by Laney Smith
“I’m so scared. If this goes bad, it’s not just you and me. It’s Nathan, too.”
“I’m not going to beg you to love me. You either do, or you don’t. I feel so much for you. If you don’t feel it, too, then I can understand that. I don’t like it. But, I can understand. I want you to know that I do feel it for you. I want to be with you to see what we can be. I want to build a future with you. I love you, Corlay,” he said with a confident sincerity. He clenched his jaw and his nostrils flared as his tone took on a gruff edge His eyes zeroed in on hers. “And don’t you ever fucking tell me I don’t have a kid, again. Don’t you ever tell me I don’t understand. I’m telling you, now, just to avoid any further confusion, Nathan is my kid. I may not have been there when he started out. But, I’m here now, and he is mine. He has an Uncle Rick who thinks Nathan is the coolest thing since cows started giving milk. He also has two younger cousins – girls, of course,” Ryan rolled his eyes as he chuckled. “He has a Nana, too. She loves him, already, and if you think you’re fierce and scary, I dare you to tell Nana he’s not her grandson. He has a grandpa that is a little quiet . . . a little within himself, maybe. If you behave yourself, maybe we’ll let you meet them, too,” Ryan smirked. “You want a family that will be there for him?” Ryan nodded his head. “The name is Priest. I suggest you learn it well because you’re officially stuck with us.” He stepped closer to her and slid his finger under her chin lifting her tearful gaze to his own. “Don’t ever hurt me like that, again. I mean it,” he winked at her and pressed his lips to hers. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she humbly muttered.
Ryan slowly blinked as a smile widened his lips. He put his forehead to hers. His smooth voice whispered, “Let me make you want it . . . all of it.”
Corlay’s breath hitched in her chest. “I’m still so scared I’m going to wake up. You have no idea how afraid I am.”
“You and that kid . . .” Ryan looked over his shoulder and listened for a second. Interrupted in his thoughts, he nervously glanced at Corlay as he started to step away from her. “Why is it so quiet?”
As though a fuse had ignited and set him off, Ryan hurried up the stairs to Nathan’s room. In the middle of the floor, Nathan had spread every blanket Corlay owned out on the floor to make a squishy pallet, complete with all the pillows from his mother’s bed, as well as his own. Apparently, when little Nathan tested it out, it proved to be rather comfortable. With his little hand tucked under his cheek, Nathan was sound asleep.
“He’s unbelievable,” Ryan said as he adored the sleeping child. “You do understand I have to sleep on that little bed he made, right?”
Corlay leaned against him, wrapping her arms around him. “He would probably be a little crushed if you didn’t.”
Ryan studied her facial features. He pulled her to him as they both glanced down at Nathan once again. Ryan pulled the door shut and flashed Corlay a devious grin.
“You want to have some fun?”
“Are you going to show me some fun?” Corlay flirted.
Ryan’s lips nipped at hers as he hummed, “Mmhmm.” His hands slid down her hips to her butt. He pulled her, slamming her body against his, as he exhaled through his clenched teeth. He started grinding against her and she moaned her approval. For the second time, they found their way to Corlay’s bed.
Unlike the night before, Ryan’s passionate touch was heavier and more deliberate. His firm hand gripped and squeezed her body as his mouth devoured her. His breath flushed over her skin with his quickened respirations as the intimate moment heated up. He manipulated her body, persuading her into the position he wanted her. It was as though she were having sex with an entirely different man. As his body moved, determined to push her over the edge, a bead of sweat slid down his nose.
“This feels a little different than making love,” Corlay noted.
Ryan smiled a cocky smile as he dragged his face over his shoulder. “I do love you,” he said as he thrust into her. The way he used his body to pleasure her, her fingertips dug into his flesh, telling him he had found exactly what she wanted him to do. He rocked his body against hers. As she pressed her head back against the mattress, gasping in pleasure. Ryan sucked on her lips, making the moment wilder for her. As she reacted to him, he finally gave in to the tension that had been building for him. The throaty moans and growls as he drove his body into hers, deeper and harder, until his release finished and his body slowly began to relax. He lowered his body onto hers, finally beaten by absolute exhaustion, he allowed gravity to own his body. Corlay traced her fingers over his back.
“Ryan . . . baby . . .” she whispered, wanting to slip out from under him.
He moaned contentedly, lifting his head to kiss her. “I have to go to sleep. I’ve got a specially made, custom bed waiting for me.”
He stood and slid his jeans and his shirt on. In a hurry to finally slip off to sleep, he hurried through every task that would get him closer to the stop by the bathroom on his way across the hall. He kissed Corlay once again as he ducked into the bathroom as she was headed for the stairs.
“I love you.”
“Mm . . . I love you,” she purred. “Have sweet dreams.”
Ryan squinted and exaggerated the nod. “I’m going to. Don’t you worry.”
~THIRTY-THREE~
“We could play Nintendo,” Ryan woke to a little voice, whispering in his ear.
He groaned and pulled a pillow over his head. Within a second, Nathan removed the pillow obstructing his view of Ryan’s face. He nudged Ryan’s arm, leaning over, resting his elbow on Ryan’s chest as he stared at his face.
“Ryan,” he whispered, “don’t you want to play video games?”
Ryan squinted one eye, looking at the little boy staring at him.
“What time is it?” he mumbled.
“Shh! My mom said I can’t wake you up, yet.”
“Remember how I told you we had to follow her rules? What happened with that?” he fussed, clenching his eyes shut, again.
“You’ve been asleep for a long time,” Nathan griped. “I just missed you.”
Ryan slowly relaxed his eyelids before opening them – both this time. He blinked the blurry away, attempting to focus on Nathan. The happy little smiley face made it impossible to be annoyed.
“Are you ready to wake up, now?” Nathan asked, patting his little hand on Ryan’s chest.
Ryan dragged his hand over his face and sighed. “Yeah. I’m ready.”
“Will you please tell my mom I didn’t wake you up? She’s going to be very mad.”
“I’ve taught you better than that. We don’t lie. I’m not going to go tell on you. But, wait until the next time you’re asleep. I’m coming after you,” Ryan playfully threatened.
“Nuh-uh,” Nathan argued through his wide smile.
Ryan raised his arm and looked at his watch. “Are you kidding me? I’ve been asleep for an hour and forty-five minutes, Nate. That’s not a long time. It’s not a long time, at all. When did you get up?”
“Um . . . Maybe just like . . . six or five hours ago.”
Ryan chuckled and shook his head as he sat up on the little pallet on the floor. “No. You did not wake up six or five hours ago. But, you’re a funny guy, you know that?” He smiled at Nathan before he yawned. “Should we head downstairs so your mom can tell me how I should still be sleeping?”
“Will you stay at my house tonight so I don’t have to put the blankets away?”
Ryan scoffed. “No! I have to go home so my mom won’t worry.”
“You’re going to sleep at Nana’s house?”
Ryan smiled and nodded his head. “Yeah.”
Nathan looked over his shoulder as though he were expecting to see Corlay standing there. When she wasn’t there, Nathan softly whispered, “Can I spend the night at Nana’s house, too?”
Ryan thought about it and shrugged, seeing no reason to say no. “We can ask your mom and see what she says.”
“No! No, no, no. Let’s go downstairs and talk to her,” he said as he stood from the cozy little bed on the floor.
Just as he finished his statement, he heard Corlay’s loud whisper from the bottom of the stairs. “Nathan! Be quiet. Don’t wake him up.”
“He’s already awake, Mom. Huh, Ryan?”
“Uh-huh,” he answered, flashing Nathan a sarcastic glare.
Ryan had started folding the blankets as Corlay came up the stairs. “Did he wake you up?”
Ryan glanced over at Nathan. Avoiding the question, he changed the subject. “Good morn-noon,” he smiled as he kissed Corlay. “You and I . . . we have a lot to talk about.”
“We do?”
“Yeah! I need to show you some stuff on the computer. And, I want to know if you have any objections to Nathan and I having a guy’s night,’ tonight.”
“A guy’s night?”
Ryan sighed as he nodded. “Yeah. We’ll go crash at my mom’s, play some video games until we fall asleep - which won’t be very long, I don’t expect. That sounds really childlike. I have to show you some stuff. I have to figure out my living situation.”
“You just woke up, thinking about this stuff?”
Ryan pondered her question. “Hmm! Guess I did. Anyway, what do you think about Castle Hills?”
Corlay laughed as she stared at him in confusion. “Did this just come to you while you were sleeping? Why are you asking me this?”
“No. Before you tore me up about family or whatever, I was looking into greenhouses. There was one listed in Castle Hills. I don’t know how big you wanted to start with. I don’t know anything about any of this, actually. So, you might have to hold my hand - help me out.”
“You’re really gonna do this?”
“Why? Was it some joke? You just wanted to shoot me a line and see if I’d fall for it?” he smiled as he hugged her. “Will you help me? I don’t know what I’m doing with that whole thing. I want it to be what you want.”
Corlay shrugged. “I don’t need anything big to start with. I just need a place to do some grafting and transplanting.”
Ryan’s eyes glazed over as she continued to list other things she wanted to start with. Eventually, he shrugged his shoulders and threw his hands up.
“I’ll be honest. I have no idea what you’re talking about. It sounds gardenish or something - whatever that’s called. I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s just that . . . wow! I don’t know. I can show you what I found and you can tell me if it’s what we need or if we need to keep looking. I’ll learn as we go, I’m thinking. Right now?” Ryan shook his head and pursed his lips. “I just don’t . . . That’s all you. That’s what I’m trying to say. I found some four-acre thing out in Castle Hills. You wanna see it?”
“Four acres? To start with? That’s huge!”
Ryan stared at her blankly.
“Sure. I’ll look at it,” she said, sensing his lack of patience.
Ryan opened the website on his phone and handed his phone to Corlay. “Is that what we need? Could you do something with that?”
“That’s an established business,” she said as she scrolled through the listing.
“Uh-huh. Is that bad?’
“No,” she answered, shocked at what he was suggesting. “This? Are you sure?”
He rolled his eyes and dropped his shoulders as he bent down, wrestling Nathan off the stack of bedding to get another blanket to fold. When he stood upright, he flashed her a tired expression.
“Is that what you need? I’m not giving you anything and you need to understand that. I’m only an investor. You find what you need and I’ll do my part. Then, you do your part. That’s how this works. So, if you meant what you told me, I’m ready to do this anytime you find what you need.”
“This would be good because it’s already operating. I could phase out some of the regular plants and slowly bring in the exotics. Then, I have something to work with so I can repay you faster. It’s just a lot more to start with than I was expecting.”
Ryan rubbed his eyes and drew a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before he released it. He tilted his head as his eyes roved absently as he thought about what she was saying - or maybe he wasn’t. He felt it was what she needed to see him doing, so he played the part.
“So, operational is good, right?”
“Well, that’s a dream come true. But, I really don’t need that to start. It would be fun,” she shyly shrugged. She started spouting her random thoughts. “That’s a lot of money. I haven’t seen their financials. I would pay you back, I promise.”
Ryan’s face softened and he nodded. “I know.”
Nathan kicked his foot up as he spouted, “Ryan buys stuff, Mom. He bought me baseball stuff.”
“How can you be that confident in this? Aren’t you the slightest bit nervous?”
“I’m not proud of it, but I’ve gambled with a hell of a lot more money than this. This is child’s play – like a trip to the dollar store. This is a drop in the bucket. I’m not meaning to boast or flaunt anything. I’m just telling you, if it eases your mind, I’ve spent more than this on a fun night out with friends, knowing none of that was coming back. I did a lot of stupid things, without taking the time to realize they were stupid. So, no. I’m not even slightly worried about this. You just remember that business plan you told me you had and do it. I believe in you. Don’t disappoint me,” he smiled.
“OK, I don’t care what you’ve done before. I will repay you. This investment will come back.”
Ryan slowly blinked as he nodded. “I know it will. I already told you, I’m not giving you anything. We will work it out. Just figure out whatever you want and do it.”
Corlay sheepishly smiled and pointed to the listing displayed on Ryan’s phone screen. “We can look into this one?”
The look on her face melted his heart. He stared into her eyes and nodded. “Yeah.”
Corlay couldn’t help but squeal as she lunged for Ryan, hugging him, excitedly. “Thank you. I still can’t believe this is happening.”
“I can’t believe it either,” Nathan griped. “Now, there will be even more plants.”
“That reminds me,” Ryan smirked, avoiding making eye contact with Corlay. “If you have a greenhouse, do you think we could move some of these plants?”
“You’re against me, too?” she giggled. “You two are ganging up on me?”
“No. I’m just wondering if you had a greenhouse, if you’d still keep all these plants here. That’s all.”
“No. These are part of what I want to transplant and graft.”
Ryan looked at Nathan, passing him an exaggerated wink while holding his hand up for a high-five. As he and Nathan smashed their hands together, Corlay watched them amused by the bond the two shared. She still questioned Ryan’s intentions and interest in her. However, for the moment, she was happy to see Nathan and Ryan interact.
Nathan had started for his bedroom door. He froze and turned to face Ryan and Corlay. He looked as though a mischievous thought had occurred to him as he smiled at Ryan.
“Hey, Dad, now can we go play games?”
Ryan felt Corlay’s eyes shifting between he and Nathan. Ryan knew Nathan was waiting for a reaction. He was reasonably certain Corlay was also waiting for a reaction. Ryan tilted his head as his gaze locked on Nathan’s.
“Do you have it all set up and ready to go?”
“Did you hear what I said?” Nathan asked. “I called you, Dad.”
“Uh-huh. I heard you, funny boy,” Ryan nodded his head, fighting the smile. “Is the game ready to go?”
Nathan smirked. “No, Dad.” He giggled as he held on to the doorframe, swinging his body.
“You set it up while I finish picking up the blankets. We can’t leave your mom with a mess to clean up,” Ryan said.
“OK, Dad,” the boy smirked as he searche
d Ryan’s face for a response. “It’s OK if I call you that, huh, Ryan?”
Ryan shifted on his feet, sensing Corlay’s laser-like stare. “I told you, it doesn’t matter what we call each other, right?”
“So, it is OK if I call you Dad?”
This time, Ryan sighed and rested his hands on his hips as he glanced at Corlay. Her curious face looked just like Nathan’s as they both waited to see what Ryan would say. Ryan shrugged.
“You can call me whatever you want to call me, Nate.”
Corlay covered her mouth with her hand as Nathan cheered and made his way to the stairs. She and Ryan stood silent as they listened to the sound of Nathan’s feet padding down the stairs. Corlay turned her attention to Ryan and started stuttering, searching for words to say. Ryan lifted his hand and held a finger up as he looked at her.
“C’mon! I had a split second to come up with something. If I said the wrong thing, well . . .”
“Are you OK?”
“I’m light headed . . . a little dizzy. I’ve been called a lot of things, but never . . . He told me the girl has to decide who gets to be the dad. He told me a girl has to ask me to be the dad. He just came out left field with that,” Ryan breathed a deep sigh and chuckled. “I’m a little dizzy.”
“You know what that means?” Corlay smiled, clasping her hands behind her back as she twisted her body.
Ryan flashed her a helpless, quizzical look as he reached for the last blanket from the floor.
“Remember all that you said? . . . the name is Priest. Learn it, blah, blah, blah . . . you’re stuck with me blah, blah, blah . . . I hope like hell you meant that. You’re condoning this by allowing it, and he’s serious. If you don’t put your foot down now, you’re going to be Dad to him.”
Ryan’s eyes shifted around the room as he thought about what Corlay said.