ELLE
No more running. The results were due today. We already planned to have Zodiac over for dinner. Shay and I worked on a shrimp and steak dinner to celebrate. I spent most of the early afternoon chopping veggies and prepping the sauces.
“Zodiac has been to the house before,” Sutter said while sitting at the kitchen counter and watching me prep. “Why is today a big deal?”
“He knows about the baby, so he might act differently.”
“He tried to talk to me once. I shut that down quickly. I’m not looking to make friends with strange adults.”
Snickering, I reached over and stroked his thick brown hair. “Men think playing the dad role will get them in good with single moms.”
“Well, tell him that I don’t want a dad. I have Clint and Grandpa.”
After studying Sutter, I gave my bump a little snuggle. “Will you be jealous if this baby has an involved dad?”
“No.”
“If Wilbur and Zodiac do fun stuff, do you want to do it with them?”
“Fun stuff like visiting the museum?”
I tried to imagine Zodiac walking around a museum with little Wilbur. The idea wasn’t that far-fetched. He wasn’t a dumb man. He might like learning.
“What if they were going to the museum?”
Sutter shrugged. “Baton Rouge has an art and science museum. The planetarium seems interesting.”
Of course, Sutter had done research on the hometown of the man who helped create his sibling.
Despite my son’s claims, I worried Sutter secretly wished for a father figure.
His biological dad would likely always be a mystery.
Intellectually, Sutter might be okay with that fact.
But he was still a little boy who wanted what others had.
“I’m sorry,” I said and wrapped him in my arms. “I should have done better for you.”
“Don’t start,” Sutter grumbled and tried to push me off. “Grandpa warned that you’d get emotional while pregnant.”
“I want you to be happy.”
Sutter looked up at me with his gray eyes. He was the most beautiful creature in the world. I couldn’t imagine loving anyone more.
“I am happy,” he said with utter sincerity.
I kissed the top of his head and exhaled deeply. “I worry I messed up by getting pregnant.”
“You got pregnant with me in the same way.”
“Yeah, but I got lucky with you. What if this baby is an orangutan?”
“I don’t think that’s a real concern you should be having.”
“No, but Zodiac makes me feel weak and dumb. I worry the baby will get screwed somehow. He’s already going to be the dumbest of my kids. What if he turns out weird because of his dad?”
“He might be smarter than me.”
“That seems unlikely.”
“True, but it is possible,” Sutter insisted.
“What if he’s weird?”
“We’ll love him like we would if he were normal.”
Smothering Sutter with kisses, I decided to focus on my good life rather than how Zodiac made me feel.
That plan fell apart as soon as a smirking Zodiac strutted into my house wearing black jeans, riding boots, and a pale blue, short-sleeved, button-up shirt revealing his tatted chest.
“I’ve put a boy into your belly,” he immediately announced as he strolled to the kitchen, where I prepped dinner. “I want you to name him Megatron.”
“No Family Guy references,” I replied and looked to my dad for help.
Ford glanced back at me. “It’s not a bad name.”
“It’d be shortened to Meg.”
“No, we could call him Tron.”
“He’s a Decepticon.”
“Sutter Cane is named after a guy that brought about a Lovecraftian apocalypse,” Ford replied and then shrugged. “I’m just saying don’t rule out the name yet.”
“Fine. I’ll consider the name Wilbur Megatron Reed for my next son,” I muttered and headed for the hallway. “But I have to pee right now. Don’t wait up.”
My attempt to flee was almost immediately stopped by Zodiac, who used his long, muscular legs to catch up and block me.
“I own your womb,” Zodiac said, wearing a seductive grin. “We need to put down a few rules until my critter claws its way out of your belly.”
“At most, you’re renting my womb. None of this would have happened if we weren’t two whores who hooked up for a one-minute train wreck.”
“I fucked you for a solid seven minutes. I would have lasted longer, but you came too fucking hard. Besides, we were on a time crunch.”
“Seven minutes?” I balked. “That sounds like agony. I’m so glad I can’t remember the details.”
“You loved it,” Zodiac sneered and leaned down to murmur in my ear, “And you’re dying for a repeat. That’s why you can’t stand to share a room with me. You’re worried it’ll be obvious in front of your boy.”
Turning my head, I was only inches from his face. I could headbutt Zodiac and make him bleed. Yeah, I bet he’d be far less horny then!
Instead, I tried to act cool despite how I was breathing too fast, and my face was likely bright pink. His cologne was intoxicating. Zodiac’s handsome face was close enough to touch. His hot breath on my skin spurred flashes of our time together in the office.
Only his icy blue eyes kept me from grabbing him and finding a quiet space to play. Zodiac’s gaze revealed a man with a single goal, and it wasn’t to win my heart.
“What happened between us was fun, but it happened because I was drunk, and you were persistent. Rather than focus on what happened that night, I’ve chosen to put my energy into preparing for the baby.”
Zodiac’s expression revealed nothing. I thought maybe he was offended. Then, he rested his hand on the wall behind me and leaned forward until his lips nearly touched mine. I nearly screamed in horror at how he might kiss me. There was no way I wouldn’t want a taste!
“On the night you spread for me, you were wearing sexy little boxers. I meant to ask at the time, but I was busy with your tongue in my mouth. Now that you’re sober enough to answer, what’s with the chickens?”
Ignoring his mention of my adorable boxers with the little yellow-and-orange chicken design, I muttered, “See? That’s what I mean. If I were truly planning on spreading for you that night, I’d have worn more fetching underwear.”
“Fetching, huh? I found the chickens very appealing. But why chickens?”
“Why not chickens?”
“I wear boxers. Never considered a chicken design.”
“Because if you wore chicken boxers, you’d be a weenie. When I wear it, they’re cute.”
“But not fetching?” Zodiac mocked.
“You’re being a pain in the ass.”
“Persistence got your pants off before. Why should I change my tactics now?”
“I’m wearing leopard print boxers right now,” I said and rested my hand on his powerful chest. “My inability to get blitzed means your persistence won’t be enough to let you get a peek.”
Zodiac offered a sharklike smile. “You can play your games about how booze made you spread that night, but we both know you wouldn’t have been willing with anyone else.”
“We’re both right. I do find you more attractive than I do your club guys. But I wouldn’t have fucked anyone that night if I weren’t sloshed. Now, with the baby, I can’t get drunk, meaning you won’t get in my pants.”
Zodiac's cold gaze studied me before he asked, “Do you know how I became president?”
“You backstabbed the former president.”
“Sure, but not overnight. I was patient and persistent. Wrecker might have sensed my plans, but he hesitated to move against me. Meanwhile, I took what I wanted.”
“Are you threatening me, Zodiac Bondi?” I murmured and brushed my lips across his. Before he could get a taste, I dipped under his arm and took off for the family room. “Daddy, protect me!”
As I reached the family room, Ford wrapped me in a hug and kissed the top of my head. “My sweet dipshit daughter.”
I smiled at him. “Men freak me out. They’re so gross and horny.”
“You’re not wrong, baby. But this guy already jizzed in you. I feel like the time to run away was a few months ago.”
Rolling my eyes, I looked at Shay to take my side. She was busy frowning at the prepped ingredients. I sensed she was mentally willing them into the correct pots, so she wouldn’t need to cook.
Zodiac returned to the family room, just as Clint and Ivy arrived.
My brother was over a foot taller than his lady love.
He was his usual effortlessly handsome self in jeans, a black shirt, and his riding boots.
Ivy looked sweet and sexy, dressed in her orange track pants and a simple white T-shirt.
Her blonde hair was in a bouncy ponytail.
“I thought you were going to wait for us,” my brother grumbled at my baby daddy.
With his gaze locked on me, Zodiac replied, “I was too excited to boss your sister around to wait for you.”
“I’m cooking dinner,” I announced. “Ivy, come along with me, so we can talk about how I’m having another boy.”
I walked past Zodiac and Clint and found refuge in the kitchen with the women. Shay looked so relieved to know she wasn’t expected to cook.
Ivy and Shay wrapped me in their arms and hugged away my anxiety-induced trembling. I felt overwhelmed and bloated. Ivy looked too damn cute while I felt like a messy hag.
Zodiac didn’t help by staring at me with his icy blue eyes. A smirk warmed his gorgeous freaking face. I wished he’d leave but also hoped he would stick around.
Mostly, I wanted to know him as a person. I had been curious since the first time we met. But Zodiac wasn’t the kind of man to make small talk, especially with a woman he seemed dead set on putting in a box.