Page 123 of Hot Potato
“Ew,” Jake said. “You’ve got snot everywhere.”
“Wash your hands,” Lacey said.
“I can’t.” Troy glanced sadly in the direction of the kitchen sink, which was overflowing with dirty dishes from the French toast bake and the turkey bacon biscuits.
“Then use the bathroom.”
“No! Linc’s in there.” Avery leapt forward, throwing his hands wide to head Troy off. No way was he going to let the little boy walk in on Linc wiping come off the backs of his thighs and cleaning up the plug.
Aunt Brenda grabbed a small bottle off the counter. “Here’s some hand sanitizer. Come here, sweetie, and let’s—”
“No, that’s expired. It’s old. He can’t—” Avery dove for it before she could hand off the bottle of lube they’d forgotten to stash.
“Hey, everyone. You’re all here at once.” Linc stood in the hall, looking flushed and smug. Okay, he looked well-fucked, but children were present, so Avery was keeping that bit to himself. Also, his hair was combed and his fly was done up, the bastard.
“Uncle Linc, I have to wash my hands,” Troy said.
“You do? Come on down to the bathroom, little man, and let’s get that taken care of.”
Vasquez and Wanda were still giving Avery weird looks as he slipped the lube bottle into his pocket, but Aunt Brenda didn’t seem to notice anything was off. She took control of the kitchen, enlisting Lilah’s help, while Uncle Theo and Jake started a very serious conversation about whether the Falcons or the Panthers were going to win the NFC South.
“You were having sex, weren’t you?”
Avery jumped. Of Linc’s two sisters, Lilah was sweet, but Lacey made him nervous. She was always serious and took no bullshit.
“No.” But his voice wobbled, and he could tell his face was turning bright red again.
She laughed, but kept her voice low. “I get it. It was the same for me and the boys’ dad before he left. Couldn’t keep my hands off him.”
She walked away before he could say anything else. Linc and Troy reappeared from the bathroom, and Lacey took Troy to the balcony so they could look out over the city.
Linc wrapped his arms around Avery from behind, holding him close. There was no heat now, only happy contentment. “Everything okay?”
“Our nephew nearly washed his hands in lube.”
Linc snorted and kissed the side of Avery’s neck. “He takes after his uncle.”
“It’s been weeks since I got hurt or did something stupid in public.”
And that was mostly true. The move to Atlanta had been imperfect. The big city took some adjustment, but the job kept him so busy he hadn’t found time to be lonely. With Linc’s arrival the previous month, everything got better. And somehow, whether because he had so much going on at work, or because he wasn’t worried about an entire small town of people watching his every move, Avery’s tendency to talk too much and trip while doing simple things like walking down the street had faded.
A little.
He’d dropped a potted plant off the balcony in September setting up a container garden. Fortunately, no one else had been around at the time. And he’d nearly chipped a tooth the first time he and Linc had “welcome to our new apartment” sex, but their several repeat performances had been accident free.
“Sweet pea,” Aunt Brenda said. “Do you have aluminum foil? Your sweet potatoes are making a mess.”
“Coming.” He untangled himself from Linc’s arms, even though he was sad to let go. They’d have plenty of chances to pick up where they’d left off.
“Hey.” Linc pulled his hand and wound him back up for a quick kiss. “Are you happy?”
Avery smiled at him. “Of course.”
“You did this, you know.”
Avery flushed and rested his forehead against Linc’s collarbones. “No, I didn’t.”
“You did. These people are all our family now, and it’s because of you.”
“Sweet pea!”
“Love you.” Avery kissed Linc just once. He would never not love kissing him, even with their entire family watching.
“Love you too, Red.”
