Page 169 of Renewal After Dark

For once, he didn’t react to her use of that dreaded word. He was too busy being enraged over the gall of that guy to care about being called sweet.

“But I want to do what’s best for Jax.”

“You do what’s best for him every second of every day. He has everything he’ll ever want or need, thanks to you.”

“Which is very nice of you to say, but how do I let Eric off the hook, as if he bears no responsibility whatsoever for Jax?”

“You don’t need him. You have me, and I have you, and Jax has us both, and we’ll make sure he’s the happiest kid who ever lived.”

“Duke…”

“Don’t tell me I’m sweet or else…”

She smiled. “Or else what?”

“I’ll think of some way to punish you.”

“I love when you punish me.” The only way he did that was by withholding orgasms until she was begging him for relief.

“I don’t want his money. I want him out of your lives forever.”

“That money would come in handy if Jax wants to go to college.”

“We’ll pay for his college.”

“Duke…”

“McKenzie…”

“I don’t expect you to pay for my son’s college.”

“Why not? I thought I was going to help you raise him. Why can’t I help to educate him, too?”

“You’re serious about this.”

“I’m as serious about you and Jax as I’ve ever been about anything in my whole damned life.”

She placed her free hand over her heart. “What did I ever do to get so lucky to find you?”

“I’m the lucky one, babe.”

“We both are, and we’re smart enough to know it.”

“That’s right, and we don’t need that deadbeat or his money.”

“I agree, and I appreciate what you’re saying. It’s just that after what he did to me, the way he lied to me and deceived me and tried to make me think he couldn’t have fathered Jax… I want him to pay for that. I want him to have to step up for our son, even if it’s only this one time.”

Duke listened to her and thought about what she’d said.

“Can you understand that at all?” she asked.

“I can, and I suppose you could invest that hundred grand and let it pay for college for all our kids.”

Her brows lifted. “Allour kids?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna have a bunch of them.”

“Is that right?”

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