“Did you?”
“Mmhmm. After I saw you on the app, it made sense why I’d never seen a picture of anyone besides your kids, and why you didn’t wear a wedding ring.”
“Not recently anyway.”
“How long have you been divorced? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Thirteen years from my kids’ mother, six from my second wife.”
His eyebrows rose. “You’ve been married twice?”
“Almost a third time, but…” I waved a hand. “Things happen. Long story. What about you?”
“Never quite made it to the altar. Almost did, but…” He shook his head. “Just as well.”
“Long story?”
He draped his arm over my waist. “Long story.”
“Aren’t they all?” I rested my hand on top of his arm. “Anyway, since she and I live together, you’ll probably meet her at some point, if that’s not too weird.”
“Not for me. If you two live together, and it’s not weird for you or for her, then it’s fine by me. When we get to that point, I mean.”
“Of course, of course. No need to jump into meeting the ex-spouses or the kids quite yet.”
Rick laughed. “Yeah, give me a little warning for that one if you don’t mind.”
“I will. I promise.” I paused. “You and my younger daughter would probably get along great. She’s looking into your field.”
“Well, if she needs an internship or anything, I’d be happy to see if we have any openings.”
A weird feeling coiled in the pit of my stomach. I wanted to help my kids as much as possible, but also let them step out on their own and be independent. I wasn’t sure where “the bazillionaire I’m sleeping with can hook you up with an internship” fell on that spectrum. I half shrugged, running my hand along his side. “When the time comes, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Great.” He chuckled. “Would you believe I’ve never been involved with someone whose kids were grown?”
“Really?”
“Really. I’ve dated a few guys who had younger kids, one who had a high school sophomore, but no adults.” He arched his eyebrow. “Does this mean I’m getting old?”
I laughed, patting his arm. “Welcome to the club.”
“Damn it.”
“How old are you, anyway?”
“Forty-three. You?”
“Closer to forty-six than I’d care to admit.”
Rick laughed wickedly. “Forty-five with kids in college. Pretty soon you’ll be dealing with weddings and—”
“No! No. No.” I shook my head. “No, we’re not thinking about that right now. They’ve all been forbidden from getting married until they’re out of school and I’ve had a chance to cope with that.” I rubbed a hand over my face. “Then again, two of them are in serious relationships, so knowing them, they’ll want to get married around the same time. Why they have to do everything expensive simultaneously…”
Rick chuckled, lacing our fingers together between our chests. “It does kind of make sense. Sounds like they’re pretty close in age?”
“Very. Literally all within one year.”
His eyes widened. “How the fuck did you manage that?”
“We didn’t plan it that way, believe me. We adopted Kelsey, and a week after that was finalized, Karen found out she was pregnant with Tyler and Brooke. So within a year, we had three infants in the house.”
Rick blinked. “Oh my God. Just thinking about that makes me tired.”
“You have no idea.” I laughed. “But we all made it through without killing each other, and we got three good kids out of the deal, so I can’t complain.”
“And now she lives with you?”
I nodded. Then I chuckled. “Jesus. Look at us—we got together to fuck and get kinky, and we’re already talking about kids and exes.”
Rick laughed. “Well, I’m not opposed to getting to know you, especially if we’re going to get into anything hardcore. And as you said, your arrangement with your ex affects logistics.”
“Good point.” I brushed a few strands of hair off his forehead. “Anyway, she does live with me, but she’s great about privacy. If either of us wants to have someone over, we just let the other know. If I’m bringing a play partner around, I try to give her a couple of nights’ notice. She’ll usually go crash at her sister’s or go visit one of the kids for the weekend, or she’ll just lay low so no one gets uncomfortable.”
“She really doesn’t mind?”
“No. She’s not terribly comfortable with some of the kinkier stuff, and the acoustics in the house suck, so she prefers not to be there at all if there’s any potential for it to get, uh, loud. I do the same for her, of course. If she wants someone to stay over, I stay out of the way as much as I can. Bit of a mood killer when you’re with a woman and her live-in ex-husband comes in, so…”
He laughed. “Yeah, I suppose that could put a damper on things.”
“Just a bit.”