Chapter 15
Cock-Blocked But Happy
HORSE
I’m lying on the couch, one arm curled under my head for a pillow, as I watch Caleb and Gwen sit cross-legged in the middle of the living room floor. They’re playing some board game I’ve never seen before. It doesn’t matter what it is. All I know is that this is the life I want.
We made dinner together. Hell, Gwen and Caleb made dinner.
I just followed Gwen’s orders. She had me and Caleb elbow-deep in noodles and cheese while she soaked chicken in buttermilk and fried it like some damn Southern angel.
I picked up her grocery list earlier, but I had no idea she planned a home-cooked feast. It tasted even better than it looked—but what got me wasn’t the food.
It was Caleb.
My boy blooms around her. I’ve never seen him laugh so much. She let him make almost the whole batch of chocolate chip cookies himself. Flour was everywhere, chocolate was on his nose, and my counters may never be clean again.
Currently, they’re playing, and my son is laughing while petting Buddy, who is thriving under my son’s love. Gwen is joking and smiling with Caleb, giving him all of her attention. She’s perfect. Soft. Warm. Beautiful.
“Daddy! I won!” Caleb yells as Buddy jumps out of his lap and goes to Gwen looking for love. He immediately curls into her lap like he’s probably been doing his whole life—lucky dog.
My son hurls himself into my arms like a heat-seeking missile. I catch him easily, hugging him tight. Gwen grins at me over the dog’s fluffy head, which she immediately bends down to cuddle. God, I say it a lot, but she’s fucking perfect.
“I’m proud of you, Bub,” I tell my son.
“You gotta play with me, Daddy! Gwen played with me!”
“I can tomorrow,” I decline while ruffling his hair. “It’s bedtime now.”
“Aww, Dad! I want to play with Gwen more. Gwen, tell him!”
Gwen tries not to laugh—tries and fails. Then she surprises the hell out of me by brushing her fingers through Caleb’s hair and saying gently, “How about you get ready for bed, and I can read you a story once you’re tucked in?”
He lights up so brightly it hurts my chest. I doubt Dee has ever touched him that gently.
She sure as hell has never spent an evening pouring her whole heart into giving him attention.
I don’t have to wonder if she reads to him either.
I know she doesn’t. “I like doing stuff with you, Gwen,” he says shyly.
Gwen immediately squats down and hugs him, sweet and solid. “Hey … just because you have to go to sleep doesn’t mean we can’t do things tomorrow. You can help me make breakfast in the morning and later the two of us can make Christmas cookies.”
“Christmas cookies?” he repeats like she just offered him a trip to the moon.
“Yep! Though we might have to run out for breakfast so I can grab my cookie cutters—or we can buy new ones for you and your dad. Do you know what cookie cutters are?”
“No,” he says.
“They make your cookies look like Christmas trees, stockings … I like the snowman best. I can’t decorate them pretty, though. I’m going to need your help for that.”
“Awesome! I wanna make snowmen!”
Gwen laughs—warm and soft—and I swear something in me snaps. It’s all I can do to keep from yelling out mine and claiming her.
“I also have Grinch cookie cutters,” she adds.
Caleb gasps. “The Grinch!?!”
“And Max, his dog.”
“Tomorrow is gonna be the best day ever! We can watch the movie too! Right?”
“We sure can,” she tells him. “You’re going to need lots of energy, though, so you really need to go to sleep now.”
“Okay!” He bolts toward his room.
When he disappears down the hall, I look at Gwen. “Come here,” I order gruffly.
She stands and walks to me slowly, studying me. I reach out, take her hand, and tug her down onto my chest. She lands soft and warm, sprawled across me like she belongs there.
“Wyatt,” she gasps.
I brush her hair from her face. “My son loves you.”
She blushes. “He’s a sweet kid. He loves everyone.”
“No,” I say, voice low. “He doesn’t, honey. Caleb’s shy with most everyone unless it’s me and the guys. But with you? He’s already attached.”
She looks worried. I can see it in her eyes.
“Is that bad?” she asks, nibbling on her lip.
I brush my thumb against it, stopping her because it’s turning me on too much. “Fuck no. You’re remarkable,” I tell her. Her cheeks burn hotter. “Please tell me you packed a bag for tonight.”
Her eyes widen. “Um … why would I do that?”
“Because you’re not leaving. You promised my boy breakfast, and we’re going shopping after. The three of us.”
“Wyatt, I can’t stay while Caleb’s here. What would he think?”
“He’ll think you’re a permanent fixture in our lives,” I say simply. “He’ll be right, too, because you are. Argue all you want, but this past week has been … completely perfect. Neither of us wants to let this go.”
“Wyatt—”
“Admit it,” I murmur. “You want what we’re building just as much as I do, Gwen.” She opens her mouth—but nothing comes out. I stare at her, silently daring her to lie to me.
She can’t deny it. Finally, she whispers, “Fine. I do. I love what’s happening between us. But you have to protect your son. What if he gets used to me? What if things don’t work out? I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Gwen … sweetheart.” I cup her face. “You really think I’d open my son up to this if I wasn’t a hundred percent sure of what I want?”
“Time changes things,” she whispers. “Just because you want it now doesn’t mean you will a month from now—or heck, even next week.”
That’s enough. I don’t want to hear her doubts anymore.
Whoever worked Gwen over in her past almost completely obliterated her self-confidence.
I pull her down and kiss her—hard and deep.
I take control and refuse to let her spiral into doubt.
I kiss her until she melts, until her breath stutters, her body softens, and her hands fist in my shirt like she needs me to live.
When I finally break the kiss, I rest my forehead against hers.
“This thing between us isn’t going away, honey. You and I will not end until the day they put me in the ground, and even then, I’ll be waiting for you in whatever comes next. I don’t want you to tell me how this is going to end. It hurts to hear that you don’t believe in us.”
“Wyatt …” she breathes.
“It’s like a knife to the heart, Gwen.”
She closes her eyes. “I haven’t had good luck with men. This is all so fast, and it’s so intense. It makes it kind of hard to believe in it because I want it so badly. You know?”
I run my thumb along her cheek. “Relax. Give me time to prove it. I will. You’re everything to me. Understand?”
She nods softly. “I understand.”
“Good.” I smile. “Now give me those lips again—”
“Daddy! I’m in bed with Buddy! I need my story! Can you tell Gwen?”
Gwen giggles. Looking down at me with sparkling eyes.
I groan. “Cock-blocked by my five-year-old.”
She laughs, sliding off my lap. I help her stand, and she bends to kiss my cheek.
“I’ll be back,” she whispers.
“I’m counting on it.”
Then I watch her walk down the hall, feeling like I’m sitting on top of the damn world. With Gwen by my side?
Nothing can stop me.