AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter One
Tyler
“Jax, where are you, buddy?” A small, blue jacket in one hand and a dino-themed hood in the other, I wander through the apartment, checking first inside the bathroom, then his bedroom. “Time to go.”
If you’d told me two years ago that I’d be getting ready on a Sunday morning to take my six-year-old son out, I’d have laughed in your face and given you the finger. I wasn’t in a good place back then, and that’s a fucking understatement.
Look at me now.
Grinning, I stop to shake my head at myself, tell myself to take a breath and allow my chest to expand with happiness, before I open the door to the only room left.
“There you are,” I tell Jax who’s standing by the crib, pulling faces at the baby. “Didn’t you hear me calling?”
“She’s so funny,” he says in way of reply, and I have to agree with him that baby Isabella is more interesting than I am.
“Yep.” I lean over the crib and gaze at my daughter who’s wiggling and staring back at us with huge, dark eyes and rosy cheeks just like Erin’s. “And although right now she looks just like a squirrel, cheeks stuffed with nuts, one day she’ll be pretty like her mom.”
Jax giggles.
Said mom, who’s currently brushing her hair, sitting on the bed, laughs, a sound I’ll never get tired of hearing. “Flattery will get you kissed,” she warns.
“Ew.” Jax makes a face at the prospect, but I’m beside her in two strides to claim my prize.
“Prettiest mom ever,” I tell her, leaning over her to cover her mouth with mine, taste her, and it’s only because of Jax that I don’t push her down on the bed and claim her on the spot.
Working around the kids for some alone-time isn’t easy, but hell, I have plans for later tonight, and I’ll sink inside her so deep, fuck her so hard we might be in danger of making another baby.
She does that to me. When I’m with her, I can’t stop touching her, kissing her, possessing her. Wanting her every minute of every hour. This hasn’t changed since I was sixteen and she was fourteen. Won’t change, ever.
“I don’t feel so pretty right now,” she whispers and smooths a hand over her slightly rounded belly where our daughter lived for most of last year. “It feels like I’ll never go back to how my body was before.”
“You’re perfect,” I tell her and hold her gaze, hoping she can feel me. I grab her hand and haul her to her feet, make a show of leering at her, and it’s not all show. Her lush curves are making me hard, so fucking hard. I turn slightly to hide this little—and getting bigger—fact from the room, although Jax is still too young to understand what’s happening. “You’re beautiful, our kids rock, and I love you.”
She wraps a slender arm around my hips and smiles against my shoulder. “Right back at you, Tyler Grayson.”
“Marry me, Erin Wilson?”
She laughs again, pulling back just enough to slap my arm, her brown eyes sparkling. “How many times do I have to say yes?”
“Every day,” I whisper and haul her back to me for another, quick kiss. I stare into her sparkling eyes. “And every night.”
A small hand pats my leg, jerking me out of my trance. “Daddy, are we going out?”
My heart always misses a beat when he calls me that. The fact that I’m a dad to these two kids, a husband-to-be to this amazing girl… it’s beyond me. Some days I question reality, wonder if this is a fucking dream.
“Yeah, little buddy.” Without conscious thought, I bend my knees, wrap my other arm around his small form and lift him to my hip. “Let’s grab your sis, and we are all set to go.”
***
We’re heading to an indoor playground Jax has fallen in love with—unless it’s that blond girl he likes to play with and who also frequents the place. Maybe he’s having his first crush.
Hell.
Dylan was the one who told me about the place, as he takes his young brothers there often. They’re eight and twelve now, not as young as Jax, but the three kids get along well, plus it gives us the chance to catch up, together with Ash and Audrey, whose kid is now old enough to play there, too.
So… domestic. And peaceful. And normal. All the things I thought I’d never have, that I never thought I’d deserve to have. It’s fucking scary sometimes, because I’m getting used to this quiet and happiness and shit.
Scary because I’m afraid i
t won’t last.
But it will. This girl, these kids, this family and friends make sure I believe it every day with their laughter and hugs and affection, helping me bury the past.
Bury the damage my father has done—or shall I say, Asher’s father—with his knife and his beatings and his words and actions. I’ll always be a bastard my mom had with an unknown man back in the day, but I’ve stopped caring about that. How can I fester in anger about the past when the present and the future look like Erin and my kids?
My brightest stars.
And then of course there’s Ash, my brother, who’s waving at us from the parking lot, holding in his arms Scott, his baby son, while Audrey is hauling a huge baby bag from the car, her red hair glinting in the morning light.
Life’s fucking perfect right now, and again that nasty prong of fear jabs into my chest.
To get rid of it for good, I lean over and kiss Erin, swallowing her gasp of surprise and getting a good taste of her sweetness before I unbuckle and climb out of the car. Then I open the door and scoop Jax up, letting his slight weight and kicking legs ground me in the here and now. I walk around the car to where Erin is unbuckling little Isa and manage to hug all of them the moment she straightens with the baby in her arms.
Everything’s fine with the world. Here’s proof.
“Dylan’s already inside with the kids,” Ash informs me, one brow raised at how I’m clinging to my family and not moving to join him. “Everything okay, Ty?”
“Yeah,” I tell him gruffly and finally let go of Erin and the baby so that they can make their way toward the building, my hold on Jax relaxing a little as he squirms in my arms. “Everything’s fine.”
“Good. Because Dylan said there’s something he wants to discuss. Let’s get inside.”
“Don’t tell me he decided to get hitched, too. Did he finally knock Tessa up?”
“Ya think?” Ash laughs and jiggles little Scott up and down. His laugh is low and deep and real, and his pale wolf-eyes sparkle. It makes my chest warm with joy to see my baby bro so relaxed, so easy in his skin, so playful with his son.
So happy.
“What are you guys laughing about?” Audrey slips her arm around Asher’s hips, her face flushed, her red curls bouncing on her shoulders. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing. Dylan wants to talk.” He puts his free arm around her shoulders. “You feeling okay?”
I narrow my eyes at them. Speaking of knocking up… Does Audrey have another bun in the oven? It’s only been a year and a half since the birth of Scott, and they wanted to wait until they both finished college and found steady jobs before going for another kid, but sometimes you can’t control these things…
And she flushes even darker under my brother’s scrutiny. Huh.
Then again, maybe I’m seeing things. Everyone around me seems to be burning with baby fever these days. Hell, I didn’t think Erin and I would be having another child so soon after getting back together.
Not that I’d change anything. Anything at all.
***
