Single Daddy (The Single Brothers 1)

I want to tell her not to be long. It’s as if not feeling her body next to me has made me feel cold again. I wake up alone and go to bed alone, no problem. But the last few days with Richard being in my life, everything’s changed, including this needy feeling. It’s as if living in the house and being the only one in it sends a chill up my spine, even though it’s something that I was quite happy to do a few days ago. How so much can change in such a short space of time…

She laughs as she comes back.

“Besides, you had your boys. You were going to buy the ranch.

Everything was mapped out for you.”

I want her to stand there naked all day long. I could admire her for weeks. Damn, she’s so incredibly sexy. She has no idea how much she’s turning me on right now. But, she’s about to find out.

“Do you ever stop thinking about it?”

She laughs as I start to grope her as soon as she comes near me. I can’t get my hands off her. Now she’s near, I don’t want to let her go.

“Besides, the way I remember it, I wanted us to be together, and you told me no. Not ever again. We were stepbrother and sister, and that was the end of it.”

“Looks like I was wrong.”

I growl, “Seems that way.” I forget about everything and think of us as being together, the way that I wanted us to be that night—the way that I want us to be right now.

***

When we finally got out of bed, because it was time to see to Richard, Kylie wanted to do it. She said that it was good practice for the future. It was as if she’d never left my life and had been in it all this time. Everything just clicked from the moment we were in bed. Once we talked. I was just about to go down to the ranch to make sure that everything was okay. I’ve been hardly going there lately.

That’s when I hear my phone ringing, and as I pick it up, I regret doing so.

“Good evening, is this Noah Walker?”

I sigh. “Yes.” I saw the number was from the clinic, which means that the results are back and can only mean one thing. I’ll know in a few minutes if Richard’s mine or not.

“We have the paternity test results. Would you like to come in for them, or can we send them in the mail?”

“As I said to Dr. Myers, I want you to call me with the results.”

She clears her throat, probably used to mixed reactions from this. “Well, I can concur that the baby in question is indeed yours.”

“Thank you.”

Then I hang up the phone like a zombie not sure of its existence. I head to Richard’s room. Kylie smiles at me as she’s making her usual baby noises at Richard.

I hold up my phone and take a picture.

“What are you doing?” she asks as she watches me. I press the send button.

“Dad told me that if Richard’s mine then I should send him a picture.”

She laughs. “You’re joking, right? He asked you to send him a photo?”

I nod. “But you missed out on the important part.”

“What?”

“That Richard’s mine.”

“Oh, I thought you knew.”

I shrug. “Not really. Not until now.”

Maybe part of me didn’t want to believe it. The evidence was there. Candy wouldn’t go out of her way to drop him here if she felt that he wasn’t mine. It had been a few days, and still nothing from her. He looked like me, but that could mean anything. Right now, I knew that it meant only one thing.

I was his daddy.

Kindergarten. School. College.

All down to me, because I was officially his dad.

Chapter Twelve

Kylie

I can’t believe it. I’m sitting down, and all these songs are rolling through me. It’s as if this musical constipation has turned into diarrhea and they’re pouring out of me.

“What are you doing?” Noah asks as he starts to grope my tits. I look down, and Richard’s on his bouncy chair—a gift from his dad, who has become obsessed with spoiling him ever since he got the paternity results. The whole house looks like a nursery. There isn’t a toy or baby stuff not occupying one part of the house. It’s sweet watching him fuss over someone else apart from himself.

Luckily, Noah has a piano, which he said that he bought with me in mind. He felt that his home had to have one to have a piece of me. That felt kind of sweet, knowing that when he bought this place and decorated it, he was thinking of me.

I don’t know what it is because everything’s clicking like crazy. We go for walks every day, and I submitted a couple of recordings to my manager—my official manager—who said that he would forward it to the label.

I’ve even lost a few pounds. Well, that’s either from the sex or the food, and as promised, my dildo’s safely sealed up and not feeling the need to show its face—or rather, its dick. Either way, for the first time in a long time, I feel like myself. Like a woman instead of a thing.

“I’m on my fourth song!”

“This week? Damn! You're like a machine.”

I nod. “I know. A singing, songwriting machine. Bring it on.”

He kisses me and moves away. “I wouldn’t want to stop the inspiration.” I’m about to correct him when my phone rings.

“Come here, little man. Come and help daddy cook.”

I laugh as I watch them move into the kitchen. I can’t believe that Noah’s changed from hardly being able to hold him, to having him in his arms every minute.

“Kylie, you there?”

I nod. “Sure. Is this John?”

I’m about to go through the formalities, asking how he is and how the songs that I sent him were, when he blurts out, “That was fucking amazing!”

“Sorry?”

“The second song you sent. The first, not so bad, but that second one…. Hold me, baby… Beautiful, just beautiful.”

“Oh.”

“How’s the diet coming along?”

“Good.”

“Right, it’s only been three weeks, so we won’t put too much pressure on that, but at least if you’re trying, that’s the main thing.”

That’s sweet of him, and they’re the same words that Mom uses every day that I speak to her when I can be bothered to answer her call, but she typically wants a photo in between so that I can show her my weight loss. She’s putting me under a little pressure. I should be used to it, but it doesn’t stop rattling my cage every time we speak.

“So, when are you coming into the studio? We can have a meeting and get that song out there so others can appreciate your beautiful voice and that fucking song. It’s just so damn beautiful.”

“Right?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to cuss on the phone. So, is tomorrow good?”

“I’m in Texas.”

“And there are planes.”

That’s not the real issue. I’ve loved writing and singing here, being as far away from the city as possible. Now, he’s asking me

to come back. I think that’s what the problem was in the first place—feeling like a caged animal at the zoo, always being asked to perform. I don’t want to go back to that life.

“So, you’ll be here tomorrow?”

“The day after,” I blurt out.

“Okay, but the sooner, the better. If you need me to book the flights for you, don’t hesitate to ask.”

He means his secretary, and I think that I can handle booking flights. I don’t have a PA anymore. There didn’t seem to be any point after I lost my mojo.

“We’ll be waiting, babes!”

And then he hangs up. Now I’ve got my mojo back on, he’s calling me pet names. I hate to think what he was calling me when I was giving him nothing. I’ve still got my phone in my hand when Noah walks back in with Richard.

“Dinner’s served, my lady. Oh, was someone on the phone?”

He can see the troubled look on my face, and I’m still holding my phone.

I lie and say, “Just Terence wanting another picture.”

“Eh, that man. Does he ever stop?"

"He's your dad!" I point out to him, as much as he hates the man for cheating on his mom and demanding part of his inheritance money when his mom died. He's still his dad, and he's married to my mom.

"Okay, let’s not spoil the night. Happy thoughts only.”

I smile as I think that he’s right. Only happy thoughts today, because come tomorrow it will be a different subject, and we’ll both be miserable. I don’t know who’s going to feel worse, him or me? I don’t want things to change. Not tonight. Not ever.

Chapter Thirteen

Noah

Kylie’s been quiet ever since we sat down to dinner. Noah’s asleep and the monitor’s on the table. We’re supposed to be watching a movie. I put on some chick flick thinking that she’ll like it, and Kylie’s head’s on my lap.

I can’t concentrate because I want her so badly. She’s been recording all day, and I’ve been Noah at the ranch. I’m not sure if she’s in the mood.

I move her head up by delicately touching it in case she’s watching the movie.