“Wow!” Patrick’s eyes opened wide as he turned to watch the photographers, then he directed his gaze at his father.“ I thought singers like Justin Bieber were the only people to get mobbed by those guys. I didn’t know that you were that kind of famous.”
“I’m not, really. They always hang out at this airport and the one in Los Angeles and when they spot a limo like ours, they wait to see who’s going to get into it.” Drew hoped that the paps stuck with the brother theory and didn’t speculate that the boy who looked so much like him might be his son. “Now let’s call your mother.”
Patrick was more interested in gaping at the city, playing with all the controls for the limo’s various features, and raising and lowering the window that separated the driver from the back seat than talking with his mother. He reluctantly took the phone when it was handed to him and excitedly described all his new experiences. Then he told Drew that his mother wanted to talk to him.
Erin didn’t like that her son had already been subjected to a bunch of photographers and that his picture would likely appear in some magazine or online tabloid. She made it clear that if Drew couldn’t protect Patrick, the boy’s visits to New York would end and Drew would have to visit him in Ireland.
“I get it, Erin. Like Patrick told you, I’m not Justin Bieber. Don’t worry. He’ll be fine and I’ll have him call you every day.”
It was obvious that she wasn’t happy and he really couldn’t blame her for wondering if he knew anything about being a parent. But, hey, it wasn’t his fault that he’d missed out of the first ten years of his son’s life. Still, he felt he had to prove that he could be a good father, if not to her, then to himself.
“Look at all the people rushing about and all the tall buildings,” Patrick exclaimed when the big car made its way through Manhattan’s taxi-clogged streets. “Granddad said you’re very rich. Do you live in a mansion or a penthouse? Will we go to the top of the Empire State Building? Is that a Ferrari? A real one?” Drew answered his son’s questions and laughed with delight at his exuberance until the limo pulled to the curb. Drew’s uniformed doorman quickly opened the car’s door and took the boy’s small suitcase from the driver. He smiled at Patrick. “And who do we have here?”
“I’m Patrick. I flew all the way from Ireland by myself!”
“Well, Patrick, welcome to New York. I hope you have a wonderful time here.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Drew watched the exchange with pride. He wanted to shout, “That’s my son!” He was relieved that Patrick hadn’t added O’Connor to the introduction since neither of them were ready for the attention that revelation would bring. Erin had left the decision about when to go public up to him since New York was his turf, but she warned that the news of Drew’s fatherhood was bound to come out. He needed a plan that would cause the least harm to their son.
Drew gave Patrick a choice between the apartment’s two guest bedrooms and was pleased when he selected the one closest to his. After the boy explored every square inch of the spacious apartment and marveled at the view and the size of his father’s television, Drew asked if he wanted to rest, unpack or get something to eat.
“Food, please. I’m starving.”
“Me too. Do you like pizza?”
“Of course,” Patrick said and gave Drew a look that said, duh, what a crazy question.
They walked through the narrow, winding streets of Greenwich Village until reaching John’s on Bleeker Street, Drew’s favorite pizza joint. “What do you like on your pizza?”
“Just cheese and sauce. I don’t want sausage or vegetables, that is unless you do.”
“Nope. This pizza is so good that it doesn’t have to be buried under all kinds of stuff. Cheese it is.”
After they devoured the entire pie, Patrick leaned toward his father, a worried expression on his face. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course, anything.”
“Is this the only time I’ll be visiting you here? If you don’t like me, then maybe you’ll decide not to be my father after all.”
With tears in his eyes, Drew reached for the boy’s hand. “Now that we’ve found each other, I will always be your dad, no matter what. It won’t be easy, but if it’s okay with your mom, you’ll come here on school holidays and I’ll come to see you in Ireland. And there’s Skype, too, if there’s something you want to show me or talk about. I’m new at being a father, so I’ll probably make mistakes, but I promise to try very hard to be a good dad.”
Patrick turned his head away to blow his nose in a paper napkin and to hide his own tears. “All I’ve ever wished for was a dad and now it’s come true.” The words were barely above a whisper, but touched Drew’s heart. He was quickly learning how a child could grab hold of that particular organ, crawl inside, and fill it with love.
That night, Drew tucked his exhausted son into bed. When he bent to give the boy a good night kiss, he was stunned when skinny arms came around his neck and Patrick muttered a sleepy, “’Night, dad.”
That was all it took for Drew to realize that he would do anything to protect this child, to ensure his happiness, and to make him feel secure in his love. But maybe anything had one exception. He wouldn’t give up Kate and had to hope that Patrick would accept her as part of his new family.
CHAPTER 33
“How can you stand not knowing how Drew and Patrick are doing? Aren’t you dying to see if they really look alike? I’m bursting with curiosity and he’s not my boyfriend’s child.” Liz glanced at Kate as they ran along the path around Central Park’s reservoir to burn off some nervous energy on a beautiful, sunny day.
“Of course I want to meet him and I will, maybe even tonight. They’re at a Yankees game this afternoon, but you know that because Charles went with them, so maybe he can satisfy your curiosity about Patrick.” Kate moved to one side of the path. She leaned forward and rested her hands on her knees. She was out of breath and suspected it was more from anxiety than the exercise.
Liz wiped her forehead and took a long drink from a bottle of water. “When are you going to meet him?”
“Tonight if everything goes well today. I mean if Patrick is having a hard time with Drew, he’s not going to be thrilled to meet me.”
“Doesn’t that make you nervous? He could be jealous of the time Drew spends with you and not want to share his dad,” Liz cautioned. “And he might try to get Drew back with his mom.”
“Stop it! Why the hell are you being so negative?”
Liz shrugged. “Change does weird things to people, that’s all. Drew might turn into a different man than the one you fell in love with.”
“Being a father is making him a better man,” Kate snapped.
Liz laid a hand on her friend’s arm. “I’ve upset you and I’m sorry. I guess this has brought up all of my own daddy issues since he left us when I was around Patrick’s age.”
Kate gave her friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze. When they resumed their run, Kate tried to convince herself that Liz was voicing her own fears and that everything would be all right.
Patrick leaned against Drew’s shoulder in the back seat of the car taking them home from the game. He fought against it, but his eyelids finally fluttered closed and he was asleep within minutes.
Charles grinned when Drew slipped an arm around the boy’s shoulders and Patrick shifted to snuggle closer to him. “I never thought I’d see the day,” Charles said, shaking his head.
“Me either, but it’s actually pretty cool,” Drew said, stealing a proud glance at his son.
“He’s a great kid, Drew. He may have started out worshipping you as this famous athlete, but it’s obvious he’s past that and seems to like you as a person.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed. This could have been so fucked up, and it may become that as he gets older, but for now, things are great. We act as if we’ve known each other for years.” He shrugged. “It feels natural to have him with me, but I realize it’s a vacation and we
haven’t had to deal with the stress of everyday life.”
Charles nodded his agreement and they rode in silence for a while. “Liz is worried about Kate and how this could affect the two of you. Patrick needs to know that she’s part of your life.”
“I don’t think it’ll be a problem. His mom has a boyfriend, a serious one, and he’s cool with that, so he probably expects me to have a girlfriend.”
“A girlfriend, yes, but a fiancée? That’s permanent and a little different.”
“Kate is coming over tonight. They’ll get along fine.”
“I hope you’re right. I wouldn’t want you to have to choose between them.” Charles didn’t realize that he was voicing the same worries to Drew that Liz had discussed with Kate.
“It’ll never come to that,” Drew immediately replied. “I love her and I love this kid. He’s always going to be my son and she’s going to be my wife. End of story.”
The nap in the limo restored Patrick’s energy. His body zigged and zagged as he sat on the edge of the sofa while handling the controller for the video game he was playing on Drew’s big screen TV. The sound effects coming from his mouth whenever he made a particularly good or bad move made Drew chuckle, because they were so much like the reactions he had.
A pot of water simmered on the stove for spaghetti and sauce was heating in another pot while garlic bread warmed in the oven. Kate was bringing a salad and dessert. He checked the time. She should be there any minute. He told himself not to be concerned about Kate and Patrick liking each other. Of course they would.
“I’ll get it,” Patrick shouted when the doorbell rang. Kate must have decided to act like a guest and not use her key.
Although Drew had told her that his son looked just like him, Kate’s eyes opened wide when she came face to face with the younger, smaller version of the man she loved. “Hi, I’m Kate,” she said and smiled.
“I’m Patrick. Drew told me you were coming.” He looked relieved when his father joined them. Drew rested a hand on his son’s shoulder, wrapped his other arm around Kate’s waist and kissed her cheek.
“Kate, meet my son, Patrick and Patrick, this is my girlfriend, Kate.” He’d decided to keep it simple and now Drew looked from one to the other, holding his breath.
Patrick leaned toward his father. “She’s pretty,” he whispered.
“I know,” Drew grinned and ruffled the boy’s hair.
“Do you like video games?” Patrick asked.
“I do, and I’m pretty good at some of them.”
Patrick grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the living room. “Come on, then. Let’s see if you’re as good as me.”
Kate and Drew exchanged a look of relief and the worry that had consumed them evaporated.
After dinner, Drew watched Patrick lick the frosting off one of the cupcakes Kate had brought for dessert. “You had two hotdogs, popcorn, and an ice cream at the baseball game. And now you’ve finished your spaghetti and have room for that,” he said, pointing to the cupcake.
“My mom says soon I’ll be a teenager and I need food so I can grow as tall as you.” When he grinned his teeth were covered with chocolate frosting.
The conversation flowed with ease until one point when Patrick asked Kate if she was going to spend the night. “My mother’s boyfriend sleeps in our house sometimes and since you’re Drew’s, girlfriend, I thought you would too.”
“Is that okay with you, Patrick?” Kate asked.
Drew prayed the answer was “yes” because if anything, his desire for Kate had increased since the boy’s arrival and just then he wanted her naked and under him. He held his breath while his son considered the question.
“Sure, why not,” Patrick finally said after studying them. “I’m ten, so I know about sex. That’s how I got here. You and my mom had sex and then you got a baby. Me. Are you going to have a baby?” The question was directed at Kate.
“Someday, maybe, but not just yet,” she replied, after she and Drew raised their brows at each other, astounded at how comfortable Patrick seemed to be with the subject, especially with them.
“I hope you do, because it would be fun to have a sister or brother to play with when I visit.” He went back to eating his cupcake as if they’d been talking about the weather.
When Patrick crawled into bed later, Drew pulled the covers up to the boy’s chin and sat beside him. Patrick yawned and then said, “This was the best day.”
“It was?”
“Yes. The game was great, you let me eat junk food, Charles is funny, I like riding in limos, and I like Kate.” He stretched his arms toward Drew and they hugged each other. “I’m glad my mother let me come to visit you.”
“Me too. I think I must be the luckiest dad in the world,” Drew murmured, overwhelmed with emotion as he kissed his son’s forehead.
“Why?”
“Because I have a son like you.”
Patrick yawned and snuggled further under the covers. “And I’m lucky that you’re my dad.”
Kate spotted tears in Drew’s eyes when he came out of Patrick’s room and quietly closed the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Not a thing,” he said and swiped at the tear that ran down one side of his face. “He’s such a great kid. I knew I could love him, but I had no idea that it would happen so soon.” He lowered his gaze, thinking. “Despite the way my life looks to outsiders, I’m not the most secure man. I had no idea until now how much I needed him to like me.”
“Why wouldn’t he? He not only found out that he has a father, but that father is the man he’d fantasized about because you have the same name.”
“Yeah, that. He could have been angry at me for deserting him, at his mother for lying to him, for so much, but he’s…he’s…” His throat tightened when tears threatened again.
“He’s amazing. I agree totally and I hate to say it since she was the reason I broke up with you, but Erin has done a great job raising a well-adjusted kid. It took a lot of courage for her to finally tell you about him, so I respect her for both of those things.”
“The more time I spend with Patrick, the less angry I am at her for depriving us of each other. Back then, I would have been an immature, resentful, shit father and that would have been bad for Patrick. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think things worked out the way they were meant to.”
Kate’s head had been resting against his chest while he ran his hands down her back to her hips. He used one finger to tip her chin up and his lips gently met hers. “I love you so damn much,” he sighed.
She slid her hand into his and tugged him toward the bedroom. “Show me.”
The tender kiss of moments earlier shifted into one that did nothing to disguise the passion between them as their clothes dropped to the bedroom floor. His lips found their way to Kate’s breast and she moaned when he gently licked then tugged on its nipple, while his fingers traveled lower and buried themselves in her.
Her hands cupped his muscular ass, drawing him to where she needed him most. He slid into her with one fast thrust and buried his face in the curve of her neck, breathing hard, then stilled his hips. “I love to feel your body accept mine and surround me. It’s so fucking good, like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” he murmured near her ear. Unable to fight the impulse to move any longer, he almost withdrew entirely before sliding home. Covered in sweat, he repeated the motion again and again until Kate’s head tipped back, her flushed face and rapid breathing signaling her approaching orgasm. His control unleashed, Drew drove into her fast and hard until they both fell over the edge into bliss.
CHAPTER 34
“I don’t want to go.” Patrick’s lower lip trembled when Drew’s doorman announced that the limo that would take them to the airport was parked outside. “You can’t make me.”
Drew squatted in front of the boy and waited until his son looked at him. “I’m your father and I love you, but Ireland is your home. We’ll spend as much time with each other as we can.
That’s a promise, and I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. Your mother missed you this week and your friends are there, too.”
“Yeah, they are,” he reluctantly agreed.
“Look, Patrick, I swear that I’m not going to disappear from your life or let you disappear from mine. I spoke with your mom last night.” Drew ran his hands over his face, unsure whether to continue before deciding that his son deserved honesty. “She was worried about how things would go with you and me, but she put you on that plane anyway so that we’d have a chance to get to know each other. She thinks you and I have done pretty well. We’ve agreed that you can spend school holidays and part of the summer with me if you want to, and I’ll fly to Ireland whenever I can. It’s not perfect, but we’ll make it work.” He tipped the boy’s chin up the same way he’d done with Kate’s the night before. “Okay?”
Patrick didn’t respond right away. Drew held his breath until his son finally nodded. “When you come to Dublin, my friends will be able to see that you’re real. Some of them don’t believe that a man as famous as you could be my father. They said I was making it up just because we have the same name.”
Drew’s heart broke a little. A boy shouldn’t have to prove who his father is. Despite the paparazzi at the airport, no tabloid had printed photos of him and Patrick, which had made their time together more relaxed than it would have been if reporters were hounding them. But Charles was right — it was time to manage the news about his son with a couple of interviews. The gossips that loved to speculate about which model or actress he was dating would have a field day not only with him having a son, but also getting engaged to Kate. Andrew O’Connor — married and a father. If someone had described him that way a year ago no one would have believed it, especially him.
Patrick checked his room one last time, then stood at the door with his luggage. He let his gaze sweep the apartment one last time. “You’ll keep my room the same? You won’t let anyone else sleep there?”
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