Page 63 of Brokered Betrayals
Royce bounced a little on the sofa cushion. “What did you get us?”
“It won’t be a surprise if I tell you,” Sawyer said. “Derrick will be here soon, and you can open it.”
“When did FedEx start this detailed service? When I order something, I just get a window of delivery time.”
“I think I signed up for package management or something. Or maybe it’s because I have to sign for the delivery. Does it matter? They’re not running a dating app.”
“Not so sure when they hire drivers that look like that.” Royce waggled his brows. “And we get to meet that hunk.”
“Don’t embarrass us,” Sawyer pleaded.
Royce tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips. “Do you think FedEx has a hunky delivery guy calendar? What month would Derrick be? August because it’s smoking hot, and so is he.”
Sawyer tapped his fingers on his knee. “Are you finished?”
Smiling wickedly, Royce looked down at his crotch. “I think I’m just getting started.”
“That’s it.” Sawyer took him back down to the couch, but they rolled and crashed hard on the rug. The air whooshed out of them with a doubleoof, and they laughed as soon as they could breathe again. “You are so ridiculous.”
Royce cupped Sawyer’s face and stared into his eyes. Derrick, his package, and even the world all faded away. “Yes, but you love me.”
“So damn much.”
They both leaned in for a kiss at the same time, their gestures routine, even if their emotions were anything but. Royce slid a hand under his shirt, and Sawyer rocked his hips, looking to pick up where they’d left off. Both their phones emitted the Ring chime to indicate motion detection in the driveway. They’d disconnected their regular doorbell a few weeks ago when the sound of it triggered an unholy chain of chaos that nobody needed. Royce had gone above and beyond installing a simple Ring doorbell though. He’d placed security systems to monitor every entrance, but Sawyer put his foot down when it came toadding interior monitoring, comparing it to living in theBig Brotherhouse. Royce hadn’t known what that was, and Sawyer wanted to prevent another reality show addiction, so he’d compromised and allowed Royce to put a floodlight near the peak of the garage roof. That was the one that had alerted them to driveway activity.
Royce reached for his phone on the coffee table and played the camera feed. “Let’s go sign for the package so we can get back to this.”
Sawyer rolled off him and stood up. He extended a hand to Royce and tugged him to his feet. “Better not open your surprise, or you’ll forget all about me.”
Royce looked back down at his phone. “Whoa!”
“Yeah, we know Derrick is hot.”
“Well, yeah,” Royce said, “but I’m talking about his package. That thing is huge.”
Sawyer snatched the phone from his hand in time to see Derrick wheeling a large box toward the porch. He went to give the phone back to his husband, but Royce was already halfway to the front door. “Get back here, you shit!” Sawyer tossed the phone onto the sofa and jogged after him.
Dolly, who hadn’t yet learned what the Ring chimes meant, reacted to her dads’ energy, yipping and chasing after them.
Royce reached the door first, but Sawyer body-slammed him against it before he could open it. The doorbell chime went off on their phones in the living room as they wrestled over the doorknob. Derrick had to be wondering what the grunting and thumping was all about. Dolly’s loud bark cut through their tomfoolery, and Sawyer picked the dog up to quiet her.
“Yes!” Royce cheered in victory before he wrenched the door open and startled the oh-so beautiful deliveryman. He propped his arm on the doorjamb and said, “Hello there.”
“Hi.” Derrick’s lips curved into a delicious smile. “I have a package for Sawyer Locke.”
“And what a mighty big pack—”
Sawyer threw an elbow, cutting Royce off and muscling his way to the door. “That’s me. I’m Sawyer Locke.”
Royce rubbed his chest and glared at Sawyer. “Asshole,” he grumbled.
“Dickhead,” Sawyer fired back.
“Um,” Derrick said with a chuckle. “One of you needs to sign my ePod for this delivery.”
“I’ll do it.” Royce turned to Sawyer. “You’re holding Dolly.”
The dog reacted to her name by wriggling and letting out an excited yip. Or maybe she thought Derrick was handsome too; either way, she got the man’s attention.