Inked Babies (Inked Brotherhood 6)
“I wouldn’t be.” She lifts up a little to kiss my jaw, a feathery touch of her lips, her warm breath. “I couldn’t be. Not when I have you and the boys.”
I exhale. Asking her to marry me is on the fucking tip of my tongue. She’s saying a
ll the right things, all the things I’ve wanted her to say this past year—so should I?
“You and I are not like our friends,” she says. “We have the boys, and each other. We don’t need anything more. I swear I’m happy like this.”
I shut my mouth again.
She’s happy like this. She doesn’t want a change. I drop a kiss on her sweet-smelling hair and close my eyes.
If that’s enough for her, then it’s enough for me, too, and that’s that.
Chapter Nineteen
Tessa
The boys and I end up going over to Erin’s place, where Audrey and Megan have already arrived. Dakota will be by later, apparently, and right now the apartment is a big playground with toys strewn everywhere and babies in various stages of sleep and alertness.
“You can sit with us, if you’d prefer,” I tell Miles while an excited Teo runs to play with Jax and Scott. “With the adults.”
He shoots me a grateful look but hides it quickly under an attempt at disdain. “It’ll all be girl talk. I’ll just read.”
“What are you reading?” I glance at his smartphone, but he puts it away quickly. “Ebooks? Do you have an app for that?”
“Yeah…”
“What kind of books?”
“Uh… thrillers.”
He’s not a good liar. I lift a brow at him. “I won’t tell Dylan if you tell me.”
“Of course you will.”
Damn, he’s right. “Is it a big secret?”
“No. Just… stuff.”
Okay. I wonder if I should let it go or worry. “It’s not porn, is it? Or anything else that’s weird and violent?”
He laughs. “No, it’s not.”
“Okay, buddy. I’ll trust you, but eventually I hope you’ll trust me enough to tell me.”
He nods and turns away. I watch his slim form as he wanders to a corner and slides down to sit on the floor, his back to the wall, pulling out his phone.
Sigh.
He’s growing up so fast. He’s a sweet kid. I’ll never be his mom, but I hope we can be good friends. He likes me, I think. Generally he seems to trust me.
Fingers crossed that won’t change.
“Cute kids, Dylan’s brothers,” Erin says, holding up Isabella who’s just drunk her fill of milk and now needs to burp.
“Good kids, too,” I say fondly. “Oooh, gimme the baby!”
Erin smiles and passes me her daughter. I put her to my shoulder and lightly pat her small back to get her to burp. “You’re an expert now when it comes to babies.”