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My aunt Kiara stood from where she sat at the opposite end of the table from Stefan. With a smile, she walked toward me. “Maura, honey, how are you?” As soon as she was close enough to touch, she tried to hug me, but stopped when she saw that I had a baby in my arms. She was shocked for one whole second and by the next she was excited. “Oh my goodness! Who is this?” she said cheerfully as she took Kieran right from my arms and walked away with him.
I was left standing there, stunned for way more than a second, wondering what the hell had just happened. “I’m fine,” I finally answered her, not that she was paying attention to me anymore.
“He’s so precious I could just squish him until he pops,” Kiara gushed as she took Kieran over to Conor.
“Come sit down, Maura,” Stefan said.
I looked toward the other end of the table, where Stefan was watching me. Jamie and Louie had already taken their seats, leaving me standing near the dining room entrance alone. I did as Stefan asked and went to go sit at my spot at the table. Right as my ass touched my seat, Kiara let out a gasp, making me jump back up in a panic.
“Look at those pretty blue eyes,” she gushed, obviously waking Kieran up. She held the baby close to Conor so he could see as well. “Look how handsome he is, Conor. Oh, this makes me think of Rourke when he was this tiny. He used to be so cute and squishy like this little guy.”
“Are you saying I’m not cute anymore?” Rourke asked.
Kiara was so entranced with Kieran that she didn’t even hear her own son. Conor gave Rourke a small smile from where he sat across from him at the table. “I’m sure your mother still thinks you’re cute, son.”
“Maura, sit down,” Stefan ordered. I glanced at my father, finding him already staring at me expectantly. “The baby will be alright with your aunt.”
Not if she squishes him.I sat back down. “You could have warned me that it was a family dinner,” I whispered to him.
He relaxed back in his chair. “When could I have done that? You rushed out before I could because you were in a hurry to get to the baby.” He was calling out my lie.
Louie snorted and quickly tried to cover it up with a cough when I shot a glare at him. Jamie put his elbow on the table and rubbed his top lip to hide his smile.
“I got sidetracked,” I said.
“Oh, I know you did. For hours,” he said, sounding equally annoyed and disgusted.
Louie’s face was downcast and his shoulders bounced a little. Jamie’s brows furrowed as he met my eyes from across the table.
I was about to straighten the silverware on my place setting, but stopped myself. It would show him that I was uncomfortable, which would give Stefan the upper hand. I straightened my shoulders and stared right at my father. “Well, Stefan, moving forward, I’ll be sure to schedule all future dick appointments so this won’t happen again. Sadly, it will take the spontaneity out of the act, but as long as there are orgasms still involved, there really isn’t any reason to complain, now is there?”
Stefan grimaced and I took that as a victory.
“Whoa now, what about dick appointments?” Rourke asked, having just tuned into the conversation.
Louie lost it and erupted with laughter. Then Brenna, who had been sitting right next to me, quietly listening the whole time, started laughing.
Stefan let out a sigh, but he didn’t appear to be annoyed anymore.
Noah and Jeana came out of the kitchen with food, interrupting the laughter. They delivered a plate to each of us and when Jeana saw the baby in Kiara’s arms, she offered to make him a bottle in case he got hungry, too.
Jeana had made a delicious steak dinner that everyone dug into. I offered to take the baby from Kiara so she could eat without having to hold him, but she refused to give him back.
“I’ve asked Brody to set up a nursery here in the main house for Kieran to stay in,” Stefan said, nonchalant.
I froze as I was about to take a bite. As calmly as I could, I set my fork down on my plate. “Kieran stays with me.”
Stefan wiped his mouth with his cloth napkin. “The nanny won’t be able to help you take care of him at night if she must walk from the main house to the guest house and barge into your room to get him. Kieran needs his own space. I’ve chosen a room next to Jameson’s.”
I glanced at Jamie to see if he knew about this. He was staring at Stefan, appearing just as blindsided as I was.
“I have agreed to hiring a nanny. I agreed to you picking out his security, but I did not and do not agree to this.” The idea of Kieran being that far away from me at night, in this house, made me anxious and that anxiousness pissed me all the way off.
“You and Jameson have dangerous jobs. Being exhausted puts you both at risk and I can’t allow that.” Stefan’s voice was firm.
I didn’t respond right away. If I had, I would have lost control. I more than likely would have said or done something I couldn’t take back—cold-blooded and dark things that came to the forefront of my mind way too easily. “I understand your concern, but when it comes to Kieran, I make the decisions. Not you.”
The table went silent, and I could feel the tension coming off of everyone.
