Page 83 of Saving You

“Oh,” he said aloud, then swallowed thickly. He wasn’t wearing his CIs. ‘How long was I asleep?’

Ridge shot him a half smile. ‘I don’t know. When did you get here?’

Oz blinked, then grabbed his brand-new phone from where it was sitting beside him. ‘Two hours.’

‘Baby,’ Ridge signed, sinking all the way down to his knees. ‘Why didn’t you go inside?’

‘I forgot the code to the door.’

Ridge shook his head. ‘Text? FaceTime?’

‘You were out with your friends. I didn’t want to disrupt that. I knew if I asked you for the code, you’d just come home.’

Ridge wanted to argue because he had needed time with everyone, but Oz was telling the truth. Ridge wouldn’t have hesitated for a second to get in his car, grab Ina, and go to meet him before he could make even a partial dent in the couch.

He sighed, then stood up and held his hands out, letting Oz use them to climb to his feet. Reaching past, he punched in the code slowly so Oz could see, then gestured for him to go in. ‘I’m going to get Ina. She’s out.’

Oz nodded, then turned as Ridge headed to the car for his sleeping daughter. She barely stirred, breathing wetly into his neck, smelling like dirt and cookies. She needed a bath, but there was no way in hell he was going to wake her for that.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Oz flopping onto the couch, so he hurried into Ina’s room and got her settled in the bed. She shifted a tiny bit when he pulled off her shoes, and then she nestled into her sea of stuffed animals and went back to her tiny little snores.

He watched for a beat, heart warm and happy as she dozed. She was half his heart. The other half was waiting for him in the living room. He took one more last look at her, then closed the door nearly all the way before turning and making his way to the living room.

Oz wasn’t there. Ridge’s heart picked up a few extra beats. Did he panic and run? He peeked in the kitchen, but no sign of him. He swore he hadn’t heard Oz walk past him to thebedroom, but he made his way there just to check, and it was instant relief to find him lounging on the bed in what had become his spot.

‘Hi,’ Ridge signed when Oz looked up.

‘Sorry. I forgot my CIs.’

Ridge frowned. ‘Do you need them?’

‘No, but I know it’s easier to talk sometimes,’ Oz said with a shrug.

‘Not for you.’ Ridge walked closer and pressed one knee to the bed, cupping his boyfriend’s jaw, urging him to look up. ‘And not for me. You know this is an ASL-first home, sweetheart. That will always be true.’

Oz swallowed heavily. ‘They came to my house. Darcy was with them.’

Ridge felt a sort of white-hot rage racing up his spine. ‘What happened?’

‘Nothing,’ Oz signed, then laughed. ‘Darcy apologized. She used really, really bad Signed English. She probably looked all the signs up last night. My mom was furious, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. My sister grabbed my CI case off the coffee table and tried to force me to put them on. I took it and threw it across the room.’

‘What the fuck,’ Ridge demanded. He sank down beside his lover. ‘Did you throw them out?’

‘Darcy got them to leave before I did. She looked sorry. She looked very sorry. Maybe what you said to her helped.’

Ridge didn’t want to take credit for that. He needed to believe that she woke up and realized that Oz was a fully functional, capable, gorgeous, ridiculously intelligent man who she let slip through her fingers because of the bullshit ableism she’d been spoon-fed her whole life.

‘If she’s really sorry, do you think you and her?—’

Oz closed his hands around Ridge’s, stopping his signs. He shook his head, then leaned in. “You’re it for me. You’re my person.”

Ridge felt those words hit him in the center of his chest. ‘Yeah?’

‘My person,’ Oz signed. ‘I want you inside me.’

Ridge’s entire body went hot. ‘Sex?’

Oz laughed. ‘Yes. Please. If you want.’

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