Pete chewed on his nails. He hadn’t been the kind of guy to do that before. He’d prided himself on keeping cool in a crisis.

Through every ebb and flow in Dmitry’s fortunes, Pete had managed to keep his level head and present a smiling and sunny face to the world. He’d managed to dance even after Dmitry cracked three of his ribs, giving a performance that brought down the house in Sacramento. He’d driven a car with Dmitry hidden in the trunk through no fewer than three police checkpoints in Nevada, all without breaking a sweat.

Come to think of it, maybe he shouldn’t look at that particular incident as a point of pride. It would have been a perfect opportunity to sell out. Of course, Dmitry would have shot him then and there, and it would probably have put the cops in question in danger, but still. He could have been free.

Maybe it was the hormones that had him waking up in the middle of the night to hide in a corner, shaking. Maybe it was the baby that made him gnaw his nails to jagged little pieces as he paced in “his” palatial apartment, waiting for word. Sure, he could sit around and order things online, and he could decorate the apartment to whatever tastes he liked, but he knew he wouldn’t be the one who got to enjoy it.

If he’d had any doubts, his conversation with Cooper a few days after Ty interrupted his plans with Keegan put them to rest pretty quickly.

“You know you can’t stay here, right?” Cooper sprawled on one of the soft, comfortable chaises Pete had chosen for the living room. They’d only arrived that day. Pete hadn’t had a chance to enjoy them yet, and Keegan hadn’t seen them at all. “The chances that your child will ever sleep in that crib in there are pretty minimal.”

Pete glared at Cooper. “I thought you were going to let me stay.” He knew he shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up, but the fact that Cooper was tearing them down so quickly still pissed him off.

Cooper sighed heavily. “I am ‘letting’ you stay. I’m giving this crazy plan of Cupcake’s a chance to work out. I’m just saying, I don’t have a lot of faith. I’m concerned. Dmitry should be in town by now, but we haven’t seen any sign of him. Why do you think that is?”

Pete closed his eyes and turned toward the window. “I don’t know; because he’s been doing this for a really long time, and he knows what he’s freaking doing?

“Maybe he’s onto us. Maybe he’s got food poisoning. Maybe he got distracted en route by the world’s largest ball of twine and decided to take a detour.”

“Maybe.” Cooper hummed and scratched at his chin. He had a few stray whiskers here and there. Usually, Cooper kept his facial hair neatly trimmed, but he hadn’t been as meticulous about his grooming lately.

“Or maybe he’s outsmarted us already. I don’t know. I’m not trying to scare you here, Pete.

“I like Cupcake, I think you’re good together, and I want his plan to work. I just think we need to manage our expectations. Do you have your bags packed?”

Pete flopped down onto the other chaise. “I’ve unpacked. I’ve settled in.”

Cooper went silent, in the same way the principal in grade school went silent just before handing out a detention. “You know better.” So much accusation in three little words.

“I want better.” Pete didn’t hesitate. He was hurt, and he was angry, and he wanted Cooper to know it. “I know why we have to be ready, but come on, Marshal. What if this works? What if you do manage to take Dmitry down this time? And make it stick?”

“Then he’ll probably have subordinates gunning for you here on the outside. It’s not like he’d be the first crime boss to be making those calls from inside a cell. Remember Pablo Escobar? How about Al Capone, or Lucky Luciano?

You can’t assume you’re safe even once Dmitry’s in a Supermax, Pete. It’s not realistic. You still need to be ready to go at any second. And the fact that Dmitry gets grabbed in New York means…”

“Means they’ll know where to look for the snitch.” Pete slumped further down in his seat. No one in the world was more hated than a snitch.

When he’d first testified against Dmitry, he’d found three headless rats outside his hotel room door the next day — one for each member of the Trinity. Sometimes Pete still saw their bodies, if he closed his eyes.

“You have to be prepared to leave, Pete. I know it sucks. I know you deserve better.

I want you to be able to stay here for the rest of your life. I want you to have the chance to stay with Cupcake. Get married — on the down low, though, because his parents are sewer rats with diamond rings — and have a few more little ones running around. But that’s not how this works. You know this.”

Cooper bowed his head. “If we don’t catch Dmitry in the next week or so, we’re going to have to move you. It’s getting too hot. And if we do catch Dmitry in the next week or so, we’re still going to have to move you.”

“Because it’s already too hot.” Pete rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. “I know I did the wrong thing. I shouldn’t have said yes to Dmitry. I shouldn’t have married him. I shouldn’t have stayed with him as long as I did. Yeah, I was terrified of what he’d do to me if I left, but I still saw what he was doing. And I didn’t find the courage to leave.

“I just — it seems unfair, you know? I was a victim. I still have scars.

“Those tattoos that your agency removed? I didn’t ask for any of them. I didn’t even consent to any of them. They just held me down and marked me up, like I was prized cattle.

“I did eventually find the courage. I ran. I turned myself in. I agreed to testify. I guess I just don’t understand why I have to be under a life sentence, while he and everyone who helped him gets to skate.”

Cooper sat up and leaned forward. “You know, it’s not like we’re not trying.” His voice was soft and kind, and it didn’t help at all.

“I know. I’m sorry.” Pete folded his hands in his lap and looked down. Then he sat up and put his feet on the floor.

“I’m mostly sorry. I don’t mean to accuse you, personally. But I am angry.

“I’ve done what I said I’d do. There has to be one more answer out there, some other option, besides picking up and running all the time. There just has to be.”

“That’s the way it works.” Cooper shook his head, jaw set. “That’s just how it is. I get your frustration.”

“Do you?” Pete stood up. “You work your job. You get called out at night. You work very hard, and I appreciate it, I do.

“But at the end of the day, when you’re not here working with me, or with someone else, you’re at home. With your wife, and your baby daughter. At holidays, you get to be with people who love you, people who know you.

“I have a chance here, Marshal. I have a chance to be here with someone who loves me. He hasn’t said those words, but he’s said enough.

“I can see it in his face. I can see it in the chances he takes for me. I can see it in the way he treats me when we make love, even when we’re just hanging out and watching television.

“He’s excited for the baby, too. Did you know Dmitry told me if I got pregnant, he’d throw me into the ocean, chained to concrete?”

Cooper’s eyes bulged. “That didn’t come out at trial.”

“Of course not. He wasn’t on trial for spousal abuse.” Pete snorted. “Keegan wants this baby. He’s already bought it, of all things, a little stuffed piggy.”

“Look, Pete, it’s great that he wants to be a good dad, but —” Cooper did a double take. “Did you just say a piggy?”

“Yeah. A stuffed pig. He says every other dad buys their kid stuffed bears, and all that crap. He wants our baby’s first toy to be a stuffed piggy, because it’s different. And because when they fall asleep and they’re all little like that, they kind of look like little piglets.”

Pete softened just thinking about it, and the little stuffed animal sitting in the crib in the nursery. There wasn’t enough room in his go-bag for the piggy. He’d have to find some other way to carry it.

Cooper was less enthralled. “That whole family is nuts. Maybe not Tyler, but then again, he’s still got those genes of theirs. Are you sure you want to go mixing with those people? Because they’re psychotic. Every last one of them is crazier than a shithouse rat. Every last one.”

He shook his head and pulled himself together. “Here’s the thing, Pete. You can’t stay if you want to live long enough to deliver this baby. You can send it back to him after it’s born, but you can’t stay in New York. There’s just too much of a risk that Dmitry will be able to order your execution from prison.”

Pete licked his lips. “Why? Why would he do that? I’m not a threat to him, once he’s locked up.

“And I’m not even going to be testifying about the escape. He’ll get ten years on top of his sentence, which was already going to be life anyway. Even if his conviction is overturned, he’ll still lose all power within his syndicate by the time he gets out.”

Cooper pulled back. “You’re not honestly going to risk your child’s life on that.”

“You know what?” Pete stood tall. “Why wouldn’t I? What the hell kind of life would it be, anyway?

“When it was just me, it was fine. I’d made my bed, it was fine to lie in it. I never questioned whether or not I deserved what I’d gotten.

“But damn it, this is a child. This child should not be punished for my mistakes. He should not have to pick up stakes and run, every couple of years or less, and not ever be able to form attachments, all because I stupidly married a guy who turned out to be someone I didn’t think he was. Okay? It’s not fair to my child.”

Cooper stayed where he was. Dark shadows rimmed his eyes, and he leaned heavily on his elbows. “Look. I’m not judging you, okay? It’s just that, well, sex does have consequences. And one of them, even when we try to prevent it, is pregnancy.

“I mean, at the end of the day, having sex at all was probably not the best choice.” He held up his hands. “And I know, it’s asking a lot. I get that. But man, this was always a possibility. And now here you are. It should be a happy occasion, but it’s not going to lead to any happy endings.”

Pete set his jaw. He’d found courage before. “Well, it will this time.”

Cooper narrowed his eyes at him. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m not willing to go anywhere without Keegan.” He took a deep breath. “Once Dmitry is caught, I’m staying where Keegan is.

“I’d rather keep working with the Program. I would. But if I have to, I will leave. It’s not right, Marshal. It’s not right to punish this child.” Pete put his hand on his flat belly.

Cooper pursed his lips. “Have you discussed this with Cupcake?”

Pete looked away for a second. “No.” Then he met Cooper’s eyes again. “No, of course not. You only brought it up just now.” He glared at Cooper. “Why, has he said anything to you?”

Cooper shook his head. “I believe he does care about you. I even believe he loves you, if you can love a person after such a short time together. He’s definitely got strong feelings for you. That’s a fact.

“But here’s the thing, Pete. He loves you enough to let you go if he has to. He wants you alive. He wants that baby alive.

“He’s willing to spend the rest of his life alone, as long as you’re out there somewhere. You’re his top priority, with the baby running a close second.

“You need to sit down with him and figure out what it is you both want. I honestly don’t see a path forward here, but if you do, that’s fabulous. Figure it out and go from there.

“But seriously, Pete, my whole job is keeping you safe. This, where you want to just stay here and be a sitting duck? That’s not tenable, man.”

Pete retreated to the bedroom, a magnificent sea of soothing blues and purples. He’d designed it for himself and Keegan, but maybe Cooper was right. Maybe there was no path forward for them.

Maybe they just had to sit back and accept it. They were going to be separated at the end of all of this. Keegan would stay in New York, and Pete would go … somewhere else.

The only thing was, there weren’t many cities in the US that didn’t have links to the Russian mob. Pete knew that as well as anyone involved with the Marshals Service. He’d met people in little enclaves stretching from California to Maine. New York had been his safest bet, because he could avoid Russians most easily here, and because in such a large city, the odds of running into anyone familiar were slim to none.

If New York wasn’t safe, none of the other cities would be either. They’d already rejected Los Angeles and Dallas, because Dmitry’s influence there was too great. Boston was out for the same reason. He had to stick to cities because of the marshals.

If he couldn’t find safety anyplace else, why not stay in New York? Yes, Dmitry was coming here. He would still have to winnow through eight million people to find him, not counting people who lived in the suburbs.

He and Keegan could escape to Hoboken, maybe. Or they could get a place in one of the Connecticut suburbs, and raise their child there. It would be nice, to have a little garden, maybe, or a front porch.

Not that he was naively going to assume it would work. He’d already been disappointed so many times before.

Pete needed to talk with Keegan. Maybe Keegan had already decided he regretted getting together with Pete and would welcome the separation forced by Witness Protection.

Then again, maybe not. Pete had been with guys who were killing time until they found an excuse before. Keegan wasn’t one of those guys.

Keegan loved him. Maybe they would work, maybe they wouldn’t, but they would try.

Dmitry had taken years of Pete’s life away, both in his youth, and then when he’d gone into witness protection. There was no way on earth Pete was going to let Dmitry take anything more.

Keegan usually felt nothing but gratitude for his prodigious alcohol tolerance. It had gotten him farther in business, and in the Hellion Club, than almost any other talent in his repertoire.

Every once in a while, however, he found himself in a situation where he wished he could get as blitzed as possible, as fast as he could. Then, his super-powered liver felt more like a curse than a gift.

Ty, sitting in his customary spot beside Beau at the family brunch table, probably felt the same way. At least, the look on his face said so.

He looked like he wanted to stab himself in the eye with his fish fork. Or maybe stab someone else in the eye with his fish fork. Either way, someone was getting stabbed.

Keegan reached out and carefully stole the fish fork from his brother’s place setting.

Ty used his middle finger to scratch at his eyebrow.

One of the servers rolled his eyes dramatically. Keegan was pretty sure neither Beau nor Ed saw it. The guy would have been fired on the spot if either of them had. Neither of Keegan’s dads tolerated “mouthy behavior” from the servants, and mouthy behavior extended to facial gestures that did not involve the mouth.

Keegan had certainly fallen afoul of the rule more than once. Deference, above all else. That was Ed’s motto.

“We’re going to Georgia in six weeks,” Beau informed them. He was clearly still mad at Ty, because he wouldn’t even look directly at him. His anger didn’t stop him from trying to order his younger son’s life.

“Tyler, you’ll be joining us, of course. Your cousin Rylan asked about you particularly. He says he has a friend who might be interested in you. He’s an alpha, thirty-seven, who isn’t an investment banker, but does own a tech start-up down in Savannah.”

Ty took a gulp from his mimosa. “I haven’t passed the bar in Georgia, and it’s kind of short notice to put in for vacation time. Also, while not being an investment banker is a huge point in Start-Up Guy’s favor, being friends with Rylan cancels it out. Rylan’s an ass.”

Beau fake-gasped, pressing his hand to his chest. If he’d worn pearls, he’d have clutched them. Ed glowered at Ty. “Rylan,” he pronounced in a terrible voice, “is your flesh and blood. And an alpha. You’ll talk about him with respect.”

Keegan intervened before Ty could set his fathers off further. “Fine. Speaking as an alpha, Rylan is an ass. Specifically, he’s the kind of ass who marches around cities in which he doesn’t live, carrying tiki torches and shouting about how other people will not replace him. He’s also the kind of ass who runs around in a white sheet, and I don’t mean on Halloween.”

Keegan stabbed into his French toast with ferocity. “Don’t get me wrong. Not everyone in Georgia is like that. Cousin George isn’t like that. Cousin Rylan, on the other hand, is, and I fully support Ty’s decision to put a decontamination zone between Rylan’s friends and himself.”

Ed sneered at Keegan. “Your cousin George has a mohawk, dyed in every color of the rainbow. He’s majoring in film studies, for crying out loud.”

“Excellent. Good for him. I bet the mohawk looks great on him. Tell him to friend me on the Book Face Thing. I’ll make sure he gets a job.”

He would, too. George fit in with the rest of the family about as well as Keegan did. Keegan felt he owed it to the kid to help him out. Black sheep had to stick together. Eventually, maybe they could form a flock of their own. Or was it a herd?

“You can’t write off eligible alphas because they don’t agree with your politics.” Ed turned his head away from Keegan, hair swishing like fringe. He focused on Ty instead. “Alphas don’t talk politics with their omegas, anyway. It’s best if omegas don’t have opinions about politics.”

Ty took another slug from his mimosa. He’d drained it by this point. The same server who’d rolled his eyes at the brothers’ boyish antics replaced it with another one. Ty murmured a thank you before proceeding.

“Here’s the thing. There’s having no opinions on politics, and then there’s defending a senator accused of corruption. Which I’m doing next week. So, with all due respect —”

Keegan interrupted again. Ty wasn’t drunk, that was the whole problem. Maybe they’d all be better off if they were truly lit and could just rehash embarrassing incidents from adolescence, like normal families. Keegan knew that happened. He’d seen it at other people’s homes.

“So, hey. I took a look at that building over in SoHo, the one with the restaurant space. I’m just about ninety percent sure I’ve found a tenant for the main space.”

Ed curled his lip. “SoHo is gauche.” Then he paused. “What are you thinking of doing with it?”

Ty narrowed his eyes. “Does that mean you’re considering it?” He reached for his fish fork again. Keegan rapped his knuckles with his dessert spoon.

“Why, does that mean you want to buy in?” Keegan grinned, chin jutting out in challenge. He loved working with Ty on real estate projects.

“How much work does it need?” Ty bit down on the inside of his cheek. “I’ll admit I’m a little in love with the property itself, and I’ve got a colleague looking to strike out on his own who could use the office space.

“He would pay a good price for the location, too. He’s not necessarily ready yet, but he will be by the time moderate renovations are done. Don’t worry; I’m not looking to cut Gary any deals on rent.”

“Awesome. Because it’s structurally sound and won’t require more than cosmetic reno. For the restaurant, they’ll be on the hook for their own.”

Keegan reached across the table to offer his hand to his brother. Ty would draw up a contract later, but for now the handshake would cover it. The handshake was all Keegan really needed anyway, at least with Ty.

Beau turned up his nose and sniffed. “Vulgar.” He sipped delicately from his mimosa, which Keegan suspected was mostly orange juice by this point. The server wasn’t serving Beau from the same tray as the rest of them.

And whose idea had that been? Had Ty made a suggestion, in private? Or had Ed had a word with the staff?

“It’s not as if I’ve hocked your jewelry yet.” Keegan grinned at his father, showing teeth.

He’d been thinking about family a lot recently. His parents were clearly obsessed with having a grandchild, and to some extent he got that. He wouldn’t have understood before he found out about Pete’s pregnancy, but he understood better now. Children meant an after, and he guessed that grandchildren would mean even more of an after.

His own grandparents had been a big deal in his life. His father’s father had loved taking him around New York, telling him stories about the way things used to be. It had been Grandpa who had introduced him to the Hellion Club, too.

His dying request had been about the Club. You see what we can be. Make us better.

Beau and Ed might rise to the occasion. It was entirely possible for them to become stand-up people who celebrated their progeny in a meaningful way.

The mythical sewer alligators of New York might travel through the pipes to bite people on the toilets of Manhattan, too. It wasn’t likely, but anything was possible.

As Beau and, to a lesser extent, Ed, renewed their pressure on Ty to give them grandchildren they could parade around and share pictures of, Keegan considered his own position. He could hardly contain his excitement about his impending baby Keegan. Whether it was a boy or a girl, it was still his child, and as such, he was immensely proud of it.

As it was also Pete’s child, Keegan was prouder still.

He tried to picture Beau and Ed being presented with a son-in-law who wasn’t from the knickerbocker aristocracy. It didn’t work. Not only was Pete not a son of old New York, or old Georgia, or any kind of Old Money, he’d been a ballet dancer before his first marriage.

He’d been someone who made a living from the display of his body. Beau and Ed would feel the same way about anyone in a similar position — models, actors, porn stars, athletes. Beau and Ed lived in a bygone era, one that was best left as a long-gone relic.

Keegan wasn’t ashamed of Pete. He was ashamed of his parents.

The thing was, Pete had been through so much. He’d come up through poverty. He’d survived ballet school, which sounded like hell on earth to Keegan.

He’d endured marriage to a man who’d made it onto the Most Wanted list, and he’d found the courage to turn around and testify against the wretched man and his whole damn syndicate.

Pete was the strongest man alive. He could more than take on Beau and Ed. Beau and Ed thought they were important, but they weren’t even gnats in the eye of a man like Pete.

A man like Pete shouldn’t ever be subjected to men like Beau and Ed.

Pete could take it. He could handle whatever they could dish out. He’d probably fall back on his tried and true “I don’t speak English” routine, which had gotten him out of more jams than even Pete cared to admit, but he could handle it.

Keegan’s job, as the alpha, was to protect Pete. Part of protecting him meant keeping him safe from guys like Beau and Ed, men who would only want to tear him down.

And the baby! The baby’s gender didn’t matter, not as a small child. Ed would ignore it, except to keep pictures of the baby prominently displayed behind his desk (where he didn’t have to see them).

Keegan could see it now. The pictures would be displayed like icons in church, but Ed wouldn’t recognize the baby if he saw it toddling down the street. His own childhood had been like that, and Ty’s had been worse.

Keegan’s child, if acknowledged, would be no different.

He stood up abruptly, so suddenly that even Ty jumped. “Is everything okay?” Beau blinked up at him.

“Peachy. I just got a text; I need to take off. Ty, do you want a ride?” Keegan turned to his brother.

Ty drained an entire mimosa in one gulp. “Yeah. Please.”

Keegan summoned a Lyft. They stood outside their parents’ dreadful Gothic pile, waiting for it to arrive. “So, who is he?” Ty asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Keegan jumped. “There’s no he.”

“You’re so full of crap you could be a sewer truck. Come on, man. I’m okay if you can’t say anything, but don’t insult my intelligence. It’s got a fragile ego, man.” Ty gave Keegan a pissy look.

Keegan sighed and dropped his voice. “Look. I can’t say. There are actual lives at stake here. But yeah. There’s someone.”

Ty stuffed his hands into his pockets. “That’s rough, man.”

Keegan gave Ty a funny look. “Okay, I get that you’re basically a space alien and you don’t react like a human, but can you maybe explain?”

Ty shrugged. “I don’t know who it is. Or where you are with them, and please, for the love of all that’s holy, don’t tell me. No one wants that mental image of their brother, not ever.

“But I think about what you went through with Juan. And I think about what I dealt with … you know. With him. And I look at our dads…”

Keegan sucked in his cheeks. He’d just been thinking the same thing, but it hurt to admit it. “Yeah. You’re thinking you’d rather take poison than expose someone you cared about to their BS.”

“Something like that.” Ty gave a thin smile. “One of these days, we’re going to have to do deal with them. You get that, right?”

“I’m good with now.” Keegan scanned the street for their Lyft.

“Legally, that’s a no. I have an obligation to say that. You get it, right?” Ty ran a hand through his hair. “Morally and personally, it’s a different story.”

He sighed. “Half the reason I don’t want to get married is because of them. I’m just — there’s nothing they won’t interfere with, you know? And whoever it is that you’re involved with, that you can’t tell me about…”

“Oh, they so wouldn’t tolerate him.” Keegan let out a bitter little laugh. “Not in a billion years.”

“Right.” Ty shoved his hands into his pockets. “Fun times.”

Keegan bit his tongue. He wanted to tell Ty everything. He wanted to tell him about Pete, and the baby, because Ty was his lawyer and handled all of his important crap. And because Ty was his brother. Ty was the only person who could ever understand what was going on with their parents, and the horror that went along with the mere possibility of having to introduce someone to them.

He couldn’t. Ty had too much going on, and Ty was under too much pressure. And frankly, too many people knew about Pete already. It gave Keegan a pang, but he had to keep this secret to keep Pete alive. Maybe someday he could tell Ty, but right now everything had to stay a secret.

When he got home, he headed over to Pete’s apartment. Cooper let him in. He was alone in the living room, which gave Keegan a moment of panic. Cooper set his mind at ease. “Pete’s in his room,” he told him. “He’s upset. I had a talk with him about managing expectations. It didn’t go well.”

Keegan narrowed his eyes at Cooper. “You were trying again to convince him that he needed to leave New York.”

Cooper threw his hands in the air. “It’s the only way to keep him safe! What, you think Dmitry is working alone here?”

Keegan snorted. “No, I don’t think Dmitry is working alone. I do think there comes a point when you have to say enough is enough. If he’s not safe here, he’s not going to be safe anywhere.

“But you already know what I think about that. We can talk about this later. At the end of the day, it’s entirely up to Pete. I kind of feel like he’s had enough of his choices taken away from him, and he’ll probably have even more now that he’s pregnant, right?”

Cooper snorted. “Probably. That’s usually how it works.”

“Look, we’ve got some time to worry about what comes after Dmitry, okay?” He made his way over to the master bedroom and knocked on the door. “Pete? It’s Keegan. Is it all right if I come in?”

Pete opened the door and let Keegan inside. “Sorry.” Pete glared at the wall between the master bedroom and the living room. “I’m just not up to dealing with more of Cooper’s crap today.”

“I hear that. Listen. I wanted to run an idea by you. How would you feel about not getting married?”

Keegan held his breath and studied Pete’s face, trying to gauge his reaction. It wasn’t good. Pete took a step back. “I thought you loved me.”

Keegan caught Pete up in his arms and kissed him. “I love you more than I have words to explain,” he promised. “I mean it.

“You’re the most important part of my life, Pete. You’re more important than my family, more important than my business, more important than the Hellion Club. Every minute I spend on any of those things pisses me off because they take me away from you.

“But Pete, I don’t need some piece of paper to say that.”

Pete blinked at him. “What are you saying?”

Keegan sat down on the bed. “I’m saying there are some serious issues to consider when it comes to marriage. Starting with the fact that a marriage becomes part of the public record, and if the people looking for you have some kind of bot trawling public records, then it puts you in danger.

“I’m saying that my parents would make life a living hell for anyone I married, and they’ll go to any length to try to force an ugly lifestyle on me and mine. You’re a god when it comes to things you can do and what you can and can’t take. But why put yourself through that if you don’t have to? Why put our kid — or hopefully, someday, our kids — through that?

“I can love you without a piece of paper. I can be faithful without a legal document basically forcing the issue. I want to give you everything, Pete. I just don’t want to make you miserable and unsafe in doing it.” Keegan looked into Pete’s eyes.

Peet looked down and huffed out a little laugh. “You know, that’s the most romantic request I’ve ever gotten from someone asking me not to marry them?” He stroked Keegan’s face. “I accept.”