Page 119 of Challenged by the Single Dad

Her pulse picked up tempo and her temperature went from normal to the goddamned Death Valley in the peak of summer. With no saliva in her mouth, she reached for her apple juice and took a quick sip, hoping that her voice didn’t crack when she finally spoke. “I, um … I would like to try those things with you too.”

“Yeah?” Excitement made his pupils dilate, and he ran his thumb over the back of her hand. Why was that simple touch turning her on so freaking much?

Her nod was tiny. “Yeah.”

Downstairs the front door opened, then slammed shut. “Dad!” Silas called out.

Already, they were being cockblocked by kids.

All she could do—and thankfully, Dom did too—was chuckle.

“Second time today the little dude has come home and you’ve been naked in my bed,” he said, releasing her hand and standing up. “I’m up here, bud.” He shot her a wink that made her belly flutter. “Just relax. I’ll tell him you’re resting.” Then he closed the door, leaving Chloe alone with her thoughts, her lunch, and the baby in her belly.

She rested her free hand back on her stomach and a tear slid down her cheek as she spoke to the bundle of cells rapidly multiplying inside of her. “Please hang on tight, little one. I promise to take the very best care of you, inside and out. Please just hang in there.” Then she glanced at the door and the sounds coming from downstairs. “For all of our sakes. We can’t take anymore losses. We just can’t.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Needlesstosay,thenews of the baby, getting demoted, and moving Chloe into the house gave Dom a bit of emotional whiplash. But he rallied as best he could, and within a week he was sleeping through the night—mostly—and Silas said he felt comfortable enough to stay with Chloe when he got home from school before Dom finished his shift at the pub.

Of course, Chloe still wasn’t so sure about staying home alone with Silas, and asked that they invite Jagger or Brooke or somebody else over as a buffer.

Dom didn’t want to push, but sooner or later, she needed to become comfortable with his kid. She lived in Dom’s home, was carrying Dom’s child, this wasn’t temporary. This was forever, and Silas sure as hell wasn’t going anywhere.

His alarm went off Wednesday morning as it always did, and with a groan, he rolled out of bed, his feet hitting the cool wood floor of the bedroom, an instant chill hitting his skin. Chloe was still asleep. The morning sickness and nausea had hit her full force, so the longer she could sleep in the morning, the better.

He was quiet as he padded across the cold flooring to the bathroom, then slid the pocket door closed as quiet as he could before turning on the light. It was still dark outside, and raindrops clung to the big picture window overlooking the sound.

The winter storms had already been relentless this year, riddling the beaches with new hunks of driftwood, tearing down powerlines, and toppling centuries-old trees across major roads.

Nobody was safe, which was why they dug deep into their contingency budget and purchased two more generators for the property, and doubled their emergency supplies, just in case.

If there was a big storm, the pub was one of the places where islanders could come for refuge. Even though they were on the water, they were protected more than some places, and not everybody had backup generators.

Vica, the mechanical engineer, had already built and installed a water pump from the creek on Bonn Remmen’s land next door, that way if there was damage to their running water, they could turn on the pump and at least have access to water from the creek. She even installed a filter so that the water was potable.

He finished in the bathroom, then slipped back into the bedroom, getting dressed in the dark without waking Chloe. Thankfully, her appointment late last week with Justine showed that there was indeed a little sac and growing baby in her belly, though it was still too early to detect a heartbeat. She’d go back in a few weeks for that. In the meantime, Dom—and the entire McEvoy family—were doing everything they could to reduce Chloe’s stress level.

To the point, however, where it was starting to annoy her a little.

Too bad.

Closing the bedroom door behind him, he snuck over to Silas’s room and opened the door. His son was still passed out cold, buried under his Spiderman comforter and on his Spiderman sheets. During the next eight months, Dom needed to double down on making sure Silas felt like he was a priority. The last thing Dom wanted was for Silas to feel like he was being replaced or that he didn’t fit into their growing family. All of this was really new and raw for everyone, and since his son could be really closed off, but also sensitive, Dom was working really hard on getting his kid to open up a bit more.

So far, it wasn’t working too well though.

He sat down on the edge of his kid’s bed and swept Si’s unruly brown hair off his forehead, before leaning down and pressing a kiss across his brow. “Time to wake up, dude. You have school.”

Silas’s lashes fluttered and he let out a little moan, but otherwise, he made no move to wake up.

Smirking, Dom repeated what he said again.

Silas stirred a little more and moaned.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to eat all the chocolate chip pancakes I was going to make, all by myself.” Dom let out a fake weary sigh. “So sad. Here I was looking for someone to not only help memakethe pancakes, since apparently I never put in enough chocolate chips, but eat them too.”

Silas popped one eye open. “You never add enough chocolate chips,” he said groggily.

“Well, that’s why I need supervision. So I don’t mess it up.”

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