Page 63 of Saving You

RIDGE

“There’s my baby!”Adele’s voice matched his signs—big and boisterous. He swept in and took a giggling Ina from Ridge’s arms, showering her with kisses. She laughed hard and kicked her feet before snuggling up against his shoulder.

She was still morning-sleepy from when Ridge eased her out of her bed and got her ready for her pre-K program. And normally, when he had a day off, he hated letting her go. He wanted to spend as much of his free time with her as possible. But today was the only day he would be grateful for those six hours he was going to get with Oz.

He’d intended on talking to him the night before, but after Oz called out sick from work and organized a sub, neither of them had the energy. It was obvious Oz had a thousand questions. They were all burning behind his bright eyes. But instead of asking, he simply laid his head against Ridge’s chest, and against all odds, the two of them got some sleep.

Ridge was up before him, his internal clock getting him up before his alarm in spite of the fact that he was wrecked. He slid from the bed without waking the other man, left him a note on the nightstand, sent him a text for good measure, then headed out to grab Ina before she woke up.

Grady was knocked out in the guest bedroom, so Ridge carefully led Ina into the kitchen to get ready, then swept her out of the house before she could really ramp up. There was nothing wrong with a little McDonald’s breakfast from time to time, was there? And it kept her from waking Grady with her inability to understand how loud she was being.

He felt good about that but terrible about the way he’d bailed on his job. And since they were half an hour early, he decided to swing by the station right before Adele was off his shift.

“Oh my God, my bestie!” cried another voice from across the room.

Ridge was only half-surprised to see Gage walking in. He was freshly showered and bright-eyed, which was a nice change from the funk he’d been in over the last several weeks. He’d just started at the station after Adele pulled some strings, and while Ridge normally hated nepotism, he loved Gage enough to be happy he was there.

Ina squealed loudly and wriggled out of Adele’s arms, rushing into Gage’s.

“If he’s not a dad someday,” Adele murmured, leaning close, “he’s wasting all that superpower.”

“Maybe he’ll be the fun uncle,” Ridge suggested.

Adele took a deep breath, then said, “That would crush him.”

He sounded so sure, and Ridge couldn’t help but wonder if maybe kids were part of the reason he and his ex had split. But it wasn’t his business, and he didn’t have room for that right now. He smiled at Gage and gave him a wink before he took Ina over to play in the cab of the truck, and then Ridge turned back to his boss.

“So.”

“Grady alright?” Adele asked.

Ridge rolled his eyes up toward the sky and let out a heaving sigh. “He will be. Shit’s messy as fuck though, dude.”

“And Oz?”

God, it was like the man had freaking ESP. “How’d you guess?”

“Because you’re in love with him, and Grady’s his brother-in-law.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. And it was one of the reasons Ridge liked him so much as both a boss and a friend. “We spent the night together last night.”

Adele let out a low whistle. “I hope a good night.”

“It went from great to terrible to…I’m not sure yet,” Ridge confessed. “I told him how I feel about him.”

“Holy shit, dude.”

Ridge laughed, palming his face. “Yeah.”

“Tell me it went well,” Adele said, worry coloring his voice. “I know that dude’s head over heels for you.”

Ridge peered between his fingers before dropping his hands. “What makes you say that?”

“Because he spent all this time avoiding you like the plague but also staring at you every chance he could get,” Adele said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You know, pigtail-pulling bullshit without being gross and violent.”

“I…oh.” Oh my God, how had he not realized? Well, probably because he wasn’t used to people avoiding him when they wanted to get in his pants. But Oz wasn’t like everyone else, which was one of the reasons Ridge was so into him.

“Hopeless, both of you,” Adele said. He set his hand on Ridge’s shoulder. “How did it go?”

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