Page 101 of Biker Orc Baby Daddy
And yet.
Gunther's still here. Still standing in my kitchen with his crooked glasses and his careful hands and his heart on his sleeve.
Orry babbles. Happy. Unaware. Playing with a set of stacking rings.
Gunther watches him. Something soft in his expression. Somethingreal.
"I want this," he says quietly. "I want to be his dad. I want to. To be with you. To figure this out. Together."
The words land in my body. Heavy. True.
"I want that too," I whisper.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
He smiles. Slow. Growing. Like sunrise.
Orry chooses that moment to throw his stacking rings across the room. They clatter against the wall. He grins. Proud of his destruction.
Gunther laughs. Actual laugh. The sound fills my tiny apartment. Fillsme.
"Guess we should clean that up," I say.
"Guess so."
We do. Side by side. Not touching. But close. So close.
Later, after Orry's asleep, after the dishes are done and the coffee's gone cold and the apartment's quiet except for the hum of the fridge, Gunther and I are in the hallway outside Orry's room.
The air between us is charged. Electric. Like the moment before a storm breaks.
I should say goodnight. I should step back. I should do the smart thing, the careful thing, thesafething.
Instead I step forward.
Close the distance between us.
Press my body against his.
His breath catches. His hands come up. Hesitant. Like he thinks I'll disappear if he touches me.
I won't.
I'm right here.
I tilt my face up. Look at him. Really look. At the man who walked into my life wearing a bad disguise and walked back in wearing honesty and a spreadsheet and a heart too big for his chest.
"Cecie," he whispers.
"Shut up," I say.
And then I kiss him.
His lips are soft. Warm. Familiar and not. He tastes like coffee and Gunther and the ghost of Ridge and everything in between.
He kisses me back. Careful at first. Like he's memorizing the shape of me. The feel. Thetaste.
