Dean (Face-Off 6)

Her stomach growls loudly, and she runs her hand over her baby bump.

“Are you hungry?”

She nods. “Noah’s never satisfied.”

I lead Kat into the kitchen. She sits on one of the stools in front of the island at the center of the room.

“Noah wants bacon,” she says.

I open the refrigerator and laugh. “And what do you want?”

“Pancakes.”

“Pancakes and bacon it is.” I drop a package of bacon onto the counter and open the cabinet to grab the pancake mix. “Anything else?”

Kat eats the same meal often, even at two o’clock in the morning when she wakes me up, craving something sweet.

She shakes her head. “No, that should do it… for now.”

“I’ll be gone for two days.”

“I know.”

“I’ll make you enough pancakes and bacon to last until I get back.”

She grins, leaning her elbows on the counter. “You’re the best baby daddy ever.”

I snicker at her comment. “Is that all I am? Your baby daddy?”

“No, of course not. You’re also my chef.” She says this with laughter in her tone. “Thank you, Dean. I mean it. You’ve been so good to me.”

“A man is supposed to provide for his family.” I remove two frying pans from the drawer and set them on the stove. “Just doing my job, Kitten.”

“I think I love you more each day,” she says.

“I think I love you more each second,” I say to top her.

She giggles. “You looked good on the ice last night. We watched the game.” She rubs her stomach to indicate she watched it with Noah. “I think you guys will make it to the playoffs.”

I glance over my shoulder at her. “With the way we’re playing, we have a shot.”

“You’re doing so good for your first year. My dad is impressed. Even Duke and Austin have made comments about how well you’re playing.”

“Coming from your dad, that means a lot,” I say with a wink. “Not so much from Duke.”

“He apologized,” she groans. “Will you ever forgive him? One day he’s going to be your brother-in-law.”

“At least he’s not Noah’s godfather.”

“Yeah, that burned his ass when I chose Austin over him. But he did it to himself. How could we ask him to be Noah’s godfather after he messed up your pretty face?”

With my back turned to her, I laugh. “You think I’m pretty?” The bacon crackles in the pan, reminding me to flip it over.

“You know you’re pretty.” She snorts. “You’re prettier than me.”

“Not a chance,” I shoot back. “You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

“Ha! Yeah, right. We both know that’s a lie.”