“Smiles!” he heard a familiar female voice say. He quickly turned to the main doors as Teri, Chloe, Cate, Chad, and Dylan entered. They were as beautiful of a family as their pictures suggested. He forced himself to walk forward, his fake smile in place only because his nerves had heightened to all new levels.
“Teri?” Tristan asked, heading to her first. She was safe and on his side. Her face changed from one of frustration to one of happiness in the matter of a second. He reached out to shake her hand and she stretched up to hug him.
“Finally.” Her arms wrapped tightly around him, and he did the same, looking over at Dylan who lifted his brow at their exchange. He’d never revealed how instrumental she had been in bringing them together. Apparently by the look on his face, she hadn’t either.
“Tristan, I want you to meet our children,” she said, keeping an arm wrapped around him as she turned toward their crew. She was a tall woman, and in her high heels, she was very close to his six foot two inch height. “This is Cate, our youngest, Chad’s our middle, and Chloe’s our oldest. Guys, this is Mr. Wilder.”
Tristan took a deep breath. He’d never been good with children, but these three were so open and friendly, it didn’t take much.
“I’ve heard so much about you guys,” Tristan said, shaking each of their hands as he grinned at them all. “Cate, you and Chloe are beautiful. You look like your mom. I brought you guys some flowers.” He extended an arm, motioning toward some wrapped bouquets sitting on a credenza behind him.
“Chad, I’ve heard a lot about you. You look exactly like your father. It’s nice to meet you. I wanted to get you something too, but I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I brought you an autographed Clippers poster,” Tristan finished, taking a few steps backward to the gifts he’d brought.
For Dylan’s sake, he kept his eyes on Teri and the kids. They had entered with tension but seemed happy now and he didn’t want his new boyfriend to get skittish on this particular day.
“Dad, check this out. All the Clippers signed this!” Chad unrolled the poster, showing it off to Dylan.
“That’s awesome, Son,” Dylan said and offered out a hand to Tristan to initiate their greeting. That had Tristan looking at him for the first time since he’d walked into this room. Damn, his guy was hot and looked completely self-assured. His real smile spread as his cock plumped because Dylan smiled back at him, too, not creating the distance between them that Tristan had expected. Tristan shook Dylan’s hand, caressing a bit before he pulled away.
“They’re beautiful,” Cate said, smiling big as she lifted the bouquet to her nose. She went to stand by her mom, beaming up at her. He remembered Chloe was the serious one, and she gave a slight nod, but had a big grin as well. He hoped he’d done okay.
“Dylan, everyone’s ready downstairs for you.” A young woman from the public relations department stuck her head inside the door to announce.
“Do they need all of us?”
“I think so. It would be good to show a united front. We’ve got CNN and ABC downstairs, plus every newspaper and the Associated Press. Just about everyone came,” she said excitedly.
“Okay, good job! We’ll be down in a minute,” Dylan said, his tone turning more formal than before. A sure sign of his increasing nervousness.
“Tell Mr. Wilder thank you and let’s go put these in the cooler.” There was a three-way exclamation of thanks immediately given. He just smiled and nodded. “We’ll take these to the break room and put them in water and meet you at the elevator in five minutes,” Teri told Dylan directly. They exchanged something in that stare, something Tristan had no idea about. Then Teri said, “Chad, come with us.”
“Dad, can you put this in your office?” Chad asked, thrusting the poster in his hands. He never questioned his mother as he left in a flash to catch up with her and the girls as she marched down the hallway.
“This was very nice of you. They loved it,” Dylan said, heading toward his office. They were in the middle of renovating the conference room into a space for Tristan when he was in town, but right now, they were completely alone in this secluded area of the building.
Dylan stepped into his office, placed the poster on the desk, and used a large decorative mirror on one of the walls to straighten his tie and run a hand over his styled hair. He liked Dylan’s hair back off his forehead this way. Tristan quietly shut the door and twisted the lock before he walked up and stood behind Dylan. He studied their reflection. He’d never paid attention to the image they presented standing side by side before, but by his estimation, they looked pretty good together.
Dylan’s gaze shot to the door and then back up to Tristan’s reflection.
“You look great. I thought the pinstripe was my favorite on you. Now, I think this one might be.” Tristan pressed his chest against Dylan’s back and continued watching his reflection in the mirror. “I want to kiss you.”
“We agreed nothing at the office, that keeping the two independent of each other was best for now,” Dylan stated, not turning around.
“Yes, I agreed. But I still want a little kiss.” Dylan turned and took a step backward, eying him closely. Finally, he leaned in and gave him a quick peck.
“Okay, more than that. You left way too early this morning. Did you get your run in?” Tristan asked, taking a small step forward. Dylan started to answer, and Tristan reached out, grasped Dylan’s face between his palms, holding his lover in place while he kissed him.
The kiss was intense, but swift. He kissed Dylan like a man in love, which was an accurate description. When he pulled away, a moment of shock registered on Dylan’s handsome face. He loved that look, and he was growing to enjoy throwing the always steady Dylan Reeves off balance. Tristan retreated, taking another couple of steps backward so he wasn’t tempted to reach out for his lover again. “Now you have something to fix when you look in the mirror.”