“What do you mean you live next door?” She puts her hands on her hips, and I can swear she is about to hyperventilate. I want to walk up to her and hold her face and claim her fucking lips to see if she tastes like she did all those years ago. I want to know if her breath still hitches right before I’m going to kiss her. I also want to see if she still comes when I bite down on her nipple while playing with her clit. I concentrate on the car driving down the street, trying to get my hard-on to go down before she sees it saluting her.
I turn back to her. “Well, it means you live there.” I point at her front door. “And I live next door.” I smile at her, pointing at my door. “If you walk down your steps and walk maybe twenty steps to the right, you’re at my house.”
“Oh my God,” she says, putting a hand to her mouth.
“Have a great night,” I tell her and walk the rest of the way to my house. Opening the front door, I go in and then close the door. I toss my keys on the table by the door. Our houses have the same floor plan, but where hers is all light and bright, mine isn’t. As Mona says, it screams “I’m a bachelor.” My phone rings in my pocket, and when I take it out, I see it’s Eli.
“Hello,” I say, trying to hide that I’m about to laugh at all of this.
“Are you fucking with me?” she asks, breathlessly. “You don’t really live next door. You’re playing a trick on me, right? You, I don’t know, borrowed the house from a friend or something.”
I laugh. “Go outside on your patio in your backyard,” I tell her, walking to mine. I see her step outside, turning to see her walk out of her own patio. I hold up my hand and wave. “Hello, neighbor.”
“Holy shit,” she says, and I hear it in echo now.
“I think it’s perfect. Aiden can go from my house to your house. I’m going to call the fence guy tomorrow and tell him to come and put a gate in so he can come and go when he pleases,” I say, and her hand falls from her ear now. “I should get a pool. Does he know how to swim?” I ask. I want to know everything. What is his favorite food? Does he sleep with a nightlight? Is he scared of the dark? Does he play sports?
“How about we work on one thing at a time?” she says. “First thing is telling him that you’re his father.”
“Yup, shall I come over for breakfast?” I ask, thinking there is no way that she is actually going to agree to this. But she shocks the fuck out of me when she shrugs.
“I guess so since you’re coming to the school with us. Might as well,” she says, and I seal the deal before she changes her mind.
“Perfect. I’ll be over at seven thirty.”
“Isn’t that a little early?” she asks, looking at me from her patio.
“How about you text me when you guys get up?” I counter.
“That sounds like a plan,” she says, and her voice goes low. “Luca.” The way she says my name makes my cock wake the fuck up. “Thanks for taking this so well.”
I look at her. “Thanks for giving me a son,” I say. She nods and walks back inside her house.
My phone rings again, and it’s a Facebook video chat. I press accept, and the three guys’ faces come into play. I head back inside and sit on the couch, holding my phone.
“So …” Nick is the first one to talk. “How was the reunion?”
“It was good, weird, strange,” I tell them the truth. “We’ve seen each other naked, so it shouldn’t be that weird.”
“Unless your dick is small,” Tom says. “Or that you didn’t, like, get her off.”
“I got her off,” I tell them. “Many, many times.”
“Okay, calm down there, Romeo,” Jason says. “So what happened?”
“Nothing.” I shrug. “We are going to tell Aiden tomorrow morning before we go visit his new school.”
“This is so crazy,” Tom says. “You have a kid.”
“I hate to be the asshole in the group,” Jason starts. “But are you sure he’s yours?” I just glare at him.
“One hundred percent he’s mine,” I say. “I’m just sad I missed so much time.”
“Well, the good news is he has his whole life to get to know you and then hate you,” Nick says.
“When are you telling your boss that you not only banged his daughter and got her pregnant, but you also didn’t even know her name?” Jason asks. “Can you FaceTime us so we can be there?”
I roll my eyes. “I’m sure it’s going to be fine.” I mean, it’s not entirely my fault.
“Going to be fine,” Nick says, laughing out loud and slapping his knee. “You banged his daughter on a cruise and got her pregnant, and she didn’t even know your last name. Nothing, nothing about that will be all right.”
I run my hand through my hair. “What if he fires me?” The thought suddenly runs through my mind. I don’t think he can just fire me, and I know I have enough clients under my belt that another firm will scoop me up. I hope.
“He can’t fire you for smashing his daughter,” Jason says.
“This has been fun, but I’m about done for the night,” I tell the guys because I’m ready to take a shower and crash. In a matter of twelve hours, my life has changed in a drastic way.
“Is she dating someone?” Nick asks, and my hand clenches around the phone.
“I didn’t ask,” I tell them honestly. Did the thought cross my mind? Fuck, yeah. What if there was a man in her life, and he didn’t accept me because I wasn’t there? “It doesn’t matter. I’m Aiden’s father.”
“Yes, but if she is with someone, and all of a sudden, you’re coming in there and taking time away from him, he might throw down,” Jason says, and the other two agree.
“I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. My main concern is Aiden.” In the end, he is the number one thing I need to focus on.
“That’s a plan,” Nick says.
“I have to go send an email telling them I’m going to be in the office late,” I tell the guys. “I don’t think I’ve ever done this.” I’m at the office every day, no matter what. I even went in with the flu. Of course, they blocked me from going upstairs, but I went in.
“Shit. Luca DiMarco coming in late. Hell has frozen over.” They all laugh, and I just hang up and toss my phone to the side.
“What if she is dating someone?” I wonder as I get up and grab my phone to go upstairs to my bedroom. I undress and step under the shower, letting the water run over my neck, and it takes me back to the night we must have conceived Aiden.
“This was a great idea,” I said into her neck as we stood in the little square of a shower. It was no bigger than an airplane bathroom.
“We’re conserving water.” She grabbed her body soap and loofah. She placed a small drop of her strawberry-scented body wash on it and started lathering my chest. My cock went from soft to semi-hard. My hand reached out to grab the loofah, and I rubbed her tits with it, the suds forming. My cock took a second, and it stood up, ready to get back inside her. She looked down, seeing my cock ready, and grabbed the loofah. As she ran it over my stomach and cock, my hands grabbed her tits, twisting her nipples. She had the most sensitive nipples ever. Her head fell back as she moaned and then turned around, giving me her ass. I wanted nothing more than to slide into her. She placed her hand over her shoulder, handing me the loofah, and I washed her back while she slowly moved her ass side to side on my cock. I dropped the loofah and moved my hands up her sides and caught her nipples again.
She arched her back, moving down so my cock slid in the middle of her ass cheeks. “Fuck,” I hissed out; my hand moved over her hips to her pussy, sliding in the middle of her folds and slipping right in. Her head fell on my shoulder as I fingered her in the shower. “I need to get in you,” I told her through clenched teeth while I tried to calm my cock. She looked at me over her shoulder and then opened the shower door. I watched her ass as she leaned forward and bent out of the shower. Water dripped everywhere as her hands grabbed the toilet. She got on her tippy toes as I took my cock in my hand, squatted do
wn just a little, and aligned it with her pussy. The tip went in, and I suddenly pulled out. “Fuck, I don’t have a condom,” I said, the moment broken.
My cock is now in my hand as I come thinking about her. Fuck, after all these years, she still has a spell on me.
I finish in the shower and fall into bed naked just as an email comes in from my assistant Lauren.
I’ll keep everything under control.
I have no doubt; she started working for us a couple of years ago, and at first, she started with Noah. But then she liked handling family law instead of commercial law, so she came over to work for me. Noah is married to her sister, Kaleigh, and she’s married to his best friend.
I toss and turn most of the night, my mind going over how I’m going to try to get my son to like me or even accept me. I have the sound of Darth Vader in my head the whole time saying, “I am your father.”
Slipping out of bed at five in the morning, I grab my laptop and a cup of coffee and go into my home office and get a couple of hours of work done before I get up at seven and start to get ready, in case they wake up earlier.
I dress in a blue suit, and I’m on coffee number three when she texts.
Eli: We are up and just getting breakfast started.
I put my coffee cup in the sink, trying to steady my heartbeat, and the sudden urge to vomit hits me right away. I have never been this nervous in my life. Not with midterms, not passing the bar, not even going toe-to-toe with Leonard over how he wanted to proceed with a case and I wanted to go a different route.
I walk over to her house, and my hand shakes when I reach up and ring the bell. The wait is torture until I hear footsteps, and I hold my breath, thinking I’m going to meet my kid. I’m going to meet my son. The door swings open, and I thought I was ready for anything. I was not expecting her to answer in a fucking robe.
“Hey,” she says, her hair piled on her head and her face free of any makeup. “We just got up.” She looks me up and down, moving out of the way so I can come in the house.
“I’ve been up since about five,” I tell her, and she looks over at me. “I couldn’t sleep.”
When she puts her hand on my arm and squeezes it, it’s the first time she’s touched me since I saw her again. “It’s going to be fine.” She turns and walks to the kitchen, and I follow her and finally see my son again. He looks over at me and stops dragging the chair from the table to the counter.
“What are you doing?” Eli asks him, and he looks at his mother.
“I’m getting cereal,” he says, looking at the chair and then pointing at the shelf he was going to get the cereal from. I know that even with the chair, he wouldn’t have been able to get it and then he would have tried to get on his tippy toes and then he most likely would have lost his balance and fell. Jesus, I’m already thinking like a parent.
“I’ll get you cereal,” she tells him, taking the chair away from him and then turning on him. “And don’t let me find you standing on the chair,” she tells him. I don’t think he gave a shit about the last thing she said because he hops or skips back to the table. She grabs a bowl and fills it with cereal, then brings it over to him. “Would you like some coffee?”
“No, thanks,” I say. “I’m okay.”
I stand here awkwardly as she gets her coffee and then walks over to the little kitchen nook that holds a round table with six chairs. Aiden is on one of the chairs on his knees as he tries to bring his spoon of cereal and milk to his mouth without spilling everything. He is failing miserably. I wait for her to sit down before going to sit down at the table. “Aiden,” she calls his name, and he looks up while chewing. “Do you remember Luca?” He looks at me and shakes his head no while trying to get another spoon of Froot Loops in his mouth. “Well, Luca and I have been friends for a long time now.”
He speaks with his mouth full, trying to catch the milk that spills out with his hand. “You said you didn’t have friends.”
I roll my lips together to stop from laughing. She looks over at me and then at Aiden. “I said I didn’t have many friends.”
“Oh,” he says, not giving a shit about what his mother is saying and just looking to greet the next spoonful of Froot Loops.
“Why don’t we wait for him to finish eating before we tell him?” I suggest, and she just nods. It is the longest five minutes of my life. When he tries to scoop up the last Froot Loops, it keeps falling out of the spoon, over and over again.
“Are you all done?” she asks him when he finishes drinking the milk from the bowl, which is something I still do.
“Yup,” he says, out of breath, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Okay, well, Luca came over today so we can tell you some special news,” she starts, and he looks at her. “So you remember what I told you about your dad?”
“Yeah, you didn’t know him,” he tells her and looks at me, then back at his mother. “That you both loved me very much.”
“Right.” She blinks tears away from her eyes. “That no matter where he was, if he knew about you, he would love you with his whole heart.”
He just nods. “Well, honey, yesterday at the barbecue, I saw your dad.”
His eyes open. “You did? Did you tell him about me?” He claps his hands together, and I want to jump and grab him, bringing him to my chest and kiss his head.
“She did,” I finally speak up, and he turns to look at me. “I had no idea that I had a son, that’s you.” My eyes look into his. “That I was a dad.” I also know that this moment is more emotional for me than it is for him. He probably doesn’t even get the impact of it.
“You’re my dad?” he asks the question, and I just nod my head. The lump in my throat is so big I don’t think any words could come out. “So now I have a mom and a dad?” he asks, looking from Eli to me.
“Yes. Now you get to have a mommy and a daddy,” she tells him, leaning over to kiss him. My heart just fills so much. I had no idea that I could love another human as much as this.
“I really want to spend time with you, and,” I tell him, “I live right next door. So if you want to come over, all you have to do is come.”
“Do I have a bedroom there?” he asks, and I look at Eli.
“No.” I shake my head and see his face fall in disappointment. “But you can have whatever bedroom you like. We can go shopping, and you can pick everything yourself,” I say, hoping to entice him to want to come over and spend time with me. Wow, did I just bribe my kid? Yes. Yes, I did.
“If I sleep over, can Mommy come, too?” he asks me and then looks at his mother who just stares with her mouth hanging open. “She has no friends.”
I shrug my shoulders. “If Mommy wants to sleep over, she is more than welcome to,” I say, and his face lights up.
“Um,” Eli starts to say. “How about you go get dressed for school so we can go?”
“Are you going to come with us?” He turns and asks me once he’s gotten off the chair.
“I am,” I tell him, and he turns around, running out of the room.
“Cool,” he says, running up the steps to his bedroom.
“I’m going to change, too,” Eliahn says, getting up. “Help yourself to anything you want,” she says, walking away from the table and going upstairs.
I take out my phone and send a text to the boys.
Me: Announcement made.
Nick answers me back right away.
Nick: When do we meet him?
Me: Sunday?
Nick: It’s a plan. Bring the wife or the baby momma, what are you calling her?
I roll my eyes at him and don’t have time to answer when my phone rings, and I see it’s Lauren.
Chapter Six
Eliahn
My hands and legs shake as I walk up the steps toward my bedroom. I walk into Aiden’s first and see him trying to put on a superhero costume. “That’s a no,” I tell him, and he just looks at me.
“But I can be Batman today,” he says, holding up th
e pants.
“Or you can be Aiden and wear these shorts,” I say, opening his top drawer and then walking to the closet to see that there are some short-sleeved button-down shirts. I grab a dinosaur one. “You can be Batman when you come home.”
“But Batman is cooler,” he says, looking at me. “I should ask my dad.”
And it starts. “You should ask me who is standing right here. Those shorts and that shirt. Batman is for after school.”
“But, Mom,” he moans, and I cross my arms over my chest.
“Or you can not wear it at all today,” I tell him. He just hangs it up and walks toward his bed with his shoulders slumped down like I just told him I kicked his puppy. “I’ll be in my room getting dressed. Don’t forget to brush your teeth after that. D’accord?”
“D’accord,” he says. I walk into my room, and I open my closet door to see two outfits hanging that my mother must have left for me. I grab the green pants that are hanging, putting one leg through and then the other. Talk about low ride. It fits just on my hips. I pair it with the white long-sleeved shirt that falls off one shoulder. I grab the pair of nude high heels that are in the closet and go to the bathroom, untying my hair and letting it fall. I walk out and see that Aiden is wiping his mouth on a towel. “Look at my teeth,” he says, showing me that he brushed his teeth.
“Perfect,” I tell him and grab his hand to walk down the stairs. I hear Luca talking, but I don’t know what he is saying until I get closer.
“I know, Lauren, but it’s the only thing I can do right now,” he says, then listens to whatever she says. “Yeah, we’ll discuss it later and see what we can come up with.” His eyes lift to see Aiden and me standing here. “I have to go,” he says, disconnecting.
I try to ignore the thumping of my chest. Obviously, he’s with someone. It’s been seven years. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I was just …” I say, looking around. “Are you ready?”
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