by Toni Aleo
The whole day he thought of her in those extremely tight jeans. Her ass was delectable in them, and he was convinced that if he didn’t have to listen to that horrid music the whole way to the zoo, he would probably still be hard. Fallon was just that hot, and man how he wanted a taste of her again.
Aiden had polished off his fourth hot dog before looking up at Lucas. “Do you have a wife or kids?”
Lucas shook his head. “No. No wife, bud.”
He couldn’t answer the other question and was glad when Aiden asked, “Why not?”
“Just haven’t found the one yet.”
“Oh, well my mom doesn’t have a husband or boyfriend either.”
Lucas looked up and grinned. “I know.”
“Just letting you know,” Aiden said. When he gave Lucas an exaggerated wink, Lucas couldn’t help but laugh.
The kid was trying to fix them up.
Was it sad that he was actually excited about it?
Lucas shook his head before he looked over at Aiden. “Alright AJ, enough about that, let’s go.”
“AJ?” Aiden asked with a confused look on his face.
“Yeah, Aiden James, it’ll be your nickname from me.”
Aiden face lit up as he jumped up from the chair. “I’ve always wanted a nickname! Cool! AJ, I’m AJ now!”
Lucas laughed freely and from the heart, because his kid was freaking awesome.
************************************************
Aiden was an awesome kid, but — and there was only one but — he had the most horrible taste in music. Lucas didn’t think it could get any worse, but with every track it did. Lucas was determined to expose the kid to something better, no matter what Fallon said. Aiden was Lucas’ kid too, damn it, and he deserved the right to help Aiden in selecting good music.
After suffering through another half hour of that awful boy band, Lucas finally pulled up at Rocky Top Wines. Lucas got out, and then let Aiden out before they both walked, well Aiden skipped, into the building. No one was there as they made their way up the stairs to the elevators. Aiden obviously knew the place like the back of his hand and he led the way to Fallon’s office. When he threw the door open, Fallon looked up surprised before a wide grin came across her face.
“Hey honey!” she gushed as she stood up, wrapping her arms around him when he came to her. As she kissed his temple, her eyes met Lucas’ and it felt like someone had knocked him in the gut. Her beauty still did that to him. With Fallon looking up at him through her long eyelashes, her honey caramel colored eyes fixed on his, Lucas found that he was having a hard time catching his breath.
“Hey Mommy!” Aiden exclaimed as he broke apart from her. Fallon smiled down at him, cupping his cheek in her hand.
Lucas’ heart melted. Lucas loved watching Fallon when she was around Aiden. Even with her trying to hide the fact that Lucas made her nervous, he could tell that she would lay down her life for their son, and that alone made him love her more every time he saw her.
“Did y’all have fun?” she asked and Aiden nodded his head quickly.
“The best day ever!” he exclaimed as he threw a fist in the air. Lucas saw Fallon cringe but only for a second before she masked it with a bright fake smile. He hated that smile, especially when she pinned him with it.
“Did you like the CD?”
He chuckled. “I think my ears are still bleeding.”
She smiled before looking down at Aiden. “Well Aiden, say…”
“My name isn’t Aiden no more,” Aiden said so matter-of-factly.
Oh shit.
“Excuse me?” Fallon asked. She glanced over at Lucas before looking back down at Aiden.
“I’m AJ! Lucas gave me that nickname, isn’t it awesome Mommy?”
When Fallon looked up at Lucas as if he had just disfigured their kid, he knew he was in deep shit and that Aiden’s new nickname wasn’t as awesome as they both thought it was.
***********************************
AJ!?
AJ!
How can someone go and change such a beautiful name into something so horrid!
AJ?!
Ah!
Fallon felt like she was gonna kill someone, and she had her sights set on Lucas Brooks.
“Not so much, Aiden James,” she said through her teeth, “Lucas can call you AJ but I’ll call you Aiden,” she added, trying to keep her cool, but damn it, it was hard!
“No Mommy, I want everyone to call me AJ. AA has a nickname and now I do too. I like it.”
Oh Lord, help me to not kill my baby’s father, Fallon thought as she moved a stray piece of hair out of Aiden’s eye.
“I don’t like it much honey, Aiden is such a nice name. Mommy took a long time picking it out,” she tried to reason, but Aiden wasn’t having it.
“I’m too old to be an Aiden. I’m an AJ, right Lucas?”
They both turned to see Lucas inching his way to the door.
Coward.
Fallon gave him the dirtiest look imaginable and loved that he squirmed under her gaze.
“Well buddy, I mean, how about, well,” Lucas said, trying to get something out, but he wasn’t succeeding very well. “I got it bud, how about only I call you AJ,” Lucas then looked up at Fallon before saying, “It will be our thing.”
Oh well played, Lucas Brooks, well played, she thought, since she knew he said that to get to her. They always used to say that to each other. Everything was their thing; that was probably why she wasn’t over his ass.
“Okay,” Aiden said reluctantly before flopping down in one of her big chairs.
“Aiden James, you need to tell Lucas thank you for today and tell him bye,” Fallon said, not liking the way her son was acting. He could be so moody sometimes.
A grin formed on his beautiful little face as he ran to Lucas, wrapping his arms around his middle. Fallon watched as Lucas’ eyes drifted shut some, as he rubbed his hand up and down Aiden’s back. “I had a great day,” Aiden said when he looked up at Lucas.
Lucas took a deep breath in and smiled widely at her son. “Me too, buddy, the best.”
Fallon was sure that Aiden’s grin couldn’t get any bigger as he looked up at Lucas. It made it hard for her to catch her breath as she watched them together. Guilt washed over her, and she felt like she needed to apologize again, even though she knew she wouldn’t.
She was too proud.
“You’ll still come tomorrow, right?” Aiden asked.
“I’ll be there, what time?”
They both looked over at Fallon as she stood there blinking. What the hell was going on?
“Mom, what time is my game tomorrow?”
Oh no, oh no, oh no, Lucas could not go tomorrow.
“Why?” Fallon asked to buy herself time to figure out an excuse on why Lucas couldn’t come.
Maybe they could just skip the whole game?
“Lucas wants to come,” Aiden answered. Fallon looked over and saw that Lucas was eyeing her.
Shit!
“Um, well it’s at one.”
“So you’ll be there?” Aiden asked again, and Lucas nodded.
“Yup bud, I’ll see you then.”
“Aiden honey, play on my computer. I’m gonna walk Lucas out,” Fallon said, moving out from her behind her desk. She stopped, grabbing the packet of paperwork for Lucas before turning towards him. “Here,” she said as she basically threw the papers at him. She almost put her shoes on but decided against it since she needed to get Lucas out of there and say what she needed to say.
“Okay,” Aiden said as Fallon shut the door.
“You can’t come tomorrow,” she said as she leaned against it.
An arrogant look came over Lucas face as he leaned his head to the side. “And why is that?”
“Because my parents are coming tomorrow, and I haven’t told them about you.”
Lucas rolled his eyes. “What else is new? They never knew about me before either.”
“Ok smar
tass, duly noted. Can you not come, please?”
“Oh I’m coming, I already said I am.”
“I’ll make up an excuse, we’ll say you had to work,” Fallon suggested, but Lucas just grinned at her.
“I’m going tomorrow, and if you don’t leave it alone. I’ll wear a shirt that says I’m his dad,” he warned with a gleam of mischief in his smoky eyes.
“You ass,” Fallon sneered, but Lucas just grinned.
“I suggest you tell your parents.”
“I suggest you take your suggestion and stick it up your ass,” Fallon spat out before turning to walk away. She didn’t get far before Lucas grabbed her wrist, whipping her into his arms. She landed against his hard chest with a squeak as he looked down at her with nothing but heat in his eyes.
“You know I love when you talk dirty to me,” he whispered as she tried to get away, but he had her in a death grip.
“Let me go, Lucas,” she complained as she looked up at him.
“How bad do you want me to be hidden tomorrow?”
Fallon stopped trying to move and looked up at him. “Bad.”
“Enough to kiss me?”
Fallon bit her lip as her eyes drifted to his lips. She watched as he licked his lips before she looked up in his eyes, knowing she couldn’t do it. If she kissed Lucas, she wasn’t going to stop. The whole day she thought about him, and not in the ‘Is Aiden okay’ sense, more like the ‘God, I wish I could put aside everything and get naked with Lucas’ sense. She wasn’t proud of it, but hey, she was a horny female.
“Not that bad,” she croaked out.
Lucas scoffed at her. “Come on, a kiss on the lips gets you a hat and glasses. A kiss with tongue, you won’t even see me, only Aiden will.”
Fallon shook her head. “No way, I’ll take my chances with my dad. Now let me go.”
Lucas did what she asked even though they both knew he didn’t want to. They shared a long lust-filled look before Lucas turned and started down the hall. Before he reached the elevator, he looked over his shoulder at her.
“I’ll get you to kiss me again,” he warned.
Fallon scoffed as she put her hands on her hips. “Yeah, in your dreams.”
“I’m already kissing you there, baby girl, but in my dreams your face doesn’t turn that pretty little pink I love so much, so I’m on a mission.”
“What else is new?” she got out, but not without a hitch in her voice.
Lucas gave her a little smirk before turning to wait for the elevator to open. The doors opened and Lucas stepped on, giving her one more lust-filled glance before the doors shut. Fallon let out the breath she was holding as she leaned against the door. Fallon knew she couldn’t hold out much longer and that she had to stay away from Lucas, or he would complete that damn mission he was on.
**********************************
When the doorbell rang the next day, Fallon’s stomach sank. Before she could even get off the couch, Aiden was down the stairs with the door open.
“Grandpa! Grammie!” Aiden hollered as he wrapped his arms around Fallon’s parents.
“Well look at you, ready to play some ball?” Nora asked as they entered, grinning down at Aiden. Aiden posed proudly in his Cubs uniform. Fallon loved how the blue of the shirt brought out the color of his eyes. He was such a cute little thing.
“I am!” Aiden exclaimed as William picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder as he walked towards Fallon. Aiden let out a shriek as William threw him down on the couch with a grin on his face.
“Good, gotta hit something today son, okay?”
“Okay Grandpa!” Aiden said. Fallon looked up the stairs to see Audrey coming down in her ‘Aiden’s AA’ shirt.
“Hey Momma, hey Daddy,” Audrey said with a wave as she leaned against the couch, putting stuff in her bag.
“Hey, honey,” William said as Nora gave her a loving smile.
“Aiden James, go on up and get your shoes on. Make sure your socks are right,” Fallon said. Aiden nodded before jumping off the couch and heading upstairs. When Fallon heard his door shut, she looked over at Audrey. “Watch out for Aiden.”
“Okay,” Audrey said, since she knew that Fallon was gonna be telling Nora and William about Lucas before they left for the game.
Fallon had tried calling Lucas the night before to talk him out of coming but he wasn’t budging, and after the way Aiden talked about Lucas all night, Fallon knew it would break his heart if Lucas didn’t come. So Fallon decided to put her big girl panties on and tell her parents about Lucas.
“What’s wrong, honey?” Nora asked as worry filled her beautiful medically-enhanced face.
“Okay, listen,” Fallon started before taking a deep breath. Fallon’s approach on telling them would be like ripping a Band-Aid off. At least that’s how she planned it.
“Aiden doesn’t know, but his father moved to Nashville.”
Fallon watched as her mother’s face filled with surprise and William’s turned red with anger.
“That piece of shit decided to come to my state?” William growled. Fallon rolled her eyes as Nora’s hand came over her mouth.
“Okay, one, it’s not your state and two, yes. He wants to know Aiden, and well Aiden spent the day with him yesterday and they had a great day. He’s coming today. To the game.” Fallon said as she basically pulled her fingers out of their sockets. Her dad made her nervous and she knew that he was getting more and more pissed off with every passing second, but Fallon had to tell him. All he had to do was look at Lucas and Aiden together and he would know.
“That low belly is coming to the game?!” William bellowed.
“Oh for the love of God, I told you he didn’t know about Aiden! He didn’t do anything wrong!” Fallon yelled, even though why she was defending Lucas was beyond her.
“He got you pregnant!”
“I laid down with him Dad! I mean, it takes two to do the do!”
“Oh Fallon, please,” Nora pleaded while Audrey snickered from behind her.
“He hasn’t done anything for that boy,” William said through his teeth.
“Because he didn’t know!” Fallon yelled, hating how mad her dad made her. “Now that he does, he wants to be in Aiden’s life. It’s not your decision or even mine. It’s Aiden’s. So let it be. We are telling him this Friday, so please don’t say anything,” Fallon pleaded.
When she looked over at her mom and saw that she was crying, Fallon rolled her eyes, “Why are you crying, Momma?”
“’Cause this is too much for my baby. You really have messed up, Fallon Ryane!”
“Oh God,” Fallon groaned as she looked up at the ceiling. She already knew she messed up, she didn’t need her mother informing her off it too. Aiden started down the stairs carrying his bat and glove and all eyes turned towards him. Fallon looked over at her father and he was glaring at her.
“You disgust me,” he said through his teeth before he turned, leaving the house. When the front door slammed, Fallon jumped in surprise as Audrey and Nora looked over at her.
“What’s wrong with Grandpa?” Aiden asked. Fallon shook her head.
“I don’t know. Let’s go, bud,” Fallon said, heading for the door.
“Lucas is coming, right Momma?” Aiden asked as everyone headed out the door. Fallon nodded as she locked the door.
“Yes,” Fallon said. “Unfortunately,” she added for no one to hear.
Lucas had ruined her relationship with her father seven years ago, and not that it was getting better, but it had been a long time since William was disgusted in her. Fallon felt the same way she did back then, just this time she wasn’t nauseous because of the little guy that was growing inside her.
**********************************
“Lucas!”
Lucas turned to see his perfect little guy running towards him with the brightest smile on his face. Lucas knew that the same grin came across his when Aiden wrapped his arms around his legs. He had missed Aiden a lot, m
ore than he had ever missed anyone. Even Fallon. There was something about the little guy that made Lucas feel complete.
Fallon walked with Audrey a little behind Aiden with a scowl on her face. As he hugged Aiden, he wondered what had made her mad. Lucas had told her the night before that he was coming, and he even wore his sunglass and hat so he wouldn’t be too noticeable.
Lucas’ eyes traveled down Fallon’s body, like they always did when she was around. She wore some tight stretchy black pants and a blue tee shirt that said ‘Aiden’s Mommy’. Her hair was down in curls and she wasn’t wearing much make-up. Like always, she was breathtaking.
Audrey wore almost the same thing but her shirt said ‘Aiden’s AA’ and her hair was in a high pony tail. Lucas put a grin on his face, while inside he was jealous as hell.
He wanted a shirt.
“Hey AJ,” Lucas said as he hugged Aiden closely to him. “Ready to play?”
“Yup! We’re gonna win!” he exclaimed as Audrey and Fallon came up behind him.
“Hey Lucas,” Audrey said brightly.
Lucas smiled as he said, “Hey Audrey, Fallon.”
Fallon only nodded as she looked behind her. Lucas looked to see what she was looking at and saw a very large man with a petite woman beside him. He knew instantly that it was Fallon’s mom. She had to be the one the girls had gotten their looks from because she was as gorgeous as Fallon and Audrey. Lucas figured by the way the large man was looking at him that he was Fallon’s angry dad.
Great.
“Aiden, honey, your team is warming up,” Fallon said.
Lucas looked down to see Aiden looking at the field. “Okay Mom,” he groaned, and then he looked up at Lucas saying, “You’re staying for the whole game?”
Lucas smiled as he put his hand on Aiden’s head, ruffling his hair. “Of course I am, maybe we can get some ice cream after.”
“Awesome!” and off Aiden went.