Page 35 of Biker's Baby

“I’m not lazy,” I shot back. “It’s just that I thought I’d portion this stuff out and take it to work with me this week. Easy lunch.”

“Alright,” he said. “We’ll just see about that.”

I didn’t have time to ask him what he meant by his comment before he left, and as the woman behind the counter handed me my bag, I sighed. It was getting harder to keep up this lie, and I had a sinking feeling the truth would come out.

I didn’t want to think about what would happen when it finally did, so I shoved the worry out of my brain as I headed back to my bike and put the bags of food in the saddlebags.

As I sped home, I thought about Iris.

She had been so sweet making breakfast that morning, and she hadn’t even thought twice about me joining them. The conversation had been so pleasant, and we hadn’t talked about much of anything that wasn’t what a normal couple would say.

It had felt so natural, it was as though we were a real family.

It would be the first time in my adult life that I had experienced that feeling with anyone, and though she and I weren’t a real couple, nor did we have any plans of becoming a couple, it was strange to me how natural it felt.

I didn’t even know who Tristan’s father was, yet I could see myself as being that figure in his life. I didn’t need him to be my own flesh and blood for me to accept him. If he was half Iris, that was good enough for me.

Not to mention the way Iris herself looked. She was positively beautiful, though she’d been completely dressed down after being in bed all night. She looked like any woman who was only focused on getting the day going, and not out to impress anyone.

Somehow, that was enough to impress me, and I wanted to spend more time with her.

I had a feeling she was going to be surprised when I pulled up with tacos – soon enough that she wouldn’t have had the time to make that lasagna she was talking about. It would be a nice way to give her the night off after all the work she’d been doing around the house, and I made myself ignore the feeling of happiness it brought me to think that I was bringing home food for the little family.

It wasn’t really my family, and I couldn’t be thinking things like that.

Though I wouldn’t mind if it was my family. That would be perfectly okay with me.

It was a dangerous thought. I knew that much for certain, so I wouldn’t let it linger very long. But, for the time being, I was okay with it. I had to be.

I was starting to prefer having their company in the house rather than going home to an empty place. Sure, that might be quieter, but I no longer could say with absolute certainty that I preferred the quiet.

In fact, I knew I preferred having Iris and Tristan both there.

They made the place feel like far more than just a house. It didn’t seem like the place where I stored my things or slept at night. Or even the place where I would take home random girls or let Glenn crash if he was too drunk to make it back to his place.

No, with Iris and Tris there, the place took on an entirely different feel, and I could easily fall in love with it. It wasn’t just a place anymore.

With those two under that roof, the house had become a home.

---