Page 85 of Dad Next Door

I was the one to pull back, but not because I wanted to. I was just so overwhelmed with feelings and memories I couldn’t focus on kissing anymore.

He hugged me tight and ran his hand over the back of my head when I tucked my face against his neck. I had no idea how long he held me, but he didn’t let go until I pulled away.

“That was amazing.” He brushed some of my hair back from where it had fallen over my forehead, a soft smile on his lips.

“Yeah, it was.” I swallowed the lump in my throat as the urge to thank him hit hard.

That had been the most incredible sexual experience of my life. He’d been perfect, and it wasn’t because he was good at sex or because he’d made me come. It was because he cared about me, and he made my pleasure his priority. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had done that.

“Do you want to lay down for a bit?” he asked.

I nodded, still not trusting my voice.

Carefully, he slid out from under me. “Let’s get comfy.”

We crawled up the bed together, both of us more clumsy than usual. He lay down on my pillow, and I cuddled up against his side, my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.

I wanted to say something, anything, to break the silence, but Quinn just kissed the top of my head and rubbed his cheek against my hair. The steady thump of his heart was like a metronome, calming the last of my racing thoughts.

We lay there for what felt like forever until my eyes grew heavy and the day caught up to me.

Another kiss to my hair startled me out of my daze. Shit. I’d almost fallen asleep on him.

“I should go.” Quinn kissed my hair again. “You need to get some sleep.”

“Yeah.” I sighed and nuzzled into his chest. “You’re so comfy.”

“You are too.” He waited until I pulled my face from his pec, then tipped my chin up to look at him. “But we both know this isn’t the night to have our first sleepover.”

I nodded, grateful he was thinking straight. We hadn’t talked about sharing a bed beyond agreeing it wouldn’t happen with Leo in the house until much later in our relationship. And even if Leo hadn’t been home, I wasn’t sure I was there yet.

With a soft smile, he gave me one last kiss and wiggled out from under me.

Sitting up, we did up our pants and then climbed out of the bed.

He scooped up his shirt. “Night, Doc.” He kissed me again.

“Night.” I looked around for my shirt. “Let me walk you out.”

We pulled our shirts on before slipping out of my room and heading to the front door.

17

TRISTAN

Quinn: Be ready for 5. Dress code is business casual.

I re-read the text Quinn had sent last night, even though I’d already read it a dozen times since I woke up.

The last three weeks had been a whirlwind of long workdays, hanging out with Leo, and chatting with Quinn whenever we managed to find a few spare moments.

We hadn’t gotten to see much of each other because we were both so busy, and our schedules didn’t always match up.

I was still putting in extra time at work because they hadn’t bothered to replace Eric. One of my coworkers, Stephanie, had floated the idea that they weren’t even looking for a replacement because she hadn’t been able to find a job listing advertising the opening, and a friend of hers who’d contacted management inquiring about the job had been told they’d take her information, but wouldn’t confirm if they were looking to fill a vacancy.

We’d also found out that the coworker I’d covered for last weekend had been put on bed rest. That left another hole in our schedule that management had filled with a revolving door of vets from their other clinics, which helped us cover the hours but did nothing to alleviate the other issues that came with being short-staffed.

Quinn was also working more than was healthy. He put in full days alongside his crew, then spent hours in the evenings and a good chunk of his weekends taking care of the administrative side of running a business. On top of that, he was still making content and doing the occasional shift at the club.