He glanced at me over his shoulder with a grin from where he was holding the pan handle, ready to flip a pancake. “Only a little bit,” he admitted. “I decided I couldn’t live on frozen food and take out and sandwiches forever. Or you could say my meddling friends decided it, and they took it upon themselves to tech me how to make a few things.”
I yawned as I moved to sit at the island and watch him.
“Sorry I got up so late. I wanted to make breakfast…”
He shrugged without turning around. “It’s fine. It was your turn to be with Makas last night, and he woke me up with the crying a few times. I figured you could use the break.”
Dan finished up with breakfast, then set the food on the table. I laughed a bit, because it was what I’d made for him before; pancakes, bacon and eggs, with some milk and coffee on the side.
We chatted a bit about inconsequential things. There were plenty of important topics we needed to discuss, but we had time.
Besides, in the few days I’d been living with him, I’d realized the connection we’d felt before was still there, even with a baby in the middle. We were giving the whole living together thing a try and falling into it pretty easily, like we’d done it for a while, because we were so comfortable around each other. I’d missed that with my family as they all left, one by one, but it was different with Dan.
For one, when I went to bed, alone, in his large bed, I sometimes fantasized about what it would be like if he could be in the bed with me.
Breakfast lasted longer than it should have, and an hour later we were at the sink finishing up on washing the dishes. The bell ringing interrupted us, and Dan groaned.
“Who is it?” I asked, curious.
He sighed. “My meddlesome friends have equally meddlesome wives. They insisted on coming over to talk to you.”
“Oh.”
I bit down on my lip. I’d been properly introduced to his friends, and I knew they all had kids. But, I hadn't met their spouses yet.
“You don’t have to look like that, it’s not like they’re going to eat you. If anything, they’re upset at me. Trust me, they’re friendly.”
I frowned at him. “If they’re so friendly, then why are you backing away from the front door?”
He winced. “Like I said, they’re upset with me. Just go open the door and tell them I’m with the baby if they ask.”
He turned tail and ran back to the bedroom. I sighed, and headed for the front door. I was nervous, but if I was going to be staying with Dan, then I would meet them at some point. I took a deep breath and let it out, before I opened the door. Two women stood there, both of them pregnant with one of them being further along by a few months going by size, both with friendly smiles on their faces.
“Hi,” I said quietly, giving them a small wave, and probably giving away my nervousness as well.
“Hi there,” one of them said, the heavily pregnant one. “I’m Kylie, Noah’s wife. And this is Ivy, Chad’s wife,” she pointed at the other woman. “Do you mind if we come in?”
I smiled at them and hoped it looked natural. “Of course I don’t mind. Dan is playing with Makas right now, though.”
“Oh, that’s just fine,” Ivy said. “He should be helping you look after the baby after all. We left our own kids with our husbands. Children need both their parents, after all, not just their moms.”
Kylie nodded solemnly at her words, though she ruined it by smiling. We moved to the living room, and the two of them took the couch, while I sat on the single seat catty corner from theirs. It felt too much like I was in an interview with the both of them turned to stare at me.
“Is there anything I can get for you?” I asked, my years in the service business kicking in. “Something to drink, or…”
“We really just came to talk to you,” Kylie said, shaking her head.
“We heard the whole story from the guys,” Ivy said. “And we wanted to come talk to you, and let you know that if you need anything, we’re here for you.”
Kylie nodded. “Martin’s wife will probably be along soon. She just got the news she was pregnant and her morning sickness keeps her down the first couple months after it starts.”
I nodded. I’d gone through it myself, so I knew how awful it could be. I’d talked to my neighbor, and realized I was pretty lucky, because it could have been a lot worse.
I also calmed down, realizing from their words and their smiles that they were nice, like Dan had said. With the way they were looking at me, I felt a little more at home and comfortable around them, and my own smile became firmer. It had been a while since I’d had friends, but I needed someone to confide in urgently.
“Thanks for that. I kinda feel like I’m in way over my head,” I admitted. “I’ve never even thought of having kids. And living with Dan is just…” I frowned, trying to find a way to describe it. “I don’t know. I mean, we’re okay, but one moment he’s hot, and the next he’s just ice cold and I don’t even know if he really wants me here…”
He’d asked me to move in impulsively, but I was worried he’d tell me to leave eventually.
“You don’t have to worry about Dan,” Kylie said, waving a dismissive hand.
Ivy hummed in agreement. “He doesn’t go back on his word, ever. He’s probably just as worried as you are. The guy´s a total pussycat, deep down. Believe me, none of them have had easy rides when it came to parenthood.”
I was just about to ask what she meant, when Kylie interrupted and said, “Don’t let him bully you, though!”
I could tell them my story. That my whole life, I´d been dumped on by my family and maybe that was why a part of me felt a bit stronger. That and knowing that I was a mom. Knowing that Makas relied on me to make decisions for him. I didn´t say a word as they went on to giving me tips and pointers, on how to deal with the baby, and Dan, and I felt like I should have been taking notes, because I had a lot to learn.
Chapter Seventeen
Dan
It had been my decision to ask Scarlett to move in with me. I’d all but said I would support her.
Days later, and I was sort of having second thoughts.
A while after I’d retreated into the bedroom to hide from my friends’ wives, Makas had woken up, and immediately started crying. Because Scarlett was busy, I’d picked him up to try and calm him down, at the same time trying to figure out what had him in a bad mood.
I checked what I feared most, first. But there was no smell, and his diaper didn’t seem heavy, so it wasn’t soiled. I breathed a sigh of relief and rocked him gently. There was a bottle on the nightstand by the bed I knew Scarlett had left for last night. Scarlett had told me she breastfed him, but Martin had told me it wouldn’t hurt to give the baby some formula as long as she didn’t stop nursing him.
The bottle still had some formula in it, so she must have added more after she fed him last night. I figured it would be fine, and I tried to give him the bottle. He wouldn’t take it, though.
It took me an hour to get him to quiet down, and I was pretty sure the only reason he fell asleep was because he grew tired, not because I actually calmed him down.
“I know the guys told me about it already, but…” I sighed, slumping on the bed.
Crying babies were exhausting. I’d woken up early this morning because he was crying, and I’d had to change his diaper. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I’d spent some time on my computer, and when the day started to brighten, I made food. After soothing him through another crying binge, I was tired enough to fall asleep. And I did.
I was woken up by more crying, and I groaned as I sat up, my eyes squinting open. Before I could go to the crib, though, Scarlett was walking into the room.
“Hey,” she said, shooting me a smile. She went and picked the little guy up. “I figured you could use a break. I would have come earlier if I’d known you were sleeping.”
I rubbed my eyes. “What´s the time?”
“It’s afternoon already. I made so
me lunch, Kylie and Ivy ate, then they left. There’s some left over for you if you’d like.”
“Ah,” I murmured.
She moved with Makas to the rocking chair that sat in the corner, another present from the guys. I got up as she was lifting up her top, going to get some food. I served some for myself, and went right back. She looked up, smiling at me, as I walked into the room.
“I thought you had a rule about eating in the bedroom?” she said, arching an eyebrow.
“I’ll overlook it for this one time,” I said, winking, and she giggled.
I watched her nurse the baby as I ate, then she got up to burp him, before putting him back in his crib. The baby slept a lot. He was usually up for some hours in the evening, getting to sleep late, and waking up in the course of the night wanting attention for hours at a time. The guys had told me about it, too, and how it got better as time passed. I hoped it would happen soon.
Scarlett, though, looked like she was having the time of her life.
“How do you do that?” I asked, curious. “The baby kept you up, but you’re awake and smiling and acting like it’s nothing at all…”
She shrugged. “To be fair, I did have him for some time before I met you again. I’m kinda used to it. And… I like it, having someone to look after. I’ve done it all my life, now it’s just a baby.”
I snorted. I could never see it so simply.
“You know, when you said you only wanted to be a mom for the time being, I’d worried a little.”
She sighed. “I know working to get a job would help out…”
“You don’t have to get one,” I reassured her. “The more time I spend with the two of you, the more I realize that…it suits you. You’re a natural, Scarlett.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, and I realized I hadn't been complimenting her enough. There was a flush on her cheeks, and looking at her, I could feel the spark that had attracted me to her before. I got up, leaving my empty plate on the nightstand. Then I walked over to her, taking one of her hands in mine.
“Dan?” she whispered, her breath starting to pick up as she stared up at me.
I smirked. “The baby’s asleep,” I murmured. “I know it’s still pretty early, but the baby will want some attention later. I want to take you to bed.”
She sucked in a breath. “I’m going to assume it’s not to sleep, because it is really early.”
I just hummed, leaning down to slant my mouth over hers in a kiss. She was still for a second, then she moaned and stepped closer, pressing her body against mine.
“Please,” she breathed out when we pulled back from the kiss. “I’ve wanted you since I saw you at the clinic,” she admitted. “But I didn’t think you still…”
I sighed, nuzzling my cheek in her hair. “I don’t think I can stop wanting you, if that’s what has you so worried.”
She snaked her arms around my neck, kissing my neck. Only to freeze.
“We are not doing this with the baby in the room,” she said, frowning up at me.
“Of course not. We’re going to the room I’ve been using.”
She pulled away from me. “I’ll get the baby monitor, I left it in the kitchen.”
Scarlett went running, and I would have laughed at her eagerness, except I was just as much if not more eager. I left the door open and waited for her in the hall, before leading her to the room I’d been sleeping in since she moved in. I would be going back to sleeping in my bed that night.
“I’m here,” Scarlett said, sounding breathless as she came into the room.
She left the speaker by the nightstand, where we’d be sure to hear, and stood fidgeting by the bed. Her eyes jumped from it to me, and I laughed.
“Come here,” I called, opening my arms for her.
She stepped toward me immediately. I wrapped my arms around her, and dropped us both onto the bed. She yelped, before breaking out in giggled. It was a lovely sound, but I cut it off as I pressed my lips against hers in another kiss, rolling her so she lay beneath me. We squirmed until we were in the center of the bed, Scarlett with her legs wrapped around my hips, and her fingers digging into my back as I ravaged her mouth.
We’d get to the main event, but I planned to take my time. I wasn’t going to make the mistake I’d made the first time; I was going to take my time making love to her, and it would be the first of many times to come. I knew that I had a good thing with Scarlett. So different to Laila. She made me feel like the man that I wanted to be, rather than I needed to be. She was happy to take my good points and my crappy ones too. I wasn´t perfect. Far from it, but with Scarlett I felt it and with that feeling, I knew that it was going to be a beautiful relationship. We just had to get to know each other better and that would all happen in good time.
Epilogue
Scarlett
I heard him crying, so I rushed from the kitchen, leaving the fire low on the food I was making for lunch. A minute later, I was picking Makas up and rocking him gently, quieting him.
“Is he hungry again?” Dan said from behind me. “I can feed him, if you’d like.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him, giving him a smile.
“It’s fine. You can head back to your office and I’ll take care of this. Lunch will be ready soon.”
Dan shrugged. “I don’t have much left to do right now.”
He pushed off the doorjamb, walking over to me with his arms held out. I passed Makas over to him, pouting. He smiled down at our baby, bigger now though no less fragile at one year and a few months old.
“Working from home has a lot of perks. I can help you out when I’m bored.”
I snorted. “As long as you’re actually working.”
He shot me a grin. Makas had calmed down. He’d had plenty of time to get used to Dan and calmed down pretty quickly when it was Dan holding him. I would have been a little bit jealous, but I loved seeing Dan with the baby.
“I found someone for you, by the way,” he said, looking up at me as he played with one of the baby’s hands, holding him on one arm.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I found someone that knows a hotel manager currently looking for a job someplace nice and quiet. I sent him an invite and he said he would like to look into the job. I got his number for you. Your brother might want to talk to him, too.”
I hummed. It had been a surprise when Ben suddenly showed up at home. He’d found the hotel closed, because I was still in the middle of opening it back up, but he’d been told how to get ahold of me by the neighbor, and we’d talked.
I’d told him about Dad’s situation. Then, we’d met up, and I realized he’d been injured away at sea. It was probably why he’d decided to come back. He’d tracked Dad down, too, and the two of them talked every now and then. Dad knew about Makas, but I was a little angry at him, so I refused to talk to him.
Ben didn’t have anything else he wanted to do, so he’d told me he would help out, and he became a part of the business. Because he could give more time than I did, and he lived over there, moving back into his old room even before we could get furniture into it, the whole process went faster, and so much easier for me when I didn’t have to move back and forth.
“Having a hotel manager would help him out. He didn’t do as much work for the hotel as I did, and he’s been gone for a while.”
“He has someone helping him out, doesn’t he?”
I nodded. “Yeah, this girl in town. I kind of remember her from high school, she was a freshman the year I graduated. She’s only taking a year off college, though, so we’d need to hire more people, too. Especially once it’s summer and more people start showing up…”
It had been a busy year. Because I’d sold nearly everything in the hotel already, Dan helped me get capital when I decided to reopen, so I would still be bringing in some income, even as I stayed at home with the baby. It was a little difficult, since neither of us could go there very often, but we made it work, with Dan doing the bulk of the business side
of things. I was grateful he’d decided to help, especially with him building up his own home practice at the time.
We’d remodeled the hotel, so it hardly looked anything like it had before, though the outside hadn't changed much. Dan, with all his connections, even pulling his friends into it, had dealt with a lot of it, while I’d only talked with the people he’d hired and made a few decisions here and there.
The whole thing was possible, because Dan had helped me out. So, I usually did my best to have the house and the baby taken care of so he would have time to do his own work. I’d fallen easily into the role of housewife, though we weren’t married. I glanced down at the ring on my finger and giggled to myself.
Not yet, anyway.
“I think your brother´s okay,” Dan said, bringing me out of my thoughts. “He’s a lot like you, you know. Not willing to give up.”
“I almost gave up on the hotel,” I reminded him. “And I even left Makas with you without telling you anything.”
He chuckled, letting go of Makas’ hand to run his fingers through my hair.
“True, but you weren’t giving up. You were backed into a corner and you were trying to make the right decisions on your own. You’re just a lot less stressed having somewhere for you and the baby to stay, and when you took your time to come to a decision, you still kept the hotel even after I found you a buyer.”
I sighed. “I just didn’t want to sell it. My parents bought the place together when Mom was pregnant with Ben. Going up and down the mountain just to get to school, then to get to town, was annoying when I was a kid. But it was my home for years.”
And now, my home was here, with Dan and Makas, but I wasn’t willing to let go, either. Ben felt the same way as I did.
“I think I can take a lunch break now.”
“You should be getting back to work, though,” I murmured, only a little reluctant. His business had taken a while to stabilize, and in those earlier months, he’d hardly spent that much time with me or the baby.
Dan just smiled, his arm going around my neck and pulling me in for a kiss, then pressing his forehead against mine. I put my own arms around him, with Makas held between us.
Accidental Daddy (The Single Brothers Book 3) Page 8
