A Special Summer(64)

The kiss was gentle, sweet. Breaking the kiss, he eased her down onto the bed. For the first time in weeks, she hadn’t looked terrified or uneasy, but rather content as she gazed into the tiny face of the infant. There was no way he or anyone else would ever take their son from her. Nick wanted desperately to tell her that, but couldn’t. His threats had been so severe; she wouldn’t believe him. He would have to show her he could be trusted.

“He makes you happy doesn’t he?”

Summer lifted her gaze to meet his. The sweetest smile played at the corners of her mouth. “Yes, he does.”

She wanted to tell him that they could be happy together, too. That they could start over with their son. But before the words could come out she reminded herself that she was letting go of her love for him. So instead, she asked in a small voice, “How about you Nick? Does he make you happy, too?”

Nick chuckled. Summer frowned. What was so amusing?

“Yes, Summer, he makes me happy.”

“Then what’s so funny?”

“Nothing, other than the fact we keep referring to our son as he or him.”

“Oh.”

“Have you come up with any names yet?”

“No. Have you?”

Summer wasn’t even about to tell him the day he threatened to take their son she’d stopped thinking about names. Her main concern was how she was going to keep her baby.

“Nah, not any names for a boy anyway. I was hoping you had a girl.”

Tilting her head to the side to get a better look at him, she asked, “Why did you want a girl?”

Should he tell her the truth? That he didn’t want a son that possibly one day may grow up to be hard and callous like him. As much as Nick hated to admit it, so many of his unbending ways were just like those of his father’s. That’s why they never got along; they were too much alike. Three generations of male stubbornness was a bit too much. No way was he about to admit that truth to the mother of his child. Admit that she had nurtured for nine months in her body a potential stubborn jackass with the likes of his father and grandfather. He was determined to teach and show his son a different way. He purposed in his heart he would teach his son that hardness and cruelty did not make you a better man, only a lesser one. Even if it killed him, he would change the error of his ways to become an example to his son. He would teach him that being slow to anger, having patience, love, and understanding are characters that made a good man.

Nick had gotten so caught up in his musing he hadn’t heard Summer calling him.

“Nick?” Rolling her eyes to the ceiling, “Earth to Nick.”

Snapping out of his musing, he pulled his attention back to Summer. “Yeah babe?”

He chuckled at her annoyance with him. Feeling particularly mischievous, he decided to rattle her further.“I heard you. I was hoping you had a girl so we could name her Beautiful Stiles.” He grinned from ear to ear as if he were a poor man who had just won the lottery.

Turing up her nose as if something smelled horribly rotten Summer snapped, “Nick that is the most ridiculous name I’ve ever heard of. You’ve got to be kidding, right?”

“Serious as a heart attack.”

It took everything in him not to laugh at the astonished look on her face.

“Well, thank goodness for small miracles,” she muttered.

“Small miracles like what, Miss Jackson?”

“That he is a boy and not a girl. There is no way a daughter of mine would be named no ridiculous Beautiful.”

“But that’s what I call you. Beautiful.”

Summer’s sucked in her breath and held it. The squirming baby in her arms reminded her brain that she needed to breathe. How in the world does he do that?

His voice had dropped seductively low as his gaze caressed every inch of her face. He had the ability to transition right before her eyes like a chameleon changing from mischievously teasing, to seductively teasing in the bat of an eye. Shifting her gaze from his, back to the squirming baby, she challenged, “That’s different.”

“How so?”

“Because, that’s not a real name, it’s a nickname.”

Before he responded, he remembered a time when his hands roamed and touched every soft, sensual, sexy curve of her petite body as he would moan “Beautiful” over and over again from the pleasure he would get from exploring her body.

“You’re absolutely right.”

Quick to change the subject, Summer brought the issue back to the forefront of what to name their son. After tossing several names around, they hadn’t decided on one they could agree on. All the names she was fond of, Nick detested. She had the same response to his choice of names, especially Fredrick. Nick said it was a proud, powerful name of African-American heritage. Strong and powerful or not, Summer refused to name their son such an old-fashioned name, uggggh!