Page 91 of 300 New Year's Eves

“One! Happy New Year!”

Chapter seventeen

“Uncle Sergio! Wake up!”

Sergio’s eyes open quickly. He turns and braces himself for Henry’s typical morning slam into his balls. But instead, he sees Henry stopping in his tracks, skidding on his heels on the carpeted floor.

“What’s Jeremy doing here?” Henry asks with huge, mind-blown eyes.

“I was trying to get some much-needed sleep,” Jeremy says, reaching his hand out from under the covers to ruffle Henry’s hair.

“But you sleep in the barn,” Henry says. His head tilts to the side. Sergio can practically see him doing the mental math of how Jeremy ended up in Sergio’s bed instead of his own above the ice rink.

“Told you we should have gone back to your place last night,” Sergio mumbles against Jeremy’s neck.

“At least he didn’t wake us with a kick in the balls,” Jeremy whispers to him.

“Thank god.” They both chuckle, and Sergio lifts his head off the pillow. He takes his attention to Henry, who looks like he’s still genuinely confused. “Let me guess,” he says. “Breakfast is almost ready?”

“Yeah! How’d you know?”

“Just a hunch.”

“Did you wake up your Uncle Adrien yet?”

“Nope. You first!”

“Because I’m your favorite?”

“No. Because I like to let Uncle Adrien sleep more.”

Jeremy stifles a laugh with his hand, and Sergio lays his head back down on the pillow. “That’s fair,” he says, then lifts his head back up quickly, remembering that Adrien is also not alone in his bed. “Maybe knock on Uncle Adrien’s door instead of bursting through.”

“Okay!” Henry yells and runs out of the bedroom with two very enthusiastic thumbs up held high over his head. His footsteps thunder down the hallway.

“You were right,” Jeremy says, spinning in Sergio’s arms to lie face to face with him. “We should have at least locked the door last night.”

“Yeah, but then we wouldn’t have gotten to see his face.”

“Those wide eyes. I can’t with him,” Jeremy says as he nestles in a little closer to Sergio.

“He is awfully cute.” Sergio brings his hand to Jeremy’s face and cups his cheek with his palm, letting his thumb swipe slowly across his cheekbone. “But he’s not as cute as you.”

Jeremy rolls his eyes. “Oh, shut up. You already got me in bed with you. No need to keep being a sap.”

Sergio laughs and leans in closer. He brushes his nose against Jeremy’s. “I’m afraid that might be my default now.”

“I guess I can get used to it,” Jeremy says and kisses him as a slight rumbling comes from the space between the pillows and the headboard.

“Jeremy? Are you purring?”

“No.” Jeremy laughs against his lips. “That’s Gus. He always sleeps with me when I spend the night.”

Sergio’s eyes shoot open again. Even larger than they were when Henry announced his morning arrival. “Gus? As in Rose’s assassin cat, Gus?”

Jeremy reaches a hand above them and pets the cat lodged and resting somewhere within the mass of pillows. “He’s no assassin. He’s sweet.”

“Easy for you to say. This is the first day I’ve ever woken up here where he didn’t hiss at me and then fly out of the room like a bullet.”