“You guys are so cute together,” Scott commented as he rubbed cocoa butter between his palms then massaged it into my stretch marks. “When are they moving in? You guys are going to be living here, right?”

I groaned. “Not you too, you’re supposed to be on my side. Besides, I thought you were here for the birth, not to micromanage my love life.”

Scott paused with his hands spread out on either side of my belly as he watched me with a teasing grin. “I’m going to need an explanation for that one, Todd.”

“Ugh. It’s just that Simon keeps asking when we’re going to move in together and take the next step to becoming a forever family.” I chewed my lip for a moment while I gathered my thoughts to try and explain my feelings. “It’s just… I don’t know. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like everything has just happened so fast, you know? I want to know that it’s the right choice and that I’m making a conscious decision before I shake up Simon’s whole world and move them in here, and not just falling into it.”

Scott’s hands started moving and massaging my belly again, although he never dropped eye contact. “I’m going to tell you what you told me when I was in your shoes. You have to take a chance on love, Todd. Don’t lose this alpha because you think you need to take things one methodical step at a time. Yes, there is a time for taking things slow, but then again? There’s also a time when you have a basketball sticking out of your shirt because there’s a damn baby about to pop out and you need to just get over yourself and make up your damn mind.” We both laughed at that before he continued. “Tell me this, Todd. Do you love Hugo?”

I didn’t even need to hesitate or pause to think about that one. “Yes, I do. And, now that I say that out loud, it occurs to me that I should probably tell him that at some point.”

Scott winked. “There you go, that’s all you need to know. And yes, you definitely need to tell him that you love him—preferably before the baby arrives and he thinks it’s the hormones talking.”

When I slid into bed with Hugo a few hours later, I did just that. After a long kiss, I touched my forehead to his. “My brother said to say I love you.”

Hugo snorted. “Can you back that up, hot stuff? Are you passing on a message from Scott that he loves me? Because if so, Justin might have an opinion on that.”

I leaned back and blinked in confusion as I ran my words through my head and laughed along with him as I realized how it had sounded. “Sorry, let me rephrase that. My brother told me that I’m an idiot for taking things too slow and that it was time to tell you how I feel. This is me telling you that I love you and that I would like for you and Simon to come live with me.”

Hugo’s eyes softened and he stopped to steal a kiss before speaking. “I love you too, Todd. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. I guess it just slowly snuck up on us over the months, you know? But yes, I love you too. And you don’t have to ask me twice, we will start moving into your place tomorrow.”

I laughed against his lips. “We might have to wait until Scott and Justin leave town. I only have the one guestroom aside from the nursery that we’ve been putting together. And since they’re kind of staying in there, it might make it kind of awkward to move Simon in there just yet.”

“No, it’s just a matter of planning. You see, I have this apartment sitting here and you have your place sitting over there. So why don’t we get us moved into your place, and let your brother and his family stay here in mine while they’re in town?”

I leaned back again to look into Hugo’s eyes, thinking over what he’d just said and realizing how smart it was. “That’s a good idea, let’s do that. In fact, I shouldn’t even plan to rent this apartment out. I could keep it open for when we have guests in town, or an employee needs a place to stay.”

“That’s good, hot stuff. We’ll discuss all of that tomorrow. But for now, I think we need to celebrate this whole moving in together thing.”

As his lips began to press against mine, I smiled. “Let me guess, this celebration is going to involve your cock and my ass, right?”

Hugo chuckled, his lips vibrating against mine. “Yes, exactly. But shit, way to take the romance out of it.”

I was so happy that I was practically giggling at this point. “What can I say? I have skills, but romantic talk really isn’t one of them.”

Dr. Greene firmly palpitated my belly with one hand while feeling for the baby’s head with the other. “We’re almost there, Todd. I need you to bear down and give me one good push. Come on, you can do it…”

I gripped Hugo’s hand with all my strength as I strained and pushed until Dr. Greene pulled the baby free and looked up with a smile. “Congratulations, gentlemen. It’s a girl!”

We watched in awe as she laid our daughter over my chest. Hugo got to cut the cord, but my attention was completely fixated on the wiggly bundle of joy shrieking her anger on my chest. Hugo chuckled. “Sounds like she’s got a good set of lungs, at least we don’t have to worry about that.”

The rest of the afterbirth and our daughter being taken away to be cleaned and weighed and all that good stuff went by in a blur while Hugo hugged me close and told me over and over how much he loved me.

By the time we made it back to my room, my brother and Justin were there waiting for us, along with Simon and—Victoria? I couldn’t find it within me to be upset with her and her new husband for being here. I was way too happy right now to care one way or the other. Damn hormones.

My brother was giving her the side-eye but thankfully was keeping his thoughts to himself. Once I was settled into my bed and the nurse had gone, Scott was over there shoving his way onto the bed next to me and reaching with grabby hands for my baby. “Does my niece have a name yet?”

I peered around him and motioned for Simon to join us. “Her big brother needs to be the first to meet her, you big jerk.”

Simon came closer and wrapped an arm around Scott’s shoulder as he peered down at his sister. “It’s okay, Mr. Todd. Uncle Scott can meet her with me. We are all family here, remember? You remember.”

From the mouths of babes. Yes, we were all family here, or we would be since I was joining his and Hugo’s family. And since Victoria was his mother, that meant that I would have to extend an olive branch—but first things being first, I figured that I would introduce my daughter before I dealt with Victoria.

“Hugo, do you want to introduce our little miss, or shall I?”

He shook his head as he came over and knelt down beside Simon. “No, that’s for you to do, hot stuff. You did all the work, you get to make the introductions.”

“Okay,” I agreed happily. “Simon, this is your sister Gretchen.”

Simon spoke in a hushed whisper. “Hello, Gretchen. I’m your brother Simon.”

While Scott and Simon fussed over baby Gretchen, I motioned for Victoria to come around to the other side of my bed. She had an uncharacteristically abashed look on her face as she came around and gingerly took a seat in the chair beside my bed. I spoke softly, wanting to keep our conversation private while the rest of the room was distracted.

“Thank you for bringing Simon here, and for coming to town to keep him company while I was in labor. I’m sorry if this whole thing is keeping you from anything important.”

Victoria glanced over at her son and swallowed as she shook her head. “I owe you an apology, and I was happy to be able to be here to support you and Hugo today. Believe it or not, I do care about him; he’s always going to be my friend. That being said, I’m sorry I was such a bitch to you the day we met. You’ve been nothing but kind to my son and you’re good for Hugo. He and I were like oil and water, but the two of you make sense.” She paused and shook her head, looking back at me with a remorseful smile. “Thank you for loving my son, Todd. Do you think there is a chance that we could ever be friends?”

“Honestly? I think we should be friends. You’re Simon’s mother and I respect that. But for us to be friends, I’m going to need two things from you.” I spoke candidly, but I meant every word that I was saying. “You’re going to need to learn some boundaries when it comes to my man. No more of this sitting on his lap and greeting him with a mouth kiss—that’s not okay. And when it comes to your son? In order for me to have any respect for you, you’re going to need to show up or call when you tell him you’re going to, or have a damn good reason why you didn’t. Those are the only requirements I have for being my friend. Do those, and you and I will be besties.”

A respectful smile slowly spread over her face. “You’re hard-core, aren’t you? I respect that. And you are absolutely right about Simon. I’ve been a shit mom, and I want to try and do better.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Baby steps, I reminded myself. One step at a time. “You know what, Vicki? Yoda said it best—do or do not, there is no try.”

A musical laugh burst from her throat, making every head in the room turn to look at us. “Fair enough. I will definitely focus on the doing and not just trying. Feel free to tell me off if I start to slip, okay?”

This time I did roll my eyes. “Count on it.”

Victoria’s husband gently suggested it was time for them to leave a few minutes later, and the two of them left with Simon for the night. As I watched them go, I hoped that this was the start of a new chapter in that sweet boy’s relationship with his mother.

Scott regretfully laid Gretchen into her bassinet at my bedside and said his goodbyes too, so that I could try and rest. After he and Justin were gone, Hugo slid into the chair that Victoria had vacated and reached for my hand.

“I need to say something, hot stuff. But first, I need to know if you’re going to freak out if I skip several steps.”

My heart stopped in my chest because I had a feeling where this was going, but I somehow found the strength to nod. Hugo glanced over at where our daughter lay sleeping before turning his gaze back to me. “I know that we only recently said our ‘I love yous’ for the first time and Simon and I only got halfway moved into your apartment before you went into labor, but I’m so glad that you decided to let us move in with you because I really hated to think of you being alone with Gretchen. You have no idea how much work a newborn is going to be, and it doesn’t get any easier as they get older. But anyway.” He paused and took a breath. “I don’t want to just live with you. That’s not really my style anyway. I am a commitment kind of guy and I want my ring on your finger. I know you wanted a romantic proposal, so I’m not going to propose—I’m just asking if you will consider thinking about letting me plan a proposal.”

As Scott’s words about taking a chance flashed through my mind, I shook my head. “Screw it, Hugo. Simon was right. Daddies should be married, I think. Let’s just do it. Fuck the steps and being cautious, let’s just do something crazy and get married.”

Hugo’s mouth dropped open for a long moment before he started laughing. “There you go with the romantic shit again. What happened to needing a big proposal? Because, I gotta say, I’m not feeling the romance here, hot stuff.”

“Don’t be stupid, I was speaking from the heart.” I glared playfully at him.

“There it is, now that was some romantic shit right there. Calling me stupid? Hallmark needs to slap that on a card. I can see it now, a card with a poop emoji on the front and the words I love you, stupid printed inside.”

My glare turned a little less playful. “Is this you saying no? Because if so, this is a shitty time to do it.”

Hugo shook his head and slid out of the chair, going down on one knee beside my bed as he pulled a small, black, velveteen box out of his pocket. “Actually, I’ve been carrying this around for a while, just waiting for the right moment, even though we hadn’t even said ‘I love you’ yet.”

My mouth fell open as I blinked back tears while Hugo continued. “Todd Foxx, I love you and I love the way you love me and I really love the way you love my son. You’re going to be a fantastic father to our daughter and I don’t want to miss a moment of the future that we could have together as a family. Will you marry me, hot stuff?”

My throat was clogged as hot tears streamed down my face. When I sniffed a load of snot back, I realized that ugly crying was probably not my best look—and I didn’t even care. I barely managed to croak out the word yes, but Hugo got the drift by my frantic nodding. He quickly slid the ring on my finger to seal the deal before kissing me, snot-faced tears and all.