My focus should be on us getting to know each other.”
Alistaire sighed. He wanted to have an enjoyable date with his man but knew it wouldn’t be a suitable date if Crevan was worried about being away from his daughter for a while.
“I’ll be right back.” Alistaire unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, walking back to the house—ignoring Crevan’s call of where he was going.
The second Alistaire walked back into the house, Aria and Barret were standing in the foyer waiting for him with Genesis properly dressed and in her car seat.
“How’d you know I’d be back to get her?” Alistaire asked.
“Are you kidding?” Barret rolled his eyes. “The first date we went on without the boys was when Zev was eleven and Crevan was ten.”
Aria walked over and handed Genesis to him. “Trust me. He’ll get better with time.”
Alistaire nodded in understanding and walked back out of the house. At the bottom of the steps, Crevan was waiting for him.
“You went and got her? I told you that you didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.” Alistaire walked over to Crevan’s car and got Genesis settled. He pulled Crevan in his arms and kissed him on his nose. “But to be clear, I did this for selfish reasons. I want to enjoy our first date without you worrying about her. Besides, she’s not a bad chaperone.”
Crevan stared at him for a few seconds, then raised his head, kissing Alistaire on his chin. ‘Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
They got in the car and drove out of the driveway to start their date.
* * *
