Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I t didn’t take long to get settled into a routine at Dev’s. Bryan would get the kids breakfast and take them to school. Then he’d come back and spend a few hours working. He loved his new setup. Having a dedicated place to work and only work was awesome. It was so nice to shut the door to the office and leave work behind at the end of the day. And it hadn’t even been a week before he and the boys were all moved in. He thought they could live here happily. Even if there wasn’t anything between him and Dev. But he thought just maybe there was. Maybe more than just ‘thought it.’
Not that they’d done anything about it. Dev was still healing, taking the good stuff for the pain, and he didn’t feel right starting something under those circumstances. They had time, right?
Dev watched him, though, and kept wandering around the house, because he couldn’t paint without his dominant hand. Bryan knew it had to be driving him nuts not to be able to do any painting.
He finished up for the day, early because he’d been able to dedicate so much time to it over the last few days. Having that designated office space really made things easier. It was a couple hours before he had to go get the kids, so he sought out Dev. Maybe they could start the cooking lessons he was going to give Dev before all hell broke loose. It would be an excuse to spend some time together, anyway.
Dev was wandering around the house, two televisions on, watching a minute of one, another minute of the other. Oh yeah, not being able to paint was definitely affecting Dev.
“Hey. How about we turn off the TVs and go learn how to make pizza?” They had the dough in the fridge and all the fixings; he knew this because he’d been the one to put in the grocery order. He knew how to make the dough from scratch, but it was more time-consuming and he’d thought having the ready-made dough in the fridge meant they could make pizza on a whim. And he’d been right, hadn’t he, because here they were, about to make pizza.
“Do you want to?” Dev gave him a desperate look. “I’m so fucking bored.”
“Oh, you should have said something. Yes, I’d love to. And the kids will be pleased with homemade pizza for supper tonight, I bet.” Bryan gave Dev a grin. “Come on, let’s go explore the kitchen.” He wanted this to be enjoyable for Dev as he hoped to make homemade meals the norm over ordering. He just thought it was a waste of money, and it didn’t taste as good and there was less fat and salt if they made it themselves.
Not that Dev had to be involved. Bryan was perfectly capable of making homemade meals; he and the boys had rarely ordered or eaten out and upping the quantities to making meals for six instead of three was mostly a matter of making sure they had the extra ingredients to start with. Still, he thought it would be nice if Dev knew how to make stuff so he had the option, and as he’d thought earlier, it was an excuse for them to spend time together.
“So we’ve got store-bought dough, but you can even make it yourself. Getting a bread machine would make that easier. We could make all sorts of bread, really.” He actually liked making bread. Occasionally he’d do it all on his own—there was something meditative about kneading dough—but he’d splurged on a bread machine and that made things so easy, and as a result, he didn’t often have to buy bread. “Anyway. That’s for another day. Today, we’re using the ready-made dough.” He put it on the counter and pulled it out of the plastic bag.
“If you want a bread machine, you just pick one. I love bread, and Juni would be over the moon.” Dev poked the dough gingerly. “Cool.”
He laughed and grabbed a knife and a handful of flour. He spread the flour on the counter.
“Uh… you just put flour all over the counter.”
“I did. It’s so the dough doesn’t stick.” He put the dough down onto the counter and lifted it again, demonstrating its unstickness. “See?”
“But…” Dev waved his good hand at the floured countertop.
He chuckled. “The counters are marble-top, and they’re super easy to clean. When we’re done with the pizzas, I’ll just take a damp cloth and wipe them down.”
“I would never have been so brave,” Dev told him.
Bryan snorted. He was not brave for messing up Dev’s countertops.
He put his hands on the counter to get some flour on them too, then shaped the hunk of dough to make it roundish so he could cut it evenly. Grabbing a knife, he cut the dough like a pie, splitting it into six. “We’ll do a personal pizza each. Hence the five pieces.”
“There’s six pieces, my dear accountant. Six.”
He looked down at the separated dough and chuckled. “Did I actually say five? There’s six of us so I cut six pieces.” He shook his head. “You’ve got me all aflutter.”
“That’s not bad.” Dev leaned in and took a hard kiss, making his head spin.
He groaned and swayed toward Dev, suddenly way more than just aflutter. “Oh…” he said softly as the kiss ended. He blinked at Dev a time or two, then brought their lips back together again for another kiss.
“Mmm… you taste good.” Dev’s eyes were intense this close up.
“Yeah?” Bryan felt suddenly shy for some reason. Maybe because he liked Dev so much. He didn’t want to screw anything up.
“Yes. I won’t push, that’s not nice, but I want you. Maybe… after pizza?”
“You mean once the kids are in bed?” He wasn’t going to say no to that offer.
“I do mean that. Very much.”
“Well okay, then. Can we send them to bed as soon as we pick them up from school?”
Dev started chuckling. “Can you imagine? Besides, today is piano and robotics for the girls, swimming for the boys.”
“Right.” He sighed, but there was no heat in it. Anticipation wouldn’t kill him. He hoped. Still, he leaned in and took another kiss. “It’s a date.”
“Meet you in my bed at nine, then. I’ll be the one with the erection.”
His cheeks heated at that. “Dev!” He didn’t know why he was shocked, but he was.
“What? It’s true.” Dev winked at him.
“Yeah, but I have to go get the kids in a bit and I don’t want to have an erection when I do that.” He had a hunch he’d have at the very least a warm tingly feeling in his belly when he went out. Hell, he guessed he was going to have that feeling until tonight. Especially if Dev kept looking at him like that.
“I understand completely. What do we do with the pizza crusts?” Dev’s words were at odds with that look, but Bryan appreciated the distraction.
“So I’ll have to do it this time because you’ve got one wing clipped and stretching out the dough is definitely a two-handed job.”
“I’ll be a supervisor then. Pizza management are me.” Dev plopped on a barstool and watched.
He chuckled. “That works. Next time, I’ll supervise, and you can make them.” He grabbed the first of six crusts. “So this is the part where you see them tossing the crust in the air in the movies. And the guys who do this for a living can do that. Hell, they can do all sorts. I saw this cooking competition show once where there were like a dozen people all working on their dough and it was like those cocktail bartenders who do the tricks, only with pizza dough. It was pretty cool. I’m not going to do any tossing, though, because I don’t want it landing on the floor. So, the easiest way to stretch it out is to hold it by the edges and turn it between your fingers. Like so.” He demonstrated, the dough slowly stretching out as he worked it.
“Look at you! Are you going to put the toppings on them and then cook them when the kids are home?”
“That’s what I was thinking. You can be topping master. Why don’t you pull out everything we’ll need from the fridge while I get the rest of these stretched out?”
“What do you like on yours? Juni wants pepperoni, Marley will want olives.”
“Just olives?” That was kind of horrifying to him.
“Olives are her favorite things. Have been since she tried them when she was ten. Silly girl.”
He shook his head. “But she wants like chicken and peppers or something on it too, right?” He moved on to the next pizza crust.
“She’ll eat anything else. She loves chicken and onions. Sausage.”
“Oh good.” He pushed the thought of an olives-only pizza out of his head. “My boys like cheese and pepperoni if it isn’t too strong. I like lots of veggies on mine, but I also subscribe to the anything on a pizza crust is good theory. What about you?” He knew they’d discussed this when they’d first made their pizza date, but he couldn’t quite remember all the details. Maybe meat lovers?
“My favorite is a sausage and onion pie, but I’ll eat whatever there is. And at the moment, I’m kind of feeling Greek.”
“You don’t look Greek,” he teased.
Dev snorted, but it turned into a laugh. “Dork.”
Bryan nodded. That sounded about right. “So chicken with some Greek spices, some olives, tomatoes, and feta?” he asked. He knew they had olives and chicken and tomatoes, but he wasn’t sure about the spices and the feta. He hadn’t thought to order those. He’d learn what Dev and the girls enjoyed best over time, though, and then he’d be able to order more effectively.
“Mmm… hell yes. I do like that, but honestly, pizza is good.”
“Yeah. The answer to ‘do you want pizza’ is always yes. Although I’m guessing if you had it every night, you’d soon get bored of it, even if you changed up the toppings.” He had all but one crust left to stretch out. “There’s a bottle of pizza sauce in the cupboard with the canned soups.”
“I’m on it. I love all the groceries, by the way. It looks so homey.” Dev got the sauce down. “What next?”
Bryan laughed. “Most homes do have groceries,” he teased. “There’s a big bag of shredded mozzarella in the fridge. I think you’ve already taken out everything else we need.” He was going to show Dev how to make one, and then he was going to let Dev make the ones for his girls and himself. It was totally doable one-handed.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don’t bother me with most.”
“I’m going to teach your girls to cook, and I can’t speak for Juni, but Marley is going to love it.”
“I am enjoying this with you.” Dev grinned at him. “Marley was so embarrassed about the tacos. Poor baby.”
“Her heart was in the right place, and she only made one mistake.” Of course it had been a rather monumental one, but that was okay—it was her very first attempt and she’d had no guidance. “She’ll get better.” He was sure of it. “Okay, so we put some pizza sauce on the bottom and spread it out with a spoon. My boys only like a little bit of sauce, so I’m going to keep it sparce on theirs. Then you just add the toppings, as thick or thin as you want, depending on what the person wants, and you top everything with cheese.” He made the pizza as he narrated it, so when he was done telling Dev about it, he was done actually making Micah’s cheese pizza with a couple of pepperonis dotting it.
“Juni doesn’t want soggy, so I’ll do light sauce on that one.”
“Good idea. Too much cheese can make it soggy too,” he warned. He’d learned that one the hard way. He made Dylan’s much more pepperoni and cheese pizza, then his own veggie heavy one. “You need any help?” he asked, watching Dev, admiring the lean body.
“Nope. I don’t think so. I think I’m good.”
“Yeah, you are….” He licked his lips. Man, now that he was letting himself think about it, now that they had made a date, so to speak. Yeah. Now that he could really look, he was looking and liking what he saw. A lot.
“Yeah? So… are you a pitcher, a catcher, both?”
“I’ve kind of always been a catcher, though I pitched sometimes. But I like all of it.” He could feel his cheeks were going red, but he continued on. “Hands, mouths, rubbing. You know?” All physical contact with a lover was good. Hell, he loved just cuddling when orgasms weren’t feasible. Grant hadn’t been a cuddler. It should have been a red flag for him.
“I do. I’m an all-around type of guy. I just like contact.”
He beamed at Dev. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” He moved in close and snuck his arms around Dev’s middle, giving him a full-body hug.
“Mmm… damn, babe. I like that. You make me hungry.”
“I can make you a snack before I go get the kids,” he offered. The pizzas would go into the fridge until suppertime.
“That’s not the kind of hungry I mean…”
“Oh!” His cheeks went hot. “I guess I might be hungry too.” He pressed closer.
Dev chuckled softly, casted hand pressing against his lower back.
“Careful you don’t hurt yourself,” he warned before kissing Dev’s neck, the skin there warm and fragrant, smelling strongly of Dev. He liked the scent.
“We’re just necking. We’re not getting acrobatic.”
“Necking. God, I haven’t heard that word since high school.” He grinned up at Dev. “I love it.”
Dev waggled his eyebrows at Bryan. “I’m sort of classic, you know? Deliberately old-school.”
“Does that include no sex before marriage?” he asked, wriggling against Dev, making it clear that his body was ready for there to be sex without any marriage. And soon.
Dev snorted softly. “Absolutely fucking not. I am pro-premarital sex.”
“Thank god for that.” He put his hand behind Dev’s neck and gently tugged him down so they could kiss. He could spend forever kissing Dev, he really could. He didn’t have the time to actually do that—too many other responsibilities and stuff—but if he could, he would.
Dev hummed into his lips, the sound happy, warm, and he loved the way it felt. He slid his tongue along Dev’s lips and slipped it in between them when they opened for him.
God, this felt so good, so amazing that all he could do was hold on.
His tongue danced with Dev’s, the pleasure of doing this moving all through him, making him feel alive.
“Mmm… You taste good. Do you know that?” Dev asked softly.
“Me? I bet I don’t taste as good as you do.” He licked Dev’s lips. “I could become addicted to you.”
“We’ll just be addicted to each other, okay? I mean, we already live together.”
He chuckled and rested his cheek against Dev’s. “Yeah, that’s gonna work.” He really wished he didn’t have to wait until the kids were in bed.
Still, there was something amazing about the anticipation. About knowing this was important.
He didn’t want to just do a quick fuck now before the kids got home. He wanted to wait until they could share a bed and really be together.
He gave Dev another kiss. “Let me get you that something to eat.”
“I’m good. Do we need to go pick up kids and truck them around soon?”
“We do. And no, you need to eat something before we do that.” He grabbed some bread and sandwich meat. Dev didn’t eat nearly enough, and his body was trying to heal. Haphazard meals were not optimal.
“You spoil me.” Dev acted like no one had ever done that before. Besides, Dev was the one doing most of the spoiling. He was just playing catchup.
“I’m gonna try.” He finished the sandwich and handed it over. “Eat. You need the energy to heal. And if not that, you need it for all the trucking around of the kids we need to do.”
“Right? Four busy beasts. At least yours pretty much do the same things right now.”
“They are at a pretty good age.” Of course, he’d loved his boys at each age, and he was pretty sure that would just continue.
“Yeah, but it’s nice when they know exactly what they want, too.” Dev’s girls were both extremely determined about what extracurriculars they wanted to do.
“Let’s just say that so far, all the ages have good things about them.” Bryan didn’t want to get into a ‘my kids are more fill-in-the-blank than yours.’ They didn’t need that kind of stress, and the kids were so different anyway. Comparisons just weren’t necessary.
“They so do.” Dev seemed to be more than happy to agree to that, to relax and breathe into that idea.
Bryan looked at his watch. “Okay. We’ve got about fifteen minutes before we have to grab an uber and get everyone everywhere.” When it had just been him and the boys, he’d walked everywhere, but that wasn’t as feasible with four, and Dev had insisted he could afford the uber. “You wanna go cuddle on the couch?”
“I do. I want to enjoy being adults a little longer before we become dads again.”
“Come on, then.” He took Dev’s good hand and led him to his own living room.
“Is there anything in here we ought to change to make it nicer for you guys?”
“You know you have the world’s comfiest couches, right?”
“God, yes.” Dev plopped down and snuggled into the huge amazing sofa. “I love this thing.”
Chuckling, Bryan joined him, sitting close, the cushions shifting and leaning him into Dev. Perfect.
“I think I could fall in love with you too, you know…” Dev noted softly.
Warmth filled his belly. “Yeah, I know.” He knew because he was feeling the same way.