"That's for not doing your homework," he whispers against my ear, his breath sending shivers down my spine.
"I'm almost done," I laugh, squirming beneath him. "Just needed a break."
"Finish it," he murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to my neck. "I have a surprise for you when you're done."
My phone buzzes on the coffee table before I can ask what kind of surprise. Reeves’s name lights up the screen.
"Hey," I answer, still slightly breathless from Caine's playful assault.
"Just confirming I'm picking up Liam tomorrow morning for our two days. Kendra's excited to take him to that new indoor rock climbing place."
"Perfect. He'll love that."
The ease in our co-parenting still amazes me sometimes. After everything we went through, Reeves and I found our way to friendship. His new girlfriend Kendra, is a pediatric nurse - sweet, patient, and wonderful with Liam. Seeing Reeves happy and healthy makes my heart lighter.
"Sounds good. He's been talking about rock climbingall week." I settle back against the couch cushions, watching Caine disappear into the kitchen. "How are things with you?"
"Really good, actually." There's genuine contentment in Reeves’s voice - something I haven't heard in years. "Hit my one-year mark at GA last week."
"Reeves, that's amazing," I tell him, and I mean it. The road back from his gambling addiction wasn't easy, especially those first few months when pride nearly derailed everything.
"Kendra made me a cake," he chuckles. "With little poker chips made of fondant. Woman's got a twisted sense of humor."
I laugh, remembering how mortified I'd been when Caine first offered to pay off Reeves’s debts. Sixty thousand dollars - money that would have destroyed us completely. Reeves had raged about it for days, calling it charity, saying he'd rather file for bankruptcy than take a dime from ‘that pretentious asshole.’
But when I pointed out that bankruptcy would mean losing the hall, that Liam needed his father stable and present, something shifted. Reeves swallowed his pride and accepted Caine's help.
Reeves and Caine are certainly not friends, but they're civil now. They manage it for Liam's sake; brief nods when they pass each other during pickup exchanges.
"I should let you go," Reeves says. "Tell the kid I'll be there at nine sharp tomorrow."
"Will do. Take care, Reeves."
After I hang up, Caine emerges from the kitchen carrying two mugs of coffee, his expression curious.
"Everything okay?"
"More than okay." I accept the mug gratefully, inhaling the rich aroma. "He hit his one-year milestone."
Caine nods slowly, settling beside me on the sectional. We don't talk about the money he spent clearing Reeves’s debts - it's ancient history now. But I know it still weighs on him sometimes, the complicated web of guilt and responsibility that brought us all together.
"Good for him," Caine says simply, and means it.
I hang up and catch Caine watching me with that soft expression he gets when he's thinking about our little makeshift family.
"All good?"
"Very good." I flip my laptop back open, motivation renewed. I can’t wait to see my surprise, and the sooner I finish this essay, the quicker it will come.
I find Caine sprawled across his king-sized bed, propped against the headboard with his laptop balanced on onethigh and a stack of business papers fanned across the black comforter. The flat screen mounted on the opposite wall shows two players circling a pool table, but his attention keeps drifting between the match and whatever financial reports he's reviewing.
"You're impossible," I laugh, climbing onto the bed beside him. "Do you ever actually relax?"
"This is relaxing," he protests, not looking up from his screen. "I'm watching pool and catching up on quarterly projections. Peak efficiency."
I wave my printed essay in front of his face until he finally closes the laptop and gives me his full attention.
"Finished," I announce proudly.
