“Alexa!” Jude called out. “What’s the temperature at Niagara Falls tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow, expect a high of seventy-five degrees with a low of fifty-nine degrees,” the computer voice announced.
“High of seventy-five” Jude picked up the fleece pants. “If you put Lizbet in these, she’ll melt like soft-serve in the hot sun and she’ll be just as sour.”
“Okay, I’ll take the fleece pants out of her suitcase. Why the hell is it so hot up there?”
“Uh, Niagara Falls is only five hundred miles west of here. They’re not that much further north than we are.”
“Yeah, but it’s Canada.” Cope wondered why he thought Canada was much colder than New England.
“What, do you think it gets ice cold when you cross the border, like there’s some giant air conditioner that kicks in?” Jude shook his head.
“I don’t know,” Cope said feeling confused. “I just assumed it was so much colder there because of how far north they are.”
“Ontarioisn’tin the Arctic Circle.” Jude laughed. “I’m not going to need to protect you from ice floes and polar bears.”
“Are you sure about that?” Cope asked.
“Very sure. The only bears that will be on the prowl at the Falls will be the kind with hairy chests, looking for someone to call them Daddy.” Jude waggled his eyebrows. “Which is your cup of tea.”
“No, it’s not.” Cope shook his head. He’d had a bit of a Daddy fetish in his early twenties, but chalked that up to having an awful relationship with his own father. He hadn’t been looking for a lover, so much as someone who’d be proud of him. “I’ve got more than I can handle with you.”
“Damn straight you do.” Jude agreed, holding up a pair of bikini underwear. “You think now’s the time to pull out these bad boys?”
“Pull them out?” Cope asked. “I’d be surprised if you can even get them on.” They looked awfully small, and not because they were skimpy, but because his husband had put a little meat on his bones over the nearly seven years they’d been together.
“Oh, yeah?” Jude hopped over Wolf’s suitcase to get to the bedroom door. He closed and locked it before yanking off hispants and boxers and slipping his feet into the bikini briefs. “See, what did I tell you?” Jude had them pulled up to his knees.
“Keep going, cowboy.” Cope would bet the house that those very brief briefs weren’t going to make it much higher. Especially since Jude was flying at full mast.
“I see you looking.” Jude grinned. “You want me to leave them off altogether?”
“Later. I want to see you fit into those tiny drawers.” Cope
“Have it your way.” Jude grabbed the waistband and pulled them up. It was smooth sailing until he reached mid-thigh. The briefs were stuck tight, like Pooh in Rabbit’s hole. “What the-”
Cope bit his lip to keep from laughing. The briefs were so tight around Jude’s legs that they’d gone white. Much more of that and his legs were going to fall asleep from lack of circulation.
“It’s called aging,” Jude said, dryly. “This is what happens when men get older. We spread out.”
“No, it’s called pizza,” Cope said, just before the doorbell rang. “A man your age can’t eat his weight in pizza every week and still stay the same size.”
Jude grimaced and tried to pry the underwear down his thighs. “Whatever. Go get the food,” he grumbled.
“You’re still the sexiest idiot I know.” Cope blew his husband a kiss and made his way around the suitcases to get out of the room. He knew Jude’s ego had been a bit bruised, but he’d be sure to make it up to him after the kids were in bed and the suitcases were fully packed.
2
Jude
The next morning was, surprisingly, a piece of cake. The kids got up and dressed without a fight. They had breakfast together, -Wolf’s favorite little powdered donuts- all of the comfort items were packed in the backpacks, and the van taking them to the airport had been on time. Now, Jude was sitting on Jace’s private jet, while the flight steward asked if he would like caviar with his lobster tail.
“I still don’t understand how we got here,” Jude mumbled after the man left with his order.
“You mean how we took the van to Logan Airport or how two morons like us ended up flying on a private plane?” Ronan asked, before taking a sip from his pricy bottle of water.
“The plane.” Jude refrained from rolling his eyes. Ronan was sitting in the seat beside him, while Cope was in the back of the plane making sure the kids were settled with a movie and snacks for the ninety minute flight to Niagara Falls. He and Cope had briefly debated driving, which would have taken about ten hours, but the second Jace offered the jet, the idea was quickly abandoned.
