Page 71 of Under My Skin

He chuckled and kissed my nose. “Last I checked, changing diapers was part of a dad’s responsibility. I’m gonna have to get used to it.”

I snorted. “Okay, if you’re sure. Everything you need is on the changing table. If he needs a new onesie, they’re in the top drawer of the white dresser. And be warned, he’s a little wormy-worm. He doesnotlike dirty diapers.”

“Got it,” he said with another chuckle before getting up. “I’ll be back.”

While Braden pulled on his boxers and jeans and walked out of the room, I got up and threw his t-shirt on, smiling as I smelled his cologne on it. I’d always kind of wondered what the big deal about girls wearing their boyfriends’ shirts was, and now I got it. There was just something about it that was comforting, kind of like a long-distance hug.

I headed to the kitchen to get some water and put the black beans on a simmer to warm them back up, and turned off the music that was still playing while I was at it. Now that he’d satisfied my…um, other hunger, I wasactuallyhungry. And fried plantains weren’t great on the second day, so we needed to eat those tonight regardless. Then I went to the small linen closet right outside the bathroom and grabbed a fresh sheet, bringing it and my water back to the bedroom.

After taking the ibuprofen, I brought the bottle back to the bathroom, then decided to go check on Braden and Isaac. And absolutely nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when I walked into the nursery.

Braden was standing in the middle of the room, light still off, and swaying back and forth with a cooing Isaac in his arms as he softly sang “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses. I just stood there in the doorway watching for several long seconds, melting into a puddle of mush.

Looking at the scene in front of me, once again I wondered how I could ever have thought Braden would have tossed his son aside. He was such a natural with Isaac, and their connection – even from the first time they’d met – was something beautiful to behold.

I quickly ran back to the bedroom and grabbed my phone, then rushed back, taking a couple of pictures. Because this moment? It was priceless and absolutely needed to be memorialized. As he finished “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” he went directly into the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” still completely oblivious to my presence, and I quietly started recording a video. About a minute into the song, he looked up and saw me, an ear-splitting grin coming over his face as he carried our little boy toward me.

“Don’t stop on my account,” I said quietly as I stopped the recording. “That was adorable.”

“Did you just call me adorable?” he teased in a whisper.

“Yes. Yes, I did. Deal with it,” I said with a grin. “You’re so good with him. I don’t know how I ever thought you?—”

Carefully maneuvering Isaac into one arm, he silenced me with a kiss as he wrapped the other arm around my back and pulled me close. “Nope. We’re not doing that tonight. Tonight’sours, and we’re not giving anyone else a single millimeter of headspace. Got it?”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Got it. So, you hungry for real food now?”

He smiled. “After you put so much effort into it? Absolutely. Let’s get this sleepy little dude back in his bassinet and go change the bed really quick, then we can eat.”

“Damn, this looks incredible,” Braden said as I set a plate of the traditional Cuban shredded beef dish, accompanied by rice, black beans, and fried plantains, in front of him. “Thank you, sweetheart. You didn’t have to do all this for me.”

Stealing a kiss, I pulled my chair around the table so I could sit closer to him. “Yes, I did. I needed you to know I was paying attention. And that even when I tried to tell myself this was just a business arrangement, it never was. Not really.”

“It never was for me either,” he confessed as he took his first bite of food. “Holy fuck, this is amazing.”

I laughed. “Muchas gracias.”

He groaned. “Okay, new rule. You’re not allowed to speak Spanish while you’re sitting there in nothing but my t-shirt unless you want me to drag you straight back to the bedroom. I’m trying to be a gentleman here, but you’re making it damn hard. Pun absolutely intended.”

My cheeks heated as I chuckled awkwardly, and I was sure I was the color of a tomato. Braden grinned and leaned over to kiss me, sliding his hand along my thigh, before returning to his food.

“Can I ask a dumb question?” he asked a minute later.

“Only if I can give a dumb answer.”

He snickered a little before speaking. “I swear to God, I’m not trying to judge you or your parenting. You’re doing amazing withIsaac and I wouldn’t want you to change anything. But why do you have him in the nursery already?”

“It’s not a dumb question,” I said with a weak snort. “Trust me, I still feel kind of guilty about it. But I used to wake up every time he made any kind of noise in his sleep. Like every grunt, every coo, everything. So after Lina started working for me, I asked her if it was okay to transition him to the nursery, and she said that as long as I made sure his sleeping area was up to standards and had the monitor on, it was fine. She even reminded me I’d be no good to him or anyone else if I wasn’t getting my rest too.”

He gave me an almost sad smile. “I hope you know your days of taking care of him alone are behind you now. Not just because of Lina, but because I’m not going anywhere either.”

“I know,” I assured him, standing halfway to kiss his cheek. “And I’m glad, because he needs you in his life.”

“So, are you ever going to tell me what you were saying in the bedroom earlier?” Braden asked as we settled on the couch after putting the leftovers in the fridge and doing the dishes together. “Or are you going to make me guess?”

I had to think about it for a second; I honestly couldn’t remember what Spanish phrases I’d said to him at first. I just knew that every time he told me it turned him on, it made me want to speak it more.

“Um…when we were in the kitchen, I said, ‘You’re the man of my dreams.’ Then when we first got to the bedroom and you said you didn’t understand why I felt close enough to you to want you, I told you it was because I love you and you’re incredibletoo. And when you told me you weren’t letting me go, I said I wasn’t letting you go either and I wanted to be with you forever.”

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