Alpha Billionaire Series

NATHAN

“You love me?” Gabriella blinked her big eyes at me. Tears still rimmed her lids and sparkled on her lashes. She didn't believe me. I didn't blame her. I hadn't exactly been trustworthy lately.

“May I kiss you?” I asked.

I wanted to take her and crush her in my arms, but she looked so delicate. I didn't want to damage her, or any amount of trust that might be growing again between us.

She practically fell out of her chair and against my chest. The towel around her hands and the ice cubes went flying as she flung her arms around me. I tasted her tears, but there was more. She kissed me with a deep passion moments earlier I coul have only hoped she could feel for me.

“I love you, Nathan. I've been stubborn, and—"

“Sh,” I quieted her. “I refuse to let you take on any of my stupidity. You loving me is everything I could have asked for”

I stopped thinking and held her in my lap, touching her arms, her face. I held the back of her neck and let our tongues dance and tease. My body demanded more touching, more skin, more Gabriella.

I reached for the hem of her shirt, and she pushed my hands away.

“Not so fast, Casanova,” she laughed. “We have got a lot to work out. I don’t want you to think just because I'm in love with You too that you have instant access to my body.”

I nodded. “Yes, ma'am.”

She looked at me sideways and then laughed. “Ma'am? That's got to stop.’

“Forgive me?" I kissed her.

“For calling me ma'am? I may never recover.”

“For everything else?” I asked.

She got serious again. Her smile faded and she leaned her head against my chest. “I've been so angry for so long, Nathan." Istroked her hair. “I know you have. And I haven't made things easy on you. But I am here now, and I will do whatever you need me to do.”

“Can you get the real estate agents to stop pestering me?”

“I'll call them myself in the morning”

“You won't leave it to your cousin?” she asked.

This was not something I was going to hand off. She needed me to follow through. And I trusted Gavin about as far as I could “Oh shit," I said with a heavy breath and then chuckled.

“What is it?"

“I left Gavin passed out drunk in a biker bar and came straight here after Mitch told me about Robbie. I was supposed to dra Gavin's ass back to my mother so she could coddle him. Fuck it. I'll find him again tomorrow. He can sleep it off in the gutter “I'll call Mitch in the morning. If he knows Gavin is your cousin, he won't let anything happen to him. He'll probably let him sleep on his couch if I know Mitch.”

“How did I not see it?” I stared at her. She wasn't simply beautiful, but that caring for people part of her radiated through her. She truly cared for people. “You are amazing!’

“What?” she laughed.

“You don't give up on anyone, do you? I am so fucking lucky’ She hadn't given up on me. I kissed her again until I didnt remember what day it was.

“Do you want to meet your son?” she asked when we finally broke the kiss.

I nodded. I did.

She stood and I followed her up.

“I would love to meet my son.”

She slid her hand into mine, and it felt like hope. I followed her as she climbed the stairs to the little apartment that had been hers the first time, we were together. She knocked. The door flew open seconds later. I was face to face with the same little boy as before. This time instead of crashing into me he decided to retreat and hide behind Gabriella’s hip.

“Lacey, this is Nathan,” Gabriella introduced us.

“I've seen you around,” Lacey said as she shook my hand.

“I hope to be around a lot more,” I said.

She gave Gabriella a pointed look. “Let me know if you need anything,’ Lacey emphasized the last word.

Gabriella had so many people who did anything for her. She gave of herself so freely, and that love was returned to her in sc many ways. My chest felt tight. I had a lot to live up to, but Gabriella was worth it.

She lifted Robbie into her arms, and I followed her back downstairs.

“Robbie, I want you to meet your father. This is Nathan."

Robbie attempted to bury his head against his mother. I held my hand out to him, just as I had with Lacey. Robbie gave me a fast shake before retreating into the space next to his mother.

“It's nice to finally meet you,” I said. “Is that your art on the refrigerator? Do you like to draw?”

He squirmed out of Gabriella’s hold and ran into the other room. I was concerned that I had scared him. Gabriella shook her head and made a stay here gesture with her hand.

A moment later Robbie returned with a stack of coloring books and a shoebox that turned out to be full of crayons. He climbed up on a chair at the kitchen table and opened a coloring book full of cars. He held up a red and blue-colored image “This is my favorite one,” he said.

“Robbie likes fast cars the best, don't you?” Gabriella said. “Why don’t you sit so Robbie can show you some of his other pictures?”

She didn't need to tell me twice.

“I like fast cars too," I said.

Robbie showed me picture after picture. Gabriella sat with us, and for a while, she even colored in one of the coloring books “Can Daddy stay for dinner and spend the night?” Robbie asked out of the blue.

“Oh, wow, I got so carried away with coloring I forgot to make dinner. Let's see what we have." Gabriella jumped from her chair and began looking in the refrigerator. She made hissing sounds as she looked. “I can make some hot dogs”

I'got up behind her and rubbed her arms as she started to look in the cabinets.

“It's my fault for showing up unannounced. Let me get takeout.”

“I want chicken nuggets” Robbie announced. All vestiges of shyness gone.

“There's a drive-thru not too far from here. I'll grab us some burgers, and chicken nuggets. Be right back." I leaned forward and kissed Gabriella on the cheek. I ruffled Robbie's hair and strode out the door.

My pulse was racing. I had a son. And Gabriella was giving me an opportunity I didn’t know if I deserved or not. I was not going to waste this. I had her back; I was going to keep her.

I made a quick detour on my way to buying dinner. When I returned, I walked in the door with bags of fast food and more. “What is that?” Gabriella asked when she saw the extra shopping bag I was carrying.

I put the food down on the kitchen table that had been cleaned off in my absence.

I reached into the bag and pulled out a selection of coloring books, and a stuffed race car.

Robbie's gasp when he walked back into the kitchen was worth it.

“This is for you! I held out the stuffed car.

He grabbed it and hugged it tightly. “I love it"

He didn’t put the car down the entire time he ate dinner. It wasn't a fancy meal, but it was the first one we had together as a family. I caught Gabriella wiping away tears.

After Robbie asked to be excused— I was impressed with his good manners— and ran off, I pulled Gabriella into my arms.

“I saw that,” I murmured against her hair. “Thank you. Thank you for giving me a family and for giving me a chance to prove to you that I deserve you."

I wanted to stand there in the middle of that kitchen and just hold her.

Robbie came in tangled in a pajama top.

“Are you getting ready for bed already?” I asked.

“Dinner, get ready for bed, and then stories. That's our routine,” Gabriella said.

“Will you read to me?" Robbie asked.

Gabriella smiled at me. “I don't know if Nathan is ready for that," she said with a chuckle.

“You mean Daddy," Robbie corrected her.

“You're right,” she said as she helped him navigate the rest of the way into his pajama shirt. “I don't know if your daddy is quite ready for that, after all this is his first day as a daddy.”

“Hey now,” I interjected. “I think I can handle reading at bedtime.”From NôvelDrama.Org.

I hovered around the kitchen and in the back hallway while Gabriella helped Robbie wash his face and brush his teeth. I did my best to be an out-of-the-way observer until Robbie grabbed my hand and dragged me into his room. His new stuffed car had a prominent position on his pillow.

Isat on the edge of his bed, and he brought me a stack of books. I lifted my gaze to Gabriella. Maybe she knew what she was doing when she laughed at me earlier. It was a big stack of books.

She stepped up to me and took the pile. She handed back three books, and then picked a thick book from the table next to his bed.

“We get two picture books, and always this one,” she tapped the cover of a book with a pigeon on the cover. “And then one chapter from here," she said as she handed me the thicker hardback book.

“Let's do this," I said.

Robbie curled up next to me, and together we read and looked at the pictures of his books. Once we finished the picture books, Gabriella tucked him in under his blankets. As I read the chapter, I kept glancing up at her, and down at the sleepy boy. Her eyes were bright with tears again and she wiped her cheeks.

Robbie was asleep by the time I closed the book. I leaned over and kissed his head. I had a son, and I had read him to sleep Itwas a feeling I didn't know if I could describe it. It was better than any adrenaline high, ever.

I pulled Gabriella into my arms and kissed her long and deep.

“You're doing a great job. Are you ready for this daddy stuff?” she asked.

“ want to play house with you in the worst way."