She sighed and snuggled against me. “You really are one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met,” she whispered, pressing her face into the side of my neck, nuzzling against my skin softly.

Hmm, time to push her a little further.

“Want to stay at my parents’ house Saturday night? We could hang out on the beach, swim a little, have a drink?” I suggested, screwing my eyes up, waiting for her reaction. I was grateful that she still had her face pressed against my neck so I couldn’t see her expression.

“Two days in a row sleeping with a SWAT officer, however will I cope?” she teased, pulling back putting the back of her hand to her forehead, feigning a swoon.

“Don’t worry, Stripes. I know first aid if it all gets too much for you,” I joked. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t mind staying at your parents’ house, as long as they don’t mind. I mean, are you sure they’re alright with me and you, you know, because of DJ?” she checked.

I nodded and smiled reassuringly. “Stripes, my family are going to love both you and DJ.”

She sighed and looked at me as if I was Superman again. “Okay,” she agreed, pulling my mouth down to hers again.

My week at work was a hard one. I was called on every day to go out with my team. Three times I had shot my rifle, once it ended up with a body bag. I was physically exhausted and was literally getting home from work, eating and talking to my girl before falling into bed, asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

By the time Friday came around all I wanted to do was sleep forever, but I couldn’t do that because I’d agreed to take DJ skating. My head was pounding, my body felt like jelly, and my eyes were stinging from the mountain of paperwork I had to fill in today because one of my team was wounded.

After packing up a little weekend bag and swallowing a couple of pills for my headache, I headed to Rosie’s apartment where I would be sleeping tonight. By the time I pulled up at her place, I couldn’t even be bothered to get out of the car. If I’d had plans with anyone else tonight I would have cancelled, but I couldn’t do that to DJ. I refused to be like his jackass of a father.

As I pushed myself up the stairs of her apartment building, my legs feeling like ton weights. I took a couple of deep breaths before I knocked on the door and plastered on a fake smile. DJ answered the door, grinning happily, and I felt my mood pick up instantly. Sure, I was still exhausted, sure, I could do with going to bed and sleeping until Monday morning, but his excitement made everything worth it.

“DJ, you’re not supposed to open the door, you know that!” Rosie scolded, pulling the door open a little further and looking at me apologetically.

“But I knowed it was Nate, Momma!” he whined.

I smiled and looked my girlfriend over; she was wearing black skinny jeans, a black tank top and a loose fitted flannel shirt over the top, her hair in messy waves, cascading down her back. She was the image of perfection in my eyes.

She looked up at me and frowned. “Nate, you feeling okay?”

I nodded and smiled, trying to fake that everything was fine. “Sure, just excited to go skating.” I looked down at DJ. “You still want to go, right?”

He nodded and squealed, making my ears ring a little because of the headache, and I prayed the pills would kick in soon. “Are we going now?” he asked, clapping his hands excitedly.

I shrugged and looked at Rosie. “Sure, if Momma says it’s alright.”

Rosie was studying me intently, a puzzled frown on her face. “Baby, go get your shoes on,” she ordered, not taking her eyes from me. He immediately ran off, and she stepped closer to me. “Are you okay? Did you… have a bad day?” she asked, taking my hand and squeezing reassuringly.

I sighed and pulled her closer to me, putting my forehead to hers and closing my eyes.

“I’m just tired,” I whispered, pressing my lips against hers, kissing her softly, relishing the feel of her lips against mine. I’d missed this, I hadn’t seen her all week because I had to work. I’d been on a twelve-hour early shift, so I just hadn’t had the time to see her. I didn’t realise how much I would miss her smell, the feel of her pressed against me, her warmth, or the way her hair tickled the side of my face when I traced my nose across the line of her jaw. I’d missed everything about her. I’d also missed DJ and the way he said things wrong all the time. I really was in deep trouble with these two. But the thing was, if this was what being in trouble felt like, then I didn’t ever want to be out of it.

She pulled away from me, shaking her head. “If you’re tired then don’t go skating. We’ll get a DVD or something, have a movie night instead,” she suggested, looking at me sympathetically, stroking my face.

I smiled and kissed her again. “I want to go,” I protested, looking at her sternly so she knew that I was serious. There was no way I was disappointing the kid by flaking out of the first thing I’d arranged for us to do. “You coming to watch?” I asked, trying to change the subject and stop her fretting over me.

She smiled. “Am I allowed? Won’t that ruin the macho image I have of you, when I see you fall on your butt?”

I puffed out my chest and narrowed my eyes. “I used to be junior skating champion. I won a trophy and everything. I’m not falling on my ass tonight. You don’t forget how to skate, it’s just like riding a bike, you never forget,” I bragged.

“Junior skating? That was ages ago. You do know that you’re a little old now though, I mean, if you fall you might break a hip,” she laughed as I poked her in the ribs.

“Less of the old! I’m only twenty-five!” I countered, shocked and slightly offended.

She nodded. “Yep, quarter of a century! Like I said… old,” she mused, sticking out her tongue and jumping away from me when I lunged for her, dropping my overnight bag onto the floor.

I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder, slapping her ass hard enough to make her squeal and giggle. “That’s it, you’re coming with us so I can show off my mad skills on wheels,” I insisted. DJ came skipping back into the room, laughing as he looked at the pair of us. “Ready, Kid?” I asked. I barely even noticed that my headache had started to go.

As it turned out, apparently you do forget how to skate.

I groaned as I moved on the sofa, making my butt and back hurt from the small movement. Rosie giggled behind her hand, looking anywhere but at me. I sighed deeply. “Can we stop with the laughter now? Seriously, it’s bruising my ego, and I really think I’m bruised enough already.” I pouted, rolling my eyes as she snorted with laughter then chewed on her lip, looking at me with amused eyes.

“I’m sorry; I just can’t get the image out of my head. I mean, when you grabbed that old guy and pulled him down with you too…” she trailed off, bursting into another fit of giggles.

I cracked a smile, thinking of the guy shouting at me as I dragged him down to the floor with me and DJ. It was pretty funny. “Whatever, Stripes. Next time you come with us then and show us how it’s done, little miss stand-on-the-sidelines-and-shout-instructions,” I teased, flicking her nose.

She grinned and settled against me, her laughter dying out as she looked at me tenderly. “Thank you,” she whispered, looking contentedly at me.

“For what?”

She sighed and shook her head. “You don’t even realise what you’re doing, do you?” she asked, her eyes locked on mine. I had no idea what she was talking about. What was I doing? “Nate, you were so tired from work, and yet you still took my son skating. That was just… adorable.” She smiled as she traced her hands around my neck, gripping them tightly into the back of my hair. “Want to go to bed?”

I felt my balls tighten instantly at the word bed, it was like one of those reactions from Pavlov’s dogs. They salivated at the sound of a bell, my dick hardened at the word bed. Maybe I really was a sex pest and had just never realised.

I smiled, pulling her closer to me. “Sure, I’ll go to bed with you, but no naughtiness with a kid in the apartment,” I joked, pushing myself up from the sofa, lifting her with me, making her gasp and wrap her legs around my waist.

“What the,” she recoiled, “you can’t be serious. Nate, he’s always gonna be here, does that mean you don’t ever want to-” I cut her off by kissing her. There was no way I was sticking to that rule, he lived here, we’d have to find a way around it, we’d just be quiet or something. She laughed and broke the kiss. “Thank goodness for that, I thought you were serious.”

I smiled. “I was kidding. But, to be honest, I don’t think I’ll be up for much more than making out tonight. My ass hurts. That old guy was freaking heavy when he landed on me,” I joked.

She snickered again as I carried her into the bedroom, eager to get into my side of her bed again, I’d been fantasising about it all week.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Momma,” A voice said quietly. What the hell? “Momma.”

It suddenly dawned on me that I was at Rosie’s apartment and that her body was practically on top of mine. Her face was pressed into the crook of my neck, her arm and leg were slung over me – and damn, was it comfortable!

She moved stiffly, and I glanced in the direction of the voice. I could barely see from the light of the alarm clock, but I could just make out DJ standing by the side of the bed, clutching Woody doll to his chest.

“Hey, Baby, what’s up?” Rosie whispered, moving off me carefully.

“I had a bad dream,” DJ answered, sniffing loudly.

“Shush, Baby, Nate’s sleeping. What was your dream about?” Rosie whispered as she moved to sit on the side of the bed, rubbing her hand over her face.

“Bad guys came in and got us,” DJ answered, as he started to cry again.

“It’s okay, Baby, no bad guys will come in here, you don’t need to worry about that. Come on, let’s get you back to bed,” Rosie whispered, standing up and taking his hand.

I sat up too so she would know she didn’t need to worry about being quiet and waking me. She glanced over her shoulder, smiling at me apologetically as DJ started to wail and threw himself at her, wrapping his arms around her legs.

“I don’t want to sleep on my own, Momma, I’m scared. Can I sleeps in here with you?” he asked through his sobs.

I switched the bedside light on so she could see better. She was rubbing his back and looked sexy as hell in the little booty shorts and tank top pyjamas she was wearing. I smiled appreciatively. She honestly looked adorable when she’d just woken up; she still had the lines of sleep imprinted on her pretty face, her eyes not quite as wide and big as usual where she was tired.

“You can’t, DJ, Nate’s here tonight. You’ll have to sleep in your own bed,” she said softly.

He clutched her tighter as his breathing started to hitch where he was sobbing so hard. “I’m scared to sleeps on my own, Momma!”

In that moment, I felt like a jackass. I was totally screwing this up for him and probably making Rosie wish that she hadn’t said I could stay. This was the kind of thing that she didn’t want to happen, and I didn’t either, I didn’t want to come between them or take her away from him somehow. He was, and would always be, her first priority, and I understood and accepted that, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

“It’s okay, I’ll go and just come back in the morning,” I suggested, climbing out of the bed and grabbing my jeans, pulling them on quickly.

Rosie turned back to look at me, her expression torn and undecided. I smiled as I pulled my T-shirt down over my head, letting her know it was okay.

“Nate, it’s fine, you can stay in here, I’ll just sleep in with DJ,” she suggested, looking at me pleadingly. She was probably worried about me driving home at two in the morning knowing her; she knew I was tired from working.

Walking to her side, I kissed her forehead softly. I didn’t really want to go and leave her because this was only our second night together, but DJ came first. “It’s okay, I promise.” I smiled and held a hand down to DJ. “Slap me a high five, Kid.” He immediately went to slap my hand but I moved it away quickly so he missed. “Too slow, kiddo.” I laughed as I ruffled his hair, making him smile through his tears.

As I turned for the door, her hand closed over mine, pulling me to a stop. She was looking at me pleadingly. “Don’t go,” she whispered, giving me the puppy dog face.

“Rose, it’s okay, I know you have priorities, and I accept that. You do what you need to do, and I’ll come back around nine.” I squeezed her hand a little, reassuring her that I honestly didn’t mind.

She looked back to DJ, still holding my hand tightly, stopping me from going anywhere. “DJ, how about you sleep in the bed with me and Nate,” she suggested, looking at him hopefully.

Holy shit. I knew how protective she was over him, and the fact that she was even suggesting this meant that she really liked me. I couldn’t help the happiness that was bubbling up inside.

DJ frowned and shook his head fiercely, and I felt my heart sink a little. She’d accepted me, and I knew that he liked me, but I still had a lot of work to do to gain his complete acceptance. That was alright though, I had the time and the patience for that. They were both worth the effort.

Rosie glanced at me apologetically before letting go of my hand and sitting on the side of the bed, pulling DJ closer to her, looking him right in the eyes. “DJ, did Nate ever tell you what he does for his job?” she asked.