Line of Sight - 10. Chapter 10

“Why do I even bother?” I shook my head as I pulled the covers over Jake. He was dressed in his pajamas when I’d sent him to bed a half hour before, but when I’d gone to check on him, he’d stripped out of everything except his underwear. At least he’d been in bed like I’d asked.

“Everything okay?”

I looked over at Tony leaning in the doorway and smiled even as it sent a pang of remembering through me. I couldn’t count the number of times Dave had done the same thing. I’d never expected him to just walk out on us like he did. I stroked my hand over Jake’s head and stood. I hoped he wouldn’t have to watch someone else walk away. He was resilient, but I didn’t think him or I could take it.

“Yeah.” I bent and pressed a kiss to my son’s hair before leaving the room, pulling the door partway closed behind me. “He’s tuckered out.”

“How about you? You doing okay?” Tony reached out and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me against him. “You seem a bit”—he paused as though searching for the word—“distracted isn’t the word I’m looking for, contemplative, maybe.”

“I’m good.” I smiled at him. I didn’t want to lump him in the same category as Dave, and so far he hadn’t done anything to deserve it. I brushed a kiss across his lips. “Why don’t we go pick a movie we want to watch, unless you need to go?”

“Nope, I have nowhere else to be.” Tony grinned and I led the way back to the living room. He sat on the couch as I thumbed through my collection of movies, but nothing really jumped out at me. “I think tonight went pretty well.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, you definitely won points when you brought his favorite ice cream.” I gave up on the movie and walked over to join him on the couch. “Have you thought about how you’re going to handle it at school when Jake says something about his teacher being at his house? He’s six; he’s going to say something.” It wasn’t like I could tell him not to, it wasn’t fair to even try and ask him to keep something like that a secret.

“I’m not worried. It would be different if I was a high school teacher and I was dating a student, but as far as I know, there’s no rule against dating parents.” Tony shrugged. “I’ll deal with it if and when it happens, but I’m not going to lose my job or anything because I’m seeing you.” Tony reached over and tugged me over until I was nearly on his lap. “You worry too much.”

“Maybe.”

“There’s no maybe about it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I moved to kneel over him, lowering my head to press my lips against his. Tony grabbed me, his hands gripping my hips, encouraging me to straddle his lap. I hesitated for just a second before following his lead. Jake was asleep and would likely remain so for at least a few hours. I braced my hands on the back of the couch as Tony deepened the kiss, his lips parting beneath mine. His tongue slipped out and stroked against mine. I groaned and tried to press closer, but I knew the only way I’d manage was for us to be skin to skin.

Tony pulled me down harder against his lap and I could feel his arousal pressing against me. I pulled back and glanced at the man underneath me. Did it make me a horrible father that I was seriously considering taking him to my bedroom and locking the door? Jake was home but if he needed me, he’d knock on the door. The biggest thing keeping me from taking the next step with Tony was hiding our relationship. That was no longer an issue.

“You’re thinking too hard again.” Tony turned his head and glanced down the hall before looking at me again. “You want me to head home in case he wakes up?”

I shook my head and shifted on his lap.

“Actually, I was debating on whether or not we should move this to the bedroom, just in case.”

“And, what did you decide?”

“That my door has a lock and he can knock if he needs me.” I kissed him again, briefly before sliding off his lap. “Why don’t I meet you there, unfortunately I have to let Murray out first.”

Tony stood and grabbed me, pulling me close, not that I resisted. “Don’t take too long.”

“I won’t.”

He released me and headed down the hall as I headed to the back door.

“C’mon Murray.” The pup lifted his head, pushed to his feet, and followed me to the back door. I let him out and waited impatiently for him to do his business. Finally, after we were both froze, he came back in and I put him in his kennel. Luckily I’d kennel trained him from the start and he didn’t make a fuss, just pushed his blanket around before flopping down and closing his eyes. The dog taken care of, I shut off the lights, made sure the doors were locked, and headed for my bedroom.

I didn’t want to make Tony wait too long, he’d already had to wait for me to get comfortable enough to quit hiding our relationship from Jake. I pushed my door open and reached up to make sure I wasn’t drooling. Tony had already made himself comfortable. He’d stripped off his shirt and was waiting for me, leaning up against the headboard.

I stepped inside and closed the door. The sound of me turning the lock seemed loud in the otherwise quiet room.