Page 30 of Cedarwood Manny

“You’re Kyle’s father.” His heart broke for Adrien and Kyle. He wasn’t good with relationships ending and tended to be the one to hold on longer than he should’ve, but he’d never been nasty. Gerry seemed to excel at cruelty.

“I’m clueless when it comes to being a parent.”

“No.” Nathan pinched Adrien’s nipple. He’d break Adrien of that habit one way or another. “I’m not letting you fall into that trap. You have a smart little boy who loves you. You’re here, which is huge, and you’re learning. Everyone makes mistakes and sometimes we need those slip-ups to learn how to fix the problems. You do more than you realize with Kyle. Maybe you just needed the right teacher to come along to help you figure things out.” He’d work hard to prove his point to Adrien.

“True.” Adrien brushed his nose along Nathan’s. “Teach me.” He kissed Nathan.

“I know it would be weird for Kyle if you moved up here tonight, but spend time with me in here. Yes, parenting is hard and messy and we screw up, but it’s…when you see your son asleep and angelic, there’s nothing like it.” Kyle wasn’t even his son, but he was awestruck at the sight.

“Agreed.” Adrien twined his legs with Nathan’s. “I guess we’re kind of partners, aren’t we?” He raked his fingers over Nathan’s chest. “Working together for the common goal of raising Kyle to be a good human being.”

“More than kind of.” He could let Adrien caress him forever. The gesture was hot and sweet. He sighed. “Stay tonight.”I need you.

“What if Kyle finds us together?”

Well, shit.He’d thought of that, but ignored the danger. “What about it? We won’t be naked all the time.”Not every time.“Didn’t you sleep with Gerry?”They must’ve at one point.

“Kyle wasn’t old enough to catch us in bed together. Gerry left before Kyle turned two and we weren’t sleeping in the same room for a year before that.”

Jesus.He hadn’t realized just how much of a number Gerry had done on Adrien. The man was an asshole. How could someone be so hurtful and mean? Part of him wondered where things had gone wrong. “It’ll be okay. Kyle knows he has two dads.”And me.“This won’t be a huge shock if you’re honest with him and speak to him on his level. Give him credit.” He should give them credit, too. He and Adrien could control themselves.

“Will do.” Adrien kissed him again and snuggled up to Nathan. “I’m glad you were available and met me at the coffee shop.”

“I’m only sorry you spilled the coffee on me—because it was hot and uncomfortable,” Nathan said. “But I don’t regret it.” He paused. “Why did Gerry leave? What happened?”

“Are you sure you want to know?” Adrien’s brow crinkled. “It’s not that exciting.”

“Yes.” He needed to understand Adrien and the dynamics between him and his ex.

“We got together on a blind date. He was directed to me and I was at Club Gray because the guy who was supposed to show up didn’t. We danced, drank and laughed. By two in the morning, we’d gone home together. We were a couple from then on,” Adrien said. “But he had a jealous streak and needed to be number one at all times. I didn’t mind him being on the pedestal because I was getting my footing at the practice. The only reason we got married is because he pushed. He said we needed to be married. If we weren’t then we weren’t a real couple.”

“So you did it to shut him up?” Nathan asked. He couldn’t believe what he’d heard. “That’s nuts.”

“Agreed.”

“But you loved him.” He hated the streak of jealousy building within him. He wanted Adrien to love him, not Gerry. The ex had never deserved Adrien.

“I did, but it wasn’t the knock-you-down, head-over-heels kind. I didn’t think I’d do better.” Adrien put a bit of space between them. “I’m not exactly hot.”

“Who says?”

“Most all of the guys I’ve ever dated. They’ve told me I’m plain.”

“They lied.”

“I’ve never understood fashion, I only have a nice car because it had the best crash-test rating, the girl who cuts my hair makes me look professional or on-point—whatever that is—and I don’t like popular music. I’m more of a jazz kind of guy. That all made me odd and old to other men.”

“I’d say it makes you unique.”

“Lovely.” Adrien closed his eyes. “That tends to be a death-knell.”

“That wasn’t an insult.” He grasped Adrien’s hand and kissed his knuckles. “You deserve love that overwhelms you.”

“One day.”

I’m right here.Maybe he wasn’t good at expressing himself to Adrien and was almost ten years younger than him, but he was crazy for the dentist. “It’ll happen.”

“Well, it didn’t with Gerry. He had a wandering eye. He started cheating on me after we’d been together for two years. I wasn’t exciting enough, he claimed later.” Adrien snorted. “He wanted a younger man. He must’ve cheated on me a dozen times. I only caught on after Kyle was born because the guy showed up at the hospital demanding to see his boyfriend and the boyfriend’s son. Imagine my shock. I’ve got a son, but my husband is cheating on me. Gerry didn’t have the balls to tell me the truth—he let the boyfriend do it.”

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