While We Waited (The Reed Brothers #8) (21 page)

His eyes fill up with tears and mine do the same. “You can stop now,” I tease. I wipe my eyes with my sleeve.

He shakes his head. He’s not finished yet, apparently. “So while the daddy bird loved and trusted Finny, he always wanted a little more for her. He wanted her to have a nest of her own, but in order for that to happen, she would have to find another bird who would keep her safe from falling.”

“The daddy bird kept her from falling,” I correct.

“But the daddy bird knew he wasn’t quite enough. She needed her own family, and her own birdie to love, and she needed someone to make her feel safe forever.” He slams his hand down on the coffee table. “
Bam!
” he cries.

Benji and I both jump. “Damn it, I hate it when you do that,” I mumble.

“Bam,” he says again, a little more softly. “She runs into a certain boy birdie, and this boy birdie knocks her directly out of the sky. But just as she’s tumbling to a tragic death, he reaches out to catch her and he keeps her from falling. But Finny…well, she’s slow to trust, so it took some time.”

“Melio,” I mutter.

“Finny is smart and loyal and kind and loving, and she’s all the things a daddy bird could ever want in a baby bird. And I’m damn happy you found Tag, Finny, because that boy loves you and you need him.” He nods toward Benji in my arms. “And you’ll make one hell of a mother.” He looks at Benji. “You’d do anything to keep that little guy from falling.”

A hot tear slides down my cheek. “You think I can do it?”

He nods. “I
know
you can. And so do you. So get off your ass and get it done.”

I snort out a laugh and sniffle back a tear. “You suck so bad, Melio.”

He holds out his arms. “Here, give me that little one so you can go back and fall in love some more.”

I shake my head. “I think I’ll take him with me, if that’s okay with you.” I look up at him and I see pride in his eyes.

“If you think that’s best,” he says.

“Hey, Melio?”

“Yes, Finny?”

“Did you love me less because I wasn’t yours?”

He shakes his head quickly and barks out a laugh. “You were mine from the minute I laid eyes on you, dummy.” He gets up and kisses the top of my head. “I’m going to bed before the other rugrat wakes up.”

I laugh. “Thanks, Melio,” I say. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Finny.”

I get Benji’s bag and take him and his things with me down the hallway, and let myself into the room.

Tag stirs and looks over. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I say. “I wanted to get Benji and bring him in here. You don’t mind, do you?”

He smiles into his pillow. “Mind? I love it.”

He gets up and helps me set up a portable crib for him, and we slide it into the open walk-in closet space. I pull the door almost closed so I’ll still be able to hear him, and I can almost see him. He’ll sleep for a couple of hours now, I think.

“Thank you for going and getting him,” Tag says. He surprises me when he pulls my pajama top over my head and shoves my pajama pants down to my ankles. I step out of them.

“I’m guessing you want me naked, huh?”

He grins and pulls me back to bed with him, spooning us together again. I feel him pressed hard against my backside, and he nudges and slips inside me.

“We have a baby very close by,” I remind him. But I’m already arching, trying to take him deeper.

“There won’t be a time when there’s
not
a baby very close by, Finny,” he informs me. He shoves the covers down and rubs a circle right in the center of my ass cheek. Then he lifts his hand and slaps me.

“Did you seriously just
hit
me?”

“Yep.”

I laugh. “You got some balls,” I whisper.

“Almost as big as yours,” he replies. “I love you, Finny.” He pulls out of me and rolls me to my back. He slides inside me, pressing so deep that he pushes me forward in the bed.

“I love you too,” I say on a moan, because he feels just right inside me.

Sated, we’re still sticky with sweat when we hear Benji wake up. He starts to fuss, so Tag gets up and brings him to bed to lie between us for a while. I play with his feet and he kicks his little toes. “He’s so perfect,” I breathe.

“So are you,” Tag says.

He leans over Benji and kisses me, and nothing ever felt quite so right.

Epilogue

Tag

Finny jumps into her jeans, tugging them by the waistband as she hops into them. “If you don’t get moving, I’m going without you,” she warns. She glares at me, but her eyes are still hot from what we were just doing. She tips her wrist to look down at her watch. “I told Lark I’d be there five minutes ago.”

I prop my head up in my palm and look at her. “Tell me again why we’re going to the tattoo shop?”

“Because I’m going to have ‘Tag is a horny asshole’ tattooed on my ass,” she tosses back. She rolls her eyes and shoves my arm so that my head falls. “Get up!” she barks.

I really can’t help that I’m making her late. It’s not often that we have someone watching Benji during the day. We both had the day off today, so Marta volunteered to watch Benji for us. Then one thing led to another, and we ended up in bed the whole morning. She just remembered she promised to go with Lark to the tattoo shop.

I grin at her, but I get up to start getting dressed. “Did you tell me why we’re going? Or did I miss that part when you were stripping my clothes off?”

She shakes her head. “I didn’t tell you. It’s not my secret to tell. It’s Lark’s.”

Okay, now I’m really curious. “But–”

She points her cute little finger at me. “If you’re not dressed in two minutes, I’m kicking you in the nuts.”

I laugh, but now I know she’s serious, so I finish getting dressed and brush my teeth and hair. I try to tame my cowlick, but Finny doesn’t seem to mind it. I vaguely remember her holding on tightly to that lock of hair this morning while I ate her out. She has a thing for pulling my hair. I don’t mind, because I have a thing for smacking her ass.

She also has a thing for loving me, and I don’t mind that either.

I don’t know where I’d be right now if I hadn’t met her. I was pretty lost when I came to town a few months ago, and I fell right into her bed, and she fell into my heart and into my mind. She burrowed right down in my soul and I don’t want to ever let her up for air.

Last night, I woke up to find her side of the bed empty. I went to look for her to be sure she was okay, and I found her standing beside Benji’s crib, watching him sleep. She had her hand on his back and she was counting the number of times his chest went up and down.

I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her. She leaned into me the way she always does, and rested the back of her head on my chest. “This is what falling feels like,” she said to me. Then she turned in my arms and kissed me, and I agreed with her. It’s like falling over and over, every single day.

For Finny, falling has turned into a good memory, and we make a new one each day. Every time I see her, I fall over and over. If anyone had told me I’d choose to fall on purpose, I’d have called him crazy.

Finny has become a mother to my son. She’s agreed to be my wife, although we still haven’t set a date yet. She’s my everything. With her and Benji, I can do anything.

I’ve been working for the Reeds managing their apartment building, and we moved into an apartment there a couple of months ago. We have our own space, and we love having other people with kids nearby. There’s always one or another of the Reeds around, or their offspring, or their wives. Life around here isn’t boring, that’s for sure.

I walk into the living room, and find Finny standing with the front door open and she’s waving me forward. “Your nuts are in so much trouble,” she mutters at me as I walk by her.

I grab her and pull her against me. “You know you wouldn’t do anything to hurt me,” I say. I kiss her and she melts against me.

Her hand inches down to my waistband, and then I feel her grab my balls. I freeze. She squeezes a little too hard for comfort. “Finny,” I warn.

“I do love you, but I hate to be late,” she says, her lips still touching mine. Her grip turns to a caress, and I pull back as soon as she sets me free. One, because I’m getting hard again. And two, because she’s in a mood.

She turns to walk in front of me, so I slap her ass hard enough to make her yelp. “Teach you to fake harming my family jewels,” I mutter at her. I adjust my junk and get in the elevator with her. She glares at me from the opposite wall, but there’s a smile behind her eyes. And heat. And love. Always love.

“Did you talk to Julia last night?” she asks as we step out onto the street.

I nod. “I did.”

“And?”

“And what?” I jam my hands into my pockets.

“And you had better tell me what she had to say,” she snaps at me.

I grin. “She said she’s coming over this weekend. She wants to take him to the park.”

Julia called us when Benji was about two months old. She wanted to see him, and I was completely against it. But Finny talked to her, and she felt like Julia was sincere in her desire to be a part of Benji’s life. She doesn’t want custody, and she doesn’t want to even take him for a night here and there, but she does want to see photos and she wants to visit him whenever we’ll allow her to. This weekend, she’s going to take him to the park for a few hours.

Finny rubs my arm. “He’ll be fine,” she says. “Kids need their parents’ love.” She looks sad all of a sudden. “Trust me.”

She hasn’t seen her own mother in a month. Every time she visited, the violence escalated. It wasn’t just against her; it was against everyone. They’re trying new meds, and it’s helping somewhat, but Finny isn’t going back until she can do so safely. Or at least I hope she’s not. I’d love for her mother to get better, just for Finny’s sake, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen.

Finny did decide to go to counseling, though, and she’s dealing with the memories of her mother, and the future with her mother, the best way she knows how.

Lark is standing on the sidewalk glaring at us when we come around the corner. “You’re late,” she says.

Finny jerks a thumb in my direction. “Blame Tag. He’s insatiable.”

“Eww,” Lark says and then fakes some hurling.

I laugh and open the door for them.

We step into the tattoo shop, and Lark runs straight into the new tattoo artist. He catches her by the shoulders and steadies her, and silently asks with his eyes if she’s okay. His brows arch and she nods. He lets her go and she adjusts her clothes. Her face is bright red.

Finny’s eyes meet mine and she grins.

The new artist’s name is Ryan Shepherd, and I met him two weeks ago when they had a “welcome to the Reed Brothers” party. Ryan is an artist from NYU, and he went to school with Logan. He’s really good at what he does, which is putting permanent art on people’s bodies. He’s also profoundly deaf. Finny and all her sisters can sign, so they can talk freely with him, but me…not so much. I’m set up to take a class starting next week. It’s hell being the only one in a family who can’t speak the language.

Paul Reed walks out of the back of the shop, along with his wife Friday. “Look who’s here,” Friday says. She looks at us and then at Lark. “What can we do for you?”

Lark plays with a loose string on her long gloves. “I want to get a tattoo,” Lark says. She looks down at her feet instead of at them.

“Did you have something in mind?” Friday asks.

Lark leans over, cups her hand around her mouth and speaks in Friday’s ear. And damn if the curiosity isn’t killing me.

Friday’s eyes skitter briefly toward Lark’s gloves and then she winces. “Oh, I’m afraid I can’t do that. That kind of application is an art all by itself.” She looks at Ryan. “Ryan can, though.” She waves her hands around until he looks at her. “Lark wants to consult with you about a tattoo,” she says, talking and signing to him at the same time.

He signs something back.

“Why you?” she repeats. “Because you’re fucking awesome at what she wants.”

His eyes rake down Lark’s body from head to toe, and I see sweat sheen her forehead.

“Maybe we should come back another time,” I murmur to Finny.

Finny glares at me. “Do you know how much courage it’s taking for her to do this?” she hisses at me. “Shut it.” She draws a hand across her throat like she’s cutting her neck. I’m pretty sure she meant that for me.

Ryan signs something.

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Friday tells him. She points to Lark. “Ask her.”

He throws up his hands.

Friday picks his hands up and holds them in front of him like she’s getting him ready. “Talk to her. She might even talk back.”

He signs something really quickly.

Friday rolls her eyes. “Yes, she can sign, dumbass.”

He signs something at Lark and she smiles softly at him. He mouths it at the same time, and I’m guessing he asks if she signs too.