I breathed a sigh of relief. That would be
pretty easy to keep doing because none of that was an act. I was just being
myself, and DJ was a great kid, so I didn
’
t mind spending time with him at all. “Thanks, Taylor,” I muttered,
relaxing now.
He stood up and started walking towards the
door. “Oh, and the restraining her on the sofa, accompanied by your filthy
pillow talk, she liked that too.” He chuckled and practically ran out of the
room before I could answer.
Rosie had told Anna about that?
I was more than a little proud of myself about that for some
reason.
I chuckled and walked out into the lounge
with Cameron, unable to resist smirking at Rosie and trailing my hand across
her ass when no one was looking. We stayed for another half an hour or so. I
watched Rosie cuddling up to Cameron, watching as her hair fell in his face and
he scrunched up his nose, making her laugh. I watched how soft her eyes were as
she looked at him. I must admit, she looked hot holding a baby! We spoke about
the christening for a while too; it was arranged for three weeks
’
time because they had to do it around Anna
’
s father
’
s schedule.
On the way back to Rosie
’
s place, we stopped and got ice cream. I sat
in the booth, completely happy just to watch my girl and her son, laughing and
joking around.
By the time we got back it was DJ
’
s bed time so I settled on the sofa and
waited. She came back and snuggled next to me, putting her legs over mine as
she found ‘Fright Night
’
on TV.
I couldn
’
t concentrate on the movie, all I could think about was that I
needed to broach the subject of her meeting my family. I closed my eyes and
took a deep breath, wondering where to start.
“Um, Rose?”
She snuggled into me more. “Mmm?”
“I, er… so, you know I spoke to my mom
today. She, er…”
Wow, stop stuttering and spit it out!
“She told me
about this
barbeque
that she
’
s having at the weekend, in aid of my sister
’
s birthday next week. I was wondering if, well, I was wondering if
maybe you
’
d like to go?” I winced,
waiting for her reaction.
She stiffened and pulled out of my arms,
her eyebrows knitting together. She chewed on her bottom lip, her whole posture
stiff and nervous. “Like meet your family, you mean?” she clarified, her voice
a little weaker than normal. I nodded in answer. A smile tugged at the corners
of her mouth. “You want me to come with you? That
’
s a big step.”
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her
onto my lap. “A big step? Like meeting a son, perhaps? Think maybe I took a
bigger step already?” I countered, cocking my head to the side, studying her
reactions.
She took a deep breath and let it out
slowly as she nodded. “Yeah, I guess you
’
re right there. Okay, sure, I
’
d love to meet your parents and the girls who got one up on Nate
Peters
.
”
I grinned happily, ignoring the comment
about my sisters. My mom was going to pitch a fit when I told her. “And if Josh
cancels this weekend, then my mom insisted that we bring DJ too,” I said,
playing down my mom
’
s enthusiasm a
bit.
Rosie recoiled. “
Well
let
’
s just hope that Josh doesn
’
t cancel this time then. I mean, surely your
parents are a little apprehensive about you dating a girl with a child. I think
it
’
d be best if they just got used
to the idea a little before I throw my four-year-old into their faces.”
I smiled, unsure how I could phrase my
reply without telling her that my mom was already bragging about her grandson
down at the bowls club. “
Stripes, my parents don’
t mind in the slightest. They want to meet him actually.” Wow,
understatement of the century!
A nervous smile twitched at the corner of
her mouth. “Really?”
“Really,” I confirmed. “If Josh cancels
then we
’
ll take him with us. He
’
d love it there. We could play on the beach,
and they have a pool. I
’
m pretty
sure my mom will buy every flavour of ice cream available.” I tried to come
across as joking, but I could already imagine my mom running around the house
now, shouting at everyone to get the house ready for a child. She
’
d be barking orders of ‘Evan, go to the store
and buy your own weight in candy
’
and
‘Paige, go buy the contents of Toys R Us so that he has something to play with
’
she
’
d be going way overboard. It was going to be a train wreck.
“Okay
.
What time?”
she asked, wrapping her arms around my neck, pressing her chest against mine.
I shrugged. “
I don’
t know. You said Josh was coming for DJ at about ten, so why don
’
t I just come over before that, and then when
he comes and picks up DJ then we can leave for the beach,” I suggested
casually, subtly worming my way in and making sure I was here when that jackass
was here so he couldn
’
t hit on my
girl.
She pursed her lips thoughtfully. “I
’
ll be seeing you anyway Friday night, right?”
she asked, combing her fingers through the back of my hair.
I nodded in confirmation. “Yep, I have a
date with a four
-
year
-
old and a
roller-skate rink.”
She looked at me, giving me that ‘you
’
re so freaking sweet
’
smile again. “So, it seems silly for you to be here Friday night,
then go home, only to come back a few hours later. If you want to, you can stay
over,” she suggested quietly, chewing on her lip.
Stay over? That meant DJ would be here too.
That would be the first time I
’
d
stayed over with him in the apartment. Wow, one small step for man…
“That wouldn
’
t be a problem?”
She shrugged. “I
’
m pretty sure DJ would be okay with you staying here. I
’
ll talk to him before and check though, if
that
’
s alright?”
I brushed my hand down the side of her
face. “If he doesn
’
t want me to
stay yet then that
’
s fine, Rose,
” I promised, kissing the tip of her nose.
She sighed and snuggled against me. “You
really are one of the nicest guys I
’
ve ever met,” she whispered, pressing her face into the side of my
neck, nuzzling against my skin softly.
Hmm, time to push her a little further.
“Want to stay at my parents
’
house Saturday night? We could hang out on
the beach, swim a little, have a drink?” I suggested, screwing my eyes up,
waiting for her reaction. I was grateful that she still had her face pressed
against my neck so I couldn
’
t see
her expression.
“Two days in a row sleeping with a SWAT
officer, however will I cope?” she teased, pulling back putting the back of her
hand to her forehead, f
eigning
a swoon.
“Don
’
t worry, Stripes. I know first aid if it all gets too much for you,”
I joked. “
We don’
t have to if you
don
’
t want to.”
“
I don’
t mind staying at your parents
’
house, as long as they don
’
t mind. I mean, are you
sure
they
’
re alright with me and you, you know, because of DJ?”
she checked.
I nodded and smiled reassuringly. “Stripes,
my family are going to love both you and DJ.”
She sighed and looked at me as if I was
Superman again. “Okay,” she agreed, pulling my mouth down to hers again.
My week at work was a hard one. I was
called on every day to go out with my team. Three times I had shot my rifle,
once it ended up with a body bag. I was physically exhausted and was literally
getting home from work, eating and talking to my girl before falling into bed,
asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.
By the time Friday came around all I wanted
to do was sleep forever, but I couldn
’
t do that because I
’
d
agreed to take DJ skating. My head was pounding, my body felt like jelly, and
my eyes were stinging from the mountain of paperwork I had to fill in today
because one of my team was wounded.
After packing up a little weekend bag and
swallowing a couple of pills for my headache, I headed to Rosie
’
s apartment where I would be sleeping tonight.
By the time I pulled up at her place, I couldn
’
t even be bothered to get out of the car. If I
’
d had plans with anyone else tonight I would have cancelled, but I
couldn
’
t do that to DJ. I refused
to be like his jackass of a father.
As I pushed myself up the stairs of her
apartment building, my legs feeling like ton weights. I took a couple of deep
breaths before I knocked on the door and plastered on a fake smile. DJ answered
the door, grinning happily, and I felt my mood pick up instantly. Sure, I was
still exhausted, sure, I could do with going to bed and sleeping until Monday
morning, but his excitement made everything worth it.
“DJ, you
’
re not supposed to open the door, you know that!” Rosie scolded,
pulling the door open a little further and looking at me apologetically.
“But I knowed it was Nate, Momma!” he
whined.
I smiled and looked my girlfriend over; she
was wearing black skinny jeans, a black tank top and a loose fitted flannel
shirt over the top, her hair in messy waves, cascading down her back. She was
the image of perfection in my eyes.
She looked up at me and frowned. “Nate, you
feeling okay?”
I nodded and smiled, trying to fake that
everything was fine. “Sure, just excited to go skating.” I looked down at DJ.
“You still want to go, right?”
He nodded and squealed, making my ears ring
a little because of the headache, and I prayed the pills would kick in soon.
“Are we going now?” he asked, clapping his hands excitedly.
I shrugged and looked at Rosie. “Sure, if
Momma says it
’
s alright.”
Rosie was studying me intently, a puzzled
frown on her face. “Baby, go get your shoes on,” she ordered, not taking her
eyes from me. He immediately ran off, and she stepped closer to me. “Are you
okay? Did you… have a bad day?” she asked, taking my hand and squeezing
reassuringly.
I sighed and pulled her closer to me,
putting my forehead to hers and closing my eyes.
“I
’
m just tired,” I whispered, pressing my lips against hers, kissing
her softly, relishing the feel of her lips against mine. I
’
d missed this, I hadn
’
t
seen her all week because I had to work. I
’
d been on a twelve
-
hour early shift, so I
just hadn
’
t had the time to see
her. I didn
’
t realise how much I
would miss her smell, the feel of her pressed against me, her warmth, or the
way her hair tickled the side of my face when I traced my nose across the line
of her jaw. I
’
d missed everything
about her. I
’
d also missed DJ and
the way he said things wrong all the time. I really was in deep trouble with
these two. But the thing was, if this was what being in trouble felt like, then
I didn
’
t ever want to be out of
it.
She pulled away from me, shaking her head.
“If you
’
re tired then don
’
t go skating. We
’
ll get a DVD or something, have a movie night instead,” she
suggested, looking at me sympathetically, stroking my face.
I smiled and kissed her again. “I want to
go,”
I protested
, looking at her
sternly so she knew that I was serious. There was no way I was disappointing
the kid by flaking out of the first thing I
’
d arranged for us to do. “You coming to watch?” I asked, trying to
change the subject and stop her fretting over me.