Briefcase Booty by SA Welsh

and feeling happier than he could ever remember being before.
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    The next day, Peter and Luka barely had time to do anything but kiss good morning. They’d had to pack to go to Luka’s parents, and Peter had taken advantage of Luka having to pop by his friend’s house to pick up the rest of his stuff to sneak out with Loukas to buy Luka a gift.
    When they’d gone to bed the night before, he’d laid all his cards on the table and Luka had done the same. They both wanted to give a relationship between them a shot, and decided that, since Peter needed help with Loukas and Luka needed a place to stay, the living arrangements would stay as they were—with the exception of Luka now sleeping in his bed instead of the guest room.
    And despite Luka’s protest, Peter wasn’t going to take a penny off Luka in rent, but gave in about chipping in for groceries and things, since they would take turns going to the store.
    In twenty-four hours Peter had gone from heterosexual divorced single father to being the boyfriend of his old best friend, who was living with him and his son.
    Maggie always said that he never did things halfway. She and Harry were certainly shocked when he told them why he wasn’t coming over Christmas day, but they’d wished him luck and made him promise to come over when they got back from Luka’s parents.
    “Peter?”
    Luka was down at the car, ready to drive them up to his parents, and Peter was trying to remember if he’d forgotten to pack anything for Loukas.
    “Coming. Just doing a last round-up,” he called back. Parrot? Check. Food? Check. Ungodly amount of nappies and wipes? Check. Travel cot? Check. Several spare changes of baby clothes? Check.
    Walking out of the house, he set the alarm and locked the door before turning and jogging down to the car.
    Luka watched him in amusement from where he was leaning over the front seats to play with Loukas and the parrot. The front doors were open, so he could see Luka raise his eyebrows and smirk. “A bit excited are we?”
    He slowed to a walk as he reached the car, and ducked his head. “I haven’t done the holiday stuff since I left home. I didn’t have a family, so what was the point?” he muttered, embarrassed that he’d gotten caught in his excitement.
    Luka immediately apologized and reached for his hand.
    “I’m so sorry, Peter. I didn’t mean anything by it. You know you have family now though, right? No matter what happens between us. My mom isn’t going to let you escape again,” Luka cajoled with a smile, pushing the hair out of his eyes.
    “I know,” Peter said, feeling as if a weight had lifted. He had family now. Loukas had family now, and it was all because of Luka.
    Staring at his friend—his lover now, he supposed—he reached up with the hand Luka wasn’t holding and pushed the blond hair back behind Luka’s ear.
    “Where’s your headband? You said you didn’t like it down because it got in your eyes.”
    The blush was really adorable up close. Peter just wanted to lean in and kiss him for it.
    And then he remembered he could.
    So he did.
    Leaning in, Peter kissed Luka, tilting his head to the side a little so he could take it deeper when Luka opened for him and let him lead the embrace. He was just getting into it when Loukas giggled loudly, breaking the moment.
    “You like playing with my hair,” Luka confessed breathily.
    Smiling smugly, Peter stole another kiss before leaning over to the back to check Loukas’s car seat. When he made sure everything was fastened properly, he sat in the front passenger seat and fastened his own belt.
    “Come on, my flying pirate, let’s go see our family.”
    It wasn’t the first time the name had slipped out, but it was the first time he’s used it deliberately, along with our family and Luka gave him a grin in reward. This boyfriend thing wasn’t so hard after all.

    A few hours later they pulled up in front of a large modern four-bedroom house,