Page 29 of Cop-Off

“I’m more than okay. And as for being ready...if I’m being honest, I’ve been ready for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been approached by plenty of women over the past few years. I have. But no one I was ever interested in. Not until Cat. She does something to me, man. I’ve never felt anything like it...not even with Ellie. That’s how I know this is right.Sheis right.”

“It wasn’t that long ago we had to hide the knives whenever you two were together. You sure you’re not just in some kinda sex haze?”

“Hell yeah, I’m in a sex haze. A damn fucking good one.”

“Cody.” Zach clearly wasn’t impressed with that answer.

He faced his friend then, in an attempt to get him to understand. “Seriously, I like her. I know it’s hard for you to believe after all the shit you’ve witnessed, but we actually get on scarily well. We laugh at the same jokes, can talk about nothing and everything, but more than that, I’ve gotten to know who she is as a person. And Zach...she’s amazing. Really fucking amazing.”

His friend’s scepticism was clear. “It’s been two weeks,” Zach reminded him.

“It has,” Cody confirmed. “It’s fast, I know. And you have my permission to say ‘I told you so’ if this all blows up in my face...but I’ve waited a long time to find this woman. Life is short. I’m not gonna waste any time playing games when I already know what I want. And Cat is what I want.”

Zach nodded, hopefully remembering the conversation they’d had six months ago when his friend had fallen head over heels for Libby. Cody hadn’t fully understood what he’d been going through then, but he did now.

“Okay, I guess I don’t have a leg to stand on here, huh? Considering I fell for my woman just as fast.”

Yep. He remembered.

“Nope,” Cody agreed.

“When you know you know, man.”

Something else he agreed with.

***

Four weeks later and Cat had become a regular dinner guest. But tonight was the first night she would be sleeping over while Dylan was in the house. They’d been limiting the nights they spent together to Wednesdays, with regular daytime trysts at Cat’s apartment to tide them over.

He’d had a talk with his son ahead of her arrival, which he was confident went well. Dylan had decided recently that Cat was Cody’s girlfriend, and he hadn’t corrected him. He also seemed to think she was moving in, and they were getting a pet cat. Again, he hadn’t technically shut that idea down.

At least one of those issues should be solved tonight, though. He was going to ask Cat to be his woman. Make things official. Hopefully Dylan wouldn’t put his foot in it before Cody had a chance to ask.

“Now that you’re Dad’s girlfriend, are you going to get married?” Dylan proudly asked, pasta sauce staining his mouth.

Seriously? She’s not even been here an hour. Fuck.

Cat’s eyes widened as she swallowed down a mouthful of noodles. “Uh.” Cody saw the panic as her gaze flicked from him back to Dylan. “I think it’s a bit early to be discussing that, D.”

“Why?” His child’s favorite word.

Cody intervened. “Because, little man, we have to convince her first. And that’s gonna take a while because she’s still getting to know us.”

It wasn’t his imagination that Cat had grown paler by the second.

Is it bad that I’m enjoying this?

It was. He was definitely going to hell.

“Us?” Dylan asked.

“Yeah, bubba. Us. If Cat and I get married she will be in both of our lives.” Cat was now gulping down her wine. “So...we should try and be on our best behaviour if we want her to stick around.”

He was not above using his own child to get what he wanted. He should have been, but he wasn’t.

“Okay.” Dylan gave him a serious nod before turning back to Cat. “So, if I’m good you’ll be my mom?”

A spray of wine hit the pine dining table as Cat practically choked on her last sip.

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