Checking It Twice (Crashing Book 2) (5 page)

“We need to go shopping,” Rupert said with
a resigned sigh. “Can you hang around here a bit longer while we do that?”

“No,” Alexei said firmly, his voice quiet.
Everyone looked surprised. He huffed and tipped Eleanor up onto his shoulder.
“I mean, no, Mike and I will do it. You stay here and get Eleanor as settled as
you can. We’ll get everything you need.”

“But—”

“No, Alexei’s right,” Mike said quickly.
“You stay here. Maybe start clearing out the office? We’ll take care of the
rest.”

Alexei ran his hands over Eleanor’s back in
slow circles and thought about facing the crowds in the stores again. That
wouldn’t be nearly as hard as giving Eleanor to someone else to hold when it
was no longer his turn.

Or not making a total fool of himself when
Mike took her, and all he could do was rock on his feet and smile down at her
with such absolute happiness on his face.

By the time he and Mike had assembled a list,
made up a plan of action, and were ready to go, Callum and Rupert were shooting
them amused and pitying looks.

Rupert plucked Eleanor from Alexei’s arms.
“Thank you,” he said, a grin forming. “You know, Alexei, I don’t think I’ve
ever heard you speak so softly. I wasn’t sure you
could
.”

“Shut up,” Alexei murmured, pretending to
be annoyed. The fact that he said it so quietly only made Rupert grin more.

Mike laughed as he opened the door and held
it. “Come on, big guy. We’ve got credit cards to burn.”

Alexei cast one last look at Eleanor and
stepped into the hallway.

“Don’t go crazy, you two,” Rupert called
behind them. He tucked Eleanor against his chest, his cheek pressed to the top
of her head. “This could only be temporary.” He barely managed to choke out
that reminder.

Alexei nodded and closed the door behind
them.

Mike looked at the door for a long moment,
then at Alexei. “That poor baby. No one should have to be without their family
on Christmas.”

Alexei towed Mike into a long hug. “I know,
my love.”

Three hours later, Mike staggered onto the
elevator with the last of their purchases. He would defy anyone,
ever
,
to execute a more precision shopping trip. And on Christmas Eve, no less. He
and Alexei had gone to three stores and come back with the bed of Alexei’s
pick-up stuffed with supplies and surprises. Now it was all loaded into the
lift, along with him and Alexei—who was on his phone
again.

Mike couldn’t imagine who he was texting
now. It had made sense to send Rupert and Callum pictures and questions as they
went through the stores, since most of these decisions really were up to them,
but now they were home and going to see them in about two minutes. Couldn’t
whatever else Alexei wanted to tell them wait?

Mike shook his head at his boyfriend—not
that Alexei noticed—and tried to decide what they would tackle first once they
were unloaded. Maybe the crib. No, the bassinette. The saleswoman and Callum’s
mom had both assured them that for the next few weeks, at least, Eleanor would
probably need to sleep in Rupert and Callum’s room. It would make late-night
feedings and diaper changes easier.

Maybe the changing table after that. Oh,
and they had to get the tub set up and see if it would fit in the sink. And
clean the bottles and—

The lift jerked to a stop and Mike heaved
the doors open with a rueful smile at himself. It was going to be a busy day.

He led the way to Rupert and Callum’s
apartment, his attention focused on squeezing the huge bag of bedding and
clothes through the door with him. It wasn’t until he was standing in the foyer
that he noticed the normally chaotic apartment was silent.

He looked up, alarmed, and for a moment
stood silent, gaping, and wondered if he was seeing things.

“Hi, Mike,” his sister Jayne said
cheerfully, as if it were perfectly normal for her to be standing in the middle
of Rupert and Callum’s living room with Eleanor in her arms. She turned and
passed the baby off to Callum, though, when it became clear Mike was having a
hard time processing what he was seeing.

Mike dropped the bag he held, its contents
scattering into the hallway. “What? How—you—”

He gave up trying to say anything sensible and
lurched toward her. She met him halfway, both of them dancing over baby stuff
to avoid stepping on it, and jumped into his arms.

Mike hugged her so tight she squeaked.

“Merry Christmas,” she said, almost
strangling him back.

Mike spun her around, stopping when he
caught sight of Alexei hovering in the doorway, smiling fondly at them both.

“Thank you,” Mike said in Russian, his
voice rough. He had no doubt this had been Alexei’s doing.

“You’re welcome, my love,” he said back.

Jayne pushed at his shoulder and he let her
feet drop back onto the floor. “What are you two saying? And when did you learn
Russian?” she asked, poking at Mike’s stomach.

“Mike said thank you and Alexei said you’re
welcome and called Mike one of those gross names they call each other,” Oliver supplied
helpfully.

Alexei and Mike laughed. Rupert looked
stunned as he stood rocking Eleanor slowly. “Wait. When did
you
learn
Russian, Oliver?”

“Alexei has been teaching me and Mike. We
practice together sometimes.”

“Huh,” Rupert said with crooked smile for
Alexei. Alexei’s cheeks went pink.

Mike turned back to Jayne. “I can’t believe
you’re here. You said you had to spend Christmas in Toronto. I sent your gifts
there!”

Jayne pointed under the tree. “And now
they’re here. Thank god you didn’t send me anything really big, or I would have
had to pay Air Canada for extra luggage.”

“So you’re staying? For Christmas?”

Jayne rolled her eyes. “Of course I am. I
have to be back in three days, but you’re stuck with me until then.”

“Wow, that’s…wow. I’m so happy to see you,”
Mike said fervently, hugging his sister again. They hadn’t spent a holiday
together in four years. In fact, they’d hardly gotten to see each other at all since
he’d come out to his parents. He hadn’t been home once since then.

Which reminded him. He hated to ask, but…
“What about Mom and Dad?”

“What about them?”

“Didn’t you want to spend Christmas with
them?”

“Honestly? No. I haven’t wanted to for
years. I couldn’t afford the flight anyway, and they didn’t offer to fly me
home, unlike your darling boyfriend over there.”

Mike looked at Alexei again, feeling a twinge
of guilt when he saw Alexei and Callum were dragging in all the boxes and bags
from the elevator. “He did?”

“He gave me a choice. Here or home. I guess
it’s pretty obvious which I chose.”

Mike left his sister and went to Alexei,
pulling the bags from his hands and dropping them to the floor before he kissed
him. Alexei’s arms circled him immediately.

“There are children present!” Rupert called
from the kitchen, though he didn’t seem particularly bothered, based on how his
voice shook with laughter.

Mike drew back and smiled down at Alexei.
“Thank you. Best Christmas present ever.”

Alexei just rolled his eyes and chuckled.

Alexei flopped face first onto their bed at
approximately ass o’clock in the morning. The mattress shook as Mike landed
next to him.

“Oh my god,” Mike groaned into the bedding.
“I didn’t think we’d ever get it all done.”

Alexei would have chuckled, but he didn’t
have the energy left to do it. “I almost cried when Jayne went to bed,” he
admitted.

“You’re the one that insisted we didn’t
need her help and that she should get some rest.”

“I’m a good host.”

Mike rolled his face across the comforter
so that he could look at Alexei. His smile caused that chest-tightening thing
in Alexei again. “You’re amazing,” Mike said, his voice warm. “Thank you for
bringing Jayne here. And for all my other Christmas presents.”

Now Alexei did chuckle, since he hadn’t
actually given Mike any of his Christmas gifts yet. Jayne coming to Christmas
was as it should be, not a
gift
. It was what Mike wanted. And the whole
thing with Erik had just been dumb luck, as far as timing went. It could have
happened in March, if that’s when they had found the time.

Rather than tell Mike any of this, Alexei
just reached out and ran his hand through Mike’s hair, cupping the back of his
head to tug him closer.

Mike groaned with the effort, but dragged
himself the last foot closer until their mouths met.

There were so many things Alexei wanted.
All the time. Always. But his body just wasn’t going to cooperate tonight. He
hurt all over, but his knees, in particular, were going to take days to forgive
him, which was
bad
. Hockey goalies’ knees and hips were precious, and
Alexei’s didn’t have a lot of mileage left in them.

Not that he regretted abusing them today.
He was happy to have assembled the crib, then the bouncy seat, and the swing
and the bassinette and the changing table. While he’d done that, Mike had
either helped him or helped the others move the contents of the office into
storage or a corner of the dining room. It was going to be cramped, but this
way Rupert and Callum still had a place to work.

Jayne had spent that time opening all the
other packages and separating them into piles. Then she’d gone to the store to
get special laundry detergent that was safe for babies—
who knew?
—and run
all the clothes and blankets through the wash.

And, of course, everyone’s work took longer
than it should have, because not one of them could resist taking turns holding
Eleanor. They also all made a point of spending time with Oliver and Christian,
neither of whom seemed any less fascinated with Eleanor than the grown-ups.

Once they’d had dinner and the kids had
gone to sleep, Mike, Alexei, and Jayne had said their goodnights and gone back
to their apartment. They’d hovered around the door, giggling like children,
until after five minutes, Alexei had grabbed a six-pack and they’d snuck down
the fire stairs to the first floor.

That’s when the real work had begun.

They’d swept out a large area in the corner
of the unfinished concrete floor they’d been using as garage space, then washed
it thoroughly, all the while talking. Mike had put music on in his car and left
the doors open so they’d have something to fill the silences, but there hadn’t
been any. Mike and Jayne had caught up on mutual friends and family and Alexei
had listened in, happy to get to know Mike’s sister better. They’d spent time
together in the past, but this time felt different. Now she was on her own, no
longer beholden to her parents for tuition or anything else. And the first
thing she’d done was elect to spend the holidays with them. With Mike.

Alexei knew Mike missed his family in some
ways, especially around the holidays, and the smile on his face, the smile
in
his eyes
, made Alexei happy, too.

Once the floor had been perfectly clean,
Alexei had caught Jayne yawning and sent her off to bed. Then he and Mike had
crawled around with cans of paint until Alexei’s back was throbbing and his knees
were screaming at him to get up.

Putting up the basketball hoop to complete
the half court was pretty easy after that. Even better was coming upstairs to
find Jayne had finished cleaning up the pots and pans he’d left soaking from
dinner with Erik the night before.

Alexei pulled back from kissing Mike. “Your
sister is pretty great.”

Mike made a sour face. “Can we not talk
about my sister while I’m getting an erection?”

Alexei laughed and swatted Mike on the ass.
“Come on, then. Get up! Let’s get ready for bed.”

Mike groaned but managed to lever himself
off the mattress, reaching down to pull Alexei up after him. They shuffled
around the room, stripping off filthy work clothes, brushing their teeth, and climbing
in and out of the shower quickly, their bodies brushing here and there but both
of them too tired to do anything about it.

Alexei sighed as he slipped into bed, the
sheets cool and heavenly. Mike crawled in, too, and they met in the middle for
a long, gentle kiss. Alexei would have sworn, ten seconds ago, that he was too
tired to do anything. But then Mike wriggled closer and hummed against his
lips, and Alexei’s body was just
programmed
to respond.

He drew the front of Mike’s boxer briefs
down, tucking the waistband beneath his balls and lifting his growing erection
between their bellies. Alexei wriggled his pajama pants down until his own cock
was freed, and then curled his hand around both their shafts.

Mike gasped against his lips, his hips jerking
in a little circle as Alexei slowly drew his hand up the length of their
shafts, letting them shift and roll against one another. It should have been
too dry, but Mike’s skin felt like silk against his, his rigid shaft creating
the perfect friction.

On his next pass, Alexei collected the
precome gathering on the heads of their cocks with a swipe of his thumb. His
hips worked against Mike’s gently, their lips clinging and tongues tangling in
a long, languid dance.

He knew when Mike was close, the motion of
his hips going jerky and uncoordinated. He smiled against Mike’s lips and kept
up the slow pace, making them both a little crazy with its relentless rhythm.  Mike’s
fingers dug into Alexei’s biceps, his legs moving restlessly over the sheets.

Alexei kissed him harder, deeper, but his
hand remained at the same maddeningly even pace. Mike whined, deep in his
throat, and kissed Alexei back.

Alexei rolled over Mike, pressing Mike’s
back to the mattress and their hips together. A shiver worked its way down
Alexei’s spine, as it always did when Mike was so pliant, so easy for him. Mike
was several inches taller and more than fifteen pounds heavier than Alexei, but
he gave himself over without thought.