Authors: Toni Aleo
“Um? I don’t know, which one do you want Lucas?” Aiden asked, glancing over at Lucas. Fallon did the same and Lucas wore a small smile on his face.
“I want your hearts.”
He said it so simply but with such meaning that Fallon’s breath hitched as her heart skipped a beat. Lucas shot her a knowing grin and she glared as she stabbed four of the hearts and placed them on his plate.
Aiden then said loudly, “Me too, Mommy!”
“You can have all my hearts,” Fallon said just for a stab at Lucas.
Aiden grinned up at her and when she glanced back at Lucas, he was wearing the same exact grin. The only difference was that Aiden was completely innocent while Lucas had nothing but heat in his eyes. Fallon finished serving them before getting her own plate and going to sit down. Aiden had already dug into his food, while Lucas watched Fallon’s every move. It felt so weird having him watch her like he used to. It used to make her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world — now it just made her nervous.
She stumbled twice before finally making it to the table. She placed her plate down before grabbing the syrup from the middle of the table. When she looked up at Lucas, he was grinning as he cut up his pancakes.
What the hell was he grinning about?
Nothing was said as the two ate. Aiden never really talked when he ate, he was too busy shoveling food into his mouth to even get a word out edgewise. The boy was an eater and when Fallon looked next to Aiden, where Lucas sat, she saw that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Lucas too was shoveling pancakes into his mouth. Syrup dripped from the sexy stubble that covered his chin and her mouth watered at the sight. Fallon no longer wanted the syrup that covered her pancakes. More like the syrup from his chin, and lips, or hell, just dump it on him!
Ugh, she had to get out of there. Something was seriously wrong with her and she needed to seek help or get laid. It had been a while, maybe that’s why she was lusting after Lucas.
Or maybe it was just him.
Fallon shook her head in disgust and got up from the table without even touching her pancakes. She took her plate to the sink and when she turned, both Lucas and Aiden were looking at her.
“Mommy, you didn’t eat.”
“I’m not hungry honey, go ahead and finish up. I’m gonna go get ready for work,” Fallon said as she started out the kitchen. She heard him say okay before she hightailed it up the stairs. If she couldn’t even sit at a table with Lucas while eating breakfast, how the hell was she going to handle the next 11 years?
He looked over at Aiden and thought the boy was thinking the exact same thing by the way he watched Fallon run up the stairs. Fallon was being weird, had been since he had gotten there. When he walked in and saw her face flushed and her mouth parted, he knew she was thinking something naughty. He would have done anything to be inside her mind, just to know what gave her that look. It was the look she used to give him when she was ready to skip breakfast and go straight back to bed.
Lucas
really
liked that look.
Lucas smiled back, and went back to eating because these were the best damn pancakes ever. Fallon was a kick-ass cook. Lucas could eat for days when she cooked, and before had begged her to go to culinary school. But Fallon was dead set on owning the wine business, and who was he to tell her otherwise?
Aiden finished up at almost the same time Lucas did. While Aiden ran into the living room, Lucas took their plates to the sink, cleaning them off before joining Aiden on the couch. Color flashed from the screen as a kid changed into all kinds of crazy-looking monsters.
“What show is this?” Lucas asked settling into the couch.
“Ben 10, it’s super awesome! My favorite!” Aiden said with a lot of enthusiasm. Lucas looked back at the TV with a smile on his face. Aiden was so full of life, and the more Lucas watched him, the more Lucas found that what Fallon said was true.
Aiden was him 10 times over.
As they watched the show, Lucas thought it was pretty entertaining, or maybe it was Aiden, because the kid couldn’t sit still to save his life. He would jump up, start kicking and fighting like the Ben kid on the TV. After fighting whatever creature that was on the TV, Aiden always looked back at Lucas with a grin. Lucas would smile back, which made Aiden’s smile brighter. It was heaven, and Lucas could honestly not think of any other place he’d rather be then with his son.
**********************************
Fallon looked herself over in her floor-to-ceiling mirror. The jeans she wore made her ass look great, and the low-cut yellow blouse made her skin look perfect. Her hair was in a perfect high ponytail, and her makeup was fierce. It was pretty obvious why she was worried about what she wore to work that day — it had everything to do with the man that sat on her couch watching cartoons. Before Fallon had no problem with wearing sweats to work on Saturdays since no one was there, but not today, not with her ex sitting on her couch downstairs. Nope, she had to look good.
Fallon rolled her eyes and slid her feet into her yellow flannel Kate Spade flats. She went to her closet, grabbing a bag that matched her shoes before transferring everything over. Once she was ready, she slowly walked out her room, passing by the bathroom where the shower was running. Audrey was up late this morning, which was surprising. Audrey was always up early.
Fallon shrugged her shoulders as she went down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she looked up to see that Aiden’s last show was about to end. Her heart started to pick up when she thought about Lucas leaving with Aiden. Where would they go? What would they do? Would Aiden miss her?
When Lucas stood up suddenly, Fallon’s eyes went wide. He moved his arms up, stretching, and Fallon could see every muscle in his back move underneath the shirt he wore. Her mouth watered at the sight, and her fingers itched to touch each of the muscles of his back. Fallon had to force herself to look away just as Aiden turned to see her.
“It does. Aiden loves the zoo,” Fallon said as she came around the couch, wrapping an arm around her perfect little boy. “Don’t you, honey?”
Aiden looked up at her with his smoky gray eyes glowing with excitement. “The best,” she basically croaked out as her eyes filled with tears. Oh God, this was hard.
“Okay, well you ready buddy?” Lucas asked as he clapped his hands together.
“Yup! I gotta get my shoes,” Aiden said, running around them to go to the stairs.
“Grab your coat too, Aiden James. It might get chilly,” Fallon added before he ran out of sight. She looked over at Lucas and he gave her a reassuring smile.
She blinked twice before looking down at their hands. The palm of her hand burned against his but it felt at home. She cleared her throat before pulling her hand away and tucking it into her back pocket.
“I don’t care. I don’t want my kid listen to men rap about fucking bitches and slapping hoes. If you can’t do that, then he ain’t leaving with you.”
“Oh come on, it’s not that bad, and you used to like that music,” he challenged, and by God, Fallon would never tell him she still did. She loved her rap music as much as he did, but Aiden didn’t know anything about it, neither did Audrey.
“I don’t anymore,” she lied as she looked away. “Listen to the radio.”
“I hate the radio.”
“Fine, Aiden can bring a CD for y’all,” she said. Fallon turned to look up the stairs, waiting for Aiden to appear. When he did, Fallon said, “Aiden, bring a CD. Lucas doesn’t have anything good in his car.”
“Okay, Mommy!”
“Yes I do! I have the best rappers ever in my car,” Lucas said through his teeth.
Fallon knew she was hitting a cord with Lucas. She knew not to mess with his music. He was very adamant about what he listened to and what he liked. Fallon wanted to laugh out loud at the face he was making but figured she didn’t want to fight with him this morning. Well, at least not more than they already had.
She had to look away or she was really going to laugh in his face. Fallon didn’t answer as she turned, going towards the door for her light jacket.
“Yeah and they are the best!” Aiden gushed as Fallon put her jacket on.
“I don’t know if I agree with you on this kid,” Lucas said, still holding the CD up as he looked at the back. Aiden stood there grinning as Fallon came over, wrapping her arms around him.
“I gotta go honey, have a good day. If you need me, call me okay. Lucas has my number.”
“I will Mommy, bye,” Aiden said before placing a sweet kiss on Fallon’s lips. She took Aiden’s hand in hers and they headed out the door, with Lucas behind them, still looking at the back of the CD. Lucas was parked behind her, so she opened the back door for Aiden, seeing that Lucas had gone shopping for a car seat for Aiden.
“Is this even music?” Lucas asked. Fallon watched Aiden climbed into his seat, buckling his seat belt.
“Bye honey,” Fallon said before shutting the door. She turned to looked at Lucas, “Sure, it’s great.”
Fallon knew she was wrong for lying but hey, just the thought of Lucas driving around a huge black Escalade, rocking out to Big Time Rush would have her grinning the whole day.
“I’m pretty sure you’re lying to me,” Lucas said with a grin on his face. He looked down at her. “But if you give me a sweet little kiss, I’ll forgive you,” he said with a wink.
Fallon laughed as she turned away from him, heading for her car. “Good thing I’m not looking for forgiveness.”
She gave him another smile before waving at Aiden and getting into her car. She took in a deep breath as she watched Lucas shake his head and get into his car through her rearview mirror. He opened the CD, and placed it into the CD player with a look of disdain on his face. When Aiden’s head started moving to music, Fallon couldn’t help the wide smirk that came across her face, or the giggle that escaped when she saw Lucas roll his eyes.
While his son sung about being some girl’s boyfriend, all Lucas could do was bite his tongue. Who in the world made these guys famous? This wasn’t even music, more like torture in the form of sound. Lucas looked in his rearview mirror to see Aiden breaking it down as he sung the chorus, his hand moving with every note he hit. The kid could sing, but Lucas wished it was something better than this crap.
When he saw the sign for the Zoo, he almost yelled out in happiness. He reached for the volume button, turning it all the way down.
“Mommy would, too. She likes her music loud, even though she won’t do it when I’m in the car, but I always here when she comes home. AA always says that Mommy is gonna blow her eardrums out!” he said with a giggle. It made Lucas smile.
There wasn’t a time in the car when his and Fallon’s music wasn’t ear-splitting loud. They both liked it like that, the feel on the bass shaking the car or the way it tickled their chest. Even though he still rode with his music loud, it was the best when he had Fallon’s hand in his.