“Tell Tanner you’re going with me later. Flick and Kelli are making plans with their men too.”
“Will do,” I called as I left the room and headed for the kitchen.
In the main room, others were just starting to wake up, but the kitchen was in full swing when I walked in. There was a sippy cup already waiting for Reid in the fridge with his name on it, filled with milk. Beside it sat a small cup of grapes and cut-up strawberries.
“Thank you, whoever did this,” I said to the room at large.
“We figured you would be busy this morning,” Quinn said with a smile. “We’re just glad Tanner is home.”
“Me too,” I admitted.
“Here, girl.” Aggie pushed a plate into my hands. It had three sandwiches on it, thick slices of toast with fried eggs and crispy bacon. My stomach growled just looking at them. “Go feed yourself and your man. It’s about time the Reid boys met each other, don’t you think?”
Chapter 21
Tanner
The overhead light turning on had me reaching for the pillow to cover my face. “Go away, Matt,” I groaned.
“Sorry, no Matt here.” Jos’s sweet voice reached me, sounding amused. “We brought breakfast, Daddy.”
My entire body went still, even my heart stopped beating. Daddy. Lifting my head, I saw Jos walking toward our bed, a kid in her arms who looked so much like Max, I had to blink a few times before I realized it wasn’t. He had a sippy cup full of milk in one hand, some kind of kiddie cup I’d seen the other little ones have snacks in held in the other.
I started to sit up quickly, only to remember I was naked under the blankets.
“Easy,” Jos said with a soft laugh. “He’s got all the same parts you do, so you don’t have to freak out he’s going to see your dick.”
Cursing under my breath, I finished sitting up in bed, putting my back against the headboard and keeping the blanket tucked at my waist. All my moving around had caught Reid’s attention. His blue eyes, a Reid trademark if ever there was one, were glued to me. Curiosity was plain on his face as he watched me from the safety of his mother’s arms.
Jos stopped beside the bed, placing a plate I’d just noticed on the nightstand before sitting beside me. Reid moved to sit on the bed and pulled out a grape. He offered it to his mother. Her smile was so kind, so full of love, and I’d never seen her look more beautiful.
“No thank you, baby boy. Ask Daddy if he wants a bite.”
Reid frowned then pointed at me. Jos nodded, her smile encouraging. “Yes, Reid. That’s your daddy.”
I held my breath, waiting to see what he would do, while a million things went through my mind. Would he like me? Accept me? Fuck, he wasn’t even two, but this little boy’s opinion of me was suddenly the only thing that mattered.
The hand holding the grape lifted in my direction fearlessly. “Bite?”
I leaned forward, letting him feed it to me, making a growling noise as I sucked the piece of fruit into my mouth. He squealed in delight, giggling, and it was my new favorite sound. A small chunk of strawberry was produced from the snack cup next, which he promptly fed to me. I growled again, eating it up, my beard tickling his chubby little hand.
While he giggled and screamed with delight, I drank in the sight of my son in the fl
esh. Fuck, he was a beautiful boy. Dark, curly hair. Bright blue eyes that were full of the kind of happiness every kid should have. There was no denying he was a Reid. Anyone would know what clan he belonged to from a mile away.
And he was mine.
I’d helped create him.
This beautiful little boy was half me, half his mother, and the best thing I’d ever made in my life.
A lump filled my throat, and all I wanted in the world right then was to hug him. Not wanting to scare him, I held out both my hands to him, letting him decide for himself. His attention was immediately pulled to my cast. “Boo-boo?”
“Yes, honey. Daddy has a boo-boo,” Jos murmured softly, but I could still hear the catch in her voice.
His chin puckered, and he crawled forward until he could reach me. Pushing up to his knees, he carefully patted my cast. It was still painful from surgery, and even his light pat was enough to send pain-filled vibrations all the way up my arm, but I didn’t even flinch, too caught up in the moment of having my son touch me so fearlessly. “Boo-boo,” he said with the kind of empathy only the innocent possessed.
When he kissed my cast, the magical medicine I’d seen Raven and Bash use countless times on Lexa and Max, a lump filled my throat. Reid lifted his head, his eyes wide as if to ask “All better?”