Twenty-Eight

Genesis

“Knock, knock,” Chloe’s voice called as the front door opened.

I had been walking back into the living room with Jagger’s bottle, and I froze at the sight of Kye’s mom.

She saw me and beamed her bright smile, which Kye had inherited from her, at me. I watched as her gaze dropped to the bottle in my hand, and her smile faltered as she now looked confused. At that moment, Jagger decided he was going to let out another hungry wail.

Chloe’s gaze swung to the infant swing I’d left him buckled in while I went to get the bottle. She slowly closed the door behind her, then walked over to him. Her eyes taking him in as she got closer.

Why, oh why, had she decided to come for a surprise visit when Kye wasn’t home? What was I supposed to do?

Jagger stopped crying to stare up at his grandmother before deciding food was more important and let out another angry cry. I made my way over to them, but didn’t move to take him. Chloe was still processing what she was seeing.

Finally, she turned back to me. Although her eyes were slightly glazed over, I saw concern etched on her face.

“Genesis,” she said softly, “whose baby is that?”

I shifted my gaze to Jagger and stepped up to unbuckle him. “Chloe, meet Jagger Henley Levine. Your grandson,” I said.

It wasn’t like I could lie to her until Kye got here. He was going to tell her once she returned from her trip anyway.

“Oh my God,” she whispered. “I knew it. He looks just like Kye. I just don’t understand.”

I picked Jagger up and quickly got the bottle in his mouth before he got any more worked up, then lifted my gaze to Chloe’s face. She was watching him drink. The clear awe on her face didn’t take away from the fact that she was clearly worried.

“Come on and sit down with us. I’ll explain, but know that Kye was going to tell you once you got home. This was a surprise, and at first, well, he wasn’t sure of his plans for Jagger yet. He didn’t want anyone to get attached to him.”

Chloe let out a short, startled laugh. “Attached? I’m currently trying to resist snatching him and running away before my son does something to break my heart.”

I smiled and glanced down at Jagger, who was watching me closely as I fed him. “You won’t need to do that. It seems he charmed his way into his daddy’s heart, and he isn’t going anywhere.”

“Oh, thank God,” Chloe said with a loud sigh, her hand placed over her heart. “Now that I know my son’s little replica isn’t being handed off to strangers, I need details. I also want to hold him very badly.”

I leaned toward her and held Jagger out so she could take him. The adoration glowing in her eyes as they began to fill with tears squeezed at my heart.

“You sweet baby boy,” she cooed. “You look exactly like your daddy at this age. It’s like holding my baby all over again.”

Jagger’s eyes locked on her face as he studied her. She sniffled and laughed as she wiped at her tears.

“Whew,” she said and glanced up at me. “Sorry I’m a bit emotional. I didn’t think Kye would ever give me a grandchild. It was clear he wasn’t going to love any woman but you, and, well, the relationship you two are determined to keep makes a grandbaby very unlikely.”

She dropped her attention back to Jagger. “Okay, now, tell me how this all happened. I would ask why you are the one here with him, but that would be a silly question. If he didn’t call me for help, then you’re the only other female he’d go to.” She paused, and a frown wrinkled her brow.

“How is Bowie doing with all this? I mean, from the looks of this living room and all the baby stuff lying around, I am assuming Kye and Jagger are living here too.”

I nodded. “Yes. Kye brought him to me the day he got him. As for Bowie, it didn’t go over well. We aren’t engaged anymore. He called it off.”

Chloe gasped and reached over to touch my arm. “Oh, honey, I am so sorry. That’s unfair to you.”

I shook my head. “No. It’s okay, really. It is for the best. I should have never said yes. It wasn’t right.”

Chloe didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure? Don’t you love him?”

I let out a small, amused laugh. “Yeah. I’ve loved both Kye and Bowie since I was a kid. But with Bowie, the love I had for him, I tried to make it into something more. The kind of love that would never be his.”

Chloe nodded as her eyes seemed to read right through me. “I see,” she said, then turned her gaze back to Jagger.

“Jagger was left at the back door of, um …” I hated to tell Kye’s mother all the details. I knew she was well aware of Kye’s activities, but it still felt wrong of me. “Well, a business. The woman who gave birth to him had worked there and left a note for Kye, knowing they’d be able to reach Kye, which they did. Kye had a paternity test done to prove Jagger was his, which he is. The birth certificate has been changed. Kye is the father on it, and Jagger is a Levine. Kye has also been given full custody.”

The corners of Chloe’s mouth turned down. “It was the strip club, wasn’t it? He got a stripper pregnant, and she just left my grandchild there without even making sure Kye got him.”

I nodded.

She shook her head. “I want to be angry with him for this, but then”—she looked back down at Jagger—“we wouldn’t have this sweet little baby now, would we?”

I couldn’t agree more.

I heard the knob turn before the door swung open. Kye had already seen whatever vehicle his mother had driven here in and knew she was inside. His gaze went from me, then swung to his mother and Jagger.

“Mom,” he said.

She turned and glanced over her shoulder at him. “Hello, son,” she replied happily. “I’m just bonding with my grandson here while finding out the details from Genesis that you didn’t think to call and tell me.”

His eyes shifted back to me, and I shrugged. What had he expected me to do? It wasn’t like I could hide Jagger from her.

“Uh, yeah, I was going to tell you as soon as you got back from Greece.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Were you now?” she replied.

“Yes. We’ve just had a lot going on,” he explained, walking around the sofa to sit on the coffee table across from her.

Jagger heard him, and he let go of the nipple to look at his dad. The way his little face seemed to light up with excitement was all it took for Chloe to tear up again.

“Hey, little man,” Kye said, reaching over to take his hand.

“I want to be mad at you and hug you and burst into tears, all at the same time,” Chloe admitted and sniffled.

He grinned at his mom. “You can do all three if you need to, Mom.”

I stood up to get her a tissue.

“Genesis assured me you’re not giving my grandson away,” she said in a tone that clearly meant she would not allow it.

“Definitely not,” Kye replied.

I handed her the tissue, and she thanked me, then dabbed at her eyes and nose.

“Good. Now, tell me how you plan to raise a baby in the life you live. I can move back here. Whatever you need. Just tell me what to do,” she said, looking at Kye.

He shook his head. “No need to move back here, Mom. We’ve got it under control.”

Chloe glanced at me. “We, as in you and Genesis?”

“Yes. We, as in me and Genesis,” he confirmed.

I watched her shoulders rise and fall with a heavy sigh.

“I’m aware the two of you are grown, but I can’t just sit here quietly while Genesis changes her life for you and Jagger. Her engagement is already off because of all she has done for you.” She turned to me. “I know you love Kye, but, sweetheart, you can’t always be the one to save him. You have to live your life. Finish college. Fall in love. Have your own family.”

“She wants to be here with us, Mom,” Kye interrupted her.

Chloe shifted her gaze to Kye. “Sure she does. This is your son, and she would do anything for you. I have no doubt she loves this baby as much as I do. He’s yours. But that can’t keep her from having her own life. Staying here to help raise her best friend’s child isn’t having a life. She needs more than that. A woman needs to be fulfilled—”

“Mom,” Kye cut her off. “She’s good.”

“But—” she began again.

“Mom, Genesis has all her needs taken care of. She wants to be with me. With us. I wouldn’t let her do this if I didn’t know without a doubt that this was what she wanted. When have I ever not put her happiness first?”

Chloe reached out and grabbed her son’s forearm and squeezed. “Listen to me. You are scared. This is all new, and Genesis is giving you comfort. She has always made you sane and kept you centered. It’s one of the most special things about your friendship. But she is a woman, and she has needs that go beyond friendship.”

“I know about a woman’s needs, Mom,” Kye bit out as his eyes swung over to lock with mine.

I was staying silent. I didn’t know how to explain this without telling Chloe the truth. Every explanation I’d gone over in my head seemed unrealistic. She’d see right through it.

“Are you …” Chloe asked slowly, and I felt my face warm as she looked from me to Kye. Her eyes narrowed as Kye shifted uncomfortably. “You are,” she said as a smile stretched across her face.

Jagger finished the bottle, and she lifted him to her shoulder to burp him as she continued to smile at Kye.

He groaned and rubbed his hand over his face. “Mom, let this go, please.”

“Let what go, son?” The amusement in her voice was obvious.

He dropped his hand to his lap and gave her a stern look. “You know what.”

She shrugged. “Not sure I do.”

Kye looked over at me, and I dropped my gaze to my lap. I wasn’t saying a word.

“There have been so many times I’ve wondered if it would happen. And to think, all it took was a sweet little gift from God to get you two locked away with each other to shake some sense into you.”

I bit my bottom lip and chanced a glance at Chloe, who was now holding Jagger in front of her, smiling at him.

“It’s not what you think,” I finally said when it was clear Kye was uncomfortable with where his mom’s thoughts were going.

He frowned at me as I met his gaze. What had I said wrong? I was trying to help.

“How’s that, Baby Doll?” he asked me.

“You know what she’s thinking, Kye,” I replied, trying to figure out what he had misunderstood here.

He nodded. “Yeah, I am pretty clear on what she is thinking, just like I’m positive she’s not got the wrong idea.”

I shifted my gaze to Chloe, who was watching us with interest.

“What do you think is going on?” I asked her, just to prove my point.

She smirked. “I think my son finally got his head out of his ass and realized the only woman he would ever love was right in front of him. He got a taste, and now, he’s hooked and not letting her go.”

Kye sighed. “Why does everyone keep saying my head was in my ass?”

“Because it was,” Chloe replied.

I waited for him to tell her he wasn’t in love with me and that, eventually, this would go right back to friendship. But Kye just sat there, holding my gaze, saying nothing.

“Are you going to correct her?” I asked him, starting to get annoyed. Why was he doing this?

He shook his head with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“Kye!”

“Yes, Baby Doll?”

I sighed and threw up my hands in frustration. “She needs to know what our situation is.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Sounded like she knows to me.”

I sat there and just stared at him. In my head, I tried to go back through all Chloe had said.

What was I missing? Had I misunderstood something?

“Why don’t you go outside and take a walk with your gran?” Chloe said to Jagger as she stood up. “Sounds like your daddy and his Baby Doll need to talk.”

Kye continued to hold my gaze. He didn’t acknowledge his mother leaving with Jagger and said nothing until the door closed behind them. I started to open my mouth and demand he stop confusing me when he moved to the sofa to sit beside me.

He reached for my face, cupping it in one hand. “Stop scowling at me,” he said softly.

I sighed. “You are being difficult.”

He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip, then my beauty mark. “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

“Me?” I asked as I felt my stomach flutter and skin tingle. It didn’t take much for Kye to turn on all my senses, then toss them into overload.

He leaned down and brushed his lips over mine. “Mmhmm,” was the response I got.

“What are you doing?” I asked breathlessly.

“Do you remember all that shit I said about a guy needing to worship a woman if he got himself shackled to her and that there was no pussy that good?”

I nodded, holding my breath.

“It seems,” he whispered as he trailed kisses across my jawline and toward my ear, “that a pussy can in fact be that fucking good, and every time I’m buried inside yours, I want to worship at your altar.”

I sucked in air as his teeth bit down on my earlobe and tugged.

“The idea of fucking anyone else no longer appeals to me. All I want to do is sink so deep in your tight cunt and stay there.”

“Kye,” I finally managed as his tongue flicked over the pulse in my neck.

“Yeah, Baby Doll?”

“Are you sure? We just started this. You have time to get bored with me—”

He shoved one of his hands between my legs and wrapped the other around my neck, stopping the rest of the words that I’d been about to say.

“Don’t,” he said fiercely. “There were a lot of women I lied to and said shit I didn’t mean to get what I wanted. But they weren’t you. I didn’t love them. They didn’t own my soul. That’s been yours for fucking years. I should have known once I got my cock inside you that you’d own that too.”

His mouth came down hard on mine then, and I let out a moan, then buried my hands into his hair. The way he kissed me with pure, raw desire was always my undoing. I wanted to believe I got to keep this. That it was never going to go away, but how did I erase a belief that had been carved into my brain for so long?

“Oh, well, it seems we have things all cleared up between you two.” Chloe’s voice startled me, and I tried to pull back, but Kye held me against him as he lifted his gaze to look up at his mother.

“Yeah, I think we did,” he replied with a pleased grin on his face.

“And here I thought, I was just coming for a little visit. Not knowing all my prayers were gonna be answered,” Chloe replied.

Kye chuckled as he dropped his gaze back to mine. The glow in his eyes was different. He’d never looked at me like that before.

Was it stupid to hope that maybe he was right? That I would be enough for him?