Chapter 18 Lake
Chapter eighteen
Lake
“What do you think? Blue or orange?”
Hades tilts his head, tongue hanging out the side.
He licks the blue square cloth. I nod in agreement.
“Excellent choice. You’re so fashionable.
Do you want a suit for the wedding? I’ll ask about it when I get fitted for mine.
” He’d look dashing in one, with a bow of course.
“You’d want a bow, right?” A small yip is my answer. Definitely a yes on the bow.
He lies down on the couch, rests his head on my thigh, and stares up at me. Probably wants a treat. He can have one in a second.
“I think white for the napkins and other table stuff. It goes well with blue.”
He blinks, which I’m taking as a yes. He’s such a great helper.
“That’s all the tableware.” I’ll check everything over with Grady, but everything is starting to take shape, thanks to the help from Jayden.
He’s a lifesaver. We should get him a gift.
Wine. Cheese. Wine and cheese. Grady will definitely know a good wine, and I know all about cheese. Match made in heaven.
Speaking of the love of my life, was that his car?
Hades’ ears perk up. He gives a single bark and then scrambles off the couch, bounding out of the room and towards the front door.
By the time I’ve gathered the wedding folder and all the papers around me and put them on the coffee table, Grady is coming in.
He’s taken off his suit jacket and his shoes, his white shirt tight across his chest. My thin chain necklace is poking out from beneath his collar, and it’s making me a little hot under mine—if I were wearing one.
He’s taken to wearing it to work during the week since I’m not technically allowed to have it when I’m in uniform even if sometimes I forget.
I like the way it looks on him. More than like it.
He pauses in the doorway. “What?” He glances down at himself. “Did Hades get a muddy pawprint on me? Lake, I’ve told you that you need to wipe down his paws when—”
“You’re really sexy,” I interrupt. I know about the dog thing.
I have reminders set in my phone about the dog thing.
Mostly for me because I hate mopping, and dirty paws leave a crazy-ass mess.
Besides, there’s no reason to deny how sexy my man is.
Or how much I want to climb him like a tree right now because he looks so fucking good.
His gaze flits over me like a physical touch, and then he’s nudging me to move over so that he can sit beside me on the couch. Hades’ tail wags madly as he finds his own spot, on the other side of me.
Grady drapes my legs over his lap, instead of getting on top of me and rocking my world—which I thought we were going to do; didn’t we just sign a contract agreement with our flaming eye contact?
He starts massaging and okay, that’s—that’s a completely, totally fine and acceptable alternative. He hits a particularly sensitive part near my heel, and there’s a zap of pain and pleasure combining. How can something that hurts feels so good?
“Oh my god,” I moan. “I love you so much.”
“I didn’t realise you were so easy.”
“Only for you.”
He caresses the side of my foot with his thumb before returning to his massage. “About Riley.”
“Your boss?” I tease, nudging him with my knee.
“Cute.” He gives me a look that’s probably supposed to be reprimanding, but my body reacts to it in a completely different way. “I need to know that you’re really serious about this, Lake. He’s got a lot of bad habits ingrained in him, and it’s not going to be an easy road.”
The tone of voice is sobering, triggering flashbacks of when he didn’t trust that I was serious about him.
“I am. Completely, wholly, one hundred percent.” I’m ready to open up our home to the teenager who needs it.
To expand our family. I’m in it with Grady forever, and there’s room for more love in our life.
Grady nods, accepting my answer, and my heart melts like oozing caramel at the way he trusts that I’m telling him the truth. I need to hug him. I have to.
In seconds I’m in his lap, face buried in his neck, smelling deeply of his rich cologne. He always smells so good, I want to lick him. He doesn’t taste like he smells, but…
Grady groans, and then he’s kissing me deeply, keeping me in place with one hand gripping my nape and the other around my waist. “Lake”—he stops to dive back in for a kiss—“we need to”—another kiss—“talk about this.”
“Yeah.” Talking. Right. That’s what we’re supposed to be doing. It takes all my willpower to pull away, resting my forehead on his while breathing heavy. “Yes. What happened today?”
“They’re putting him in an emergency home temporarily. His case manager, Annie, is working with us on this, to make the transition as smooth as we can. We’re allowed to see him, take him to school, have him for dinner, all of those things.”
“That’s good.” At least he knows that we’re not abandoning him. “Picking him up tonight?”
“If you want. I have the number for the mum of his emergency family, so she knows what’s going on. I’ll send it to you.”
“This isn’t usually how it works, is it?
” This feels like special treatment. Because Grady made a point of it, or because he wears a badge?
Both? Maybe he smiled, and the social worker fell in love.
I get it. I did the same thing. They have to live with the disappointment of never having him, of course, but I get it.
“I don’t think so. It felt like she was just grateful that someone wants to take him off her hands on a more permanent basis.”
That just makes me feel bad for Riley. He’s rough around the edges, but his start to life has hardly allowed him to be any other way.
We can help him build trust in humanity.
At least trust in the people around him.
We care, and I know once they meet him, others in our lives will care as well.
Hell, they’ll all care without even knowing him, just because we care.
“What happens now? How long will he have to stay there?”
“She gave us some paperwork to fill out, to start the process to become foster parents. It usually takes months, but she’s going to help speed the process up. Don’t ask me how, I’m not sure I want to know.”
“It’d be really awkward to arrest the person helping us get Riley,” I agree. Even if he likes arresting people, we should probably save it for people we don’t kind of need. “You could do it after?”
“I appreciate the approval,” Grady says dryly. “She’s not doing anything illegal. I don’t think. But I’m also not interested in interoffice politics. I get enough of that in my own job.”
That makes more sense than my life-of-crime theory.
“Okay, so paperwork, and then…?”
“They have to do an assessment of our home—”
“So, put a lock on the drawer where we keep our dildos—”
“And then a police check. They also need to interview us and some references of our choosing. So friends, family, etcetera.”
That sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through. “How long will this take?”
“Like I said, it usually takes months. But she said we can submit the paperwork and then do the house visit and the interviews simultaneously. They’ll do interviews with our references as they go, and Riley should be able to move in within a fortnight.”
“Damn, that’s quick.” I wasn’t expecting that. I feel a beaming smile spread over my face. “That’s great! We should go shopping. With him. He can pick out his bedding and some new clothes if he wants it. Definitely a new school bag. And—”
Grady grasps my shoulder. “Lake, calm down. Let’s get through the initial parts first. And maybe ask him if this is what he wants. Then we can go from there.”
“Okay, but I want to give him those things anyway even if he doesn’t come stay with us. Have you seen his bag? He needs a new one.”
Grady brushes strands of hair from my forehead. “I love you.”
I know he does, but it’s so nice to hear him say it.
I’ll never get tired of it. I could listen to it on repeat, and I’d still want more.
“I love you, too, Mr Husband-to-be.” I waggle my eyebrows.
“You want to order takeout, put on a random black-and-white movie, and look at wedding place settings with me? That’s romantic, right? ”
“Very romantic,” Grady says in a tone that makes me think he doesn’t quite believe me. “We can negotiate the movie.”
“As long as it’s black-and-white.”
“Why is that the criteria?” he questions, retrieving his phone from his pocket.
“There’s some mince in the fridge; I can make some burgers and homemade chips.
It’ll taste better than whatever you’re thinking of getting.
Then you can show me all the place settings you want to.
” He pauses from scrolling films on his phone. “Like… plates and cutlery?”
“You would not believe how many different options there are,” I reply with a grin.