Jay's Loelife Ch. 32

When I pull away, he chases my lips and then groans when I'm out of reach. For a second, I think he's going to pounce on me.

"It's always on your terms," he grumbles. He's conveniently forgotten that we're abstaining now because he wants to. I don't press it.

"Sixty-three days left." I remind him, even though he has an app on his phone that has it broken down to the second. Since Loren is not known for his romance, the countdown isn't set for the wedding but for the exact moment we should arrive at our honeymoon suite via his very specific flight time and Uber route calculations, and you better believe he factored in traffic for that time of day. The title of the countdown is Boner Resuscitation.

Classy and romantic.

"Let's just hope it still works." Loren stands and holds out his hand. "Let's do one more run, and I'll let you off the hook for the rest of the day."

He drags me up the lift one more time. When we get to the top, Loren hops off the lift and glides out of the way, then laughs when he turns and finds me crawling out of the way so I don't have to stop the lift from running like they did earlier.

****

The kids are still awake, but probably not for long. We should be inside, but there's something to be said for the moonlight reflecting off the snow capped trees. So, we have the fire pit and outdoor heaters running full bore.

"Do you know what you're doing for your honeymoon?" Courtney pulls the blanket tighter around little Milo.

I'm holding Maggie. They're both asleep and cute as hell all bundled up.

"We're having sex," Loren yells from the other side of the fire where he's supposed to be in his own conversation and not eavesdropping on ours.

I ignore him. "I'm sure it's a week-long stay in a sex dungeon or something."

"Yep," he says without taking his eyes off his phone or his ear away from the conversation he's supposed to be in.

Courtney covers her laugh with her hand. She has an affinity for Loren for the same reason I have an affinity for Lars. Moments like these remind her just how much they're alike.

"Lars knows but he won't tell me. Says I can't be trusted not to tell you." We laugh because he's not wrong. With Lars and Loren growing closer than ever, Courtney and I have, too, by default.

Aidan speed walks to me, wrapped up in a fleece blanket. He bounces on his toes and pouts. I shift Maggie to one arm and help Aidan crawl up on my other side. "What's up, Aido Potato?"

"Can I sleep with you and Uncle Lowen tonight?"

Two seconds later, a little redhead comes walking out, also wrapped in a burrito blanket. I look up and see Seamus and Matt pretending like they didn't just send his kids on a secret mission.

"I bet you wanna stay with us, too?"

Carson smiles, then looks around. When he spots Loren, his eyes light up and he waddles awkwardly around the patio and throws himself in Loren's lap. "Sweepy?"

Loren smiles and pulls Carson into his arms. "You want to sweepy with us? Sure, why not? It's not like anything fun will be happening anyway." He looks at Corey and then Isaac and shrugs. "What about Mya and Wyatt? Do they want to sweepy over?"

Reinforcements are in full swing tonight.

****

I feel like I'm helping someone steal the Mona Lisa as I tighten the straps on the carrier. "You sure they're okay with this?"

"Matt said it's fine."

"And Seamus?"

"Matt said it's fine," Loren repeats.

I laugh because I'm about to get my ass handed to me. Seamus is crazy protective over his kids. I don't know how he'll feel about us defying him like this.

"Ready?" Corey asks as he effortlessly slides to stop next to us with a cute Mya bundled up and strapped to his chest.

Loren adjusts his own straps. When Carson is safely secured to his back, he smiles. "Ready." Then he looks at me. "Meet you at the bottom?"

Cole activates the video drone that's going to follow them down the mountain. Once the drone is in the air, the friends smile at each other and take off down the hill. I watch until they disappear, then hop on the snowmobile and follow. I get to the bottom just in time to see them come out from between the trees. I know they're not going that fast, but they're going fast for me, and way too fast for Seamus.

Matt rubs his husband's arm. "Calm down. He's snowboarded with Shaun White. He's practically a professional."

Seamus takes a deep breath and doesn't immediately kill Loren when they finally come to a stop in front of us. That's good.

Loren's grinning like I've never seen before and it only takes a moment to realize it's because Carson is laughing so hard he's breathless. Carson has always been kind of...serious, so it's a little stunning to see him like this. It's also contagious. Even Seamus can't hold back the chuckle as his youngest continues to giggle.

Loren bends down and grabs his board. He looks at Matt and Seamus with hopeful eyes. "One more run?"

I can tell Seamus is nervous, but he can't deny Carson his happiness, and he knows Loren wouldn't harm him.

I run them up to the top with the snowmobile. This time Loren records himself as they come down and ends up with a nice six minute video of the tyke belly laughing the entire way down. He thinks snowboarding is the funniest thing he's ever done. #muggetmoguls

After that, Loren gets Aidan ready for a turn. Aidan has the training harness on. Loren uses the slope ropes to help steer him and tethers the front of his skis with the wedgie, so he stays in control. I'm fairly certain Loren has never trained a kid to ski before, but you'd never know it as he tows Aidan around the mountain, then skis down the hill with Aidan between his legs, using his own larger skis as a guide for Aidan's smaller ones.

"Are you sure he doesn't want kids?"

I look at Seamus and smile. "I'm positive."

"He's really pretty good with them."

"He's more than pretty good. He's amazing. He loves being an uncle. He likes being able to do this stuff with them. But he really likes it when they go home and he can do whatever he wants without them."

Seamus chuckles. He knows the feeling.

We watch Aidan as he smiles brightly, eyes wide, excited to be skiing all by himself...even though Loren is guiding Aidan like a puppeteer does their marionette.

Then it's Carson's turn. He has total trust in Loren and he thinks actual snowboarding is just as funny as riding on Loren's back. He laughs and laughs as Loren pulls him around the bunny slopes.

"How cute are these kids in their little helmets and goggles?" Courtney gushes in a squeaky high-pitch voice as she watches from the outdoor patio. It's really nice that the place we're staying is a ski-in/ski-out. The slopes are our literal back yard.

While Loren does all the work, we stand by the giant heaters and keep warm, keeping an ear open for the sleeping twins.

"That will be them next year," I tell her.

"Neither Lars nor I had this growing up. There are a lot of reasons I'm glad you and Lars reconnected, but having you as an uncle is taking the cake."

"Just imagine if you guys moved to Denver. That cute house down the street is calling your name. All you have to do is say the word."

Courtney grins in excitement, then frowns. "Lars doesn't want Loren to think he's taking advantage of him."

"He doesn't, trust me."

"Yeah, but he already paid off both our student loans."

I lean in closer, catching her eyes so she could read the sincerity in mine. "He would do so much more if he just had the chance. Having Lars back in his life is a gift with no price tag. He wants you guys to be closer and there isn't anything he won't do to make it happen."

Court smiles guiltily, knowing she's revealing one of Lars' secrets. "Between me and you, Lars is on the verge of caving. He wants nothing more than to be close to Loren."

Loren will be happy to apply a bit more pressure to make it happen.

Later, the kids are back with their parents. Loren and I take a walk through the snow. I lean close to him. "I wish you would put me between your legs and show me how to ski. I feel like I got shafted..."

Loren looks appalled, then shoves me into a small snowy tree. I can't help but laugh at how he's changed over the years. It seems like yesterday he was trying to get into my pants. Now he's the reason we're still waiting.

For as long as I can remember, my ideal man was someone whose values reflected mine. When I saw Loren for the first time, I knew in my gut that he was the one for me. I did not know how different we were. Loren was the triangle to my circle and yet our shapes fit so perfectly together.

I had the patience that he needed back then, and he has the patience that I need now. Ying and yang.

I brush the snow off and grab his hand and bring it to my lips. "Sixty-two days."

His dark eyes have a bit of a twinkle and his cheeks flush from the cold. Or maybe it's the reminder of our pending nuptials.

Sixty-two days until the rest of my life starts.

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