Chapter 9 The Bedroom #3
Cricket rolled her eyes, though the corners of her mouth twitched. “I’ll get right on that.”
A ripple of soft laughter moved through the room, easing something tight in Thomas’s chest. He felt it then, the same feeling he got every time he looked at them all together. The quiet certainty that this was something rare. Something real.
“Everyone get out,” Atticus said. “I need to do a quick check and I’m sure Cricket doesn’t want an audience. Give us ten minutes.”
Before Thomas could say anything, arms wrapped around him from behind.
Thomas stiffened just a fraction before melting into the familiar weight, the heat, the solidity of Aiden pressed against his back.
“I’m stealing you,” Aiden murmured, lips brushing his ear.
Thomas let himself be pulled backward, fingers lacing with Aiden’s as he guided him to their bedroom, leading him inside. The door closed softly behind them, muting the world to a distant hum.
“What are you doing?” Thomas murmured, even as his body leaned instinctively into the press of Aiden’s chest.
“Spending time with my husband,” Aiden said, mouth finding his.
Thomas let himself be kissed, his tongue sliding over Aiden’s even as his arms wrapped around his neck.
His whole body went slack, letting Aiden’s solid presence crush him against the door. His fingers played with the hair at Aiden’s nape. He’d clearly just taken a shower. His skin was still warm and the scent of his spicy shampoo and body wash was both familiar and comforting.
Aiden kissed him the way he always did when he wanted Thomas to stop thinking and start feeling, slow at first, deliberate, mouth firm and warm, hands bracketing Thomas’s hips like he belonged exactly there.
Thomas exhaled into the kiss as it became more heated, the tension bleeding out of him as their hands roamed and Aiden’s knee settled firmly between Thomas’s legs, making him groan.
Aiden’s thumb traced the hem of Thomas’s sweater, not lifting it, just teasing. “You good?” he asked softly against his mouth.
Thomas nodded, forehead resting briefly against Aiden’s. “I am.”
Aiden’s hand slid up under Thomas’s sweater, fingertips tracing up his sides as his lips found his in another slow, lazy kiss, thigh flexing in a way that had Thomas groaning into his mouth.
Thomas’s hands tangled in Aiden’s hair, just needing something to steady him, to remind him that they had a house full of guests just outside the door. “What are you doing?”
“Touching my husband,” Aiden said, his hands plunging down past Thomas’s waistband to grab his ass, rocking him closer, forcing his hardening cock to grind against his thigh until he gasped. “What are you doing?” he asked innocently, like he wasn’t scrambling Thomas’s brain.
“We don’t have time for this,” Thomas said even as he found his mouth again. “Cricket’s having a baby.”
“She’s not having our baby,” Aiden reminded him, deepening the kiss once more, thigh flexing rhythmically in a way that had Thomas feeling a bit like a teen making out in his bedroom.
“Still…” he said, half-heartedly.
“Still what?” Aiden murmured, tearing his lips from Thomas’s to bite at the shell of his ear, tongue doing something clever that had Thomas’s hips bucking forward onto Aiden’s leg again.
Aiden’s hands slid down the back of his pants once more, gripping his ass and forcing him into a rhythm that was quickly becoming addictive.
“She’s gonna have that baby any minute now,” Thomas gasped.
“Then you should probably hurry up and come,” Aiden chastised, nipping the skin of his throat.
Thomas sucked in a sharp breath, heat pooling in his belly as Aiden’s mouth found his again, rough and demanding.
The house felt very far away now. The music. The laughter. The weight of responsibility. All muted behind the solid press of Aiden’s body and the locked door at his back.
Every time Aiden flexed his thigh the sensation lit up his nerves like struck flint. He throbbed against him, pleasure thrumming hot under his skin.
“Come on, Tommy,” Aiden encouraged. “I’m not letting you go until you come for me.”
Thomas’s head thudded hard against the door as Aiden forced his body into a rhythm so good, he couldn’t fight it. He could only stand there, Aiden’s leg keeping him upright as he rode the waves of heat rolling over him with every press of his thigh.
“Come for me and I’ll let you go,” Aiden taunted. “I can feel how close you are. I know how much you love this. Come on…”
Thomas’s eyes rolled behind his lids, mouth going slack, hips now rolling of their own accord.
“That’s it. There you go,” Aiden coaxed into his ear. “Fuck, you’re so hot like this.”
Aiden gripped his waist, increasing the pressure on Thomas’s already aching cock.
He gasped into Aiden’s mouth as it found his again.
This kiss was far deeper, much dirtier. Aiden no longer seemed content to help Thomas get off at his own pace.
He was going to make it happen by doing all of the things that drove Thomas crazy.
Aiden’s tongue fucking past his lips, Thomas’s cock grinding hard against his thigh, Aiden whispering dirty words between kisses.
“Come on, Tommy. Come for me.”
Thomas sucked in a sharp breath, hips jerking as he found his release, spilling into his underwear.
Aiden pulled back, but didn’t release him. “See…you definitely needed that.”
Thomas leaned heavy against the solid door, breathing hard as Aiden moved to the side drawer, grabbing wet wipes. Thomas flinched at the cold against his skin, but let Aiden do what he wanted.
“Wasn’t that nice?” Aiden asked, giving him another kiss even as he stripped him of his underwear and pants. “And you almost refused.”
“You’re very convincing,” Thomas murmured.
Aiden smiled against his mouth. “I know.”
Aiden’s hands wandered again—never grabbing, never rushing—just mapping familiar ground. Over ribs, down hips, thumbs brushing teasingly beneath the hem of Thomas’s sweater before retreating again. Enough to promise.
Thomas leaned into him, forehead dropping to Aiden’s shoulder once more. His body buzzed, not with urgency, but with contentment.
They stayed like that for a moment, breathing together.
Finally, Aiden said, “Stay here. I’ll get you some clothes.”
Thomas didn’t fight it. Once he was dressed and looking as presentable as he was likely to get, he gave Aiden a chaste kiss. “I’ll take care of you later.”
Aiden grinned. “I took care of myself in the shower.”
Thomas gasped. “Rude.”
From somewhere down the hall came a burst of laughter, then Cricket’s voice—sharp with pain, then softer as it eased. A reminder of why they were here. Why this mattered.
“You love this,” Aiden said. “You love having all of them here under one roof. Even Jericho’s kids. You’re in your bliss right now.”
He wasn’t wrong. These were his children. Whether they were fully grown adults or not, having them all under one roof, everyone he cared about, unknotted something within him, something he never even noticed until it disappeared. There was a peace he just couldn’t explain with any eloquence.
“I love it when it’s just you, me and Theo, too,” he promised. “But I can’t help that having everyone here, safe with me, safe where I can see them, makes me feel…calmer.”
Aiden pressed a kiss to Thomas’s temple. “We should probably go back.”
Thomas sighed, long and slow, but nodded. “Yeah. Before someone comes looking for us.”
Aiden smirked. “They’ll survive.”
He unlocked the door but didn’t open it yet, stealing one last kiss, quick, affectionate, full of promise.
“We’ll finish this later,” he murmured.
Thomas smiled, something soft and real settling in his chest. “Looking forward to it.”
And for just a few minutes, Thomas let himself stand still in the middle of it all—wanted, grounded, and not alone.
A sharp sound cut through the quiet. Not laughter this time. Not music. A voice—tight, strained, unmistakably Cricket’s—carried down the hall.
“Okay—okay, that one hurt,” she snapped, breathless. “That one definitely fucking hurt. Freckles, you need to get this baby out of me!”
Thomas felt it immediately. The shift in the house. Aiden straightened just enough to glance at the door, his expression changing—not alarmed, but alert. Ready.
Another voice followed. Atticus, calm but firm. “Alright, Cricket. It’s time to evict this little mooch.”
“Breathe, Cricket,” someone said, voice too muffled to identify.
There was a pause. Then Cricket again, lower this time, edged with effort. “I am breathing.”
Thomas closed his eyes briefly.
Aiden squeezed his hips once, grounding. “That’s our cue.”
Thomas nodded, already stepping back, straightening his sweater, rolling his shoulders like armor settling back into place. The want lingered, warm and steady, but it no longer demanded his attention.
“Later,” Aiden said again, softer this time, but certain.
Thomas met his eyes. “Later.”
They unlocked the door together.
As it opened, the noise rushed back in. Life, chaos, family, urgency. And somewhere at the center of it all, a child on the way.