Page 4 of Home for Nathan (Secret Springs)

Chapter

Four

Z ion whistled as he worked on the floors in the foyer of his house. He wanted to refinish them first and then repaint the walls, because he had that super cool hall tree that needed to go in. He wanted to get it in there so that when people walked in the house they would ooh and ah .

The staircase didn’t need any work right away.

Somebody had refinished the newel post and the railings and all not too long ago.

Maybe he should call it restored, because they were beautiful dark wood that the grain showed through and were polished to a high shine.

The stair runners were less than perfect, but they weren’t so shabby that they weren’t charming, so he was just gonna leave them as is for now.

All in all, Zion was really enjoying his house and Secret Springs. There were good places to eat, there was an amazing library, he could get to any number of fourteeners in an extremely short amount of time.

And then there was Nathan.

Nathan, who was sweet and a little shy and a lot of opinionated about food among other things, and who made him absolutely crazy just by being who he was.

And not in a mean way, more in a “alpha wants to do bad things to you, omega” sort of way.

Which made him sound way more creepy than he was, but he’d been on three dates with Nathan now, and he had decided that might never be enough for him.

He was taking it slow, though, because Nathan had been hurt badly, and because he was pregnant, and that was a commitment he had to respect.

Getting involved with the pregnant omega meant getting involved with their eventually born baby, and while that was totally cool with him in a lot of ways, it also scared him a little bit. Zion figured he needed to be self-aware enough to admit that. So he was taking it one date at a time.

He hadn’t even taken the kiss yet. They’d had a really nice long hug the last time they’d gone out.

He’d taken Nathan to the truck stop, where they had ended up eating in his SUV, because poor Nathan couldn’t handle the smell inside even if he wanted the pancakes and chicken and maple sausage really badly.

It had been so much fun, like going to a drive-in.

In fact, pretty much everything he did with Nathan made him incredibly happy.

“Knock-knock,” somebody yelled through the open screen door, and he glanced up to see his friend Kaleb standing outside, grinning at him like a monkey.

“Hey, man, what’s up? Come on in. It’s open.” It wasn’t like he had to worry about anybody out here in the back of beyond to be perfectly honest. And if he did, he was pretty able to take care of himself.

“I brought lunch,” Kaleb said, holding up a bag that smelled like red sauce heaven. “I thought I’d come see if there was anything I could do to help.”

“Charlie kick you out?” he asked with a quick smile.

“Nah, he took the kids to story time at the library, and he was gonna hang out in town and do some work at the hotel. I didn’t really want to sit around and wait down there, so I came out here. I’m dressed for hard work, and I brought David’s.”

“Oh, damn. Did you get me a calzone and half and half salad?”

“I did. I know you well.” Kaleb’s grin widened to something a little evil.

Yeah, he figured Kaleb knew him about as well as anybody did, including his own siblings. The guy had partnered with him several years ago on a capital venture for a snowboard company, and they had hit it off like a house on fire.

“So you’re doing the floors?” Kaleb came in and sat the lunch bag on the workbench Zion had set up so he could cut things and look like he knew what he was doing with the chop saw.

“I am. Mainly it’s sanding and refinishing, but I had to replace one board.”

“It’s looking good, man. I can’t wait to see your hall tree in here. Is it out in the yurt right now?”

“Actually, it’s sitting in the living room if you want to go look at it. So is all the other stuff I got from the Crapitorium, because I had to kind of corral it all in one place while I work on the rooms.”

“I totally want to go see it. I’ll be right back.” Kaleb didn’t stand on ceremony with him, and he was glad. Also, he refused to feel house shame or worry even though Kaleb lived in one of the biggest mansions in western Colorado and had refinished the place to absolute historical perfection.

His own house was going to be more of an amalgamation of his personality and a restoration of the basic bones of the house so that it looked beautiful.

He was going to have one room down in the basement, which he had to finish completely first, that was going to hold his snowboards and his awards and all of the things that probably wouldn’t fit in with the decor anywhere else.

He figured that was one of those someday project, “I can keep everything in storage for a while” things.

Kaleb wandered back into the foyer. “That hall tree really is amazing,” he said.

“I know, right? Carrie knew a sucker when she saw one, there.”

“True that. So…” Kaleb began to unpack their lunch bag. “Charlie tells me you’ve had three dates with Nathan.”

“Wow, this really is a small town. Everybody knows everybody’s business.”

“Yes, but also Charlie and Nathan are getting pretty friendly. I think that he’s going to ask Nathan to come up to dinner at the house soon, which, you know, for Charlie, that pretty well means that he likes Nathan a lot.”

Kaleb had filled him in a little bit on Charlie’s history, and there had been some bad moments for the guy.

Charlie felt like his home was his haven, and it was difficult for him to open up to friends coming over.

Although once a year, Kaleb and Charlie did have a big reception up at the mansion, because why not?

It was a historical part of Secret Springs, and Kaleb and Charlie did like to share it with people once in a while for charity.

“So what about it?” Zion asked. “I like the guy.”

“Well, sure. I mean, that’s obvious if you’ve gone out on those three dates now.” Kaleb waggled his eyebrows while he handed Zion a box with his calzone and another one with his salad. “I just kinda want to know where your head is. It’s probably none of my business, but it’s important.”

“I’m actually glad that Nathan has somebody who’s looking out for him,” Zion said as he grabbed the silverware that Kaleb handed over. “But my first instinct is to tell you to fuck off.”

Kaleb chuckled, opening up his own box which turned out to be maybe spaghetti and meatballs and a slice of pizza. “Yeah, I get that. I mean, nobody wants somebody digging into their love life. The only problem here is that Nathan is pregnant.”

Zion let his eyes go wide. “And there goes the elephant right through the room.”

That had Kaleb laughing again, even as he started twirling up some pasta on this fork. “Yeah. I mean, sure. It’s a weird situation, but it’s important that he not get his hopes up about something when he has so much else on his plate.”

“I don’t know what this is that I have going on with Nathan, man.

I know that I really like him a lot, as in more than I can remember liking anyone who I’ve dated in forever.

I want to see more of him. I want to get to know him.

” He sighed and shook his head. “I can tell you what kind of breakfast cereal he likes already, and that he can’t stand the smell of tuna fish right now, and that he really likes anime movies. ”

“That’s a pretty good run for three dates,” Kaleb said, grinning at him like a possessed pit bull. “I mean, I’m impressed.”

“Are you saying I’ve been shallow before now?” he asked with a laugh, waving his fork around.

“I’m not saying that you’re shallow. I’m just saying that when you’ve been on tour, you really haven’t had time to deep dive into the dating scene.

It’s just a little weird to me that Nathan is the first person you’ve met here in Secret Springs, and you automatically started dating.

” Kaleb paused for a moment, head tilted to the side.

“But then again, it was really immediate for me with Charlie, so maybe I don’t have any room to talk. ”

“I was going say that, but I’m too nice to do it.

” He took a bite of his calzone, moaning at the amazing explosion of flavor—ricotta, pepperoni, lovely peppers and onions.

But it was the crust that was perfect—crunchy on the outside, a little soft on the inside, amazing.

David’s had possibly the best red sauce that he’d ever tasted.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Kaleb sighed a little. “I just want him to be safe and secure and happy.”

“I can’t promise anything, you know that, but I will do my dead level best not to break his heart, if that’s what you mean.” In fact, the thought of letting Nathan down kind of made him queasy.

“Good. Good deal. I just think that he needs to settle into his new life a little bit more and take things slow.”

Zion rolled his eyes. “I am taking things glacially slow. I am taking things slower than I have ever taken them before. We haven’t even kissed yet.”

Now Kaleb’s eyebrows flew up, and he stopped with a meatball halfway to his mouth. “No shit.”

“Absolutely. No shit. I want it, but I don’t want to rush him, so I’ve settled for hugging.” He shrugged and held his hands open. “It was a great hug. He’s really good at it…”

And what he wouldn’t say to Kaleb was that it had made him hard as a rock, and he’d had to end the touching before he wanted to.

He figured that Nathan would feel it against his belly, and he wasn’t sure what the protocol was for having sex with a pregnant man.

Maybe he should ask, but he wasn’t certain he was there yet in his own head, let alone for sharing that with his bestie.

“Wow. Okay, so maybe I don’t need to have this sort of talk with you.”

“No, maybe you don’t. Not that I haven’t had those thoughts.” He’d had those thoughts a lot.

He’d had those thoughts enough that when he was in the shower at night, he took himself in hand and then sometimes he did it again when he was in bed.

“Oh, we all have those thoughts. I just get to take my thoughts and make them reality with Charlie.” Kaleb’s grin went sort of wicked like he was very busy remembering a moment that Zion didn’t need to hear about.

“La la la la la. Not listening. I don’t want to know about your sex life, okay?

I mean, you have two kids so obviously you like doing it.

” Because it was such a hardship—having sex.

Christ. “In fact, Secret Springs seems to be having an explosion of children. Everyone in your friend circle has lots of kids.”

“Hank and Elliot only have the one.” Kaleb winked at him.

“It’s just such a safe place to have them and raise them.

It’s like everybody kind of comes here and settles in and decides to have a family, so beware.

” Kaleb munched on his lunch for a few minutes, then grinned again. “I’m glad you’re here, man.”

Zion chuckled and flicked a piece of pasta from his half and half salad at Kaleb’s chest. “I am too, and I’m also glad you’re here to help me with these damn floors, given how much sanding I have to do…”

“It’s going be amazing, and that hall tree is the perfect thing for that wall right by the stairs.”

“See? I told you. Come on. Let’s see if I can get to work. I know that you don’t have all day, and I might see if Nathan’s free tonight to go have ice cream. And maybe we’ll find something cool in the floor or the walls.” He loved to dig for historical strangeness in an old house.

“You got it, man. Let’s get it on.”