Page 57 of Small-Town Secrets

Tyler cuddled up by my side, sandwiched between me and Aaron. "Maybe I can sleep," he announced.

I ruffled his hair as a surge of affection for my little man came over me. "Close your eyes then."

"Okay. Goodnight, Daddy."

"Goodnight, cuddle bug. I love you."

"I love you too."

I kissed my son's forehead as I felt him relax against me, my fingers carding through his hair. After a moment I glanced at Aaron. Did he really not mind that I'd invited Tyler into his bed? In the dark, I couldn't make out his facial expression. He didn't say anything, though, aside from 'Goodnight, you two.'

So it was probably okay.

Could life really be this easy?

* * *

Iwas woken again onlya few hours later, this time by my other son. Outside the window, the sun was starting to creep over the horizon, casting the bedroom into a soft glow as I blinked one sleepy eye open at my child.

"Why is everyone here?" Chris asked with a pout.

I yawned. "Do you want to join? Are you feeling better?"

"I'm okay." Chris glanced at the bed, skepticism etched into his young features. I suppressed a sigh, knowing I wouldn't be able to distract him from the topic of my being in Aaron's bed as easily as his brother. My firstborn was like a dog with a bone. "Why are you here?" he asked again.

"The couch isn't very comfortable so Aaron was nice enough to let me sleep here," I tried.

Chris tilted his head at me, puzzling over whether or not this was an acceptable response. "Why is Ty here?"

"He had a bad dream."

"Ty is a baby."

An amused sound escaped me. "You're both my babies."

Next to me, Aaron roused while Tyler was still dead to the world, lying on his back between us with his arms flung over the both of us. Aaron stretched and looked at Chris. "Good morning."

Chris only looked at him.

"You want to crawl under the sheets with us?" Aaron offered.

"No." Chris turned away from us. "I want breakfast." And with that, he left the room, rubbing his nose.

I exchanged glances with Aaron.

"I'm gonna have to get a bigger bed," he muttered.

I nearly laughed at that, but I was too worried about my kid. "I'm gonna go look after Chris," I said, climbing out of the bed.

Chris obviously wasn't liking the recent developments and the way I knew him, he wasn't going to let it go easily. And if he was this opposed to my dating Aaron, I had no idea how he was going to react to the news of his biological relationship with the man when we had to tell the kids eventually. I knew I couldn't wait forever to come clean with my children.

But I kind of wished I could.

26

Aaron

“You gotta spendsome time with the boys, one on one. Or one on two for now, I guess."