Defend

Ah, so that’s what has upset him. “Maybe it’s not that he doesn’t trust you, but he wants to be absolutely sure he does all he can to make sure that you don’t become a parent before you’re twenty.”

Gregory shrugs. “Are you ready to go back?”

I nod. Well, that didn’t go as well as I hoped. This might just prove that I should stay out of their business because I’m not any good when I insert myself and try to help.

Jamie and I lie in bed, satisfied after enjoying one another’s bodies. She’s on her stomach, her arms bunching the pillow up as her head rests on it. I lie on my side with my hand propping my head up and my other hand walking up and down her spine, sometimes deviating away to trail my fingers elsewhere along her back.

“You still haven’t told me what you sneaked off to do with my son.”

“I felt bad that he was embarrassed about what happened in Ketchikan, so I told him I had his back since he had mine and he could talk to me.”

“Did he?” I ask.

She nods.

“Well?”

“I promised I could be trusted, so no details.”

I frown. That is unacceptable. All Gregory would tell me was that he hadn’t had sex yet so I didn’t need to talk to him. He was still upset and nothing I said fixed anything. “Jamie, you have to tell me something.”

The wait while she figures out what to say is agonizing. Finally, she says, “I think he’ll make good decisions and you should trust that he will too.”

For the most part, I do. But... “He’s a sixteen-year-old, who’s probably ten times hornier than I am on my best day. He won’t always think straight.”

Jamie frowns. “You aren’t listening to me.”

“You expect me to believe that if things get hot and heavy with him and some girl, every single time, he’ll remember to use protection?”

“Yes,” she says, so completely confident in her answer that it makes me shut up for a minute.

“What did he say to you?” He had to say something for her to be so sure.

“Not for me to disclose. I want to stay on his good side.”

“It’s not like I’ll tell him what I know.”

Jamie laughs. “With this, you will.”

Now it’s going to drive me crazy. She knows something about my kid that I don’t. Unacceptable. Especially on a topic like this. “You can’t hold out on me. Not when it comes to my kids. If you know something, I need to know.”

Jamie sits up just enough to lean over and kiss me. “Relax, Brent. If it was urgent and serious, I’d tell you. Maybe you should talk to him again at some point. He might tell you what he told me.” I open my mouth to protest and demand she tell me, but she says, “Do you want Gregory to dislike me? That’s what will happen if I tell you. He told me so himself. I promise it’s nothing that you couldn’t find out yourself if you’d talk to him a little more.”

“Don’t talk to my kid anymore,” I grumble. “I don’t like you knowing shit I don’t.”

Jamie smiles as she rests her head on the pillow again. “No promises, boss.”

I kiss her shoulder. Silence fills the air as we watch one another until I decide to ask her something I’ve been thinking about. “I know how you feel about kids, and you know how I feel about getting married again, but I don’t actually know your feelings on marriage, except that you’ll joke around with me about it.”

Her eyebrow quirks up and a smile flashes my way. “Thinking about proposing to me one day?”

“No joking, hon. You want to get married?”

“There are two things I want in life: a job I enjoy and a man who loves me as much as I love him to spend my life with.”

That doesn’t necessarily answer my question. “Would you marry that man?”

Jamie rolls onto her side, causing my hand to rest on her waist. She cuddles closer and rests her forehead against mine. “If he asked me nicely and gave me butterflies when he asked, absolutely.”