Page 41 of Tusk's Fury

Brittany nods, tearing up slightly. “Yeah, I thought to myself that if she could run, so could I. The only difference is, she had no choice but to leave her daughter behind, while I have no intention of letting the church get their hands on mine. All I do is run—from the church, you, the club.”

“You don’t have to run anymore. Now, you’ve got me to fight all your battles for you.”

She sucks in a deep breath. “You say that now,” she whispers, leaving the rest unsaid for me to fill in the blank.

Tugging her closer, I say, “Give me a chance to prove myself. I can be the man you need. I’m more than just a fantastic sperm donor, you know.”

Her head jerks up to stare at me. I feel a little ashamed of myself for shocking her, so I pull her in and gently kiss the side of her head. “Let’s go be with our daughter. I want to meet her properly.”

“You’re gonna love her. She’s sweet, quiet, and curious about her world.” Brittany is a proud mama, and she has every right to be. I can’t wait to get to know my daughter.

***

When we walk back into Tex’s house, all cuddled up, he throws both hands up in the air and says, “Hallelujah and praise the Lord. Tusk finally got it right.”

Clara chides him gently as she puts our baby in Brittany’s arms. “You shouldn’t joke about the good Lord, babe. It’ll come back to haunt you when you least expect it.”

Tex and Clara get into a back-and-forth about it, but I’m too distracted by the sight of my child to pay attention to their bickering. Hearing Brittany’s subtle way of admitting her baby was mine took away the shock, but standing beside her, watching our little one move around was melting my heart in an entirely different way than seeing my sons for the first time did.

Maybe it’s because she’s almost a carbon copy of her mother, except maybe the nose. Her nose looks like my sons’ noses.

Brittany asks, “You want to hold her?”

I nod, almost too emotional to speak. When she places my daughter in my arms for the first time, I recognize it for the precious gift it is. I back up and sit on the sofa, holding her carefully. “She’s smaller and more delicate than my boys,” I murmur.

“Of course she is,” Tex says. “She’s a girl.”

After a heartbeat, he asks, “Does she have that webbed toe thing going on that you and your boys do?”

I shake my head without looking. “She doesn’t.”

Tex shoots back with exasperation, “Fucking hell, you didn’t even check.”

I don’t care about what Tex has to say about my daughter, but suddenly, I want to see her little fingers and toes. I pull the blanket open and look at her tiny fingers. She’s so precious. I move down to look at her feet, checking between her second and third toe. “No webbing, thank God.”

Brittany panics a little. “She’s yours, I swear.”

I glance over at her, unable to keep the smile off my face for anything. “‘Course she is. She has my nose.” I chuckle before turning back to Victoria. “She’s a girl. The webbed toe is a genetic mutation that can only be passed from father to son on the Y chromosome. Girls don’t have Y chromosomes. They have two Xs. The doctor explained it to me.”

“Do you and your sons all have webbed feet? I never noticed that in all the time we were together,” she gives me a strange look, like I might be a mutant or something.

“It’s a small membrane between the second and third toe on the right foot for me and my boys. It’s barely noticeable unless you’re looking for it. My boys love their mutation. We call it the Duncan family mutant gene. I hope Victoria doesn’t feel left out because she didn’t get it. I wouldn’t want her to be mentally scarred by something so far out of our control.”

Brittany looks at me like I’ve got two heads instead of a webbed toe. “She’ll be just fine. Trust me on this, Tusk. No girl wants webbed toes.”

“That’s too bad, ‘cause it’s a neat mutation to have,” I tell her, only half teasing.

Tex chimes in from across the room. “If all your toes were webbed, it would enable you to swim super-fast.”

I glance at him with a smile. “We’re happy with what we’ve got, thank you very much.”

Tex just laughs, and eventually, Clara joins him. Their kids are playing on the floor, well. Stephanie’s staring at the fish in a tank against the wall. Her brother, Steven, is licking the tank. Looks like he might be trying to taste the brightly colored fish. I know Tex is probably worried about Steven, but I think he’s just more inquisitive and an out-of-the-box thinker. He takes after his brother, Levi, who’s also a quirky kid. Tex talks incessantly about his kids, and I do too. It’s that thing we have in common.

All thoughts of Tex and his family fly right out of my head when the baby gets fussy, and Brittany starts to breastfeed. I close my eyes and count to ten because I’m not right in the fuckin’ head today. Something about the swell of her larger breasts speaks to me as a man. The way our little one latches on and suckles her breast is the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.

After I think I have my lust under control, I glance down again. Nope, it’s not under control. I’m clearly fucked in the head because I’ve been deprived of my woman for the last nine months. I should have been there to rub her feet and cater to all her pregnancy cravings. I wasn’t, though, because I fucked everything up and now, I’m perving on her when she’s doin’ the most natural thing in the world.

This is my chance at a do-over, and I plan to do everything right this time.

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