Page 19 of Taming You

We exchange looks; Caleb doesn’t often ask us over for things. Before he met Bailey, we were only ever really at his place when it was his turn to host poker night. Bailey’s hosted a few group dinners, but they aren’t frequent. She knows Caleb enjoys having his space, and he lets her host us all from time to time because he knows how much she loves it, but they’re usually planned well in advance. A last-minute invite is not the norm for him.

We agree, and Caleb says he’ll text us the details.

I head upstairs to the restaurant in the rink we usually eat dinner at after Saturday games. Bailey and Hannah are deep in conversation at one end of the table while Charlie draws beside them, and Liv is making faces at Cate while talking to Zo. The second I see Jayden and Zoey, I break out into a smile. I take her in, the way she’s laughing with the girls while she sways and rubs her hand over Jayden’s back. Longing takes over me as images flash through my mind of what she’d look like in a couple of years with Jayden more grown while she’s pregnant and holding another baby. I stop in place, quickly shaking my head of the image. I don’t need shit like that filling my head, especially right now.

When I join them, Cate sees me and does grabby hands at me, and I take my niece from my sister. I pinch her chubby cheeks before burying my face in her tummy, and she giggles. I spend a few minutes with her before passing her back to Liv so I can take Jayden from Zo. When I turn to her, I see he’s completely passed out.

“I’ll take him,” I say and she shakes her head.

“I’ve got this little cutie-patootie. I’ll carry him to your car so you jostle him as little as possible.” She smiles lovingly at him, and it makes me instantly think about raising him without his mother. Not that I’d want to be in a relationship with Hazel, but to think my son won’t have that relationship hurts. I love the relationship I had with my mom growing up.

My parents were always a safe space for me, Liv, and Gi. We always knew no matter what, we could count on them. If we ever needed them, they’d be there, no questions asked. While some kids hated the father-daughter or the mother-son dance our schools would host, we always loved them. Our parents never went out of their ways to embarrass us or scold us in front of our friends. I remember the awkward feeling of being at a friend’s house in eighth grade when his mom reamed him out in the other room and we all had to sit there and hear it.

I felt comfortable going to Mom when I was interested in a girl and wanted her advice. I want Jayden to have that kind of relationship, too. A woman in his life he can always turn to.

Liv snaps her fingers in front of my face, and I give it a shake and focus on her. “Huh?”

“Earth to Matt,” she says.

“What’s up?”

“I was asking how it was leaving Jayden with Mom on Friday. She mentioned she took him for the day.”

I run my teeth over my bottom lip, memories of what I found in Zoey’s nightstand flashing through my mind. She had an impressive collection of toys and lube in there, but the one that really caught my attention was the unopened one just sitting beside the rest of them. Zo seemed flustered when she caught me staring at them, but while we were eating, she asked me straight up if I had questions, and if I’m being honest, the fact she was willing to have that conversation was hot. Her mentioning using them as teammates had images of her naked on her bed, legs wide open for me while I teased her with one of them flooding my mind. But the unopened one was the one that piqued my interest the most, bold white text at the bottom had me wondering just how she planned to use it.

I force a cough to stop my mind from wandering any further down this path.

“Um, it was fine. I dropped him off, ran some errands, and picked him up. Mom said he was good for her and she wants to schedule another day to take him.”

Liv nods but raises a brow. She’s paying way to close attention to me, and I need to move her focus so she doesn’t start asking questions I don’t want to answer.

“So, you and Josh heading to Caleb and Bailey’s tomorrow?” I ask.

She stares at me for a few seconds, well aware I’m moving the conversation along on purpose. “Yeah, we’ll be there.” She lowers her voice and leans in closer. “Do you know why they asked us to all come over? Bailey never asks last minute.”

I shrug. “No idea.”

Our food is delivered as the rest of the guys join us. Conversation fills the table as we eat, and it hits me how content I am sitting with my friends and enjoying a meal after playing a hockey game. I’ve got my son, my sister, and my best friends, the only thing missing is my person.

CHAPTER 9

Zoey

I’ve got a bottle of Bailey’s favourite red wine in hand as I make my way up the walkway to their front door. The sound of a car has me looking over my shoulder, and I watch as Matt pulls up to the curb and quickly gets out, collecting Jayden out of the back. I stumble as I watch how much of a natural he’s become handling Jayden and all of his things. His comment about how the girls and I were raving about the single dad in our book comes back to me, and I bite my lip to prevent me from smirking, because seeing Matt as a dad is hot.

In just two weeks, he’s completely dove headfirst into it all. He texted me the other day asking if it was too early to get Jayden on a waitlist for a Montessori preschool. I had to text him back that I had no freaking clue. I have no idea when you’re supposed to register kids for that kind of shit and that he should be texting Liv those kinds of questions.

When he turns around and spots me, his smile grows, and I can’t help but smile back.

“Hey, Zo.”

“Hey. Need any help?”

He shakes his head. “Nope, I’m all good. I’m slowly getting the hang of managing him and everything else.”

“That’s good.”

Matt joins me on the walkway, and I peek in on Jayden in his car seat. He smiles, and spit bubbles form as he makes baby noises, and I smile as I reach in and use the spit up cloth to wipe his mouth.

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