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“Yeah,” Colleen said, smiling beneath his new kiss, snuggling deeper into his hold as the weight on her shoulders lifted, and she slipped into a nap wrapped in his arms, her baby boy wrapped in hers.
Chapter 8
Colleen glanced up as Avery pulled through a gate and into a courtyard, wondering where exactly they were. She thought they were going out to eat with Tommy. It would be their third outing with the three of them since he’d babysat for her two weeks ago, and there was no denying that Tommy was attached. He loved Avery as much as she did—even if she was still keeping that to herself.
Avery turned off the car, and her brow lifted when she saw they’d only been driving for fifteen minutes.
“What are you doing?” she asked him, glancing back at Tommy as he let out a happy shout of ‘out’ making her grin.
“Trust me, baby,” he said, dropping a quick kiss onto her lips before he slid out of the car, opening the back door for Tommy, and her little boy slid right into his arms as she started to open her own door. Avery reached her with Tommy held high in one arm, guiding her up the rest of the way. “I’m going to have to start getting him out on your side, so you don’t do my job for me.”
She laughed softly, shaking her head at him a bit as he moved her up to the giant double doors, her breath catching a bit when they opened instantly at his touch, showing off an entryway that put even their house in Philly to shame. “Avery…”
“Kitchen is this way,” he said, smiling down at her and her brow lifted a bit more. “What? I know you, baby. You couldn’t care less what the house looked like, if the kitchen isn’t workable, it’d be an instant no.”
“What are you talking…Avery!” she gasped as he moved them into the most gorgeous kitchen ever. It was her dream kitchen, so far beyond being just workable she didn’t know what to say.
“I think that means Mama likes it,” Avery said, laughing as Tommy let out a loud ‘yay’ pulling her attention back around to them.
“Avery, what’s going on?” she asked, her stomach fluttering wildly with wonder and hope. She’d definitely fallen for him all over again, even deeper seeing him with Tommy, and she couldn’t begin to not want this to mean more.
“You hate the penthouse,” he said, moving over to reach her, his hand sliding back behind her head, his thumb softly brushing against her cheek. “I was fine with it, with the starkness of it until I found you back. Now, I can’t stand the place, can’t even imagine raising Tommy there. He needs somewhere where he can run around without having neighbors being…rude,” he finished, his smile saying he was watching his language because Tommy picked up new words very easily—as she unfortunately discovered when his preschool teacher let her know he’d dropped a ‘shit’ bomb when he literally dropped his milk.
She’d asked Avery about it because she and Meredith did their best to keep things clean at home, and also at the bakery because you never knew where little ears were. He’d sheepishly said he probably heard it from him, and promised he’d do better.
“I know you could take him to the park, but I’ll admit, the thought of you going somewhere alone with him terrifies me, because I can’t control who might be there or on the street from the penthouse to the park. So, I called the real estate agent, told them what I wanted, asking to stay closer to your current neighborhood because I know you like it. It’s easy for you to get Tommy to school and daycare. Easy to get to the bakery from there, and he found this place last month. I bought it for us, for us to start over, be a family entirely, before you even asked me to look after our guy, because I wasn’t going to let you slip away from me. I wanted you to see that I’m in this, Colleen. You and Tommy are my priorities. I’m all in, always,” he said, making her drag in a deep breath to calm herself. “So now that you’ve seen the kitchen, can I show you the rest of the house?”
“Yeah,” she agreed, settling into his side and when they reached the front room, her heart raced seeing the furniture there.
“If you don’t like it or want it all to be new, we can change it out,” Avery said following her gaze to the couch. The couch where he’d made love to her too many times to count while they were married.
“No, I love it,” she assured him, reaching up for a quick kiss, and her heart grew even happier as they moved through the house, taking in everything there, as well as the multitude of empty rooms in the giant place.
Her breath stalled when she saw their bed in the main bedroom, and heat flowed through her body as memories of them in it engulfed her. Avery’s hand slid onto her stomach, his front pressing against her back, and his hardness told her she wasn’t the only one recalling the sweet nights spent in it.
“One more room for you to check out,” Avery whispered into her ear, his lips sweeping little kisses against her temple before he turned them, moving down a couple doors. “I know you’d want him close still, so I thought this one would be good for Tommy. If you want another baby, I figured the one just across from ours would work best for a nursery. There are plenty of other bedrooms as well if you’d rather adopt. As long as I have you and Tommy here, I don’t mind.”
Her jaw dropped when Avery pushed open the door, and Tommy’s little shout of excitement completely stopped any of the worries that this was too fast. The room was everything her son loved most combined in a way that didn’t seem crazy.
“Did you…” She turned to face Avery as he let Tommy move into the space, her heart panging as he picked up the stuffed dog sitting on the toddler bed first, before he rushed over to look at the Pokémon characters on the shelf. Loving the way that it looked like they were hiding from the superheroes coming from the other wall.
“Don’t tell me I’m spoiling him, I had just as much fun picking things out as he is now, baby,” Avery said, sliding his arms around her, pulling her up against him.
“He loves Pokémon and Marvel…Spiderman’s his favorite,” she stated pulling a bigger grin from Avery that had her returning his hold, her hands sliding under the edge of his shirt, feeling his bare skin beneath it.
“I know, we talked about all of them while you were out at that wedding, and as soon as the house was mine, I had them start putting the room together. I want him to love it because I’m hoping it’ll be his entirely—that you and Tommy will move in with me, soon,” he added, letting out a little hiss when her nails dug into his skin as she jumped a bit in surprise. “Fuck baby…you can’t do that in front of the boy.”
“Sorry,” she teased, lifting her chin with a smile at him. “I just wasn’t expecting you to want us to move in already. I mean we’ve barely spent time together the three of us.”
“Which is exactly why I want more, I’m being selfish, but I want you both here with me. And just so you know that I’m not doing this to be a dick,” he added making her brow lift slightly. “There is a fully kitted out apartment over the garage area. It has a door into the main living space, but it also has its own private door as well from the outside.”
“Okay…” she drawled the word out not quite understanding him.
“So…because you and Meredith are close, I thought we might offer it to her so she’s closer than even just the fifteen minutes. She doesn’t have to take it, but if either of you really wanted her here, I won’t say no. She can even just use it on occasion if she’d rather. The two of you can decide that. My only stipulation is that she doesn’t come into our bedroom unless you need her help with something in there, and by that I mean, help picking out an outfit, or if you’re sick and I need an extra hand.”
Colleen grinned, shaking her head at him a bit in amusement. “Is that it?”
“I’d prefer that she not just come straight in without calling or texting first, especially in the evenings after Tommy’s bedtime. You may not be her lover, but she is interested in you still, and I’m a bit possessive when it comes to you and your body, baby.”
