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  But before Clayton could start classes, he needed to see a doctor and get a physical and shots.

  They’d just returned to the car, and Rom was going to call Ina, when his phone rang from Ed.

  “Hold up, guys.” He answered. “Please have good news for me.”

  “I have in my hands a freshly minted court order officially revoking their parental rights and granting you and Colton full custody.”

  Rom pumped his fist. “Hold on, let me put you on speaker so you can say that again.” He did.

  Clayton wiped at his eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Payne.”

  “No problem, kiddo. I’m going to get the adoption paperwork filed today and we’ll start that.”

  “I want to change my last name to Quinn. Like Colton and Rom.”

  “We can do that, too…”

  An hour later, they were sitting in a doctor’s office getting that handled. From there to buy school supplies and new clothes for Clayton. No uniform needed at Clayton’s school, but Rom knew he’d face enough of a hassle as the new kid and having survived a rough circumstance without doing it in the worn-out clothes he’d arrived with.

  By the time they returned home a little after five, including a stop at the grocery store, Rom was worn out but the smiles on Clayton’s face had been worth it.

  “Go get everything put up,” Rom told him. “Then you can help us cook dinner.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He caught the smirk on Colton’s face. “Don’t say it,” Rom muttered to him once the boy had left the room.

  Colton’s smirk went full-on grin. “I didn’t say a thing…Sir.”

  Rom rolled his eyes, but at least Colton was smiling again, too. This had been a good day.

  Not exactly what he’d planned to be doing, but it was productive. Clayton would have two days in school that week—and they’d have that time to themselves in the apartment while Clayton was gone.

  By the time they went to bed that night, Rom felt exhausted, but in a good way this time. Ed had sent him an e-mail with copies of everything he’d filed that day, including the adoption paperwork. Now it was just a matter of waiting.

  Colton curled around him, playing the big spoon tonight. “I feel…good. Is that weird?”

  “Um…depends what you mean by weird.”

  “I mean that we got him in school and he was smiling.” Colton rubbed his chin on Rom’s shoulder. “He looks happy. I feel good because he feels good. This is a shitty situation, but he looks like he’s happy now compared to when he first arrived.”

  “It was adorable watching him get everything ready for in the morning,” Rom said.

  They’d sat watching TV while Clayton arranged his backpack and school supplies, and both of them had nudged each other as he’d swapped stuff around in the backpack several times.

  * * * *

  Colton wondered if Grammy had felt like this when she’d taken custody of him, the confusing mix of anger and hope and love. They settled in to sleep, and his dreams were plagued by nightmares of his own childhood before the alarm finally went off at six thirty.

  Once again, they found Clayton was up, dressed, and ready to go.

  Well, that’s one thing we don’t have in common.

  Even though he got up early for his morning clients, Colton wouldn’t call himself “awake” early in the morning. More a case of vertical under protest. Colton and Rom opted not to shower then, and after getting Clayton fed, and after taking first-day pictures, they both poured travel mugs of coffee to sip while they drove him to his first day of school. They wanted to accompany him to the office to show the shot records, just in case there were any problems.

  With that done, they took a few more pictures and then hugged him. “We’ll pick you up this afternoon,” Colton told him.

  And then he was off.

  “I’m scared,” Rom softly said as they watched him go.

  “Why?”

  “What if kids pick on him?”

  “I have experience with that,” Colton told him. “That’s something else I can help him with.”

  They stopped for breakfast before returning home. “We need to get him a cell phone,” Rom said. “I don’t like not being able to locate him.”

  Colton didn’t understand the dark furrows creasing his brow. “Rom, he walked five miles every morning and every afternoon. He’ll survive a couple of days in a middle school without a cell phone.”

  “And stuff can happen before you know it.” He leveled a gaze at him. “Parkland. I want him to have a cell phone.”

  Colton sighed, remembering his guy had issues of his own. Issues that were, in some ways, worse than Colton’s.

  He reached across the table to hold Rom’s hands. “I think he’s going to be just fine, but will it make you feel better if we go get him one now?”

  “Yes.” His gaze met Colton’s. “Sorry. I can’t help thinking about worst-case scenarios. And he needs a way to get ahold of us if something happens.”

  Colton squeezed his hands. “You’re a good dad.”

  Rom froze and stared at the table, where their hands were joined.

  “What?” Colton asked.

  “I never thought I’d be a dad. Chad’s right—this is terrifying.”

  Colton smiled. “At least we have a low bar to meet. Almost anything’s better than my parents.”

  Chapter Eight

  After a stop by the cell phone store, where Rom bought Clayton a phone and added it to their plan, they finally returned home and locked the door behind them.

  Rom stopped right there and started stripping. “Gah!” He scratched himself all over as Colton watched him and laughed. “I hate clothes! And why are you still dressed, boy?”

  “You’re adorable, Master.” Colton started stripping while Rom got the new phone plugged in so it could charge. The men had already added the number to their contact lists.

  Colton dropped to his knees and held his hands up to Rom. “May I please have my cuffs and collar, Master?” Rom might have been miserable wearing clothes, but Colton had been equally miserable unable to wear his leather cuffs and collar. His day collar was nice, but the chainmaille necklace wasn’t a collar. The soft heft of the leather as it warmed to his flesh was a sensation he loved.

  “Yes, my good boy. Where are they?”

  “In the bedroom, Master. Top dresser drawer.”

  “Wait right there.”

  Rom went to grab them and brought them back, quickly buckling them on him, collar and wrist and ankle cuffs. “Greeting, boy.”

  Colton reached for Rom’s left hand and brought it to his mouth where he kissed his palm, then pressed it to the top of his head and leaned in to rest his head against Rom’s hip.

  “I guess I can’t say welcome home, Sir, because we were both gone. But your boy has missed this.”

  Rom gently scratched the top of Colton’s head. “I’ve missed it, too, boy,” he said.

  Colton’s cock had started stiffening, and Rom’s was already rigid and standing out from his body. He’d started to nuzzle it when someone knocked on the door, startling both of them.

  “What the fuck?” Rom muttered. He turned and looked through the viewfinder. “Sonofabitch, go, boy. Bedroom. Now. Put clothes on and take those off.” He reached for his own clothes and started to pull his them on.

  Colton heard Rom open the front door after Colton had closed the bedroom door behind him, but he was too busy getting his cuffs and collar off to listen to see who it was. He grabbed a T-shirt and shorts, yanked them on, and returned to the living room to find Sherry and Lucy standing there.

  “What’s going on?” Colton asked.

  “We wanted to see how Clayton’s doing,” Lucy said. “Where is he?”

  Colton fought a wave of irritation. “Thanks, but he’s in school. You could’ve called, hon.”

  Lucy looked consternated. “Oh. We didn’t think he’d be in school this fast.”

  “Yeah, we got him registered yesterday,�
�� Rom said. “Today was his first day.”

  “We’ll come back by later, then.”

  Rom was doing an amazing job at not being sarcastic. I should give that man a blowjob.

  “We love you, ladies,” Rom said, “and you know that, but next time, please call first. Especially this week.”

  “Why?” Lucy asked.

  “We were…busy.”

  “Doing what?”

  Not getting laid. But Colton didn’t say that.

  “This is our honeymoon week,” Rom reminded her. “We’ve already…lost a goodly chunk of it, if you get my drift? We’re going to use today and tomorrow while he’s in school to—”

  “Oh, my god!” Sherry gasped. “I’m so sorry!” She glared at Lucy. “See? I told you we should’ve called first.”

  “Well, I didn’t mean to cock-block them!”

  Colton clapped a hand over his face. “I could’ve gone my entire life without hearing you actually say that out loud, Lucy.”

  She cackled. “Oh, honey, I’ve got four kids, seven grandkids, and two greats. You think I don’t know what cock-blocking feels like, think again.” She offered him a hug. “I’m sorry, boys. I really didn’t think about it. I figured with the disruption that you’d just take a new honeymoon some other time.”

  “We probably will,” Rom said, “but for now, we’d like to make use of what’s left of this one.”

  “Understood.” The octogenarian snapped him a rickety salute and headed for the door. “Come on, Sherry.”

  She hugged them, too. “Sorry again, boys.”

  Once the men were alone behind a locked door—again—and had stripped—again—and put Colton’s cuffs and collar on him—again—they headed for the bedroom.

  Rom gave him a gentle shove to push him back onto the bed and climbed on top of him. “Now, where were we, boy?” He smiled down at him.

  Colton loved his sweet brown gaze, the beard and mustache, the fine dark brown hair that felt like silk against his own skin. “I don’t remember, Master, but I like being right here under you.”

  Both their cocks had started to recover from the interruption. As Rom leaned in, he wrapped his hand around both of their cocks, pressing them together as he brushed his lips against Colton’s. “My perfect boy,” Rom said. “I—”

  The power went out, making the two UPS units they had for the TVs and cable boxes and modem start beeping in there and in the living room.

  “Son of a bitch!” Rom yelled as he sat up. “Seriously?”

  “Maybe it’s just a flicker, Master. Sometimes it comes right back on when this happens.” Then again, Rom usually wasn’t there in the daytime.

  They waited.

  Then Colton’s cell phone rang where he’d left it out in the kitchen.

  The ringtone for Aunt Roberta’s phone.

  “Goddammit,” Colton muttered as Rom swung off him so he could go answer it.

  * * * *

  Greeeeat. So we’re never having sex again, apparently.

  He’d been a parent less than a week, and his sex life had already tanked. The old saying must be true, except he’d always thought it was just younger kids who did that to you.

  Rom plopped onto the bed and listened to Colton’s end of the conversation.

  “I know the power’s out, Aunt Roberta. We’re upstairs. And— … What? Well, why the hell did she plug all three small kilns into that circuit? I told her never to do that! … How long’s it been like that? … Sheesh. Okay, I’ll be right down.” He walked through the bedroom door.

  Rom sat up and once Colt had hung up, Rom was already reaching for his wrists to get those cuffs off him. “Can I spank her?” Rom asked. “And which her are we talking about?”

  “Louise. She put the three small kilns on the same circuit. I think she just tripped the main. It’ll only take me a minute to reset it. I’m sorry, Master.”

  Rom patted Colton’s right leg to prompt him to put it up there so he could remove his ankle cuffs. “Every minute is a cane stroke, boy. Hurry back.” He pulled him in for a kiss before turning Colton loose again so he could get dressed.

  Rom flopped back on the bed and listened to the front door open and practically slam shut, followed by the sound of Colton thundering down the stairs.

  He smiled. No, he wouldn’t really take it out of Colton’s ass. It wasn’t his boy’s fault, but it was fun to mindfuck him. Besides, it was a work thing, so that was outside the scope of what they did.

  Although…it was starting to get a little stuffy up there without the A/C running.

  I’m so spoiled.

  While he had his own place, he kept the temperature exactly the way he liked it, all the time. Fortunately, Colton was comfortable with him taking control of the apartment’s thermostat, too, and found Rom’s preferred temperature comfortable.

  When two minutes stretched to five…and then to ten, Rom was about to throw on clothes and go after Colton to rescue him from the grannies—and get him focused, because the power still wasn’t back on—when he heard his cell phone ring.

  Colton’s tone.

  Rom sighed and got up to answer it. “Yes, boy?”

  “Uh, good news, bad news,” Colton said.

  “What’s the good news?”

  “It wasn’t the circuit. I redistributed the plugs, but that’s not the problem.”

  “Is that the bad news?”

  “Um, yeah. Power’s out all over in this area. Car hit a power pole. Will probably be a couple of hours.”

  Mother.

  Fucker.

  The apartment would be an oven by then, unless they opened all the windows.

  And no, he was not making love in the apartment with all the windows and blinds open. The building directly across the street from them on the side their bedroom windows were located had a second-floor bistro in it with an outdoor patio area where smokers sat.

  With both a perfect line of sight and, likely, the ability to hear everything.

  Rom sighed. “All right, boy. Come on back upstairs. I guess there’s not much we can do about it.”

  “Sorry.”

  Rom collapsed on the bed, remembered the beeping UPS units, and got them reset and powered down. They had them both as surge protectors, and to keep from having to wait through cable box and modem reboots just because the power flickered off and on during a storm.

  Colton returned a couple of minutes later, looking as dejected as Rom felt. He knelt next to the bed after stripping and Rom put his cuffs and collar back on him.

  “Sorry, Master.”

  Rom rolled onto his stomach and reached out to ruffle Colton’s hair, where he knelt next to the bed. “Not your fault, boy. No strokes, obviously.” He played with his hair. “Guess we’re not meant to get laid this afternoon.”

  Colton appeared literally close to tears. “I was really looking forward to it, Master,” he said in a soft voice that hit Rom’s ear wrong.

  When Rom made him look up—yep, there were tears in Colton’s eyes.

  Rom sat up and moved to make room for him on the bed, patting the mattress next to him. “Come here, baby,” he said. “It’s okay.” He snuggled Colton in his arms. “I’m sure Chad will laugh when I tell him about this. He’ll probably say it’s the Universe getting me back for all the times I cock-blocked him and Ina in the early days.”

  That finally earned him a snort from Colton.

  “There’s my boy.” Rom kissed him. “How about we—”

  The power came back on, to a chorus of audible cheers from the grannies downstairs.

  Whew! “There,” Rom said, once again swinging into position astride Colton. He leaned in and kissed him, hoping to get Colton’s mind back in a sexy mood.

  Rom laced fingers with him and pinned Colton’s hands to the bed over his head, something almost guaranteed to get his boy in the mood, and—

  The power went off, accompanied by a chorus of disappointed sounds from the grannies downstairs.

  “Oh, c
ome on!” Colton screamed.

  If it wasn’t for the fact that Colton was now upset, Rom would be laughing his ass off at this uncontrollable sadism.

  Except it was hitting both of them. “Do you want to go to a hotel? We don’t have to pick Clayton up for a couple of hours. Or, I have the key to Chad and Ina’s. I can call them and ask if we can use their guest room.”

  “No, I don’t want to spend the money,” he muttered. “And, no offense, hell no to using Chad and Ina’s. Why not just ask Aunt Roberta if we can shag in their guest room?”

  “Ew.”

  “Exactly. I mean, I love them, you know I do, but—”

  “Yeah, I get it.” Rom rolled off him and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m sorry, baby.”

  “It’s not your fault, Master.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “I guess we might as well take our shower. At least we’ll have water.”

  “Oooh.” An idea hit Rom. He sat behind Colton, nibbling on the side of his neck. “How about some super-quiet shower sex, baby?”

  Colton grumbled, but turned his head to kiss him. “I’ll go get the LED lantern from under the kitchen sink and meet you there.”

  Chapter Nine

  Colton knew he’d probably look back on this afternoon and, in the retelling, laugh his ass off.

  Today was not that day.

  Tomorrow wasn’t looking so hot, either.

  He found the LED lantern under the kitchen sink and, fortunately, experienced no additional sadism, like the batteries being dead or any bullshit like that.

  Thankfully.

  He switched it on and carried it back to the bathroom, where Rom awaited him.

  “Let me get those off you, baby,” Rom said as he motioned, indicating Colton’s collar and cuffs.

  Colton sighed. “Again.”

  Rom smiled. “Again.” He pulled Colton in for a kiss. “Love you.”