I started to laugh and couldn’t stop, especially when I looked over and saw Kate laughing just as hard. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and shoved his tooth in my pocket, leaning in for another kiss. “How long do you think it’ll be until he can say the ‘th’ sound again?”
“Probably not until at least one of his front teeth come in.”
“I really hope that takes a while.” She giggled and I once again pressed my lips against hers. “Love you baby.”
“I love you.” She whispered back.
I smiled. “Can I be the tooth fairy tonight?”
“I think that’s a great thing for a dad to do.” She whispered, her eyes watery, her smile wide.
I didn’t answer, I couldn’t. I just pulled her in close and kissed her, thanking her for not only giving herself to me, but also our boy.
~*~
It took a while that night to get Andy settled. I hadn’t realized how much he’d been missing me until I spent the night at home, where I should’ve been the last two weeks. He followed me around, sitting with me on the couch watching baseball highlights after we spent some time tossing the ball for Cookie in the yard. When his eyes were finally getting heavy, he asked me to read him a story, so Kate kissed him goodnight and I followed him to his room. A room that was permanently his now.
“I need to put my toof under my pillow.”
I reached into my pocket and he smiled when I pulled it out. He took it from me and shoved it under his pillow before settling back. “Will you read me Dr. Seuss?”
“You got it buddy.” I moved to the bookshelf I’d put together a few weeks ago and had restocked with his favorite books, grabbed one and sat down on the bed beside him. I started to read, surprised when his eyes, although heavy, were still open after I read the last page. I got up and put his book back on the shelf before coming back over to the bed, pulling his covers over him and motioning for Cookie to jump up.
“Luke.” He called out.
I smiled before sitting down on the side of his bed and running my hand over his silky brown locks. “I’m right here Andy.”
“Do you think the toof fairy will come?”
I grinned. “I know she will.”
He pulled my hand onto his belly and started to play with my fingers. I waited, knowing he had something to say, but was nervous. “Are you back?”
I closed my eyes, needing a minute, wanting to tell him I was never gone, but to a six-year-old boy who’d counted on me, I had been gone. When I opened them, his eyes were still on our fingers. “I’m back.”
His eyes flicked to mine. “You promise?”
I held out the pinky of my other hand and he grinned before wrapping his pinky around mine. “I promise.”
He put both of my hands in his and called out. “Luke.”
I shook my head smiling. “Right here, buddy.”
He bit his lip, but his eyes came to me. “Can you be my dad?”
I swallowed hard, feelings rushing up, choking me, but I knew I needed to get myself together for him because he deserved to know what he means to me. “I’d love that Andy.”
He smiled. “Can I call you Dad?”
I returned his smile. “You better.”
He giggled, so I leaned over and kissed his forehead before pulling back. “You better go to sleep so the tooth fairy can come.”
He nodded, his eyes closing so I stood and headed for the door, but he stopped me in my tracks when his little voice called out after me. “I love you.” He paused, but added in a sleepy voice. “Dad.”
I looked at him over my shoulder and hoped he’d remember this in the morning. “I love you too, Andy.”
Walking out, I swallowed hard and closed his door behind me. Turning, I saw Kate, her eyes filled with tears, and I pulled her into my arms, emotions I’d never experienced overwhelming me.
Leaning down, I shoved my face in her neck, whispering close to her ear. “I want you both to have my name.”
She sighed, her arms tightening around me, holding on to me for a moment. Then she giggled. “That’s the worst proposal ever.”
I chuckled against her neck and pulled back, loving the smile on her face. “Is that a no?”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re too cocky to ever hear no.”
I laughed and pushed her up against the wall, leaning in to lay my lips against hers, and kissing her softly. “This is forever, baby.”
She smiled against my lips. “I’m counting on it.”
EPILOGUE
LUKE
“I can’t believe we’re here at nine in the morning on a Saturday setting up a party to celebrate you two.” Ben grumbled.
I turned my head towards my brothers who all had shitty smirks on their faces while we carried chairs to the backyard. “Stop your bitching.” Cam said. “Didn’t you get enough beauty sleep last night or what?”
“Listen, I was going to have morning sex for the first time in a while and because Pop called at eight and said to get our asses over here, I’m missing out, so yeah I’m gonna be bitchy.” Ben continued.
“Aww baby brother, you on a slow streak?” Jax asked as he walked by.
Ben just shook his head, but it was obvious he had been. I felt bad for him, before Kate I’d been on a streak like that myself. I set down a few more chairs and looked at the back deck to see Sydney and Lanie setting up some stuff on the deck.
I felt a hand drop on my shoulder and looked up. “Thanks for helping.”
I grinned at Cam. “Why the last-minute phone call?”
Cam shook his head. “We had dinner last night with Jake and Lanie. Syd and Lanie got their heads together and decided we all had to celebrate our engagements, so here we are.”
I shrugged. It didn’t surprise me the girls were throwing a party together at the last minute. My family was good at that shit. “The guest list is pretty much the same, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. Lanie invited her dad and his wife, plus her friend Paige. And Syd’s brother Liam is coming. She’s nervous because he’s dating someone and she’s going to meet her tonight.”
“Why is she nervous about that?”
“I guess he’s never really brought a girl around her before.” He looked over the yard. “And Maddie, of course. That’s why were having it later this afternoon, so Maddie has time to close the coffee shop before coming.” He scratched the back of his neck. “The rest, though brother, is our family.”
I nodded. “Which is a lot.”
He slapped me on the back and headed towards the deck when I spotted Kate coming out of our house. Our house. Fuck, I liked how that sounded. Andy and Cookie made a beeline for Bray and their dogs while Kate smiled and headed towards Lucy who was just arriving and had her hands full of things. Kate reached out and took some things from her and they started talking, Kate throwing her head back and laughing when they started up the steps to the front door.
It had been two weeks since I almost lost her. Two weeks of realizing what an ass I’d been for wasting even a minute of my time on the Widows when I could’ve been with Kate and our boy. I’d gone back to work, but kept my promise this time and actually handed over everything on the Widows. I hadn’t even asked anything about the case, it was better if I didn’t. I had too much to lose now if I let myself get caught up in that again. Maggie was safe, my family was safe, that’s all that matters to me.
“She looks happy.” I turned my head to see Dad standing beside me. “Glad to see that.”
“She is.” I grinned down at my feet. “We are.”
“Glad to hear that too.” He faced me. “Heard Andy’s calling you Dad.”
I smiled wide. That day would be the second, best day of my life. The first was when I met Kate, in her car with messy hair and a bad attitude. “Yeah, he asked me if he could when I was putting him to bed.”
“Being called Dad is one of my proudest accomplishments, second only to husband.” Dad said.
I nodded, but then th
ought of something that had bothered me for a while. In all the chaos lately, I’d forgotten about it. “Pop, did you say something to Kate, something a while ago that would’ve made her think she needed to explain why she was avoiding a relationship with me?”
He ran his hand along his cheek. “Without meaning to, I probably did.”
“What did you say?”
He looked thoughtful. “I talked to her, explained where you were at, told her more about you.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Why?”
“She needed to hear it. She needed to know the parts of you that you weren’t going to tell her, the parts that make her safe with you.” I started to speak, but he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “That girl was scared and she was ready to run. I like her for you, think she’s exactly what you need and I knew you thought the same, but she needed a push.”
I cocked my eyebrow. “You decided you needed to be that push?”
He grinned. “You have a son now. You tell me. If you saw something that made him happy, that he waited his whole life to find and have as his own, you tell me you wouldn’t do whatever you could to help that along.”
I lowered my head and grinned at my shoes when he chuckled. He was right. I would do anything for Andy. I looked up when his cell phone rang and he put it to his ear. I knew it was Grace by the way he answered and the way he talked to her. He was softer, gentler, it made me wonder if I’d be the same if Kate and I had a little girl. My smile grew. Yeah, I wanted that with her too.
He shoved his phone back in his pocket and called out in his booming voice. “Boys. Come here.”
Six dark heads turned to where Dad and I still stood together, confusion on their faces. While they started our way, I angled my body towards Dad again. “What’s up?”
He gestured towards my brothers while they approached. “Wait for your brothers.”
I shook my head, the grin never leaving my face, having heard those same words from him more times over the years than I could count. I waited and watched as they approached, until we all stood together, staring expectantly at our father.
“What’s going on?” Jax asked.
“Grace called. She needs us to help her with something this morning.”
Cam looked between all of us and frowned. “Right now? Pop we’re getting ready for a party.”
“She knows that, said it won’t take long.”
Cam shook his head. “Pop—”
“Gracey doesn’t call us unless she needs us, doesn’t really ask for much. You’re her brothers and I expect when she calls, you’ll go.”
He was right and my brothers knew it as well as I did. Grace didn’t ask for much.
“Pop, I’m supposed to meet Chase to go over some plans for the new development soon.” Ben said.
“Bring him along. You can talk on the way.”
Ben sighed, but nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket, I was assuming to text Chase the new plan.
I looked to the left when Sydney approached, her face full of concern. “Is everything okay?”
Cam slung his arm around her shoulder. “Grace called. She needs our help with something.” He pulled out his phone and looked at the time. “It’s almost ten.”
“Go.” Sydney smiled at all of us. “You guys finished all the heavy lifting. We’re just gonna drink wine now and make food. The party doesn’t start until four anyway.”
Dad leaned forward and kissed Sydney on the forehead. “Thanks, darlin’.”
She smiled softly at Dad. All the women in our lives have a soft spot for him, probably because he’s never been afraid to show them all how he feels about them. “Sure, Jack.”
I rubbed my hands together. “Alright where are we headed?”
“She said to bring our trucks and gave me the address.”
“Did she say what we’re doing?” Brody asked.
“Said we need to move some furniture for a friend of hers and it has to be done today.”
Jax’s eyes narrowed. “What friend? Charlie?”
Ben lifted his head from his phone. “Charlie’s moving? Where?”
“Not Charlie. Said it was a client she’s worked with.” He ran his hand around the back of his neck. “Name’s Tyler.”
“Tyler Morgan.” Brody growled.
“No fucking way.” Jax spit out.
Dad’s body grew tense beside me. “How do you boys know Tyler?”
“He’s the man she picked up from the jail for her boss.” I said, remembering the story Brody told me not too long ago.
“Jail?” Dad quirked his eyebrow. “What was he in for?”
“Assault.” Brody bit out.
Dad started towards the drive way. “Load up boys. Luke you’re with me since you don’t have a truck.” He continued walking, talking to us over his shoulder. He shouted out the address, which was only about twenty minutes away and met mom who had come out of the house and was standing by the steps.
I bypassed mom and jogged up the stairs to find Kate. I saw her across the kitchen so I made my way towards her and smiled as she leaned up for a kiss when I was standing beside her.
I pulled back and rested my hand on her hip. “I have to go for a little while.”
“I heard.” She gestured with wide eyes towards Brody who must’ve come in the back door and was talking to Gia, clearly pissed. “Is Grace okay?”
I nodded. “She’s okay. Brody may not be.” She giggled when I grinned. “I’ll be back as soon as were done.”
She kissed me again. “Okay, be careful.”
I moved around her, running my hand along her hip as I did and called out. “Brother, let’s go.”
Brody’s head shot up and he leaned in to kiss Gia before making his way towards me. I barely held back my grin when Gia rolled her eyes at his back. Brody’s intense, probably the most out of all of us, but Gia handles him well.
I made my way out to a line of trucks waiting to leave and help our sister.
I knew we were all wondering the same thing.
What the hell was Grace doing with Tyler Morgan?
Excerpt from
Grace
Book 5 in the Dimarco Series
by Jennifer Hanks
CHAPTER ONE
GRACE
I hate police stations.
I hate everything about them, the sounds, the smells, and most definitely the feeling of hopelessness that always seems to linger in the air. However, I promised my boss I would pick up his client who’d been taken in on an assault charge last night and I’m a good employee, so here I am.
I looked around the waiting room, with its sterile walls, supposing at one time they were white but now bordered on gray. Cold metal chairs pushed tight against the wall directly across from the front desk, one of which I was perched on. My eyes focused on the police officer manning the front desk chewing a piece of gum with a vengeance. And he wasn’t just chewing it hard, he was chewing it loudly too, mouth open, making that sucking noise like too much saliva was trying to make its way out of his mouth. I wanted to suggest closing his mouth to alleviate the problem, but thought it might be wiser to just keep my mouth shut.
“Next.” The bark from the gum chewer made me cringe. I was going to have to get close to that. I looked right then left and assumed he meant me being I was the only one currently waiting in this room. I hiked my purse onto my shoulder and walked to the desk.
“Hi.” I smiled sweetly, meeting his eyes over the top of his black wire framed glasses. He seemed unimpressed. Or mad. It was hard to tell, but from the lines around his mouth indicating a permanent scowl, I assumed this was his expression most of the time. “I’m here to pick up Tyler Morgan.”
His attention turned to his computer and I watched him type a few things before he picked up the phone, and made a call. Honestly I had no idea what he was doing or who he was calling. I have two brothers who are cops, but I’ve personally never set foot in the station unless it was to meet one of them for lu
nch, and they always ushered me out quickly. Having seven older brothers, I was used to being bossed and pushed around. It should’ve bothered me, but for some reason it never really had. Plus, I had become very good at keeping to myself what I didn’t want them to know.
My actual job, specifically.
“Have a seat.” Officer gummy muttered. “He’ll be out.”
Sighing, I went back to my seat and perched on the edge of the chair again. I am unapologetically a girly girl. I love all things girl, which I always thought was strange having grown up with seven boys, but it’s true. I’d tried at one time to be more of a tomboy just so some of my brothers would play with me, but it only took a few instances with bugs and a fall from a tree to figure out that wasn’t me. My mom absolutely loved my affinity for girl stuff, but my dad and brothers had no clue what to do with me, so they treated me like I was made of glass. That was okay sometimes, but there were times I wish they’d have tried to understand me a little instead of tip-toeing around me. It’s been better lately with most of my brothers having either girlfriends or wives and kids, but it still always seems I’m a little left out. They’ve always had an incredible bond with each other, all of them, and I just never fit into that.
As far as my job, I would never, ever tell them what I actually do. How could I tell my seven older brothers, all of whom are either in construction, law enforcement or do some type of security work, and all stubborn alpha males, that I write romance novels inclined towards erotica. No way, never going to happen. Instead, I took law classes with the idea that maybe I’d like it and follow through, but I hadn’t. I actually hated it, but I’d learned enough to qualify for this job, so when it became available, I applied as a way to pacify my family. I told them I was trying it out before I decided if I wanted to go on with law school. Yeah I lied, but what choice did I really have?
Kate (The Dimarco Series Book 5) Page 29
