Deal Breakers (Dealing with Love 1)

I gulp. “Nope. The towel’s good.”

He laughs. “I’ll see you soon, Dev.”

“See you soon,” I echo.

RILEY

“OKAY, ALL THE IMPORTANT phone numbers are on the fridge. Pediatrician, Poison Control, my office, etcetera.” Devyn’s been rattling off instructions for the past ten minutes. “Plus you can always call my cell if there’s an emergency.”

I smirk. “We’ll be fine, Dev.”

She offers me a small smile. “Thank you again, Riley.”

“Again, it’s my pleasure. Now go kick ass with your presentation.” I give her a little scoot towards the door.

She looks over her shoulder. “Okay, his booster seat is in the office if you need it, and—”

“I got it the first two times,” I say. “Now go. Don’t worry about us.”

She pauses at the threshold. “I’ll try to be home by five. I’ll text you if I’m running late.”

I can’t help myself. I pull her into me and kiss the little crinkle between her brows. “Go. To. Work. And good luck.”

She pulls back and blinks a few times. “Uh…okay. Thanks.”

I shake my head and close the door behind her. I turn around to find Nathan bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Hey, buddy,” I say. “Are you ready to have a fun day?”

He gestures to the toys in his hands. “You wanna play Transformers?”

I nod. “Sure. But only if I get to be Optimus Prime.”

He frowns. “SUCK MY BALLS! I get to be Optimus Pwime!”

I hold my hands up and laugh. “Okay, okay. No need to get so testy.” Yep, I went there. “I’ll be Bumble Bee.”

After Transformers, we moved on to G.I. Joe and now we’re building with Legos. I almost forgot how fun playing with the stuff is.

“Hey, Riley?”

“Yeah, dude?”

“Are yo

u my daddy?”

I raise my eyebrows, impressed by his intuitiveness. “Why would you think that?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. Aunt Wainey was telling Momma that I look just like you.”

Shit, how am I supposed to answer this? I don’t want to lie to the kid but I don’t think Devyn would be happy with me if I told him without her. “How would you feel if I was your daddy?”

He scrunches his nose in concentration. “I think you’d be a good daddy.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask. “Why’s that?”

He shrugs. “You’re funner than Jackson. I think he has a stick up his ath-hole.”