Enjoying the Chase (34 page)

“Yep, and I know your momma doesn
’
t like chocolate cake too much, so I bought
her a plain boring one,” Nate replied, scrunching his face up with mock
disgust.

Nate reached into the grocery bag, pulling
out a kids
’
magazine. “While I was
at the store I saw this and thought you might like it.” He held it out to DJ,
who practically snatched it out of his hands with an excited whoop noise.

I just stood there watching the whole scene
with my heart in my throat.
Damn, where the hell did I find this freaking
guy? TooGoodToBeTrue.com?

DJ stood up and was jumping up and down on
the sofa, waving the Disney magazine at me. “
Look, Momma,
Woody
’
s book!” he cried excitedly.

“
Stop jumping, Baby,
” I said quickly, but my voice had lost some of its authority due to
it barely being above a whisper. Nate was so incredibly thoughtful. Even Josh
never made an effort like this with DJ. Emotions were hitting me hard as I
looked between the two of them. “Baby, what do you say to Nate?” I asked, still
barely able to breathe.

“
Thanks, Nate!
” DJ cried instantly, as he dropped down onto the sofa skimming through
the pages with a huge grin on his face.

“No problem, Kid. I got you some candy in
the bag too, but you
’
ll have to
ask Momma if you can have that after dinner or something.” Nate looked at me
with a slightly worried expression on his face.

I needed to get out of the room; I could
feel my eyes starting to prickle with tears. It was one thing for Nate to treat
me so nicely all the time but for him to do the same to my son meant the world
to me. I held my hand out for the bag. Putting the cake in the kitchen would be
a perfect excuse for me to compose myself for a minute. Nate
’
s face dropped a little as he looked at me
apologetically before putting the bag in my hand.

“I
’
ll be right back, I
’
ll
just put this in the other room,” I mumbled, heading for the kitchen. Setting
the bag on the counter, I closed my eyes, trying to get my breathing to even
out. My heart was still racing. How could he be that thoughtful and adorable?

Something touched my back, and I jumped a
mile before I realised it was Nate. His arm snaked around my waist as he
pressed his chest to my back, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“I
’
m sorry, I should have asked first. I didn
’
t think you
’
d mind if I
got him it; I just saw it and I know you said he was a Disney freak, so I
bought it. I
’
ve overstepped the
mark and upset you, haven
’
t I?” he
said apologetically, his arm tightening around my waist. 

He thought I was upset that he
’
d bought DJ a magazine? I turned around in his
embrace, facing him. His eyes met mine and I tried not to cry because he really
was just too good for someone like me.

“I
’
m not upset.” I shook my head fiercely. “I was just shocked. I didn
’
t expect you to do that. That was really
sweet, Nate.
So
thoughtful. Thank you.”

His face relaxed and a smile tugged at the
corners of his mouth as I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him
impossibly closer to me, gripping the back of his hair so he couldn
’
t pull away from me.

“Oh, okay, good. I was worried.” His eyes
raked over every inch of my face as one hand traced up my back slowly, gripping
the back of my neck lightly as his other arm tightened around my waist,
crushing my body against his.

Every inch of my skin broke out in
goosebumps as my breath caught in my throat. Just the way he looked at me made
me feel special, needed, and beautiful. I wasn
’
t sure what he saw in me, but I silently prayed that he always saw
it and always looked at me this way.

I smiled and went up on tiptoes, pressing
my lips to his softly for a second before pulling away when I heard DJ running
towards the kitchen, shouting excitedly about Nemo and Dory being in the book
too. Nate stepped back and leant against the counter a couple of feet away from
me. A smirk resided on his lips that made my skin prickle.

~ Nate ~ 

Calm down, Nate. You
’
re doing fine. Take a deep breath. The kid is
not going to hurt you, he
’
s
just a kid!
I discreetly wiped my sweaty palms on
the leg of my jeans as DJ came running into the kitchen, waving the magazine I
bought him, a big grin on his face.

“Momma, Dory
’
s in here too, and there
’
s a bit you have to colour and a maze!” he practically shouted.

I laughed quietly that something so small
and cheap could make a kid smile like that. My ultimate goal was that it
’
d make him like me too. I looked him over as
he showed Rosie the pages, talking at her a mile a minute, while she just
smiled and nodded, doing a great job at faking enthusiasm.

He was a really
good
-looking kid, but, then again, with a gorgeous thing like Rosie for
a mom, he was bound to be a looker. He had the exact same shade of
reddish-brown hair as hers, and her big brown eyes. His face was a different
shape to hers and his skin was slightly darker, more like a natural tan. Rosie
’
s skin was pale, so he probably got his
complexion from his father
’
s side.

DJ turned to me, smiling, and my lungs
constricted. I hadn
’
t been
expecting to meet him today so I
’
d
had no time to prepare myself, no topics of conversation ready. If I
’
d had some forewarning that this meeting was
going to happen, I would have had Ashton teach me a few things about
interacting with him.

I racked my brains thinking about all the
things that Rosie had told me about him; he liked to talk a lot, he loved
anything Disney, he liked going to the park, and animals. He had a huge
obsession with
Toy Story
.

My gaze settled on his plaster cast on his
arm. Anna
’
s picture of Buzz and
Woody on it was amazing.

“Wow, DJ, I love your cast. Did Anna draw
that?” I asked, willing my voice not to show how terrified I was of him. Well,
I wasn
’
t scared of him exactly
–
he was just a child
–
but I was
terrified I was going to screw up with him. What if I said something wrong,
upset him or Rosie, or he just plain old didn
’
t like me? I would end up losing the girl that I was falling deeper
and deeper for every single day. 

DJ beamed down at his arm proudly. “Yeah,
Auntie Anna drew it on there. Do you like
Toy Story
?” he asked.

Auntie Anna
– that
sounded so cute. I immediately wondered if I would ever be Uncle Nate to him.
“I love it actually.
Toy Story 3
, the new one, that
’s
my favourite.
” 

Just calm your heart rate down, Nate!
You
’
re going to make
yourself look like a punk if you keep being on edge like this.
I cast a quick glance at Rosie to see if I was doing okay, she
smiled reassuringly. She looked a little in awe at the moment, a little taken
aback, and I wasn
’
t sure if that
was a good thing or a bad thing.

DJ frowned, pouting. “I haven
’
t seened the third one. I likes the second
movie though. Want to watch it after dinner?” he asked, his face brightening.

Rosie
groaned. “Again?
Can
’
t we watch something else?”
she plead
ed
.

“Actually, I
’
d like to watch the movie, DJ,” I chimed in quickly,
smirking
at Rosie as she scowled
at me.

DJ smiled, bobbing his head enthusiastically.

Rosie
rolled her eyes.
“Go read your magazine then, Baby, while I start dinner.” She waved towards the
door, signalling for him to leave. He smiled and skipped out, swinging the book
in his hand as he went. “You want a drink?” Rosie offered.

“Sure, I
’
ll make it.” I shrugged and opened the cupboard, pulling out a
couple of mugs.

She smiled and went to the freezer, pulling
out packets, wincing slightly. “I
’
m
really sorry I
’
m making you eat
this stuff. I usually only allow junk food once a week. You had to choose the
day that I
’
m not cooking properly,
huh?” she joked.

 “
I love alphabetti
pasgetti,
” I joked, using DJ
’
s wrong word that he
’
d
said earlier. She laughed and threw the frozen packet of fries at me.

A little while later we were all sat
around the table. I could barely force the food down my throat. The kid was
making me nervous. I discreetly wiped the sweat that was starting to bead on my
forehead, trying to calm my breathing.

He was staring at me. His eyes hadn
’
t once left me since we had sat down. I couldn
’
t sit still under his intense gaze. I massaged
the back of my neck and shifted on my seat, smiling nervously. I needed to say
something, break the ice a little more; he was obviously curious about me and
who I was. I cleared my throat and Rosie snickered quietly to herself, clearly
amused by my unease.

“So, er, what did you do today? Anything
good?” I asked DJ, ignoring how my voice cracked when I spoke.

He smiled and nodded. “Mary took us to the
park, and I saw a rabbit!” 

“Oh yeah? What did it look like?” I asked
before I could stop myself.
What did it look like? Damn it, what the hell is
wrong with me, it looked like a rabbit, you jackass!

DJ dropped his fork and proceeded to show
me how big the rabbit was. “It was this big, and brown, and it just sat there
eating grass. Then it ran into the trees, and I wanted to run after it, but
Mary told me I wasn
’
t alloweded,
so it gots away,” he said, pouting slightly. I smiled. The kid rambled like his
mother. Cute. He turned to Rosie. “Do you think we could gets a rabbit, Momma?”

She almost choked on her food as she shook
her head firmly. “We can
’
t, Baby,
they don
’
t like animals in the
apartment. You should ask your dad though,” she answered,
smiling wryly.

DJ nodded and shoved a whole chicken nugget
into his mouth, struggling to chew it where it was so big, and I couldn
’
t help but laugh. “I
’
ll ask him tomorrow,” he mumbled with his mouth full.

Rosie winced. “Baby, can we not talk with
our mouth full? Remember we said we were going to eat nicely in front of Nate?”

I smiled, bemused by her comment. She
actually thought she needed to impress me? I
’
d considered that to be the other way around, if I was honest. 

DJ put his hand over his mouth, smiling
sheepishly as he carried on chewing the huge mouthful he had. I forced some
food down, trying not to make myself look like even more of a moron by choking
in front of them. Rosie
’
s foot
brushed against mine under the table, sort of hooking behind my ankle. That one
small, intimate gesture seemed to relax my body tenfold.

“So, are you doing anything good with your
dad this weekend?” I asked, looking at DJ curiously. I couldn
’
t wait for this weekend; I was taking Rosie
out for dinner tomorrow night and was also hoping to convince her that she
wanted to spend the other two days with me too.

DJ nodded, practically jumping in his
chair. “Yeah! Daddy
’
s taking me to
the zoo, and he said he
’
s gonna
ask if I can feed the guins! Those are my favourite,” he chirped.

Guins? I looked at Rosie curiously.

“
Penguins,
” she explained, nodding along with DJ.

I smiled in understanding. “Oh yeah? That
sounds great. I wish I was going to the zoo.”

“Maybe you could come too. Daddy already
asked Momma to come, but she said no, but if you want to come you can. I
’
m sure my daddy won
’
t mind!” He looked at me, hopefully.