Page 43 of Bossy Baby

Hayley had his head leaning against the window, but he was smiling.

“Why are you smiling about?” Mac couldn’t stop his ask himself from asking.

“Just thinking.”

“Thinking about what?” He put the vehicle in drive and checked his surroundings. Once the street was clear, Mac merged into traffic.

“I still can’t believe that we wasted these last few months when we could have been dating this whole time.”

Mac nodded, although he disagreed. The last few months hadn’t been wasted for him. He’d had to clean up some trash in his life and make sure the city was safe for his boy. Mac had found his house, moving from a hotel suite that he’d been in since his arrival in the city. Then there was making the house comfortable enough to bring his boy home to.

“Will you tell me something? Something about your past?”

Shit, this wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have. He’d convinced himself the previous night that he’d have to come clean, but Mac wasn’t ready. “What do you want to know?”

“Anything, really,” Hayley replied. “Let’s start simple. What about your family?”

That should have been easy, but Mac hated talking about his family. Still, he needed to share with Hayley. That was how they’d build their relationship. See, he’d listened to all those lectures from Mitch and Byron.

“I grew up in a military family. My dad served, his brothers, his father. My mom was the perfect housewife to an officer. And I was the perfect son.” Mac tried not to sound bitter.

“That couldn’t have been an easy childhood,” Hayley stated.

“It wasn’t. But it was all I knew. There was no question that once I turned eighteen, I would enlist.” He still remembered the day his father had driven him to the recruitment office. It had been the only time Mac could remember that his father had been proud of him.

“You didn’t want to enlist?”

“I don’t know,” Mac answered honestly. He’d thought a lot about what else he would have done had he never signed those papers. He loved space and history, but his father had believed that reading was a waste of time. As long as Mac could run, fight, and shoot, his father had thought that was all he would ever need.

“Do you still talk to your parents?”

“No. My mom died of cancer over ten years ago. My dad remarried within six months. I haven’t been home since my mom’s funeral.”

“I can’t even imagine that. I miss my family,” Hayley said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad to be here. I love my life. But I wish my family lived closer.”

“I like when you talk about your family,” Mac admitted. “You light up.”

“I can’t wait for them to meet you. My mom is going to go gaga over you. Hell, Jayme is going to be so jealous. He better not hit on you!”

“I’m only interested in you,” Mac assured his boy. He hadn’t spent so much time making his life perfect for his boy to have a wandering eye. “And I don’t know if meeting your family is a good idea.” It was a terrible idea. Mac didn’tdofamilies. That might be the only thing that truly terrified him.

“Of course it is!” Hayley exclaimed.

Mac didn’t want to start an argument, so he needed to change the subject. “You were a good boy today. You didn’t overdo it.”

Hayley beamed. “I’m the best boy.”

Mac chuckled. “But I get to choose the reward.”

Hayley nodded seriously. “A Daddy should always choose.”

They were entering his neighborhood and would be home soon. Mac knew just what reward he wanted to give to his boy.

“See that house there?” Mac pointed to the right.

“It’s pretty.”

“That’s where Grant and Caleb live. And all their fur babies, of course.”

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