Page 6 of A New Era

“Were you serious last night about wanting a baby of our own?”

Sitting up, I cup her cheek. “Damn serious. I want the fuckin’ lot with you.”

Her smile returns and she leans into my touch. “And how many babies do you want exactly?”

I grin. “As many as you can push out.”

Her eyes widen and my laugh wakes Rayna. “I’m messing with you. I don’t know, one or two?”

“Phew. I can handle one or two.”

Glancing at Rayna, she hasn’t got out from under her sheets on the air bed and has her iPad already on and watching some cartoons. When did the days of her waking up and jumping on my bed end? I don’t like how fast she’s growing up.

“Her screen time needs to be limited.” I grunt, chucking the sheets off of me.

“She’s not on it that much.”

It’s nice I have Holly to bounce off when it comes to Rayna. I’ve missed it so much, not that I had India around for long to be this way with.

“Daddy, is that dog going to be downstairs this morning?”

I don’t like the fact she’s afraid of the dog. Up till now, it never occurred to me there’d be things she is scared of, not at her young age.

“Shall I go check?”

“Yep, yep, yep.”

She goes back to watching her cartoon, and I sit up and reach down for my jeans.

“Maybe we should get a puppy and introduce her slowly to having a pet, let her see they’re not all huge monsters,” Holly suggests.

I don’t have a problem having a dog. “We’ll talk more about it after the wedding.”

I dress and leave them to get washed and dressed. I head downstairs and find I’m not the only one who’s awake early. Mom is cooking and Max is sitting on the kitchen counter with the dog growling at his feet.

“Princess. Fuck off!”

Suppressing my amusement, I take a seat at the table and accept a mug of coffee from Mom.

“My kid will be down soon, get him out of here,” I instruct him.

“I swear, this dog’s gonna be the fucking death of me. Ever since Ford died, it’s like the dog has it out for all of us,” Max moans, reaching for the leash hung up on the hook by the back door.

Princess, fuck I hate even thinking his name, jumps up at Max and the kid turns green.

Once he’s out the back door, Dad laughs. “He’s fun to watch. I’ve never known a brother to be such a pussy before.”

I laugh. “To be fair, having an owner like Luca, the dog was never gonna be anything but a dick to everyone.”

He snorts. “True.”

My phone pings with a text from Holly.

Rayna wants to know if the dog is around.

I type back.He’s been taken out, telling her she’s good.

Moments later, they walk into the kitchen and join us at the table. Rayna one side of me and Holly the other.

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