Page 54 of Biker's Baby

TWENTY-FOUR

Iris

“Oh,just get over yourself and come on!” I giggled playfully as I grabbed Abe by the wrist and pulled him toward the edge of the bed.

He had gone to get a few hours of sleep after we’d talked that morning, and I took the chance to surprise him with a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I could sense when he walked in the door that he was stressed, and I had a feeling I was partially to blame.

He didn’t have to tell me it was stressful me being here for me to know it was, and since I had taken so long to get out of his house, I wanted to make it up to him in some way.

The best way I could think was to make him cookies.

Tris loved chocolate chip the best, and there were enough ingredients on hand for me to make some without having to go to the store.

I waited until the second batch came out of the oven before I went to get Abe. I wanted to let him sleep for at least a couple hours before I decided to get him up. I was surprised with how hard it was for me to let him go that long without going to bother him.

The fact of the matter was that I missed him. I wanted to spend time with him. It was hard knowing that he was going to be in bed for a few hours, then we only got a few hours together before he’d have to get ready to go back to work. Or, he’d have some assignment he had to do for his MC.

It wouldn’t be so hard if we were together – if I knew that he would always be coming home to me at the end of the day. But we weren’t. We were on borrowed time as far as I could tell. I didn’t have the luxury of being able to see him whenever he was free for the rest of my life.

As soon as Joel was out of the picture once and for all, and as soon as I got my shit together, I would be moving on, and I might not ever see Abe again. Sure, I hoped when he found out about Tristan that he would want to be part of the boy’s life, but I didn’t know that for sure. For all I knew, he could be pissed at me for not telling him sooner, and I might have hell to pay for it.

I wanted to believe that he was a far better man than that, but I also wanted to believe that I was a better woman than keeping this from him, too.

Still, those were things I could continue to push to the side if I tried hard enough. I didn’t have to think about it if I was busy making cookies, and once the second batch was out of the oven and starting to cool, I went up the stairs to get Abe.

“Come on!” I said again, playfully tugging him along with me.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” he growled. But his grumpy attitude only made me giggle again. I liked it when he was in a mood. I didn’t know why I found it amusing. I just knew there was no way in hell he would ever hurt me, and I found it sexy whenever he acted fierce like that.

We headed down to the kitchen and I grabbed one of the cookies from the cooling rack. It was barely cool enough to eat. Still very warm and gooey in the center, I watched with anticipation while Abe took a bite.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“I think that it’s worth getting up from my nap for,” he admitted. “Though I’m not sure how long I’m going to be able to keep this up before I’m totally going to crash.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “But I couldn’t help it. When I saw the cookies looking so good and warm, I decided to come get you right away instead of just waiting until they were totally cool. I wanted you to be able to enjoy them fresh from the oven. I’m sure that doesn’t happen very often, does it?”

“Not nearly often enough,” he said. “Not unless I’m the one who makes them, and that really isn’t something I make a habit of doing. Not with my schedule.”

“Then I’m glad I can help.” I grinned.

He finished one of the cookies and grabbed another before noticing the artwork on the fridge. I let Tristan color whenever he was bored, glad for another option for him to have instead of watching tv all the time. But he had started taking such a liking to Abe, he wanted to make him something.

“Tris drew that for you,” I said. “I think he said it was a bike or something. Not sure. I just know he was proud of it.”

Abe had such fondness in his eyes as he looked at the picture, I felt another stab of guilt. I really did have to find the time to tell him the truth, and I had no idea how that was going to go. I kept putting it off for fear it was going to drive that wedge between us, and I couldn’t stand the thought of it.

There was the chance that it would be the one thing that really brought us together, too, but I was more worried about losing him than I was about taking the chance for it to bring us closer together. I didn’t want to lose him, and I kept telling myself that as long as he didn’t know, then I had the better chance of keeping him in my life.

Of course, I also told myself that I would come clean about it to him when I left, which was part of the reason why I was taking my time in finding a place and a job. It all came back to the fact I didn’t want to open that issue. I didn’t want to put that on him when he was stressed, and I really didn’t want to put it on him when I felt that it could cause problems with me being here.

But then, there were the moments like these. These were the moments when I felt that we were really meant to be together. I could see in his face that he cared for Tristan, and he had accepted the little boy even though he didn’t know who Tristan’s father was.

I could see Abe being the best father in the world, and I hated myself for not giving him that chance. So, I once more resolved to bring it up. Perhaps if I eased him into the conversation, things would go a lot better.

But I didn’t have the chance right now.

Just as I was going to bring it up, I found myself being drawn closer to him.

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