Page 16 of Steadfast

“Amateur,” Cian joked.

“He’s a growing boy, he needs his rest,” I retorted, laughing as I leaned up to look at Ronan. He was belly down in the grass, his head resting on his crossed arms, and sure enough—he was completely passed out.

“You want me to carry him inside?” Richie asked as we got to our feet.

“Do you mind?” I asked with a grimace, glancing up at the sky. “He’s going to burn to a crisp if we leave him out here.” I could already feel the skin on my own shoulders tightening, the first warning of a sunburn.

“No problem.”

I led them upstairs, giggling as Richie maneuvered Ronan’s limp body through the bedroom door. My baby brother always had a hell of a time falling asleep, but once he was out, there was no waking him.

“Just drop him on the bed.” I gestured toward the bottom bunk. “He’ll sleep without a blanket tonight anyway, so it doesn’t matter if he gets it wet.”

“I can’t believe their beds are made,” Richie joked, putting Ronan in his bed. “I’m impressed.”

“That’s my work,” I informed him as we left the room. “I’ve been making them every morning in case the social worker showed up. The boys are slobs, as you can tell by the rest of their room.”

“You gonna go out with me tonight?” Richie asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as he herded me toward my bedroom.

“I don’t know,” I replied with a hum. “I might need to wash my hair.”

“Nah, it already got a good rinse from the hose.”

I laughed. “Where do you want to go?”

“Movie?”

“Boring.”

“Dinner?”

“That sounds good.”

“Picnic in the back of my truck?” he persisted, closing us into the room so he could press me against the door. “We can grab tacos from that truck you like and drive out to the viewpoint.”

“That soundsreallygood,” I murmured, leaning up on my toes.

“I thought you might like that.”

“I have good memories of that viewpoint,” I said against his mouth as his fingers tangled in my hair.

“Me too,” he whispered into my mouth.

It wasn’t going anywhere, it couldn’t with the kids roaming around the house, but just like every time before, the moment Richie’s lips touched mine, my mind emptied, and my entire body lit up like the Fourth of July. After a year of having sex in every position we could think of, he could still make me feel like it was the first time we’d touched. I didn’t know if it was chemistry or compatibility or the fact that I loved him, but I couldn’t imagine ever losing the urge to strip down naked and climb him like a tree.

“No more water fights when I’m here,” he panted, his lips finding my neck as he tweaked my nipple with his fingertips.

“Why?” I gasped, leaning into the knee he’d pressed between my legs.

“Because your shirt is fucking see-through, and I had to force myself not to stare at your tits, or I’d have been sporting a hard-on for the last hour,” he ground out, making me giggle.

“Well, that would’ve been extremely awkward.”

“Pretty sure Cian would’ve cut it off,” he muttered.

He was probably right. It was one thing for Cian to know that we were probably getting down—he was old enough to know it happened and knew how long Richie and I had been together, it would’ve been weirder if we hadn’t yet—but it was something else entirely for him to get a visual confirmation of any kind.

“We should probably stop,” I whispered, my rolling hips belying my words.

---