Page 187 of Pretty ’n Peak

“Of course, baby boy. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Moving into their new apartment was exactly as chaotic as Teo expected it to be.

Not because of the furniture and belongings—Austin owned almost nothing, and Teo was leaving most of his furniture in the old apartment for whoever wanted it next.

It was the thirty family members who had all descended, making it into a raucous party.

There were trays of food that his mother had brought up on their brand new dining room table, and children’s squeals from the backyard. It was a tiny little space, more of a patio with some grass around it, but they had exclusive use as the first floor tenants. Austin kept calling it a garden and asking what Teo wanted to plant. How could he say no to that?

Teo had always imagined that he’d end up living in a big house near his family with plenty of space for kids to grow… but a four-bedroom apartment in Portland that let Austin walk to the Cuffd office instead of taking a car or having Teo drive him was pretty good, too.

They had a bedroom, a small office for Austin to work from home, a room for Teo to keep his painting stuff (which he refused to call an art studio), and an extra room that they’d quietly whispered about putting a baby in. Or an older kid. Maybe a queer teen looking for a family of their own.

It was far too soon for that in their lives… but they had the space.

And at the moment, it was all chaos.

“Hey, where do you want these?” Diego came through the door holding a stack of three cardboard boxes sealed with red duct tape.

Teo’s heart raced, but he kept his cool. “Bedroom closet. Don’t unpack it.”

“Ah, must be all the sex toys.”

Teo’s face was burning up. He rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” The bottom two were Austin’s collection of Dom gear, and the top held some of his lingerie.

“¡Dios mío! It is! How many boxes do you guys have?”

“What is it?” Maria José poked her head around the corner.

“We found his naughty toy stash.”

“Ooh!” she rushed over. “What’s inside? I knew you two had to be up to something.”

“No. Nope. We are not having this conversation. Go back to dusting. Diego, don’t open anything with the red tape.”

Why couldn’t the floor just swallow him now?

Diego walked off, laughing.

Maria José put an arm around his shoulder. “Come on, please tell me? I knew it when I saw that bed.”

They’d ordered a new king-sized bed that was delivered a few days ago. It was from a custom-designed place that was literally called Dungeon Beds. There were options to include a cage underneath that they didn’t select, but Austin had insisted on the overhead bars for suspension rigging.

Teo had thought that the style—a sort of pop-art design of connected black matte metal circles in different sizes for the head and foot boards—would hide its true purpose. It seemed to fit well with Austin’s minimalist style for his other furniture.

“Who ties who up?” Maria José asked.

God. At least she hadn’t figured that part out yet.

“Go away.” He pushed her back toward the office, where she was supposed to be wiping down the closets.

This was why he was never, never letting his family know about his artist name—though he’d ended up selling some much more family-friendly paintings through another dealer with his full name.

He ducked into the kitchen, which was just as busy, but at least didn’t have a nosy baby sister. Austin was giving directions about the dishes to Teo’s mother and Ian’s wife, Lula.

“You need more plates,” his mother scolded.

“Oh? How many do we need?” Austin sounded sincere, but Teo could hear the humor underneath. He called Austin’s family Hurricane Delgado.