A little boy in a suit opened the front door at Beau’s knock. “Are you here for the wedding?” he asked.

“Wedding?” Driving up to the two-story plantation-style house, Beau hadn’t been sure he was at the right place.

Now he really wasn’t sure. He’d been expecting Connor, the hot mechanic from the auto shop, not a midget undertaker. Who was this kid?

“Yeah,” the boy said, turning and walking away from the open door. “Mac and Cheese are getting married. That’s why I’m wearing the suit. My name’s Benji. I’m six.” Despite sporting a miniature version of Connor’s haircut, the hair on the top of his head stuck up in the most accurately-named cowlick Beau had ever seen. And he’d seen a lot of people get licked by cattle.

“I’m looking for Connor? Connor Casey?” Beau said to Benji’s retreating back.

“He’s my brother,” Benji said. The kid kept talking as he walked down the hall. “We have a different last name, though, because he had a different dad. “Mine’s Bennett.”

Oh. Well, maybe Connor was babysitting. Beau hesitated, not sure if he should follow. He’d put the odds of Connor calling him for something besides the van repairs at fifty-fifty. He’d given a booty call the best odds, then coffee, then an actual date. Taking Beau up on his offer to help with his house in exchange for room and board was the dark horse in the betting pool.

But call he had, and that very same night. Beau had played it off like it didn’t matter to him either way, but the way his pulse had jumped at the sound of Connor’s voice said otherwise.

Google Maps had led him to this place, and it had never let Beau down before. Well, except that one time in L.A. when he’d ended up in Riverside instead of Santa Monica, but L.A. highways sucked anyway. He didn’t blame the nice Google voice lady.

“I only wore the suit to the funeral before,” Benji said, disappearing down a side hallway like the white rabbit Alice had followed into Wonderland. “That’s why Sean won’t wear his,” the now-disembodied little voice said. “It makes him sad.”

Beau was starting to identify with Alice as he walked down the hall, past empty rooms in various states of construction.

Voices drifted down from the back of the house.

“Micah, I refuse to superglue a hat to a guinea pig’s head,” he heard Connor say with a hint of exasperation. “I am sure the ASPCA would have something to say about that.”

“Connor,” Benji yelled, “there’s a man with cool blue hair here for you.”

Beau rounded the corner, then stopped suddenly as his brain tried—and failed—to make sense of the tableau in front of him. Maybe he had fallen down some rabbit hole after all.

Unlike the rest of the house, this room was completely furnished and full of children.

A girl a little older than Benji sat curled up on the couch, scribbling furiously in a notebook. Dirty-blonde braids the same color as Benji’s hair hung over her shoulder, the tips brushing the paper. An older girl with dark brown hair down to her waist strung toilet-paper streamers across the fireplace. Both girls were dressed up like they were headed to church.

A teenage boy who looked like an unfinished version of Connor was carefully placing carrot slices up the length of a piece of red velvet. At the end of the makeshift red carpet stood a cardboard box draped in a matching piece of cloth with two handfuls of dying bluebonnets on it.

Beau took all the chaos in with one glance before his eyes locked on Connor Casey. If he’d thought the guy was hot in a white sleeveless T-shirt with the arms of his greasy coveralls tied around his waist, the way he looked now threatened to fry Beau’s brain.

Connor stood ramrod straight in the middle of the room in full Marine dress blues. The impressive collection of ribbons on his chest and the stripes on his arms probably meant something to someone who wasn’t Beau.

If Beau wasn’t hallucinating, he was holding two guinea pigs. One wore a white fluffy dress and the other had on what could pass for a suit, should guinea pigs wear suits. Which, apparently, this one did.

Beau felt an almost overwhelming desire to drop to his knees and blow Connor while he wore that uniform.

“I forgot you were coming,” Connor said helplessly. “I thought you were going to call first.”

“I did. It went to voicemail.” A smile stretched across his face as he realized what was happening in the room. Looked like he was there for the wedding after all.

All the kids had stopped what they were doing to look at Beau. The teenage boy was wide-eyed, and he flushed and turned away when Beau met his look with a smile and a nod of his head.

Beau had been a little intimidated by Connor when he’d dropped his van off at the shop. Even though they were about the same age, Connor seemed so much more grown-up and business-like than Beau. Which was kind of ironic, since Beau had a business degree from Harvard, and he had a feeling Connor hadn’t gone past high school.

But Connor had a real job, while Beau played double-A for what they laughably called a living. The Tornadoes paid him roughly five hundred and fifty dollars a week, plus board. Board being a team house that smelled like a combination locker room, dive bar, and brothel, and was occupied by the same clientele as those establishments.

But now, well, it was hard to be intimidated by a man holding guinea pigs, even if he was wearing the sexiest of all the military uniforms. Beau hadn’t thought he had a uniform kink, but apparently he just hadn’t seen the right person in the right uniform. Were you allowed to get a blowjob in uniform? Probably not, but that just made it hotter.

He couldn’t stop his eyes from raking down Connor’s body from the wide shoulders, to the arms he knew were heavily muscled, to the flat stomach and strong thighs.

Connor grinned when their eyes met as if he knew what Beau was thinking. Encouraged by that look, Beau stepped into the room and walked over to Connor.

“Nice outfits,” he said, reached out a finger to pet the head of the groom guinea pig. “Big day for you, eh fella?”

“They’re getting married,” Benji piped up from behind Connor.

“I can see that,” Beau said with a smile. “Congratulations. I didn’t bring a present, but can I stay anyway?”

“Who are you?” the older boy asked, standing up. This must be the Sean who wouldn’t wear a suit.

The dark blue jeans and gray baseball shirt with red sleeves he wore looked good on him. If he had to guess, Beau would pick football player. Maybe something else. This kid must be beating girls back with a stick.

Unless. Beau noticed Sean kept sneaking looks at him. Eyes roaming, restless, from the blue hair to his knees, and then blushing. Yeah, Beau knew what that meant, even if the kid didn’t.

“Guys, this is Beau,” Connor said. “Beau, meet Sean, Micah is the one with the braids, that’s Fiona, and you’ve already met Benji.” He pointed a guinea pig at each kid as he named them. “They’re my half-siblings. They, uh, live with me. I live with them. We,” he waved a circle around the room, gesturing with the pig again, “live together. Here.”

Beau’s smile grew with each word out of Connor’s mouth. He was adorable when he was flustered.

“What’s a half-sibling? How can you be half of a brother? What’s the other half?” Benji asked.

Connor bopped the boy on the head with a piggie. “We have the same mom, but different dads, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Benji looked pensive. “Where is your dad?”

“I don’t know,” Connor admitted. “I’ve never met him.”

Micah looked up from her notebook. “Really?”

Connor nodded.

“That’s sad,” Benji said. “Maybe he’s dead like my dad.”

Sean’s face clouded over, and he busied himself adding more carrot slices to the trail.

“Maybe,” Connor said. “I don’t know.”

Sean and Fiona exchanged a glance, then continued working. Beau shifted from one foot to the other, feeling very much the intruder. There was obviously a story here, and not a happy one.

“I love your hair,” the Fiona said. “How do you get it like that? All those shades?”

“Shades!” Connor said. “That’s the word.”

Beau ran his fingers through his hair self-consciously. “Oh, I have a guy,” he answered vaguely. The truth was he had a team of guys in Los Angeles who took six hours with his hair twice a month or so. It was his one indulgence.

“So, how about that wedding?” he asked. He clapped his hands together and the tension broke, everyone moving as if on cue.

“Sean, can you get that table and bring it underneath the streamers?” Connor asked.

Within five minutes, the ceremony was ready to begin. Mac and Cheese were placed on the table, with Connor standing behind them. The girls stood on Mac’s side (or was it Cheese’s?) while Benji took his place beside the groom guinea pig.

Beau sat on one end of the couch. Sean took the other end, shot him a glance, looked away, and then looked again.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. We’re gathered here today to celebrate the union of Mac and Cheese. If there is anyone who objects to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace.” Connor glared over at Sean, who had opened his mouth. Sean snapped his mouth shut.

The commanding look in Connor’s eyes sent a shiver through Beau. Oh, the things he would do to Connor if they were alone.

It looked like Sean wasn’t the only who objected to the union, though. The bride had turned away from the groom and was making a valiant effort to leave him at the altar. Fortunately, Fiona grabbed her (him?), and the ceremony continued.

Connor looked down at the groom. “Mac, do you take Cheese to be your unlawfully wedded huspig? To have and to hold from this day forward, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, ‘til de— as long as you both shall live?”

“He does,” Micah said quickly.

“Okay. Cheese, do you take Mac to be your unlawfully wedded huspig? To have and to hold from this day forward, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, as long as you both shall live?”

“He does,” Benji said solemnly.

“Then I now pronounce you guinea and pig,” Connor said. “You may kiss the groom. Or not. Whatever.”

Benji and Micah made the guinea pigs ‘kiss’. Beau joined in with the clapping.

“Okay, if you guys can set up the party, I’ll be right back,” Connor said. “I need to change.”

“Don’t change on my account,” Beau said with a smile. “You look great.”

Connor grinned. “Besides the fact that I’m probably violating a buncha regs, it’s not the most comfortable thing to wear.”

“I promise not to report you.”

“Actually,” Connor said with a frown, “why don’t you come with me. My stuff is still in the trailer. I can show you where you’d be staying. If you want it, I mean.”

“Oh, I want it,” Beau said with a pointed look. Was Connor actually blushing? That was hot. Beau stood up. “Let’s go.”