AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We’ll work it out. Give her some time.”
She nodded and offered a smile that did not reach her eyes. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to give her a hug, comfort her, and I knew she was entirely correct in her assessment of us as partners.
I sighed. “We’ll work it out. She knows how much I love you and has no desire to interfere with our relationship. I don’t know if I should even be telling you this.” I scrubbed my hand through my hair. “The issue is she’s not entirely convinced there’s nothing romantic left over between us.”
“Left over? There’s never been anything romantic between us.”
“The baby we share begs to differ.” I waved away her protests. “I know, I know. But look at it from her point of view.”
“Yes, yes,” she replied impatiently. “I was the one who told you that.”
A tear rolled down her face. “I cannot lose you.”
“You won’t.” I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “You won’t.”
She squeezed back, then let go and brushed her tear away. “It’ll be okay. I need for it to be okay. Brayleigh needs for it to be okay. And I’d like to think that I’ll find someone someday who is going to be okay with our family dynamic.”
I secured Brayleigh into her car seat and drove away, painfully aware of the strain in our friendship and the fact that I’d spent no time at all with Hope before leaving with Brayleigh. I hoped to God these were just growing pains, that we’d morph into something stronger, something that allowed us to expand our little family rather than dissolve it.
Minty searched my eyes when I came back in. Looking behind my careful smile, her face fell marginally. “I promise, darling. I’ll pull it together.”
I leaned my forehead against hers. “I need for you to do that. I want to expand my family, not abandon it.”
Her body jerked at my words, but her eyes remained thoughtful.
We went to the park, ate the dinner Minty made, then I gave Brayleigh a bath while Minty tidied up the kitchen.
The domesticity of it all appealed to me. I laughed to myself. I was turning into a regular suburban dad. I raised my eyebrows. Who knows? I might even be husband material.
A few hours later, sprawled on my back in my bed, I admitted to myself I could definitely be husband material if it meant I had Minty in my bed every night.
She stretched out on top of me with her hands folded over my chest, her chin resting on top. Her eyes were closed, the only sound her soft hums of pleasure as I trailed my fingers lightly over her back.
Did she feel tied down by Brayleigh’s routine? I wondered how she felt about Drivetrain’s summer schedule.
“Is it a pain, having Drivetrain monopolize every Saturday night in the summer?”
“No, not at all. I’m not missing out on anything. I love music, especially when it’s you up there playing.” She sighed. “I just hate the women. They’re so, so…fertile.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it and eventually she joined in.
Though we’d dropped our temporary status, it didn’t seem to alter her reservations about Hope or her insecurity about other women. Was it just our age difference? If I was older, would she still suffer pangs of insecurity?
As far as I could tell, the issue was her belief that I wanted more children. Part of me did, but that part only wanted one with her. No one else.
Never before had I felt that yearning to possess, that craving to belong to someone else, to answer to someone else.
While I definitely felt possessive of her, I wasn’t jealous. I’d also never seen unattached men vying for her attention. I imagined if some man tried to move in on her, my response might be less than sedate.
Truthfully, I loved and hated her jealousy in equal measure.
I loved the possessive nature of it, hated the insecure edge with which it cut her.
I ran my hands up and down her back, pressing her lush breasts flat to my chest.
“I’m going to have your name tattooed on my cock…‘Minty’… huge letters. Will that satisfy you?”
She looked at me from beneath hooded eyes that held more than a hint of amusement. “It’ll look like you’re advertising for freshness, trying to compel the ladies to suck you off.”
