I nodded.
His grin widened. “It’s instant love. Practically the same feeling I had toward his mother.”
“Hismother?” I asked, making sure I’d heard him correctly.
“Liam James Hastings.”
I clapped him on the back. “Congrats, dude.”
“Thanks.”
Paul stood and shook my hand, followed by Joss hugging me. I was still watching Cat as she held Liam with the biggest smile spread across her face.
“This kid right here,” Paul motioned to Liam as Autumn hugged me hello, “is named after me.”
Gabe groaned while both Joss and Autumn said, “Oh God,” with a sigh.
“Your name’s not Liam,” I corrected as if Paul didn’t know his own name.
“Don’t make me change my mind, PJ,” Gabe warned.
Paul smiled. “See. James is my middle name.”
“So what you’re sayin’ is you’re the father?” I joked.
“No, I’m not the father.” He rolled his eyes. “But Iwasin the next room when he was made.”
“Seriously!” Autumn snapped. “Do you have to go around telling everyone that you’ve heard Gabe and I having sex?”
I took a seat next to Cat. Joss followed me and rolled her eyes as we watched Autumn and Paul argue.
“I was just statin’ facts.”
“PJ,” Gabe warned again.
“All I’m sayin’ is the boy was named after me.”
Autumn looked to Gabe. “I think we made a mistake. Obviously, he can’t handle this.”
“Auttie,” Paul snapped. “I’m fuckin’ delighted and bragging to my boy Seth that my two best friends in the entire world named their kid after me. Of course I can handle it.”
“Why did you name Liam after Paul?” Cat asked.
All eyes shot to her, but Autumn spoke. “Because if it weren’t for this jackass, we’d be dead.”
The room fell silent.
“What she means is that PJ has had my back more times than I can count. He’s saved my ass numerous times, and if it weren’t for him, none of this would be happening,” Gabe corrected.
Thoughts of Paul having my back during the undercover mission floated into my mind. He’d never batted an eye when Joss told him that he needed to be my bodyguard. Paul just did it. He risked his life to help protect mine, and then he did the same when Cat was in danger. He could have easily gone outside and let the police and FBI handle Tony and the pimp who bought Cat, but he didn’t. He was rushing ahead of me ready to take a bullet for everyone I loved, especially in the name of his wife. Joss had found a man to continue protecting her like I’d tried to do. I knew, however, that he was going to do a better job than I had.
“Holy shit!” Joss gasped, looking at Cat. “What the fuck is that on your hand?”
I looked down to Cat’s left hand, and a smile instantly split my face. Cat held up her hand and asked, “This thing?”
I chuckled. “So, yeah. We have some news too.”
I leftCat to sleep while I went downstairs to meet Joss at Starbucks. The night before, Cat and I had all but recreated our first time together in one of those suites. This time there was no handcuffs or champagne involved. For one, I didn’t think Cat was ready for the cuffs, and two, we didn’t stop to get a bottle of champagne. I just wanted my girl.
