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She looked at me with another shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe two years? Fair’s fair, right?”
And with that, she was gone.
Chapter
One
LAETH
“Well, the results are in,”Jensen said, the asshole doing his best Maury impression. “Youarethe father, dumbass.”
Of course, I was. It wasn’t as if I’d doubted it. I mean, Ihad, but only because I knew I was in no place whatsoever to be a father to some poor kid unlucky enough to have me as one.
It had been a week since Deanne had walked out of my house without so much as a backward glance, leaving her impressionable, innocent kid behind, and while I’d known the truth in the back of my mind, I’d still held out hope the paternity test I’d taken would come back differently.
“Well, no shit,” Gabe chimed in. “It’s not like the kid doesn’t look exactly like him.”
“Hey. How about you watch your language around innocent ears, huh?”
We looked to the doorway of my office at Elite Security, the firm I’d founded with Jensen and Gabe after we got out of the Army, to find Shane, Jensen’s wife, holdingmy sonon her hip, subtly bouncing from side to side in that way I’d seen lots of mothers do. She looked like a natural just then, which made sense, given that she and Jensen had a son of their own
She was glaring at all of us, a hand cupped over Cash’s ear while she pressed his other one against her chest to shield him from our less than proper language.
“Sorry about that, sunshine,” Jensen said, looking properly chastised.
The stern look melted right off her face, and she smiled a dreamy smile that had me rolling my eyes. “That’s okay, bunny.”
For Christ’s sake. Their nicknames for each other were enough to make me sick to my stomach. I understood that they’d experienced more hard times and heartbreak in their relationship than most people would in their lifetime, but this was just ridiculous. They’d been back together for a few years now, living blissfully happy. You’d think the shine would have worn off and they’d finally start sparing the rest of us their creepy, moony looks.
Usually I was happy as a pig in shit for the two of them. After all, Jensen was closer to me than my own family. He, Gabe, and I had been part of a Special Forces team back in the Army and had formed a bond stronger than blood.
He’d suffered more than I could stand to see while he and Shane were apart, and seeing that hole he’d been walking around for years finally filled gave me a sense of relaxation, because it meant he had someone else at his back, someone who’d love him no matter what. And if there were two people on this earth who deserved just that, it was Jensen and Gabe.
My boy had finally found that, and I had fun the past few years watching Gabe circling the girl of his dreams, just waiting to make a move.
But this had been one of the toughest weeks of my life, and I wasn’t in the mood to feel good for others when I was currently drowning in a black sea of panic.
It was a surprise to absolutely no one that a two-year-old didn’t take well to being dumped off with a complete stranger.
The nights were the worst. I wasn’t sure if it was normal, or if something was wrong with him, but Cash hadn’t slept through a single night without waking up at least three times. And if he was awake, I was awake. I’d finally give in and let him crawl into bed with me where he’d proceed to kick and punch and slap me in his sleep.
It was amazing how something so damn little could take up so much room. Or put off that
much body heat, for that matter. He was a tiny bed-hogging furnace, for crying out loud.
It had been a fucking week, and the two of us still hadn’t learned how the hell to live together.
“Shay-Shay, potty,” Cash said, tapping Shane on her shoulder gently to get her attention.
She twisted her neck and grinned down at my boy, completely at ease in a way I envied. “Sure thing, little man. Let’s go.”
I let up a silent blessing that at least Cash was potty trained. I didn’t want to think of all the ways I could screwthatup if it were left up to me.
Leaning forward in my chair, I braced my elbows on my knees and buried my face in my hands on a low, pathetic groan. “What the hell am I going to do?”
“You’re acting as if this is a prison sentence or something,” Lark, our office administrator and all-around chaos wrangler, said. “From what I’ve seen so far, you have a pretty incredible kid there. He’s sweet and shy.”
“And he’s not running around like a howler monkey hyped up on caffeine like most two-year-olds,” Gage added.
