“Junk? You do not call a baby boy’s tally wacker his junk.” I laugh. Then stop. Then internally laugh. God. She’s totally serious right now. Well, so am I, damn it.
“Junk sounds better than tally wacker. I mean, what kind of name is that? I know he’s a baby, but hell, can’t you come up with a better name for his manhood than that?” I point my finger in his direction.
“Fine. Penis. Don’t call his P.E.N.I.S. junk.” I debate what my response to her little outburst should be, running my hand across my chin.
Taking a few steps back, debating how to respond to her ridiculous remark, I see her fine ass in my line of view. Fuck this, I’m not saying anything. I go to her. My arms wrap around her tiny waist. She flinches then relaxes when I lay my head on her shoulder and watch.
“He’s perfect, Deidre,” I whisper in her ear.
“Yeah,” she answers. God damn, I want nothing more than to kiss her senseless right now. To dominate her. To fuck her. It has nothing to do with the fact she’s the mother of my child, not this time. It has everything to do with the fact I have never gotten her out of my mind. Not one damn day went by that somehow, someway she crept into it.
She squirms away from my embrace, which pisses me off. She felt too damn good in my arms.
“Um. The bottle,” she says as she lifts the baby up, shifts her way around me, and stalks out the door. That cloud of fucking smoke that just crawled up her ass is about to explode when I tell her what I have on my mind. It may turn into a burning fire, one I’m not afraid to put out. I’m staking my claim right the fuck here and now.
I stand in the hallway that separates the living room from the kitchen, barely out of sight, listening to Deidre talk to our son as she feeds him. Her tone is light, nurturing.
The shadow of the side view of her face is all I can see. The way she looks at him, speaks softly, telling him how much she loves him. I was never a man to get into this sentimental shit, yet right now, I feel what I can only describe as warmth spreading throughout my entire body that my child has a mother who loves him, who will help teach him right from wrong, who will show him what it’s like to let someone into your heart.
I become more alert and creep forward when she brings him up onto her shoulder. His little head lies down, but his eyes, those eyes that look just like mine have now found me. He lifts his head to the best of his ability, which causes Deidre to glance my way.
I may as well get this shit over with. Let her know I’m not budging one goddamn inch on what I’m about to say.
“You’re good with him, Deidre,” I announce. She smiles but makes no attempt to reply.
Her guard is back up. I get it. We haven’t seen each other for a year and the last time we did, we were both going through hell. Before that, extremely harsh words were exchanged between the two of us. Our bodies may respond to each other in such a way that we want to rip each other’s clothes off and fuck until we can no longer fuck, but our minds need to catch up. Be on the same level. This is why what I’m going to say to her next is going to piss her the hell off. Make her go out of her ever-loving mind.
I move across the living room and sit in a chair opposite of her. I remember this chair very well. Big, overstuffed beige leather with a matching ottoman. The only chair big enough to fit my huge frame.
“Do you want to hold him?” Something in the way she says him has me sitting up straighter, ready to spit my words out.
“I’m moving in here.” Her stare becomes wild. While mine stays calm, sincere, and ready to throw down with her if I have to.
“Like hell you are.” Her words are clipped, angry, and full of that smart fucking mouth I’d give anything to stick something into, preferably my cock, just to get her to shut up and listen to what I have to say.
“It’s not up for discussion. I want, no, I need to get to know him, and I’m not doing the visitation shit. Hell, I can’t take care of him by myself.” I arch my brow in challenge to her.
“You can come and see him whenever you want to, Aidan, but you and I both know we cannot live under the same roof together.” She glares at me. I glare back with a devilish smirk.
“That’s bullshit and you know it. Things are different now. We have him.” I jerk my chin in her direction.
“All we do is fight. Plus, you’re a pig. You leave shit everywhere.” She stands then lays Diesel on a blanket on the floor. I watch in adoration as he lifts his head with every bit of strength he has and peaks up in my direction. Screw it, I’ll use him as bait to lure her ass in, to make her see I’m right. I lower myself to the floor, position my body on my side next to him, and run my hand through his dark hair.