by Nikki Chase
“Besides, it wasn’t like you were running around being irresponsible. He wore a condom, right? It was just . . .” Daisy pauses, probably stopping herself from calling William an accident—yes, she’s done that before, although she didn’t mean anything negative by it. She finally says, “It happened by chance.”
“Yeah, but I probably shouldn’t have been banging a faceless, nameless guy in a kinky sex club in the first place,” I say.
“Well, as Alanis Morissette says, ‘you live, you learn,’” Daisy says. “So, was it kinky?”
“What?”
“The sex. You said it was a kinky sex club.”
“I guess, a little,” I answer quickly just to move on to what I really want to talk about. I get up from the couch where Adam sat last night and pace the floor. “So, what should I do now?”
“What do you mean? Like, whether you should tell him or not?”
“Well, that, too. But I meant in general; what should I do to fix this situation?”
“You said you told him he wasn’t William’s father, right?” Daisy asks.
“Yeah. I’m not proud of that, but yeah, I lied to him,” I admit.
“Are you going to tell him the truth?”
“I don’t know . . .” I take a deep breath and tell Daisy about the thoughts that have been bothering me. “I feel like. . . Maybe Adam has a right to know William’s his son.
“But when I tried to look for him at the club and couldn’t find him, I gave up the thought that I was going to see him again. I decided to raise William on my own.
“And now, when I’ve got everything covered, he’s suddenly here, and he wants in on this parenthood thing? It just doesn’t feel right.”
Daisy’s quiet for a few seconds. Softly, she says, “Katie, it doesn’t sound like it was his fault. You told me he’d tried to find you, too.”
“I know.” I groan.
Logically, I know Daisy’s right. But there’s this strong, emotional reaction against sharing William with anybody. I’ve had him to myself his whole life.
“What if he really does like you, Katie? You said he’d been paying Sawyer to look for you—I can’t believe Sawyer never realized it was you, by the way.”
“Me neither,” I agree. “He tried to explain why it totally made sense that he didn’t figure it out, but I wasn’t listening.”
“Yeah, but the main point is, maybe there’s a chance this Adam guy’s for real. Maybe he’s really serious about this. Maybe he meant it when he said he wanted you,” Daisy says.
I huff a tired sigh. I’m always exhausted these days; it’s hard to remember a time when I wasn’t.
“Daisy, not everyone can have a fairy-tale, happily-ever-after thing like you and Caine,” I say.
Daisy’s the sweetest girl ever, but she has a rather naïve view of the world. It’s almost a miracle she’s married to a cunning, infamously cut-throat businessman.
“You know, Katie, it’s not impossible for you to also have a fairy-tale ending,” Daisy gently reminds me.
“Well, no, but it would be crazy to expect it to happen. It’s called ‘fairy tale’ for a reason. Besides, have you seen a princess in one of those stories who’s also a single mom?”
Daisy falls silent on the other end of the line.
“I’m not being pessimistic. Just realistic,” I say.
“Well, I guess we’ll see,” Daisy says stubbornly, in a soft voice. “It doesn’t seem like he’s just going to let this go. And I have a good feeling about this guy.”
“Daisy. He’s the kind of guy who goes to sex clubs and pays girls for sex. Do I really want him around my son?” I ask.
“Well, to him, you may also seem like the kind of girl who works at sex clubs and gets paid for sex,” Daisy says. Sometimes, this sweet girl can come up with barbed answers that just pain my soul.
“Ouch.”
“You know that’s not what I’m saying. That’s what he’d be saying if he were as negative as you.” Daisy pauses. “All I’m saying is, I think you should give this guy a chance. He could be a good guy. You’re a great girl, even if you once had anonymous sex in a kinky club.”
“Okay, sure. Maybe he’s here to rescue me from my miserable existence as a single mom,” I say sarcastically.
“Fine, try to look at it this way. If he turns out to be a decent guy and he wants to be a dad to William, won’t that be a good thing for William, too?” Daisy asks.
This time, I don’t have a comeback for her.
Adam
“How can I help you?” Katie asks coolly, after she’s gotten over the shock of seeing me on her doorstep.
I’ve been coming to her house every day after work, but she wasn’t home yesterday or the day before.
It’s probably her day off today. It looks like she’s been home all day. I like seeing her like this, with an old T-shirt, comfortable sweatpants, and no make-up.
I can see the subtle freckles dotting her skin. I want to know her so well I can map those freckles like they were star constellations.
I don’t know why she’d be surprised to see me. I did tell her I wasn’t just going to leave, after spending so much time looking for her and finding out that she’s given birth to my first-born son, too.
“How about by opening the door wider and letting me inside?” I ask.
Katie crosses her arms over her chest. She doesn’t seem to realize that it only pushes her tits forward and up. Somehow, I manage to stop myself from glancing at them.
I still have very vivid memories of how those tits look underneath her clothes, although a little refresher course would be nice.
“Why would I do that?” Katie asks.
“Because William’s my son, and a father has the right to see his child,” I say.
“You don’t know that he’s your son.” Katie scowls. Even with her face scrunched up like that, she looks beautiful.
“What if I say I do?”
She glares at me, her eyebrows knitted together in chagrin. “It’s impossible for you to know that for sure. Besides a close friend of mine, I’m the only person who knows the identity of William’s father.”
I smirk. “Didn’t you tell me last night you didn’t know who the father was?”
Caught in a lie, Katie freezes for a couple of seconds before she shrugs.
“Do you really know who William’s dad is? I doubt you even knew my name before now.”
“Would you stop pretending you know something you obviously don’t?” she asks, her voice growing louder. She stops and twists to look behind her. “In any case, you’re not coming in, Alex. I—”
“Adam,” I say, cutting her off mid-sentence.
“What?” she asks, raising an eyebrow in a way that tells me she’s just been mocking me. She knows my name.
“The name’s Adam.”
“Right. Adam.” A mischievous little smirk plays on Katie’s lips. “As I was saying, Alex, you’re not coming in. William’s taking a nap.”
“That’s okay. I’ll be real quiet.”
“You know, you’re being really creepy. You wasted a lot of time and money tracking me down. Now, you claim you’re the father of my child—a baseless assertion, by the way—and you’re trying to force your way into my life,” she says. “I want you to leave.”
I’ve already prepared myself for the possibility of her reacting badly to my visit. I wish I didn’t have to do this, but she’s leaving me no choice now.
I’ve already missed more than two years of my son’s life. I’m not going to waste another day, now that I have undeniable proof that he’s mine.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I repeat. “I know William’s my son, and you’re not going to keep me away from my son.”
“You’re a pretty stubborn guy, aren’t you?”
“And you’re a pretty stubborn girl,” I say. “You know he’s mine. Your mouth says something, but your eyes say something else.”
“Yeah? What are my eyes saying,
then?” Katie asks, looking straight up into my eyes with her big, doe eyes.
“Mostly, that you’re angry,” I reply honestly. “Maybe you’ve made up your mind not to tell me about the identity of William’s father now. But when I first asked you about it at dinner last week, you hesitated, and your eyes told me I’d guessed correctly.”
Katie looks away, which is just further information that I’ve been reading her accurately.
I take a moment to take a quick glimpse at her tits—fuck, they’re beautiful. I want to bury my face in that smooth, creamy skin and just stay there for hours.
“Look, it doesn’t matter what your guess is. I don’t care.” Katie lets out a deep exhale. “Legally, William’s my son. And legally, this is my house. I don’t want you to enter my house, and I don’t want you to see my son, which means you can’t do either one of those things.”
Katie’s tone suggests she ending this conversation, but what she doesn’t know is that’s not up to her.
I feel bad for doing this because she looks exhausted, and she’s probably been dying to rest, now that William’s sleeping.
Believe me, I know why she doesn’t want me here. I can still sense the attraction between us, and I can tell she still wants me, but things are different now.
She’s no longer the carefree girl who worked at a sex club just for the experience. She’s a mom now, and her priority is her son’s safety.
I can respect that. In fact, seeing as William’s also my son, I love that she’s so fiercely protective of him. There’s a lot of strength and courage packed into this beautiful little package called Katie.
Regretfully, I reach into the pocket of my coat and hand her an envelope. That’s just one of the multiple copies I ordered, of course. I’m not reckless enough to have just one copy when Katie might decide to tear it into pieces.
She may be a kitten in the bedroom, but she’s a lioness when it comes to her son—I mean, our son.
Katie frowns, but she takes the envelope in her hands and pulls open the letter inside.
“You’re a nurse, right?” I ask. “You should understand what the test results mean.”
Katie’s eyes widen, even as her eyebrows furrow. I watch as her gaze scans the letter from left to right, then goes back to left again whenever she starts reading a new line.
The afternoon sun casts warm, golden light over the green grass, the grey sidewalk, and Katie’s honey-brown hair. Wavy strands tumble forward to cover her gorgeous face.
When she looks up at me, there’s flame in her eyes—not completely unexpected, but it still bothers me to see it.
“You did a paternity test?” Katie’s voice isn’t loud or shrill or high-pitched, but her every word is consumed with red, hot anger. There’s a slight quiver in her voice, and the letter in her hand is rustling as it shakes in her hands.
“I wish I didn’t have to,” I say.
“You didn’t!” Katie exclaims. “You could’ve just walked away and left me alone. You still can.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“You need to leave, or I’m going to call the authorities on you.”
“You can’t stop me from seeing my son,” I insist. I’m not backing down from this.
“Yes, I can. You can’t do a paternity test on my son without my permission. I’m pretty sure you can’t do anything with this piece of paper.” Katie lifts the letter up, then crumples it up and throws it onto the ground. “It’s worthless.”
“Maybe it is. And maybe there’s nothing I can do with it,” I admit calmly. “But now that I know William’s mine, there are other things I can do to make sure I get to see him.”
“Like what?” Katie’s frown deepens. “Are you threatening me?”
“Not at all. I’m just giving you some important facts. Firstly, I’m not going to stop until I get all the rights afforded to me as William’s father by the legal system. And secondly, you don’t want to go against me in the courtroom. Unfortunately for you, I’m probably going to win, just by virtue of being able to afford better lawyers.”
“You’re threatening me,” Katie says quietly with accusing eyes.
“It just looks that way from your perspective. All I’m doing is telling you the consequences of standing between me and my son. I’d really prefer it if we didn’t go through the legal system. All I want is to see my son.”
“Like I said, I’m not letting you in. William’s asleep.”
“He’s asleep now. I can come back another day.”
“Suit yourself.” Katie grabs the door handle and steps back like she’s about to shut the door.
“So, you’re going to let me in when I come back to see William?” I ask.
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“If that’s not what you’re saying, then I’m calling my lawyer right now.” I pull out my phone and let my thumb hover over the screen. “Do you really want to fight a legal battle you can’t win?”
Katie glowers at me, but she knows she’s lost this battle.
“Or, I can just come back another day to see William and you can just let me in.”
“Sure.” Katie keeps her answer brief. Her beautiful brown eyes are still burning with anger.
“Okay, let’s do this date, then.” I give Katie a grin, hopefully to defuse the situation.
“It’s not going to be a date,” Katie says tersely.
“You can call it whatever you want,” I say.
We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, which means it’s not a good idea to be bickering all the time.
Besides, I don’t just want William; I also want Katie. I need to win Katie over, and I’m not going to accomplish that by picking fights with her. I’m not a little schoolboy who pulls the ponytail of the girl he likes.
That said, pulling a ponytail still sounds hot. The sense of power and control that comes with it makes me feel like a total beast. I wonder if Katie wears her hair like that sometimes.
I’ll find out. There is time. No matter how long it takes to convince Katie to let me be a part of her life, I’ll wait, and I’ll persevere.
I’ll make her mine, and we’ll be a family.
“So, when are you and William going to be available for this ‘not-date’?” I ask.
Katie
“Are you ready?” Adam asks, grinning with triumph as he stands by my front door.
Unlike the other day when he showed up in his business suit, today he’s wearing something more casual, which is good—and not just because he looks good enough to eat right now; he’d just look out of place wearing an expensive suit at a pumpkin patch.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that his Henley shows off his hard muscles better than his usual button-down shirts. I can see hints of his sculpted physique, and it reminds me that I never actually saw him naked, even though he’s seen me.
With those jeans and the leather jacket, this outfit would probably withstand food stains pretty well, too.
“I’m ready, but William’s not. You’re early,” I say as I let out a big sigh. What has my life turned into that I regularly estimate the stain-resistance level of people’s outfits?
I swing the door open wider and turn around to the living room. William’s waiting for me to come back and finish putting his little Velcro shoes on for him.
I never used to care about how well my past dates’ clothes would stand up to stains, although there was always a good possibility of my date and me getting drunk as skunks and acquiring some puke on our clothes.
That’s not going to happen during this date, though. Not that this is a date.
I glance over my shoulder to see Adam following down the hall behind me. His lips curl up into a smile when our eyes meet. My heart starts pounding, and I twist back around.
I can feel his hot gaze searing into the back of my skinny jeans, reminding me how intoxicating it can be to be desired by a strong, gorgeous, dominant man like Adam.
Don't do anything stupi
d, I remind myself.
I’m a responsible adult now, in charge of a two-year-old. No alcohol will be involved today, although that doesn’t change the probability of stains happening.
And as long as we’re assigning probabilities to things that may or may not happen today, let’s go ahead and put sex at zero, as well. Oh, and there’s zero chance of romance, too.
I may have made some questionable decisions in the past, but I have William now. I can’t be the same reckless girl I used to be.
When I enter the living room, I see William's kicked off the one shoe I’d put on him and is now giggling at the way it's rolling on the floor.
“William, why did you take off your shoe? Now Mommy has to put it back on again.”
“I do it self,” William says. He’s learning to say more and more words. It’s almost scary how quickly he grows sometimes.
“No, William. We need to go now. Mommy will put it on for you now, and then maybe I can teach you to put it on yourself another day, okay?”
I wonder how much longer it’s going to be until he actually learns to do that on his own. That would be so nice. I’d save a few minutes a day, although by then, he’ll probably have found new ways to make my life harder.
Before I can let out another tired sigh, Adam strides across the room with his long legs and picks up the blue shoe.
“You like kicking things, William?” Adam’s mouth forms a boyish grin. He holds the shoe up with one hand as he walks toward the couch William’s sitting on.
William looks alarmed. His eyes have widened, and he keeps glancing at me for reassurance. He doesn’t meet strangers often. Aside from Sawyer, me, and the people at the daycare, he really doesn’t see anyone else.
Sorry, William. I can’t rescue you from this guy.
Adam continues, “I know it's fun to kick your shoes off. But you'll have to put them on and keep them on because we're going out to get some pumpkins.”
Turning to me, Adam asks, “May I put on his shoes?”
I nod, quickly. I’ve put on William’s shoes, like, a million times, and I'll probably have to do it a million more times before he can do it himself. If Adam wants to do the job for me this one time, he can go crazy for all I care.
