"You got a minute"-fuck, it killed him to ask-"to talk?"
"Sure. Come in."
In the living room, Deacon dropped into the lone chair not littered with baby paraphernalia.
Knox pushed aside a stack of baby clothes on the couch and settled in, bouncing his daughter on his knee.
Deacon knew nothing about babies, but he supposed Nuri was cute. She had a ton of light brown hair and the same topaz-colored eyes as her mother. She had dimples in both her pudgy cheeks, and she stared at him solemnly as she gnawed on a hard plastic ring.
"You give kids dog's chew toys?" Deacon asked.
"It's a teething ring, smart-ass. Better she chomps on this than on me." Knox kissed the top of Nuri's head. "Isn't that right, sweetheart?"
Nuri kicked her legs and threw up her arms, smacking Knox in the face with her chew toy.
Knox winced. "I didn't get hit in the face this much at the dojo."
"You wouldn't say that if you trained with Maddox."
"Is that why you're here? To bitch about training problems?"
Deacon shook his head. "It's . . . personal."
"Like a personal problem?"
"Yeah."
"Like with a woman?"
"Yeah."
Dickhead that he was, Knox laughed. "This day has been a long time coming. I'm so gonna rub it in that you swore this would never happen to you. Think I'll need to grab a box of tissues and a pint of ice cream before you start sharing your feelings?"
He could admit he deserved this rash of shit. Still, he flipped Knox off.
Nuri started to fuss. Knox snagged a bottle off the coffee table and popped it in the baby's mouth, cuddling her close.
Deacon had seen Knox with his daughter only a handful of times, but the big man had taken to fatherhood like he did everything else-with absolute dedication.
"What's going on, and who's it going on with?"
"Me'n Molly started seeing each other."
"About damn time. When?"
"Last night."
Knox raised both eyebrows. "So you're having problems . . . less than a day into it?"
Deacon rested his elbows on his knees and shook his head. Fucking sucked ass to ask this.
"Yeah. I know, so just spit it out."
Christ. When had his internal thoughts started spilling out of his mouth?
"All kidding aside, Deacon, no judgment, okay?"
He blew out a breath. "I've stuck with one-night stands all my life. Get in, get off, and go home. The expectations are stated up front. I've had a repeat hookup twice."
Knox whistled.
"So last night I couldn't sleep. Kept thinking about how I have no freakin' clue how this relationship stuff works. We didn't have sex on the first date. Is there sex on the second date? Are there rules about that kinda shit? And who the fuck gets to make them?"
When Knox ducked his head, Deacon knew the man was trying not to laugh.
Then he looked up again. "Honest, D. I don't know if there are rules. Keep in mind I belonged to a sex club. There's the same type of expectations as one-nighters. I hadn't gone out on a real date in a long time before I started messing around with Shiori. And our relationship isn't definable by normal standards."
Deacon's gaze dropped to the bracelet Knox wore-an ownership tag of sorts. "Has having a baby changed those things between you two?"
"Some. Nuri's needs come first for both of us." He smiled at his daughter. "It's not a hardship when this little sprout has brought us so much joy. When the bedroom door closes, Shiori is still my Mistress. That part of her will never change-even if we have five more kids-because that's who she is. That's who I need her to be for me."
Deacon couldn't wrap his head around that, but Knox and Shiori were sickeningly happy together, and who was he to judge?
"I don't suppose you've talked to Molly about any of this?" Knox asked.
"Fuck no. What would I say?"
"The truth?"
"She'll be real understanding when I tell her my last relationship was in high school."
Knox's eyebrows went up again. "That was what? Fifteen years ago?"
"Roughly." Right. Like he didn't know the exact fucking day his only relationship had ended. And that was just another issue with being in a relationship as opposed to one-night stands. He'd have to tell her about his epically fucked-up past.
"So what's your plan?"
"No clue." He hated being in the dark about this romance crap. "So I've gotta bring her flowers, give her back rubs, and take her to dinner if I wanna get laid?"