“Yeah,” they both say, excited about meeting their nephew.
After the news broke about Kat’s pregnancy, it took the twins a while before they would talk to me on the phone. Ever since, we have slowly repaired our friendship. Austin, always the more friendly and civil of the brothers, holds out his hand for me to shake. Duke frowns at me, his angry look slowly changing to a closed-mouth smile. He mutters his congratulations.
My mom is a sobbing mess, held up by Nick, with his bulky frame and strong arms. She hugs me and chokes out, “Congrats, baby. I can’t believe my baby has a baby, and I’m a grandmother.”
I kiss her on the cheek. “Thanks, Mom. You are an amazing mother. You’ll be an even better grandmother. Noah will love you just as much as I do.”
She smiles. “I guess it’s about time I leave Florida. My boys need me.”
I nod. “We do.”
When Nick hugs me and welcomes me into their family, the feeling is surreal. For most of my life, I looked up to Nick Baldwin. He was my childhood idol and now the grandfather of my child. The reality of the situation still needs to sink in before I can process all the changes.
The biggest change, I am a father.
Chapter 23
Six weeks later
Kat
Six weeks after delivering Noah, the doctor finally gave me his approval to have sex. Waiting this long to be with Dean again has felt like an eternity. A small part of me is nervous, despite having done this before. Still, it has been almost eight months since Dean and I were together. It’s even more bizarre to think that we only had sex a few times and now we have a child together.
Hours ago, Dean left the apartment for a team meeting, with every intention to spend tonight in bed with me. So, where the hell is he? I called several times and left him messages, all of which have gone unanswered. He even ignored my text messages, which is strange.
We moved past our anger toward each other weeks ago. Dean has changed so much since Noah was born, yet he bails on me the night we have plans. I rocked Noah to sleep over an hour ago, and now he’s taking one his many newborn naps. He never sleeps for more than a few hours, making it impossible to close my eyes for a minute, before I’m dragging my ass down the hall to feed him.
When I hear a loud bang at the front door, I jump up from the couch. Dean comes stumbling into the living room, tripping over his feet.
“Hey, Kitten,” he slurs, coming toward me. “Sorry, I’m late.”
“You smell like a brewery, Dean. Where
have you been?”
He kisses me on the cheek, slowly making his way down to my neck. “I went out with Shane and Liam. They had a happy hour special at McFadden’s.”
“I wanted you sober. Tonight was supposed to be special, Dean.” I push him away from me. “You are so stupid.”
“I was nervous, okay?” He clutches my waist. “I needed some liquid courage.”
“Courage for what? To have sex with me?”
He nods. “Yeah, I didn’t want to fuck this up. The more I thought about it, the more nervous I got.”
“Well, you are doing a damn good job at fucking things up. So, there goes that brilliant idea.”
“I’m sorry, Kitten.” He threads his fingers between mine and drags me toward the kitchen. “Have a drink with me.”
I could use a beer or two to take the edge off.
He opens the fridge and flips the tops on two beers, handing one to me. I tip the bottle to his and take a sip. Dean steps forward to pin me against the counter with his body, staring at me beneath his dark brows. Reaching behind me, he sets his beer on the counter and does the same with mine.
“Are you sure you’re all healed? I don’t want to hurt you,” he says, pushing my hair behind my ears.
“Yeah, we’re good to go. Maybe take it easy on me the first time just in case.”
“And here I thought I would get that hate fuck you still owe me.” He says the words with a wicked smirk that hardens my nipples.