Page 95 of Exposed

“Tanner was actually going to stop by here for lunch in about an hour,” Matt said. “How about I order some extra food and you two join us at the office?”

“Yessie,” Jacob said.

“If you’re sure that’s okay?” I asked.

“Of course it’s okay, Brooklyn. I’ll see you both in an hour.”

“We’ll come now,” Jacob said.

I just stared at him.

“Even better,” Matt said. “Love you.”

There was an awkward silence. I knew he was saying that to me. We hadn’t gotten a chance to tell Jacob about our relationship yet. So it was an awkward slip. But…maybe he hadn’t said it to me. Maybe Matt had said it to Jacob. And something about that made my chest feel all warm and fuzzy. But he probably hadn’t meant to… It probably just slipped out by mistake. I opened my mouth to try to ease the awkward silence, but Jacob cut me off.

“Love you too, Coach.” Jacob hit the end call button. He looked up at me. “Do I have to wear clothes?”

I laughed, even though all I wanted to do was pepper his face in kisses. He loved Matt. And that meant everything to me. “Yes, you do have to wear clothes. Matt works in a very fancy office building.”

“With clothes?”

“Yes, with clothes.” I put the last batch of brownies in to cook while we got ready. “Why did you tell him we needed him?”

“Because you looked sad. And he makes you happy.”

Sweet boy.I pulled him off the counter. “You make me happy.” I carried him up the stairs to his bedroom.

“But Coach makes you happy like Daddy makes you happy.”

I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant by that. And now I was a little worried he’d overheard Matt and me last night.

“I think Daddy would have really liked Coach.”

I was absolutely positive that was not true. But Miller did understand that Matt could make me happy again. He knew it better than I had. “And do you like Matt?” I asked.

“Yessie.”

I set him down on his bed and opened up one of his drawers. There was no way any of these clothes were going to stay on. But I pulled out a shirt and a pair of pants anyway. I turned back toward Jacob. He was smiling up at me. And this seemed like just as good of a time as any to talk about Matt moving in.

I sat down next to him on the bed. “How would you feel if Matt moved in here with us?”

Jacob shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s not an answer.” He’d just insisted that Matt needed to come home to hang out with us. And he’d told Matt that he loved him. I kind of thought Jacob would be excited about this.

Jacob just shrugged again and grabbed his shirt.

“Do you not want him to move in? You know you can tell me anything.”

“I want him to.” He looked down at his shirt. “But only if he promises to never leave like Daddy.”

God, the knife in my chest.“Hey, remember, what I told you?” I grabbed his hand. “Daddy didn’t leave. He didn’t leave us.”

“But can Coach stay forever?”

I hope so.I nodded.

Jacob smiled. “Okay. But I don’t want to share my room. You’ll have to share yours.”

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