Enjoying the Chase (37 page)

He pumped the air with one fist and
muttered a “Yesssssss!” and I couldn
’
t help but laugh. Kids were so easy to please! I smiled and grabbed
the ice-cream out of the bag that I
’
d bought too, handing it to Rosie. It was Ben and Jerry
’
s, Chunky Monkey, she
’
d mentioned it was her favourite the other day.

She looked at me gratefully, a little “Aww”
escaping her lips. “Thanks! You know I
’
m not sharing it though, right? You boys can go without. This is
mine!” she joked, pretending to hide it as DJ looked at it with wide eyes.

I handed the bag to DJ with the last thing
that I
’
d bought in there. He took
the bag curiously and looked inside before literally screaming with excitement,
making both me and Rosie jump. “
TOY STORY 3
!” he shouted, jumping up and
down with excitement as he pulled the DVD out of the bag, waving it in the air
in celebration.

Rosie frowned. “You bought him a DVD?” she
asked, looking a little unsure.

I nodded. “I thought you were fed up with
the other two, you said you couldn
’
t watch them again without going mad. Plus, he told me that he hadn
’
t seen it,”
I answered,
shrugging.

“You don
’
t need to keep buying him things,” she said, looking at me
,
shocked. “It
’
s not
necessary, Nate. You know that, right?”

“I know, I just thought I
’
d get it because everyone should watch that at
least once in their life.” I smiled, trying to make light of the situation.

Something crashed into my legs, making me
stumble back a step before I caught myself. I looked down, shocked, to see DJ
clinging to my legs, hugging me tightly, grinning like he
’
d had two litres of Coke and a bowl full of sugar.

I
laughed
uncomfortably, not really knowing what to do as I patted his back
lightly. My heart melted in my chest at the attention. I was thrilled that he
liked me. I bent down, wrapping one arm around his waist as I lifted him up,
turning him upside down while he laughed and squealed.

Rosie hadn
’
t moved; she was just standing there with her mouth slightly open
and her eyes a little watery. “Looks like Momma forgot she was supposed to be
getting plates,” I told DJ, digging my finger in his ribs to make him giggle. 

She smiled, her eyes so soft and tender
that it made my stomach ache.  “You really are blowing my mind, Nate Peters,”
she said quietly.

“Right back at ya,” I replied.

She grinned and shook her head again before
heading to the kitchen. I set a giggling DJ down onto his feet again. He passed
me the movie. “Can you put it on? I
’
m not alloweded to touch the DVD player because I broked the last
one,” he said.

“You ‘
broked
’
the last one?” I queried, grinning.

He nodded, looking a little sheepish and
leant forward waving for me to bend down. I squatted down and he immediately
cupped my ear with his little hands, checking that Rosie wasn
’
t
t
here before leaning
in and whispering in my ear. “I put one of my toys in there and it got stuck.
But don
’
t tell Momma, I told her
that I didn
’
t do it.
”

I bit my lip to stop from laughing, and tried
to look at him sternly as I pulled back. “
I won
’
t tell Momma, but make sure you don
’
t do it again, okay?” I ruffled his hair and
stood back up. “Stripes, is it okay to put this movie on now?” I called,
looking in the direction of the kitchen.

“Sure,” she answered, walking back in with
plates and setting them on the little coffee table while I put the DVD in the
player. DJ sat down at the table, tucking into his pizza, watching the TV
expectantly. She came back in again with drinks, before she settled down on the
sofa, patting the space next to her for me to sit.

I sat down and she immediately shifted,
pressing her side against mine. I sighed contentedly and ate, perfectly happy
to stay in on a Friday night and hang out with them.

DJ
’
s eyes didn
’
t leave the
television once throughout the movie. He was glued to it as if it were telling
him where you could get a lifetime supply of free candy. Even Rosie seemed like
she enjoyed it, her fingernails dug into my leg at the intense parts, her eyes
wide and nervous.

When it finished, DJ jumped up and held out
the remote control to me. “Put it on again?” he asked.

I smiled and went to restart it, but Rosie
cleared her throat making me look at her. “I think DJ should be getting to
bed,” she suggested, looking at DJ knowingly. “You know you don
’
t have time to watch it again, Baby.”

He looked at her with the begging face.
“But Mommaaaaaaa!” he whined, almost jumping up and down on the spot. He was
seriously good at playing his mom. He climbed onto her lap, hugging her
tightly. “Momma, I want to watch it again before Nate takes it home. It
’
s a weekend, can I stays up?”

I smiled.
“I bought it
for you, Kid. That
’
s yours to
keep, so you can just watch it tomorrow,” I suggested, shrugging.

His eyes widened. “I can keep it?
Forevers?” he asked, looking a little shocked.

“Yep, it
’
s yours now,” I confirmed. He beamed at me, so I held my hand out
for him, grinning as he immediately gave me a high five without me having to
prompt him.

“Come on then, Baby. Bed time. Say goodnight
to Nate,” Rosie instructed, shifting him onto her hip as she stood up. She
smiled down at me, and I couldn
’
t
stop the warm feeling that spread across my body.

“Night!” he chirped over her shoulder as
she carried him to the bathroom to get changed. I waved and headed to the
kitchen to make a coffee ready for when she was done.

When she came out she plopped herself in my
lap again, wrapping her arms around my neck as she kissed me. I kissed her back
a little shocked at the force she was putting into it, it was as if she
’
d been keeping it pent up all evening and was
unleashing it all in one go. All of her feelings and things that she
’
d wanted to say, transmuted through the kiss,
it was actually pretty mind-blowing.

When the kiss was over, we talked for a
little bit while she just sat on my lap as if it were the most natural thing in
the world. After a while, we settled down onto the sofa, laying down, just
cuddling while we talked. It astounded me every time, just how comfortable it
was cuddling with her; I still wasn
’
t used to it. I loved that feeling of being at complete ease around
a girl. I knew I had it bad for her because I was actually interested in what
she was saying, instead of just imagining her naked. 

I decided after about an hour of us just
talking and joking around, that it was time for me to broach the subject of
Josh and our plans for the weekend. “So, do you think Josh will be taking DJ to
the zoo tomorrow?”
I questioned.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Her whole
posture was defeated as she shook her head. “No. He
’
ll call me in the morning and make some crappy excuse as to why he
can
’
t come and get him. If he
cancels the Friday night, he never does the Saturday.”

I gritted my teeth against the anger. DJ
was awesome, and Josh was passing up an opportunity to spend time with his only
son, what kind of guy would do that to a kid? I sighed and pulled her closer to
me, rubbing my hand down her back. Neither of them deserved to be hurt in this
way.

“Well if he does cancel, then we
’
ll do something. Go to the park or something,
okay?” I offered, tangling my fingers in the back of her silky hair.

She pulled her head back, resting her chin
on my chest, just looking at me silently for a minute. “Why are you being like
this, Nate? Buying DJ things, playing with him, offering to come to the park,
and not even being annoyed with me that I had to cancel plans that we made?”
she asked, looking a little confused, but very interested in my answer.

Gripping the top of her arms, I pulled her
higher up my body so our faces were level. “I understand you have a son; it
’
s different being with a girl that has a
readymade family, and I never would have expected this to happen to me in a
million years, but I really like you. I really like DJ too, he
’
s cute. I like spending time with both of
you,” I answered, shrugging and not really knowing how to explain it properly.
Her face softened as she stroked the side of my face adoringly.

But then I had to ruin it… 

“And I want to fuck you so badly that my
dick is actually aching,” I added.

She burst out laughing and shook her head.
“I forgot you were a super slutty flirt.”

“You forgot? Maybe I need to remind you
more often,”
I suggested,
grinning
at her wickedly.

She smiled, and then her easy and happy
exterior fell and her body tensed. “Look, Nate, if you
’
re just using me for sex, then you can tell me. I would rather just
know now, than allow this to go any further and my son starts to like you more,
before
I
start to like you more…” she trailed off, frowning.

I wrapped her tighter in my arms and
carefully rolled over so I was on top of her, pressing my body to hers as I
cupped her face with one of my hands, stroking my thumb along her cheekbone. “I
’
m not just using you for sex.”

She bit her lip and slipped her arms up around
my neck. “If you are, it
’
s okay.
If you want to, we can have sex right now. I
’
m not gonna lie and say I don
’
t want to do the nasty with you.”

My body jerked.
I could have sex with
her tonight, right now, on the sofa, or maybe on the kitchen counter, or in her
bed. Maybe all three…

But then I remembered that her body wasn
’
t the only thing I liked about her, hell, it
wasn
’
t the thing that I even liked
the
most
about her. I wasn
’
t
one hundred percent sure what it was that I liked the most about her – it could
be her cute little laugh, or the way she always challenged me, or the way her
nose scrunched up when she was thinking about something really hard, or her
little passionate rambles. Deep down though I knew that what I liked most about
her was just the way she made me feel when I was with her – like I belonged,
like I was part of something incredible, like I wanted to protect her and make
her happy. 

I traced my nose up the side of hers,
making her already shallow breathing seem to stop altogether. “Doing the nasty,
that was a beautiful way of putting it,” I joked, looking into her big brown
eyes that I was getting addicted to. “But I want more than that. Stop worrying
about me running away.”

Her body relaxed under mine. Her eyes
fluttered closed as her hands tightened on my shoulders, making me press closer
to her. “I never expected to meet a guy that would accept DJ. Actually, I never
even wanted to meet anyone after Josh,” she admitted, “but I
’
m glad I met you,
” she
whispered, pressing her face into the side of my neck.

Her words hit me harder than I expected. My
insides squirmed as my whole body seemed to get a couple of degrees hotter. “I
’
m glad I met you too.
” I
moved my head down and kissed the top of her shoulder. “You know what I was
thinking the other day?” I asked, rolling off her and lying close to her side,
taking her hand and tangling our fingers.

She smiled, turning towards me so we were
both on our sides; her face was so close to mine that I could see her pupils
dilating due to the change in light where we
’
d moved. She looked flawless as I raked my eyes over her features.
“What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that we should have met
earlier. If Anna and Ashton had got married a couple of months earlier, then
you would have gone to the wedding and we would have met four years ago. I
would have seen DJ take his first step and cut his first tooth. I would have
liked to have seen those things,” I said, thinking about it again.

She looked at me a little shocked before
she shook her head. “But I was with Josh, it wouldn
’
t have mattered if I
’
d
met you at the wedding anyway.”