“Come on, Baby. Time for bed,” Rosie repeated. He sighed and pushed himself up off the floor, looking lovingly at the Lego. Rosie smiled at me. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. Make yourself at home, alright?”

DJ smiled. “Night, Nate.”

I held out one hand. “Slap me a five, Kid,” I said, nodding at my hand.

He grinned and slapped my hand before skipping off towards the bathroom. As Rosie walked past, she trailed her fingers across my shoulders making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

While she was putting him to bed, I scooped all of the Lego back into the box and then sat on the sofa. I couldn’t actually believe what a difference a couple of hours could make to my mood. When I’d left work I’d been beating myself up for doing my job, and now I felt like I was on top of the world because my girlfriend and her son just made everything better.

I sat with my hands behind my head, chilled and relaxed in someone else’s lounge. This place just fitted me so perfectly. I smiled and closed my eyes, completely content, just waiting for my girl to come back out to me.

Ten minutes later, she came back from the bedroom and plopped down on the sofa next to me, blowing out a big breath. I looked at her nervously. “Did I do okay?” I asked, waiting for her reaction.

She closed her eyes and nodded. “You did so good,” she whispered. My body relaxed, but when she opened her eyes I noticed that they were rapidly filling with tears. She awkwardly looked away from me and stood. “Want a drink or something?” she offered.

Wait, she was crying? What had I done? Had DJ said something in the bedroom, something he didn’t like about me?

Before she could escape, I grabbed her hand and pulled her back down onto the sofa. “Rose?”

“I’m just gonna make a drink,” she muttered, discreetly wiping her face, probably thinking I wouldn’t notice.

“Will you look at me?” I begged. “Rose, did I do something wrong? Say something I shouldn’t have?”

She shook her head fiercely before turning back to look at me, her eyes watery, her cheeks wet with tears. “No! You did so good, Nate, so good. I just, that meant a lot to me, so thank you,” she said quietly, swiping at another tear.

Meant a lot to her. So, those were happy tears? “So… you’re crying because you’re happy?” I asked, needing confirmation that I’d not just completely grabbed the wrong end of the stick with that assumption.

She smiled and nodded, blushing. “Yeah, sorry. Pathetic, huh?”

I smiled and shook my head, leaning in and kissing the two fresh tears away as they fell from her eyelashes. “I think it’s adorable.”

She sighed and wrapped her arms around my neck tightly. “Thank you for being so understanding, and thoughtful, and just plain sweet all the time. I never expected that to happen and I just… it meant a lot to me.”

I tightened my arms around her, pulling her closer to me, just breathing her in. Just like I thought she would, she made me forget everything bad that had happened today, all I felt inside was happy and contented. My girlfriend was incredible, and so was her little boy. I was an extremely lucky guy.

“It meant a lot to me too,” I admitted, looking into her eyes, loving the vulnerability I could see there. She really was letting me behind that brick wall that she’d built up. “Thanks for asking me over, even though the food sucked,” I joked.

“Next time choose a day that I don’t agree on junk food.”

I smiled and kissed her gently before pressing my forehead to hers, savouring the feel of this girl in my arms, she felt so right there, like she belonged.

“Why don’t you just invite me over on a day that you’re not cooking from the freezer?” I offered, smirking at her playfully, silently praying that she would, in fact, invite me over again sometime soon.

She traced her nose up the side of mine. “How about Monday?”

I closed my eyes and relaxed. I really hadn’t messed up at all; I was more than a little proud of myself. “Monday’s good,” I croaked, my voice heavy with emotion.

She grinned and seemed to relax too, as if she thought I was going to say no. She moved herself onto my lap, straddling me as she played with the back of my hair.

“So, did we cheer you up?”

“Stripes, you have no idea. Thank you.”

She kissed me softly for a couple of seconds, her chest pressing against mine making my body react in the normal way. I was still a guy, after all, a guy with an incredibly hot girlfriend.

“I don’t like you being sad. You want to talk about it?” She cocked her head to the side like a curious puppy.

I sighed. I actually really needed to get it off my chest and unload onto someone. I launched into my tale, telling her everything from going into the building to walking out with the girl in my arms. I skipped over the drink offer from the girl; I didn’t think Rosie would appreciate that too much. The whole time she just sat on my lap, letting me talk, her hands resting on my shoulders, her eyes locked on mine. I’d never felt more comfortable with one person in my life – and that was when it hit me. I was totally falling in love with this little single mother. As soon as I realised, I kind of wished that I hadn’t, because now I felt a little self-conscious about it.

When I was done talking she blew out a big breath, looking at me in awe as she shook her head. “Nate, it sounds to me like you were a hero today. You saved innocent people; you did an excellent job, and those people were lucky that you were there. You shouldn’t feel bad for doing your job. You had no other choice, did you?” she asked, gripping the material of my T-shirt.

I shook my head. I knew I had no other choice; I’d replayed it in my head enough. “There was no other shot,” I admitted.

“Then you took two people off the streets that could have hurt or killed goodness knows how many people. You did the right thing. You should be proud of yourself,” she said sternly. “I know I’m proud of you,” she added as a whisper.

That was exactly what I needed to hear.

I pressed my lips to hers, letting all of my problems disappear into thin air. She made everything better, made all the guilt fade into the background so all that was left was me and her, and of course her cutie of a kid that was in his room. I found myself wishing that this was my life permanently, that this was my family, that I had this every night of my life, this closeness, this honesty, this intimacy. I really hoped I could make her fall in love with me.

The kiss was getting hot as I slipped my hand up the back of her shirt, tracing the skin on her back with my fingertips. I moved so that she was lying on her back on the sofa, and hovered above her, just looking at her in awe.

She smiled. “So, that was one lucky lady that you saved today. A police officer in full SWAT uniform, saves your life and then carries you out of the building… That’s seriously hot,” she breathed, looking at me excitedly.

I smiled at her lustful expression. Oh yeah, Rosie is definitely a little kinky. I could almost see the role-play fantasy that she was envisioning. “Is that going in the fantasy bank?” I teased.

She nodded, her eyes not leaving mine. There wasn’t a single trace of embarrassment on her face. “Definitely,” she confirmed, biting her lip.

I laughed quietly, using my fingertip to pull her lip from her between her teeth. “I’ve told you before, Rose. Don’t bite your lip, that’s my job,” I murmured, bending my head and capturing her bottom lip in my mouth, biting on it gently. Her fingers dug into my back, forcing me closer to her.

For the next couple of hours we made out, talked, planned our weekend, laughed and just generally had a nice time while lying on the sofa. She had her head on my chest, and I had one arm draped around her, the other arm bent behind my head. I was the epitome of ease.

Just after eleven she yawned, looking at me apologetically. “You really should get going, Nate. Don’t you have to start work at six?” she asked, stroking her hand across my abs gently, her fingers stroking the muscles I worked hard for.

I frowned. “Can’t I stay a little while longer?”

She smiled and snuggled closer to me, pressing her face into the crook of my neck. “Okay, but if I fall asleep then don’t blame me, I woke up early this morning with DJ,” she said, yawning again.

I tightened my arm around her, pulling her impossibly closer to me. “What time did you get up?”

“Six fifteen,” she mumbled, the vibrations of her voice tickled the skin of my neck lightly and I closed my eyes at the feel of it.

“That’s not early, lightweight. I get up at four thirty every day when I’m on the early shift,” I teased, slipping my hand down to cup her ass.

She laughed quietly. “Whatever. I love my sleep, that’s too early in my book.”

I laid there, just holding her for a while before I realised she had fallen asleep. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She looked extremely cute when she slept.

I held her for a few more minutes before easing up off the sofa, being careful not to wake her. Once on my feet, I slipped my arms under her, making her grumble in her sleep as I picked her up and carried her into her bedroom. As I set her gently on the bed, I remembered the last time I had done this, when she was drunk. I laughed quietly and shifted the bed sheets, pulling them up around her.

I stood back up and just looked at her. As I raked my eyes over every inch of her face, I felt my life changing. I felt my priorities shifting around, and everything fell into place. My life finally seemed like it was on track. The funny thing was, I hadn’t even realised that it was this girl that I’d been waiting and looking for all these years. All this time she was on the outskirts of my life, just waiting for the time when I would meet her. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it was just blind luck. Whatever it was, I was grateful.

I found a scrap of paper and a pen on her side unit, so I quickly wrote her a note:

Stripes,

You look hot when you sleep. Don’t worry I tried not to molest you (too much) while you were unconscious.

Thank you for letting me meet DJ, he’s just as awesome as his mom is.

Anyway, have a great day at work, and I’ll pick you up at seven for dinner. Wear something sexy for me. (Oh, and just so you know, yes, I am having inappropriate thoughts about you right now!)

Thanks again for inviting me over.

Nate

Xx

I put it beside her bed so she’d see it when she woke up, and then I slipped out of her apartment with a goofy grin on my face.

Chapter Twenty

As I thought, the following day at work was me being patted on the back for a job well done. I actually took it a lot better than I normally would, probably because I was in the best mood ever. I had even woken up with a smile on my face all because I had the most amazing girl in the world, and her little boy seemed to like me.

Now all we had to do was get him to meet me a few more times and then we’d be able to break it to him that we were more than just friends. DJ was going to his dad’s this weekend, and I was making the most of the private time for sure. It had taken me pulling a few strings to enable me to get a reservation at the restaurant, but Rosie was worth it.

At just after four, I was in the cafeteria with the boys. We’d just got back from a call out but the other snipers and I were just there for backup today, no actual action. As I plucked my phone from my pocket, I noticed a text from Rosie sitting there, received just before lunch. I couldn’t stop the stupid smile that stretched across my face.

Russell noticed straight away. “What’s up with you, Peters? Got some p**n on your phone or something?” he joked, laughing.

I shrugged. “Nah, not today. It’s just a text from Rosie,” I replied, sipping my coffee as I opened the message.

‘Nate, I’m so sorry, but I can’t make it tonight. Josh has let me down again. Talk to you later. Sorry x’

I frowned at the thought of not being able to see her. Fucking Josh! Now I couldn’t see her tonight, and possibly the whole weekend. Well, unless she let me go over and spend time with her and DJ again.

“Not a good text? Did she dump your ass when she found out how many girls you’ve slept with?” Russell teased, punching me in the arm lightly.

“Her kid’s dad let her down again. I can’t take her out tonight,” I grumbled. I was so pissed off that I literally wanted to go find this Josh guy and punch him in his sorry face.

“You really like this girl, huh?”

I sighed and debated what to do. “Yeah, she’s incredible. I met her kid last night; he’s great too.” I pulled up her number on my cell. I didn’t want to come across as a needy prick, but I really wanted to see her. I looked up to Russell for his advice. He was a wise man, he was married, he’d know about women… “Rus, do you think it’d be coming on too strong if I asked to see her tonight, with her kid? I don’t want to put too much pressure on her or anything.”

He frowned, obviously thinking about it. “I think that she’d like that you’re making an effort with her child. How you interact with her son is what she would base the relationship on more than anything else. For you, it’s probably looks and sex. For her, she’s looking at what type of dad you’d be to her child.” He shrugged, looking at me apologetically.

I flinched at the word ‘Dad’, I was only just coming to terms with the fact that I might be ‘Uncle Nate’.

I decided to give her a call and sound her out a little. The other guys at the table were watching me, making me feel a little self-conscious. “Good afternoon, hottie girlfriend,” I greeted when she answered, trying not to laugh at the ridiculous feelings that were rushing through my body. How had I let this little girl put her spell on me like this? Me, Nate Peters, the player who didn’t want to settle down, was completely and utterly at this girl’s mercy. She had me hanging around, wanting to spend time with her and her son, and I wasn’t even getting my dick wet. This was a serious first for me!