Checking It Twice (Crashing Book 2) by Samantha Wayland Read Free Book Online Page B

He winked at Mike over Oliver’s head, then pretended to
be oblivious when Oliver turned to squint up at him suspiciously.
    He’d been practicing his perfectly innocent
face all the way home from his shopping expedition. He and Mike would be busy
that night assembling their big gift to Christian and Oliver and their fathers.
Alexei was still torn about whether it was enough of a gift to give Rupert and
Callum, but he was stumped on what else they could give two men who had become
like brothers to them over the past year.
    It was a tricky year for Christmas present
all around, for Alexei. He was pretty sure he’d gotten the perfect gift for
Mike. As certain as he felt, he still had bouts of nerves. But watching Mike
run his hands through Oliver’s hair and smiling at Christian, the huge tree
glowing behind him, the nerves weren’t anywhere to be found.
    Mike came over to where he hovered in the
doorway still and kissed him hello. “How’d it go?”
    Alexei grimaced, recalling the past two
hours. “Remind me to never, ever put off shopping until Christmas Eve again. It
would take an honest-to-god Christmas miracle to get me to go back into a store
again today.”
    Mike laughed and kissed him again, perhaps
thinking that would soothe Alexei’s ragged nerves.
    And, actually, it worked.
    Alexei and Mike both cocked their heads
when they felt the vibrations from the elevator through the floor. Rupert and
Callum, after disappearing for several hours, were apparently home.
    Alexei wondered what they could possibly
have been up to. They’d answered his texts with enough vague non-answers to
make Alexei suspect they had a surprise in store.
    Nothing could have prepared him for what
that surprise was.
    Mike opened the door to the apartment when
the lift came to a stop, and the boys turned to look as Rupert came through the
door with a huge grin on his face, followed closely by Callum carrying a small
bundle of blankets. He was grinning, too.
    He stopped and then carefully turned the
bundle so they could all see what was tucked inside.
    A baby.
    Alexei’s heart stopped as tiny blue eyes
stared vaguely at all of them.
    Christian shot to his feet from the couch.
    Oliver ran to Callum. “Who is that?”
    Callum crouched down so Oliver could see
the baby better, and they all leaned in. Mike’s hand slipped into Alexei’s, and
he jolted when Christian ran into him in order to peer over his shoulder. He
hadn’t been aware he’d stopped breathing when his eyes had locked onto that
perfect little face.
    “This,” Callum said, putting his arm around
Oliver’s shoulder and pulling him closer, “is Eleanor.”
    Christian slid past Alexei and knelt in the
middle of their little circle. Callum slipped the baby—Eleanor—into Christian’s
arms, careful to support her until he was certain Christian had her safely
tucked close.
    Christian looked down at the little girl
like he’d never seen anything like her. Or anything so beautiful. “Is she
ours?” he asked with wonder in his voice.
    Rupert leaned against Alexei and let out a
damp chuckle. Alexei immediately wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
    “She’s going to stay with us,” Rupert explained.
    “Forever?” Oliver asked, hopeful.
    Callum looked up at his husband, and Alexei
wasn’t surprised to see Oliver wasn’t the only one practically radiating hope.
    “We’re not sure,” Rupert admitted slowly. “Eleanor’s
mother was staying at Pathways, but sometime last night she disappeared. Gabriel
called us because we’re registered foster parents, and he knows” —Rupert
swallowed heavily— “that we would want to take care of her if her mother
couldn’t.”
    Christian and Oliver both nodded, as if this
were obvious.
    “Just like you did when my mom left me,”
Oliver said in a perfectly matter-of-fact voice.
    Callum pulled the little boy closer. “Yeah,
Ollie. Just like that.”
    “What if she comes back?” Oliver asked, and
it was clear he was