Chapter 25
After spending the day in the hospital with Sam and Archer, watching Christmas movies and helping the nurses get Sam moving, we left Sam with Tad and came home for dinner. Tonight, I was making salmon and roasted potatoes with a dill cream sauce and I had a little surprise for Archer. We stepped into the kitchen from the garage. “You know what? You never showed me around.” Sure, I’d wandered around while Archer was out or in the shower, but he’d never given me the tour.
He scoffed. “Fine.” Snatching my hand, he led me into the main room. “Here’s the family room. All the decorations and the furniture in this house were done by my mom. Dad hasn’t changed a thing.” He pursed his lips.
“Yeah?” I perused the room with modern, but rustic furniture, then strolled to a brick fireplace and a picture resting on the mantel. “This is your mom and dad, right?” I held it up and twisted around. There were a lot of photos in the house, and I wanted to know who was in each one of them.
Stepping to me with his hands behind his back, Archer said, “Yep, Mom and Dad when they were in their late twenties. Probably a year or so before I was born.”
I examined the photo more closely, his mother had his features but softer, the same brown eyes, and wavy blonde hair. She had a thinner, but obviously athletic build and was tall for a woman, almost taller than his dad. “You look like your mom.”
“Yeah. Funny how everyone always told me that and very few people said I looked anything like my dad. Guess now I know why.” He sighed and took the photo from me. “Which reminds me.” He set the photo on the mantel and fell into the end of the couch, sliding his phone from his jean’s pocket. “I wanted to take a closer look at Richard.”
Maybe going around looking at old photos wasn’t such a smart thing. He was still trying to process the fact that the man he knew all his life as his father, wasn’t. I sank in next to him, hooking my arm around his shoulders, then peered into his phone. A photo of Richard Dupont was pulled up, him in his hockey uniform without a helmet. The resemblance was uncanny, the jawline, the lips, the facial structure, except Richard had darker hair. “He looks like he was about your age in this picture.”
With a quick inhale, Archer said, “Funny, but I didn’t see it before. It’s like my brain refused to process it.” He snapped his gaze to mine. “But you saw it, right away.” He cocked his head, lips bowing down. “Leo, what am I going to say to him?”
“You’re going to tell him what happened and that you know he’s your biological father. It didn’t sound to me like he was a dick about it, and he obviously wants to be in your life.” Why else would he be trying to give Archer a chance on his team? Wait… “If it comes out that he’s your father, can you still be on the Coyotes?”
Archer shrugged. “Yeah, it happens. There’s been quite a few times when an NHL coach had his son on his team.” He smirked. “Hockey families are a thing, Leo.” He bumped my shoulder with his own. “I’m sort of hungry and after you told me about the salmon you were making tonight?—”
“I know, I’ll get on it.” I pressed a hard kiss on his lips. Maybe it was best to have him show me the house little by little and I’d give him his surprise after we ate.
After fillingour bellies with salmon and cleaning up his father’s modest kitchen, we decided to make a fire in the fireplace. Tad had called during dinner to let us know Archer’s dad needed rest and gave us the night off.
We brought logs into the house from outside in a covered rack constructed of PVC piping his uncle had made and stomped the snow from our sneakers on the covered patio. I was starting to like having it all cold and snowy outside when I could be warm and snuggling next to Archer inside. We’d already changed into sweats, and I was ready to relax.
I set my pile of logs into a gold holder next to the hearth and slid out of my parka. “Can I help you with anything?” I snuck my hand into my pocket and fingered the present I’d picked up for him. I hadn’t found the right time to give it to him yet.
“No, you just make yourself comfortable.” He piled logs into the fireplace, then stuffed a fire starter underneath them and lit it with a long lighter.
I rubbed my hands together, still shaking off the cold from outside. “Since we’re not going back to the hospital tonight, do you want a beer?” We’d refrained at dinner, but now I didn’t think a beer or two would hurt.
“Sure.” He tended the fire, moving logs around with his fingers. “On second thought, my dad usually has some good bourbon in the cabinet in the dining room. How about some of that?”
“Absolutely.” I strolled into the dining room, off the kitchen, and perused a tall, dark wooden table with a China cabinet behind it and against the wall. Bending over, I peered through the panes of glass on the doors. It looked like they’d turned it into a makeshift bar with liquor bottles and nice glassware inside. I found the bourbon in a fancy bottle with a pewter horse and rider on the top and a few crystal lowball glasses, then returned to the family room and set everything down on the coffee table.
The fire popped and sizzled, the flames reaching high up the flue. Warmth spread through the room.
Archer stood up and swiped his hands on the ass of his maroon joggers. “There, that outta do it.” With a broad grin, he stepped to me and grabbed both my hands. “Hi.”
I smiled back at him. “Hi.” I ran my gaze over his gorgeous face, his thick lashes surrounding his brown eyes, the fire lighting up gold flecks in them, then down to his plump lips. We still had things to figure out when we got home, but tonight, it was just the two of us. “Archer, I uh, have something?—”
“Let’s pour the bourbon and sit on the couch.” He popped the cork top off the bottle and poured the golden liquor into the glasses, then handed me one. “To you, Leo. Thank you for taking such good care of me and always having such a level head. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.” His eyes grew glossy.
I blinked, my heart blooming with emotion. “You’re welcome. I’d have it no other way. I love you, Archer.” With a soft kiss on his lips, I tapped my glass to his.
Locking our gazes, Archer sipped his bourbon at the same time I did.
Now was the right time. “Let’s sit down.” I motioned at the couch and sank into the corner while tugging out the present. “I got you, or I should say, us a little something.” I unwrapped the two thick silver chains from each other.
“Leo, that’s not fair. I wasn’t able to go Christmas shopping.” His eyes grew wide as I held up the matching chains, each one having a love knot tied within it. He fingered the necklace. “It’s so cool.” He wiped under his eyes.
“It’s a love knot and I got it because you travel a lot now and I know, when you start playing for the Coyotes, you’ll be traveling even more.” My throat tightened and my chest ached. Fuck, when I’d bought these, I’d wanted it to be special, but the full force of what I was saying to him was just hitting me after the long day we’d had. I swallowed and breathed in deeply. “Love knots started in the eighteenth century when sailors would be away from the people they loved. They started making knots with ropes they’d tie on themselves to remember their loved ones at home.” My vision became hazy. Fuck, don’t lose it. “So, I guess?—”
Crashing his lips to mine, he slapped his hand around the back of my neck and kissed me deeply, his tongue sliding against mine. After a moment, he broke the kiss and pressed our foreheads together. “I love you so fucking much, Leo. You have no idea. This is perfect.” With a wide smile, he turned around. “Put one on me, then I’ll do you.”
“Okay.” I wrapped the necklace around his neck, then clasped it. It looked good on him, not too bulky, but thick enough it was noticeable.
“Now put yours on.” He snatched the other necklace from my hand and fastened it around my neck, then turned the knot to the front, fingering it. “When I’m away and you watch a game, I’ll touch my neck with my glove, and you’ll know I’m thinking of you.” His gaze met mine. “Fuck, I’m yours, Leo. All the way.”
“And I’m yours, all the way.” I planted another, deep kiss on his lips. “Merry Christmas, babe.” I hoped now he’d have something else to remember this Christmas by than his father being in the hospital and his world turning upside down.
An hour or so later,we’d finished off two bourbons each and snuggled at the end of the couch in front of the fire as the ending credits of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation started up. We’d needed something funny and that had done the trick. Archer knew pretty much the whole movie by heart and had recited lines to me.
He lay between my legs and on my chest, then grabbed the remote from the coffee table and shut off the television. “I was thinking.” He twisted around and knelt on tucked legs between my thighs. “What could I give you for Christmas?” He fingered the top of my sweats, wetting his lips.
My cock stirred. I liked where he was going with this. I wasn’t sure he’d be in the mood, but hell yeah. “And?”
“And…” Raking his teeth over his lower lip, he cupped my balls, then traced his fingers up my plumping cock through my sweats. “I want you, Leo.” Lowering his head, he buried his face in my groin and nibbled on my shaft through my sweats, my dick tingling as he scraped his teeth over me. “Is it too cold to take these off?”
“Hell no.” Not with the heat he was about to start in my body. I shucked my sweats and briefs off, lifting my legs up, then threw the clothes in the corner. My solid dick stood tall over my stomach, a bead of precum already forming at the tip.
Tilting his head, he skimmed his fingers over my shaft, then stroked the head. “You have such an amazing dick.” As he licked his lips, he bent down and slid his mouth over me, my tip grazing the back of his throat, his cheeks hollowing with the force of his suction.
I gasped and my body jerked as his hot, wet mouth enveloped me.
Bobbing his head, he swirled his tongue around my shaft and teased my slit with flicking motions, moaning over me.
“Oh, fuck.” As the vibrations shot from my cock up my spine, I shuddered and twined my fingers in his blond waves, sensation swarming inside me. I fought to thrust, but the angle didn’t allow it and I was at his mercy.
While he pumped my cock, fisting the base, he palmed his own hard dick, jutting up to the band of his joggers. Panting, he left me with a wet pop, his swollen lips glistening by the firelight. “Can I fuck you?” He skimmed his hand up under my shirt and teased a nipple into a hard nub. “I…I need it.”
“Anything you want, babe.” What would it feel like to have him inside me without a condom? My dick jerked and leaked as he toyed with my nipple. Fuck, what a turn on.
“Let’s lie down in front of the fireplace. I’ll grab us what we need.” His darkened gaze darted to my cock, then came back up.
“Sure.” I climbed off the couch and watched him jog to the stairs, then take two at a time. My man was on a mission. I chuckled as I slid my sweatshirt off over my head, then stepped toward the fire and held my hands out toward it. They knew how to build a proper fireplace around here, the thing could probably heat the whole house.
Archer was down the stairs in a flash, then spread thick blankets over the wooden floor, a towel, and a few pillows. He set the lube on the shelf in front of the fire. “We’ll have warm lube.” He grinned, then patted the makeshift bed he’d made.
I sank down to sit on the blankets, my knees drawn up and ass exposed.
He shucked off his clothing and joined me on the blankets. “Now this, is going to be a night to remember.” He quirked the corner of his mouth and ticked his head, pushing a pillow behind me. “Lie down.”
Lying on my back with my head on the pillow, my skin prickled all over and not from the fire next to me. He was sexy as sin with the light flickering over his taut muscles and his dick standing thick and tall between his thighs.
He slicked his fingers with lube, then crawled between my legs and dropped down, swallowing the tip of my sensitive cock, and circling my willing hole with his fingers.
“Oh, fuck.” I arched my back, trailing my tongue around my lips as pleasure sparked up my spine. I relaxed for him and spread my legs wider. I was ready to have him inside me, ready to connect with him in the most intimate way.
While pumping my dick, he snuck his finger inside me and angled it just so.
A bolt of pleasure and heat knotted in my gut. “Jesus, that’s it. Right there.” I panted and clutched at his hair, shifting my hips for him.
With a moan over my dick, he squeezed another finger inside me and stroked.
I writhed on the blankets for a few minutes, lost in the hot pressure inside me and his tongue fluttering over my cockhead. As my climax edged to the surface, I pushed him off me. “Stop, I’m ready.”
He sat up on his haunches and wiped his wet and swollen lips with the back of his hand. “Yeah?” He gave me a sexy smirk. “Leo, you are all mine.” He pushed my knees up and threw a pillow underneath my ass, then stopped, his gaze traveling to my hole. “Look at you, all ready for me.”
“I am.” As a flash of lust swept over me, my cock pulsed and dribbled a thread of precum onto my belly. I needed him, now. “Do it, take me.” I grabbed my knees and pulled them into my armpits.
Bent over me on a straight arm, he slathered lube over himself and lined up his dick to my hole, his necklace swaying and glinting in the firelight, his tattoos making dark shadows down his arm. As he nudged the tip of his cock inside me, his brows tensed, and his mouth dropped open. “Oh, fuck.” He hissed and slowly worked himself inside me.
Burning mixed with pressure and friction and I released a long groan. “God damn, this feels good.” So much better with skin on skin. “Fuck me, Archer.”
He fell onto an elbow, his face close to mine, his breath whispering over my cheek. “Love you, Leo.” He gasped as he buried himself deep inside me, his balls resting on my ass, then gazed deeply into my eyes and brushed his mouth over mine, teasing my lips. “You okay?” He nibbled my chin, then my neck.
“I’m okay.” Goosebumps rose across my heated skin. “Love you, too, babe.” I wiggled my hips and wrapped my legs around him, desire flooding my body. “But I need you to kiss me and fuck me senseless.” I wasn’t mincing words at this point.
With a grunt, he crashed his lips over mine and thrust hard, in and out, his tongue and cock penetrating me, filling me.
My body rocked up and down over the blankets and pillows and my dick brushed across his hard abs. Tension coiled inside my belly and my balls drew up. Again, our mouths mashed together, mine slanting over his, me taking pleasure from him as he took pleasure from me. I whimpered as he pummeled my prostate, over and over, sending shocks of sensation rolling through me and curling my toes.
After a few long moments, he broke the kisses and panted over the shell of my ear, his thrusts becoming quicker, but losing their rhythm. “Fuck, gonna come, Leo. Gonna come so hard for you,” he rasped.
I fisted my aching dick and pumped it, letting all the frustration inside me swell to the point of no return. “Come for me, Archer,” I gritted out.
His body grew rigid over me, and he whimpered, pushing himself in deeply and holding still. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.” He shuddered.
The heat of his release spurted inside me. I could feel it, feel him. I dug my fingers into his arms as my orgasm roared through me in harsh waves of pleasure, tingling my whole body inside and out. I gasped and moaned as he left me and pushed back in a few times more, my hole clenching and milking his pulsing cock.
As it all slowed, he fell over me, panting. “Holy fuck, Leo. I needed that, like really needed it.” He buried his face in my neck, nuzzling me. “God, you smell so fucking good right now.” He breathed me in. “I can’t get enough of you, like I want to do it again.”
“Right now?” My eyes rounded. “After the pounding you just gave me, if we did it again, I might be limping into the hospital tomorrow.” As it was, I already might be doing that. I hugged him to my chest and kissed the side of his head, chuckling. “And what would we tell your dad?”
With a short laugh, he said, “Not the truth. I don’t want to give him another heart attack.” He lifted onto his elbows, his forearms cradling my head, his thumb swiping over my cheek. “Thank you, Leo, for making this Christmas one of the best I’ve ever had, despite all the bullshit of the last few days.” He rubbed the tip of his nose on mine. “I really don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“Nothing, because it never would have happened. I think maybe we were meant to be together, Archer.” My heart swelled with warmth as I gazed deeply into his stunning eyes, so full of emotion for me. I’d found my person. My life partner, as Axel would say. In this moment, surrounded by the house he grew up in, I knew it. “I think Goliath might have known what he was doing when he bumped into you that day at the rescue. I think the fates brought us to the rescue on the same day.” The corners of my eyes burned. I was not used to saying shit like this and definitely not used to the flurry of emotions surging inside me. He brought it out of me. Only him.
He pressed his lips to mine, softly at first, tasting, then harder, and needful. In a husky voice, he said, “Love you forever, Leo.” He buried his face in my neck, sniffling.
“Forever, Archer.” As I tightened my hold on him, I lowered my legs and his spent cock slipped from me. “Shit.” I knew what came next. “Did you put a?—”
“Yes, I made sure there was a towel under you.” A soft chuckle rumbled from his chest.
We lay together, holding each other by the warmth of the fire, me brushing my fingers up and down his back, for a few long minutes. There was nothing left to say. We had each other and I knew whatever would come in the next weeks, the next months, none of it could tear us apart.
A few days later,we were at the hospital with Archer’s dad. We’d been with him every day, making sure he was doing his breathing exercises and helping him. He’d been getting stronger by the hour and could walk down the hallway for a short time before getting too winded. He was still on some heavy medication, but overall, he was recovering better than expected.
As I sat in a recliner watching the news with Archer and his father, my gaze caught on Tad walking into the room. We’d mostly taken turns being here with Tad to give all of us a break.
“Hey, boys. How’s everyone this fine day?” Tad wiggled out of his coat and laid it on the end of Sam’s hospital bed.
“Great. We’re expecting the heart surgeon any minute.” Archer, sitting in a chair next to his father’s bed, worried his lower lip.
I studied Archer. He was expected back at the university in a few days to start up practices and should have been on the ice a few times while he was home. But of course, the situation hadn’t permitted it. “Archer, we need to talk logistics now that Tad is here.” It’s what I did, made and executed plans.
“Yeah, when are you flying back?” Tad planted his hands on his hips and knitted his brows.
“In three days.” He snuck a glance at me. “I was supposed to practice a little bit, too, at the local rink, but…”
“Maybe you could get over there today?” Tad’s attention turned on me, then he focused on Archer.
Sam patted Archer’s hand, gripping the metal bedrail. “Son, you need to get back to your life. I’ll be okay.” He smiled. “The nurses love me.”
“Only when you do what they ask you to.” Archer threw him a smirk. “When do you think they’re letting you out?”
A tall man with dark hair and eyes walked into the room, wearing deep blue scrubs. “I think he’ll be ready to go home in four to five days as long as you agree to the cardiac rehabilitation program we talked about.” The man held his hand out to Archer. “I’m Doctor Chopra. And you must be his son, Archer?”
Archer stood up and shook the doctor’s hand. “I am. Nice to meet you.”
“Don’t worry about me, doc.” Sam waved him off. “Tad here is setting me up in his guest suite at his house.” He tilted his head on his pillow, focusing on Archer. “So, you need to go do what you need to do, Archer. I don’t want you worrying about me.”
Wrinkling his brows, Archer said, “But Dad?—”
“No buts. I’ll be fine. I’m going to be the most healthy man you’ve ever seen in a few months. You watch.” He pointed at Archer. “This whole thing has given me a new outlook on life.”
“And if he messes up, he’ll have me watching over him. Well, and Aunt Dyana and the girls.” Tad stepped forward.
Archer’s gaze crept to the doctor’s. “So, he’s really doing okay?”
“He is.” The doctor patted the end of Sam’s bed. “All he needs now, is to let his body heal and build his strength back.”
Archer nodded, toying with a fold in the blankets on the bed. “Okay. Then I guess we’ll be going home on schedule, and I need to get in some ice time at the rink.”
I walked to Archer and kissed his cheek. “Go, I’ll be right here with your dad and uncle.” It would be good to spend some time alone with them both and Archer could clear his head while he skated. He’d been so focused on his father’s recovery, I didn’t think he’d had time to process the other issue, the fact Richard Dupont was his biological father.