26. TIFFANY
“Thank you.”
He shot me a look. “For what?”
“For being there today.”
His lips curved into the sweetest smile. “You’re crazy if you’d think I was going to miss that.”
“No, that’s the reason I waited. I knew you’d want to, but I mean thank you for wanting that. For being that way.”
He tipped his head to the side. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“Yeah, I do. I’m grateful, and it’s only right you know that. That’s how this works, doesn’t it?” I said softly. “Communication?”
“It is, but you’re going to break my fucking heart, angel, because I know why you’re thanking me.”
My brow puckered. “What do you mean?”
“You’re comparing me to your daddy.”
“I’m not actually,” I told him, not angry because I understood his logic. “Mom never got pregnant again. Not as far as I remember anyway. And the two times she was in the hospital, he pretty much camped out in the ward with her.”
He hummed. “Ah, so you’re grateful I’m like him?”
The question had me snickering as I leaned over and slipped my fingers over the fade at the back of his neck. “Babe, you’re nothing like my dad.”
“Thought little girls married their daddies.”
My nose crinkled. “That’s a very simplistic way of looking at things, but yeah, we have a tendency to seek out mates who are like our earliest representatives of gender roles.”
“What does that mean?”
“Did you never get a crush on your mom when you were small?”
He snorted. “Fuck no. When I was little, I knew she was a cunt. That opinion didn’t change much over the years.”
My heart hurt for him. “I promise I’ll be a good mom.”
He grabbed my hand and tugged it onto his lap. We were seated on his sofa, Netflix was playing my favorite—Disenchantment—and I was curved into him, my attention more on him than the show.
He’d been a star today. I’d been freaking out in the bathroom when he’d barged his way in, and he’d made me smile, calmed me down, and somehow helped me provide the sample the doctor needed. He’d been there for the sonogram, held my hand when the doctor had confirmed I was nine weeks pregnant, and we’d just…
Fuck, we’d just been together for it all.
I hadn’t expected it.
I mean, I didn’t know what I expected, I guess. Just not that.
For him to be a biker.
For him to be squeamish or something. Or maybe belligerent when the doctor had to roll in another piece of equipment when the first sonogram machine didn’t work.
Aside from stereotyping, I wasn’t even sure why I thought that. He was a biker, therefore he was arrogant?
I knew better than that.
I knew Sin.
He was a hard ass in business, but I felt sure that he was never that way to people who didn’t deserve it.
“What’s going on behind those pretty eyes of yours, hmm?”
I sighed when I pushed my face into his palm. “Nothing.”
“Don’t lie, angel. It’s okay.”
“What is?”
He grinned. “You didn’t expect me to be like that because I’m a biker.”
I wanted to deny it, but I couldn’t. I moved away from his hand and smushed my face into his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m such a bitch.”
“Naw.” His lips twisted, showing me his lack of offense at the insult I’d given him. “You’re just not used to me and this life yet.”
“But I am. I totally am,” I rasped, guilt hitting me even more at his understanding. I mean, I was so glad he wasn’t angry or offended, but that he wasn’t made me feel worse. Rightly so, too, when he’d always treated me the same way—like I was precious.
“You’re used to me. Not me as a biker.” He shrugged. “I get it. We were insular back in the beginning, now the club’s coming more into our world. You’re hearing shit, seeing it too, stuff you don’t like… I get it.”
“I know you’re not like that though. That’s why I feel like a bitch and why I’m so grateful. You were so good to me today, Sin. So good. I wouldn’t have expected that from anyone, but you gave me that. I’m fucking this up, but I just wanted to say thank you for being you.” Recently, I’d thanked Lily for the same thing, but losing Dad? It put things into perspective.
The ones who stuck around, even if you were a pain, deserved appreciation.
“Well, it’s not like I can be anything else,” was all he said before he kissed the crown of my head. “Not unless you’re into role play. That I could do.”
I snickered, grateful he was teasing me and hadn’t taken offense. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had been insulted. “Oh yeah, what would you want me to dress up as?”
“Not sure you want to hear the answer to that,” he rumbled, and when I slapped his stomach, he snickered as he curled upward into a sitting position, frickin’ guffawing all the while.
“What the hell is so funny?” I demanded, chuckling with him just because he was so tickled by whatever he’d been thinking.
“My first thought,” he sputtered, and I eyed him in surprise because his face was bright red from laughing so hard.
“Oh man, you have to share it with me now.”
“P-P-P-Princ-cess,” he managed to snort out. “F-F-Fionna.”
I gaped at him. “The princess from Shrek?”
“Yeah.” He started wheezing, and when he flung himself back against the sofa, I just carried on gaping.
“You have an ogre fetish or something?”
I snickered when he roared some more, wondering what on earth was going on with him. Jeez, had he been sniffing laughing gas or something?
My lips started twitching at the sight of him though because, fuck, it was contagious. I’d never, ever, ever seen him like this before, and damn, the reason why hit me.
He was happy.
Happy.
God.
Even as I started to laugh with him, my eyes grew wet with tears.
It made me happy that he was happy, and damn, I figured that meant I knew I was in love for real, because that was the best feeling in the world. Everything was in perfect alignment with us both to the point where he could laugh like this, be free with me like this, and that filled me with a joy so pure I knew I’d never felt it before.
I’d had relationships before, but men had never made me feel like this. My ex-boyfriends were all probably starting their careers, the lot of them as white collar professionals, but not a one of them would have come with me to the doctor’s office like Sin had today.
If anything, they’d have shepherded me for an abortion. Hell, they might not have even given me the money for it.
But this man, this beautiful, beautiful man, wanted this child we’d made together. He wanted it so much, he was excited for it. His eyes had shone with joy at the sight of the heartbeat on the screen, and he’d been calm personified when we’d been waiting in the corridor for our appointment, easing my nerves exponentially just because it was so restful being with him when I was so on edge.
Everything about him was tailor-made for me, and that meant that I might have been born a rich kid, daddy’s girl princess, but in my heart?
I was a biker bitch because I was this biker’s bitch.
My lips curved, pleased by the thought, and when Sin finally started getting himself back under control, I had no choice but to launch myself at him.
This biker daddy of mine deserved more than just a verbal thank you for rocking this fucking hard, and I wasn’t afraid to show him my appreciation with more than just words.