Page 71 of Under His Embrace

Eventually, he moved on to the harder questions. “What are your intentions with my mom?”

I bit back a laugh at his wording. So formal. And direct.

“Would it be all right with you if I married her?”

He stopped dribbling and stared at me, the ball at his hip.

“You…” He frowned. “You want my permission?”

I nodded. “Yeah. She’s your mom and I know you care about her. You’ve been looking out for her for a long while, and I’d like to help with that.”

He lowered his gaze, blinking. “You want to marry my mom?”

“We dated a long time ago and fell in love.”

“And still love each other now.” He lifted his chin. “I can tell. She was always so sad when she said she missed you.”

This boy didn’t even know me but he saw that.

“I missed her too.”

“What made you break up?” he asked.

I didn’t want to scare him or paint Chloe in a bad light. “Some people tried to get between us.”

He nodded, seeming so pensive.

“What would you think if I married her?” I asked again.

“Yeah.” He nodded quickly. “That would be all right.”

I smiled at him, knowing I would have the time of my life learning how to be this boy’s father.

Before I could say anything, he ran at me. The ball dropped and rolled away as he darted toward me. He wrapped his arms around me and caught me in a tight hug.

My heart fucking melted. My son was here, hugging me. I’d cherish this moment forever. He was trying to act so cool and mature, so indifferent like nothing could faze him, but he was so young and impressionable. And not too old or cool to want to hug me.

“I’m glad you’re my dad.”

I hugged him back the best I could at this angle. “And I’m glad you’re my son.”

Goddammit. Tears stung at my eyes, and I breathed in deeply to keep them at bay. This was one of the happiest moments of my entire life.

Nothing could go wrong. I felt stronger, better, more whole, just in knowing this boy would teach me how to be the best dad ever.

“Franco!”

I tensed. My heart raced as my instinct to fight kicked in. Adrenaline rushed through me.

“Franco!”

I gripped Caleb and forced him behind me, shielding him at Chloe’s frantic yell. Then I turned toward the house, reaching for the gun in my holster, hidden under my jacket.

She ran out the sliding doors. Her eyes were wide as she inhaled to yell again. “Hurry! Her water broke. The baby is coming today!”

“Whoa!” Caleb said behind me.

I fought back the fear that choked me at her yell. That was how quickly I developed the instinct to protect our son. As Icame to terms with the fact that no one was attacking and nothing worse had happened to warrant her loud shout of alarm, I exhaled in relief.

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