Page 57 of Biker's Baby

TWENTY-FIVE

Abe

“Yeah,it’s the best coffee shop around, I’m telling you.”

“Thanks, man, I’ll have to check it out.” Trey waved me off as he headed to get on his bike, and I did the same on my way into the house.

“What was that all about?” Iris asked when I walked into the house.

“The neighbor was asking about coffee shops I’d recommend,” I told her. “Thought I’d tell him about that one that we went to the other day.”

“That was good,” she agreed, but I shrugged.

“I don’t know how good it is compared to the others, but I do want him to get out of town as much as possible. The more he’s away from here, the less I’ve got to worry about telling Tad,” I said.

“You can’t put that off forever,” she said with a sigh.

“I know,” was my grim reply.

“I’m just worried that you’re going to get in a lot of trouble for it,” she continued. “Do you think it would be better just to get it over with?”

“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “You’ve got enough on your plate. I’ll take care of it, okay?”

She nodded, though I wasn’t sure she agreed with me. It bothered me that we weren’t on the same page, but I couldn’t worry about that. I was having way too much fun playing house with her than dealing with Tad.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I had a feeling once Tad found out about the neighbor being a member of the rival MC, things were going to change around my place, especially if he found out that I hadn’t told him as soon as I found out. That could very well put an end to everything I had with Iris.

And I wasn’t about to do anything that would bring what we had to an end.

The truth was, ever since we had kissed that day in the kitchen, I couldn’t get enough of her. I felt more addicted to her than I had been after we’d had sex. I just wanted to be with her. I wanted to touch her. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to put my arm around her and hold her close to me.

And I did this as much as possible.

Whenever she was in the kitchen, I would walk up behind her and kiss the back of her neck, or just the top of her shoulder when she was wearing a tank top. I would wrap my arms around her from behind, letting her continue to work in the kitchen while I rocked back and forth behind her.

She would move gently with me, swaying with the romance of the moment as she continued to do whatever it was she was doing when I walked up in the first place.

With each passing day, it was feeling more and more natural for us to be together. Not just her and me, but Tris, too. I didn’t mind scooping him up in my arms when I got off work, and I loved when he came running to me when I walked through the door after some assignment.

He clearly was attached to me, and that alone made me feel on top of the world.

The fact that this little boy who didn’t seem to have a father in his life had chosen me to be that person for him for as long as he was here made me feel like I had been missing that very thing my entire life.

The way the three of us would sit together at the table for most of the meals we shared together felt so damn domestic, I could have screamed out with frustration each time it came to an end. Iris treated me like I was just part of her family. It wasn’t just her and Tristan anymore.

It was the three of us.

At the same time, I was doing it, too.

I made decisions and planned my day around what Iris was doing. I wanted to spend as much time with her and Tris as I could. I loved when the three of us were able to be in the same room together. I loved it when we watched tv together, or when we didn’t do anything at all.

Then, of course, there were those moments that it was just me and Iris. The moments when we were alone, and it was as though we had been together for our entire lives. It was those moments that I wanted to talk to her about the future.

I wanted to talk to her about staying. About what we could do to make this work.

I wanted to focus on her situation and what we would do about Joel, but I knew if we did that, then I was going to have to discuss with her my own situation, too. And as much as I would hint at it, I always kept things back. I never wanted to get too deep into it.

I was afraid of what might happen if I did.

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