Chapter Twenty-five
The house is tidy… ish.
There’s toys and stuffed animals all across the living room floor and picture books stuffed in every hole and on every surface. And I’m pretty sure that’s dried milk on my shirt but fuck, I don’t have time to do anything about it because there’s a knock on my door. My hair smells like apple sauce and has been tugged so many times today a bird could nest in it.
A mess didn’t even come close to how I looked right now.
Pumpkin meanders into the kitchen as I head to the door, letting out an almighty yowl to remind me that his dinner is soon.
He jumps up onto the kitchen counter which makes me cringe since no matter how much I try to stop him, he still does it, every single time.
Letting out a calming breath, I open the door to find Kolt on the other side. He devastates me whenever I look at him. His hair is long now, he’s pulled it back into one of those sexy man buns with a couple tendrils that fall around his face. A silver ring glints in his ear and rings sit on his fingers. Age gently lines his eyes but if I didn’t know how old he was, I’d never think he was a day over thirty.
And in his hands is a beautiful bouquet of winter blooms, held together by a pretty purple ribbon.
I try not to cringe at the mess I am in comparison, and steel myself against the blush, pushing down the fluttering butterflies and knots that work through my stomach.
“These are for you,” He says, holding the bouquet out to me.
With a swallow, I accept the flowers and open the door wider for him. “Thank you.”
He steps over the threshold, and I become even more aware of how untidy I am. He smells like citrus, leather and spice, and I could use a shower, my house, while looks tidy, really isn’t and my cat is still sitting on the damn counter, his judgy brown eyes assessing Kolt and me.
“Ethan is in the living room,” I tell him, “Do you want coffee?”
“Coffee would be good,” He smiles but it looks strained and uneasy. Fuck, had we ever had such a stilted experience together? No. Even when we didn’t know each other, we instantly got on and now it feels like we don’t know each other at all.
This man has been in my vagina, I just needed to pull myself together.
Kolt follows me through to the kitchen though I had expected him to go straight for Ethan. I don’t say anything while I fix acouple mugs with the fresh coffee, adding cream and sugar to mine and looking to Kolt expectedly.
“Just black.”
And there it is. I don’t even know how this man drinks his coffee, but I have his baby. How fucked is that?
“Do you want to meet him?”
“Is that okay?”
“Of course,” I gesture for him to follow me through.
Ethan is sitting in his little chair, cartoons playing on the screen ahead of him. He babbles and grins to himself, not even noticing us enter. Pumpkin, finally getting off the counter, joins us, strolling to my son where he then sits to judge us some more.
The cat definitely loves my son more than me.
Kolten stares at Ethan for a long time, frozen where he stands as his eyes travel all over him, taking in his dark hair and dimples, the rosy hue to his cheeks and his amber eyes, to the slope of his nose and podgy little fingers.
He doesn’t hide his expression from me, I can see every emotion flitter through him. Sadness. Regret. Longing. His eyes are glazed, his lips slightly parted as he stands frozen, staring at the little boy we made together.
“He’s ours,” Kolt finally whispers.
I nod, “Yes, he is.”
He doesn’t move still, just stares, his eyes a riot of emotion that makes my stomach twist.
“Do you want to go in and…?”
“What if he doesn’t like me?”
