17. Torin
I had no idea what I’d been missing. Ten years of not having Joss in my life was way too long, but I couldn’t go back in time and change things. I could only go forward. And as he slept beside me, curled into my arms after allowing me to taste everything he had to offer, I finally felt whole.
The years we spent apart changed us personally and physically, but what mattered was that we had found each other again. And more importantly, I’d gotten my head out of my ass and was finally where I should have been, which was willing to accept that I liked men. Or more specifically, one man. The sweet and gorgeous man who was still covered in our combined come but refused to leave the bed long enough to shower.
I held him a little tighter and closed my eyes. He would still be there in the morning. And with luck, every morning after that.
It was still dark when Bella started to cry. I rolled to the side of the bed to get up but Joss stopped me. “I’ll get her.” His lips pressed to my shoulder and then he was up. “Go back to sleep and you can take the morning shift.”
“Deal.” I scooted back to the middle of the bed to keep it warm for when Joss returned. “Call out if you need me.”
“I will.” He leaned down and kissed me one more time before disappearing down the hall.
“And you better come back here after. This is your bed now.” He didn’t respond, but I knew he heard me.
The baby monitor was on so I could hear his quiet murmurs and humming as he changed Bella and then took her to the kitchen for a bottle.
He was a dream come true for both me and Bella. Our family was now complete. Not whole without Stacy around to be the mother Bella deserved, but he rounded out what I didn’t even realize I’d been missing.
Before the bed got cold, Joss was back, sliding in beside me and snuggling against me. “Oohh, you’re warm.”
I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in tight. “And you’re nice and chilly. Even your toes are frozen.”
He pressed his feet under my calf and cupped my cheeks with his cold fingers. “Warm me up, Daddy.”
As much as I wanted to take his sweet ass again, it was late and we both needed to sleep. “Tomorrow, Joshua. For now, get some sleep.”
We both fell asleep easily, and when I woke up again, Joss was sprawled on top of me and lightly snoring. It was adorable. I knew Bella would be up soon, so I carefully slid out from underneath him and went to get her bottle ready. By the time I slipped into her room, she had rolled to the edge and was staring at the doorway, clearly waiting for one of us to arrive.
“Good morning, sweetheart.” I lifted her up and held her against my chest. “You look happy today.”
She cooed and reached for my nose.
“Okay, okay. Diaper first, then bottle, then play time.”
She didn’t argue, so I took that as agreement and got to it. Twenty minutes later, we were on the floor in the living room with a kids’ music show playing in the background. Joss came in a few minutes later with a mug in his hand. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please!” I put Bella on her mat and got up to give him a proper morning kiss. “Thank you, babe.”
He grinned. “I love when you say that.”
“Oh yeah?” I took a sip, looking at him over the edge of the cup. “Babe?”
Joss bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah, no one’s really called me that before.”
I walked to him and pressed my chest up to his. “I like when you call me Daddy.”
He rolled his eyes and dropped his forehead to my shoulder. “Why does that embarrass me when we’re not fooling around?”
I shrugged and reached for his ass, giving him a light squeeze. “We can fool around, if that helps.”
“Maybe during naptime, but I’m gonna go make breakfast and you’re gonna play with your daughter. This is her favorite song and she likes when you sing along.”
I stopped to listen to the words and cringed. “Fruit salad. Yummy, yummy?”
He grinned and repeated the silly lyrics back to me. “There’s a dance that goes with it. You’ll want to pull up the video.”
“Uh, no. I won’t.” I kissed him again, hoping he’d forget about that ridiculous dance idea. “But if we have ant fruit, that sounds pretty good.”
Joss nipped at my lip and then pulled away. “One fruit salad coming up for Bella and Daddy.”
I watched him leave and then turned back to Bella. “I hope you’ve enjoyed having Joss around because I think we’re gonna keep him.”
She looked at me and giggled. Yeah, she agreed. He was ours, and we weren’t letting him go.