Falling Into Drew (22 page)

CHAPTER 33

“
How can you stand not knowing how Drew and Patrick are doing? Aren’t you dying to see if they really look alike? I’m bursting with curiosity and he’s not
my
boyfriend’s child.” Liz glanced at Kate as they ran along the path around Central Park’s reservoir to burn off some nervous energy on a beautiful, sunny day.

“Of course I want to meet him and I will, maybe even tonight. They’re at a Yankees game this afternoon, but you know that because Charles went with them, so maybe he can satisfy your curiosity about Patrick.” Kate moved to one side of the path. She leaned forward and rested her hands on her knees. She was out of breath and suspected it was more from anxiety than the exercise.

Liz wiped her forehead and took a long drink from a bottle of water. “When are you going to meet him?”

“Tonight if everything goes well today. I mean if Patrick is having a hard time with Drew, he’s not going to be thrilled to meet me.”

“Doesn’t that make you nervous? He could be jealous of the time Drew spends with you and not want to share his dad,” Liz cautioned. “And he might try to get Drew back with his mom.”

“Stop it! Why the hell are you being so negative?”

Liz shrugged. “Change does weird things to people, that’s all. Drew might turn into a different man than the one you fell in love with.”

“Being a father is making him a better man,” Kate snapped.

Liz laid a hand on her friend’s arm. “I’ve upset you and I’m sorry. I guess this has brought up all of my own daddy issues since he left us when I was around Patrick’s age.”

Kate gave her friend’s hand a reassuring squeeze. When they resumed their run, Kate tried to convince herself that Liz was voicing her own fears and that everything would be all right.

Patrick leaned against Drew’s shoulder in the back seat of the car taking them home from the game. He fought against it, but his eyelids finally fluttered closed and he was asleep within minutes.

Charles grinned when Drew slipped an arm around the boy’s shoulders and Patrick shifted to snuggle closer to him. “I never thought I’d see the day,” Charles said, shaking his head.

“Me either, but it’s actually pretty cool,” Drew said, stealing a proud glance at his son.

“He’s a great kid, Drew. He may have started out worshipping you as this famous athlete, but it’s obvious he’s past that and seems to like you as a person.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. This could have been so fucked up, and it may become that as he gets older, but for now, things are great. We act as if we’ve known each other for years.” He shrugged. “It feels natural to have him with me, but I realize it’s a vacation and we haven’t had to deal with the stress of everyday life.”

Charles nodded his agreement and they rode in silence for a while. “Liz is worried about Kate and how this could affect the two of you. Patrick needs to know that she’s part of your life.”

“I don’t think it’ll be a problem. His mom has a boyfriend, a serious one, and he’s cool with that, so he probably expects me to have a girlfriend.”

“A girlfriend, yes, but a fiancée? That’s permanent and a little different.”

“Kate is coming over tonight. They’ll get along fine.”

“I hope you’re right. I wouldn’t want you to have to choose between them.” Charles didn’t realize that he was voicing the same worries to Drew that Liz had discussed with Kate.

“It’ll never come to that,” Drew immediately replied. “I love her and I love this kid. He’s always going to be my son and she’s going to be my wife. End of story.”

The nap in the limo restored Patrick’s energy. His body zigged and zagged as he sat on the edge of the sofa while handling the controller for the video game he was playing on Drew’s big screen TV. The sound effects coming from his mouth whenever he made a particularly good or bad move made Drew chuckle, because they were so much like the reactions he had.

A pot of water simmered on the stove for spaghetti and sauce was heating in another pot while garlic bread warmed in the oven. Kate was bringing a salad and dessert. He checked the time. She should be there any minute. He told himself not to be concerned about Kate and Patrick liking each other. Of course they would.

“I’ll get it,” Patrick shouted when the doorbell rang. Kate must have decided to act like a guest and not use her key.

Although Drew had told her that his son looked just like him, Kate’s eyes opened wide when she came face to face with the younger, smaller version of the man she loved. “Hi, I’m Kate,” she said and smiled.

“I’m Patrick. Drew told me you were coming.” He looked relieved when his father joined them. Drew rested a hand on his son’s shoulder, wrapped his other arm around Kate’s waist and kissed her cheek.

“Kate, meet my son, Patrick and Patrick, this is my girlfriend, Kate.” He’d decided to keep it simple and now Drew looked from one to the other, holding his breath.

Patrick leaned toward his father. “She’s pretty,” he whispered.

“I know,” Drew grinned and ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Do you like video games?” Patrick asked.

“I do, and I’m pretty good at some of them.”

Patrick grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the living room. “Come on, then. Let’s see if you’re as good as me.”

Kate and Drew exchanged a look of relief and the worry that had consumed them evaporated.

After dinner, Drew watched Patrick lick the frosting off one of the cupcakes Kate had brought for dessert. “You had two hotdogs, popcorn, and an ice cream at the baseball game. And now you’ve finished your spaghetti and have room for that,” he said, pointing to the cupcake.

“My mom says soon I’ll be a teenager and I need food so I can grow as tall as you.” When he grinned his teeth were covered with chocolate frosting.

The conversation flowed with ease until one point when Patrick asked Kate if she was going to spend the night. “My mother’s boyfriend sleeps in our house sometimes and since you’re Drew’s, girlfriend, I thought you would too.”

“Is that okay with you, Patrick?” Kate asked.

Drew prayed the answer was “yes” because if anything, his desire for Kate had increased since the boy’s arrival and just then he wanted her naked and under him. He held his breath while his son considered the question.

“Sure, why not,” Patrick finally said after studying them. “I’m ten, so I know about sex. That’s how I got here. You and my mom had sex and then you got a baby. Me. Are you going to have a baby?” The question was directed at Kate.

“Someday, maybe, but not just yet,” she replied, after she and Drew raised their brows at each other, astounded at how comfortable Patrick seemed to be with the subject, especially with them.

“I hope you do, because it would be fun to have a sister or brother to play with when I visit.” He went back to eating his cupcake as if they’d been talking about the weather.

When Patrick crawled into bed later, Drew pulled the covers up to the boy’s chin and sat beside him. Patrick yawned and then said, “This was the best day.”

“It was?”

“Yes. The game was great, you let me eat junk food, Charles is funny, I like riding in limos, and I like Kate.” He stretched his arms toward Drew and they hugged each other. “I’m glad my mother let me come to visit you.”

“Me too. I think I must be the luckiest dad in the world,” Drew murmured, overwhelmed with emotion as he kissed his son’s forehead. 

“Why?”

“Because I have a son like you.”

Patrick yawned and snuggled further under the covers. “And I’m lucky that you’re my dad.”

Kate spotted tears in Drew’s eyes when he came out of Patrick’s room and quietly closed the door. “What’s wrong?”

“Not a thing,” he said and swiped at the tear that ran down one side of his face. “He’s such a great kid. I knew I could love him, but I had no idea that it would happen so soon.” He lowered his gaze, thinking. “Despite the way my life looks to outsiders, I’m not the most secure man. I had no idea until now how much I needed him to like me.”

“Why wouldn’t he? He not only found out that he has a father, but
that
father is the man he’d fantasized about because you have the same name.”

“Yeah, that. He could have been angry at me for deserting him, at his mother for lying to him, for so much, but he’s…he’s…” His throat tightened when tears threatened again.

“He’s amazing. I agree totally and I hate to say it since she was the reason I broke up with you, but Erin has done a great job raising a well-adjusted kid. It took a lot of courage for her to finally tell you about him, so I respect her for both of those things.”

“The more time I spend with Patrick, the less angry I am at her for depriving us of each other. Back then, I would have been an immature, resentful, shit father and that would have been bad for Patrick. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think things worked out the way they were meant to.”

Kate’s head had been resting against his chest while he ran his hands down her back to her hips. He used one finger to tip her chin up and his lips gently met hers. “I love you so damn much,” he sighed.

She slid her hand into his and tugged him toward the bedroom. “Show me.”

The tender kiss of moments earlier shifted into one that did nothing to disguise the passion between them as their clothes dropped to the bedroom floor. His lips found their way to Kate’s breast and she moaned when he gently licked then tugged on its nipple, while his fingers traveled lower and buried themselves in her.

Her hands cupped his muscular ass, drawing him to where she needed him most. He slid into her with one fast thrust and buried his face in the curve of her neck, breathing hard, then stilled his hips. “I love to feel your body accept mine and surround me. It’s so fucking good, like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” he murmured near her ear. Unable to fight the impulse to move any longer, he almost withdrew entirely before sliding home. Covered in sweat, he repeated the motion again and again until Kate’s head tipped back, her flushed face and rapid breathing signaling her approaching orgasm. His control unleashed, Drew drove into her fast and hard until they both fell over the edge into bliss.

CHAPTER 34

“I don’t want to go.” Patrick’s lower lip trembled when Drew’s doorman announced that the limo that would take them to the airport was parked outside. “You can’t make me.”

Drew squatted in front of the boy and waited until his son looked at him. “I’m your father and I love you, but Ireland is your home. We’ll spend as much time with each other as we can. That’s a promise, and I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it. Your mother missed you this week and your friends are there, too.”

“Yeah, they are,” he reluctantly agreed.

“Look, Patrick, I swear that I’m not going to disappear from your life or let you disappear from mine. I spoke with your mom last night.” Drew ran his hands over his face, unsure whether to continue before deciding that his son deserved honesty. “She was worried about how things would go with you and me, but she put you on that plane anyway so that we’d have a chance to get to know each other. She thinks you and I have done pretty well. We’ve agreed that you can spend school holidays and part of the summer with me if you want to, and I’ll fly to Ireland whenever I can. It’s not perfect, but we’ll make it work.” He tipped the boy’s chin up the same way he’d done with Kate’s the night before. “Okay?”

Patrick didn’t respond right away. Drew held his breath until his son finally nodded. “When you come to Dublin, my friends will be able to see that you’re real. Some of them don’t believe that a man as famous as you could be my father. They said I was making it up just because we have the same name.”

Drew’s heart broke a little. A boy shouldn’t have to prove who his father is. Despite the paparazzi at the airport, no tabloid had printed photos of him and Patrick, which had made their time together more relaxed than it would have been if reporters were hounding them. But Charles was right — it was time to manage the news about his son with a couple of interviews. The gossips that loved to speculate about which model or actress he was dating would have a field day not only with him having a son, but also getting engaged to Kate. Andrew O’Connor — married and a father. If someone had described him that way a year ago no one would have believed it, especially him.

Patrick checked his room one last time, then stood at the door with his luggage. He let his gaze sweep the apartment one last time. “You’ll keep my room the same? You won’t let anyone else sleep there?”

Drew rested a hand on the boy’s shoulder and grinned. “No one will bother the stuff you left in your room. It’s yours and no one else’s.”

“Good.”

After a tearful good-bye at the airport, Drew told the driver to take him to Charles’ office. Since the Irish press would pick up the story, he and Erin would have to coordinate how much to say and prepare Patrick for the resultant attention. They’d lived such a quiet, private life that it wouldn’t be easy for them to become a media target, even for a short time. The tabloid press had the attention span of a gnat, but initially their appetite for what they perceived as “dirt” would be voracious.

Charles grabbed two beers from his office’s refrigerator and handed one to Drew who sat slumped in a cushy leather chair. “If you want to deflect attention away from Patrick, you could announce your engagement and do a ‘by the way…’ about your son,” Charles suggested.

Drew frowned and shook his head back and forth. “No matter how I do this, the media will turn Patrick into the child I deserted or my ‘love child’ or call him my ‘secret shame’ or invent some other label.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “What I don’t get is why the hell anyone still cares about anything I do. I’m a retired athlete who models sometimes and does commentary for competitions, mostly in Europe.”

“Have you looked in a mirror lately or flipped through a glossy magazine? You’re easy on the eyes and the products you’re associated with have a high profile. Plus, until you met Kate, your dating and party habits were the stuff of legend. That makes people curious to know more about you.”

“You’re right. I brought this on myself. Other Olympic athletes go back to the small towns they came from or retreat to a training facility to prepare for the next challenge. I signed contracts to represent big brands, which made me incredibly rich and now I’m paying the price for it. I didn’t mind losing my privacy when it was just me. I could always get on my bike and disappear. Now Kate and Patrick and even Erin are involved. They didn’t ask for this.” He slumped forward and chewed on his thumbnail. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. I’ll set up an exclusive with one of the weekly magazines and maybe a late night talk show. Ask Erin if it’s all right to share one of the many pictures you took with Patrick so no photographer has to bother them. Maybe Kate will agree to do the interview with you. When do you think you’ll pop the question?”

“I’ve been so focused on Patrick that I haven’t even thought about it.” He raised the beer to his lips and drained it. “I have the ring and I want to marry her. She loves me so she might even say yes. There’s no reason to wait, I guess. Are you and Liz free tomorrow night? We’ll all go out for dinner and if it feels right, I’ll ask her.”

“Wait. You’re not going to arrange some super romantic, top of the Eiffel Tower-type proposal?”

Drew looked startled. “No, should I? Those things always seem so staged and the only witnesses I want are our two best friends.”

“Then count me and Liz in. I’ll reserve a table at Mike’s place in the village. He’ll make sure that no one bothers us.”

Mike led them to his personal table at the back of the restaurant, the same one he’d given to Liz and Kate the night they’d stopped by for a drink. It was somewhat secluded and no one bothered them until the women headed to the ladies’ room.

Drew recognized a familiar perfume just before a voice purred in his ear, “So, you’re still with the cute editor.”

He rolled his eyes and mouthed, “shit” to Charles who scowled at their visitor. The last thing Drew needed on the night he would ask Kate to marry him was this particular reminder of his past. “Yes, Lara, we’re together.”

“You’ve never lasted this long with anyone, even me.”

“There’s a reason for that. I’ve never been in love before,” Drew replied matter-of-factly. “And now that you’ve satisfied your curiosity, you can rejoin your friends”.

“When we broke up, you said
we
could be friends,” she pouted. “I miss that thing that you do with your…”

She stopped speaking when she noticed Kate on one side of her and Liz on the other. The women looked as if they wanted to pick up the stick-thin, blond model and carry her away. “When you interrupted our meal the last time, I was polite,” Kate began. “This time you’re trying to spoil an evening with my boyfriend. Go away. He doesn’t want you here and neither do I.” Kate turned her back on the stunned woman and Drew put his arm around her when she sat.

“No one talks to me that way,” Lara hissed, hands resting on her narrow hips.

“She just did,” Drew growled. “You’re starting to look ridiculous. Like Kate said, go away, Lara.”

Her eyes darted from Drew to Kate, then she shrugged her shoulders as if to say
whatever
, smiled, and made her way back to her table. Mission accomplished, she knew someone would call or text one of the gossip sites, and, if there was anything she loved more than attention, it was causing trouble for a man who’d rejected her.

Drew reached the same conclusion. “You know how this is going to play out, right? Someone will speculate that two women are competing for me.” He stood and pulled out Kate’s chair. “Sorry to cut the night short.” He directed the apology to Charles and Liz. “Kate and I have someplace we need to be. Can we meet you both for brunch tomorrow? Balthazar at eleven?

He took Kate’s hand and led her to the door. She’d become used to riding around the city on his motorcycle when the weather cooperated and that was how they’d come to the restaurant that evening. She expertly pulled on her helmet and slung a jeans-clad leg over the bike after Drew climbed on, but before he started the engine she leaned forward to ask, “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. You’ll see.”

“All right,” she said and wrapped her arms around his waist. She trusted him. It was a shock to realize that was true, since she’d wondered if she’d ever be secure enough to cope with his fame and the less desirable parts of it. Parts like that bitch, Lara. But he proved his love for her over and over until she was finally able to lose her doubts.

She didn’t care about where Drew was taking her, content to simply snuggle against his back and feel the heat of his body through the leather he wore as he confidently steered them through New York traffic. They hadn’t gone very far when he pulled to the curb. She removed her helmet and saw that they were beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “What are we doing here? I haven’t been back since…”

He finished the sentence for her. “Since that day you fell into my arms.” The lips that met hers were gentle and undemanding. “I wanted to be alone with you and what better place than a church at night, right?”

They found an unlocked side door and were immediately surrounded by the scent of candle wax and incense. “Let’s sit,” he whispered since talking in a normal voice would disturb the few people who were there to pray. He led her to an empty pew and, holding hands, they sat quietly for a few minutes until Drew turned toward her.

“This is where it all began. You stumbled into my life and all I had to do was be smart enough to catch you, but I let you get away.  And then a miracle happened — we found each other again. I suspect Gran had something to do with it, since I’d come here that day to arrange a Mass in her memory. All she ever wanted was for me to be happy, so she sent me an angel. I love you, Kate. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, if you’ll have me.”

Kate gasped when he slid to his knees. “Are you saying…” she began, but was too overwhelmed by the moment to get another word out. Tears ran down her face as she watched him pull a small, red leather box from his pocket. “Marry me, Kate,” he said, then held his breath, suddenly uncertain as her gaze shifted from his eyes to the sparkling ring and then back again until he gently repeated, “Marry me,” and brought her out of her stupor.

She threw her arms around him and said, “Yes” over and over and over again. He pressed his lips to her palm and slid the glittering ring on her finger.

Drew felt a hand lightly brush his cheek, but when he looked down both of Kate’s hands were still in his. He shook his head, disbelieving, yet hoping that what he’d felt wasn’t his imagination. “Thank you, Gran,” he murmured, and held the woman he loved as if he’d never let her go.

THE END

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Check out my other books:

LEGACY OF THE HIGHLANDS  
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0062LPAO2

A LEGACY OF REVENGE             
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BSD9UFY

LEGACY OF LOVE                          
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NKRYUPQ

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