“We’ll get there,” I said. “I know we will.”
“Slowly, but surely?”
I smiled and looked out the window, the city passing by in a blur of activity.
“Slowly, but surely.”
“Babe?”
I looked up from changing Jax’s nappy, and just for a moment, I had to remind myself that Damien was talking to me. Hearing him refer to me as a pet name was still very surreal, and I couldn’t imagine myself getting used to it.
“Yeah?”
“I won’t be back until this evening, I’ve to work through my lunch hour and two hours after I normally finish to pull up the slack of Ryder not being there.”
“Okay,” I said with a nod. “I’m gonna make a roast for dinner; do you want me to dish you a plate for later?” I paused. “Do you even like roast dinners? It just occurred to me that I have no idea what your food preferences are. I mean, if you’re gonna be ’ere, I might as well feed you, so this is information I need to know.”
“Yes, I like roast dinners,” Damien … groaned. “God, I’m already looking forward to it.”
I chuckled as I focused back on Jax. After I got his nappy changed, I dressed him just in time for Damien to enter the sitting room and give him snuggles and kisses.
“I can drop him up to Aideen on my way out,” he offered. “You can get to work on that project you mentioned last night.”
“Oh, would you?” I relaxed. “Yes, please. Me head’s all over the place. I have to read through the client’s briefin’ again so I can capture ’er vision for the image she wants.”
“You’ll do great.”
I looked at Jax. “Bye-bye, buddy.”
He smiled at me and made the sound of kisses, so I leaned in and kissed all over his face, to which he screamed in delight.
“What about me?” Damien said, a perfect pout in place. “Don’t I get kisses?”
“I don’t know,” I mused. “Have you been a good boy?”
“I made you come twice last night, once on my tongue, and once on my fingers … I think I’m a very good boy.”
I covered Jax’s ears. “The baby is present!”
Damien laughed. “Give me some sugar, gorgeous.”
I leaned up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his in a chaste kiss.
“See you later,” I whispered before sliding my tongue over his lower lip.
“Sin,” Damien growled. “You’re sin!”
I winked, then turned my attention back to Jax.
“Be good for your Mammy and Daddy, okay?”
He nodded as if he knew what I was saying.
“Just his Mom,” Damien said. “Kane is busy today.”
Before I could stop myself from being nosy, I asked, “Doin’ what?”
Damien pointedly flicked his eyes away from me, and instantly, I knew it was because whatever he was about to say was a lie. I knew because I couldn’t lie for shite either, and my friends had told me on multiple occasions that I did the exact same thing when I was being untruthful.
“Running some errands,” he answered. “I’m not all that sure. I wasn’t listening to him when he was talking last night. I was too busy looking at you.”
When Damien looked back at me, I had a forced smile on my face, trying to hide the unease I felt at him lying to me so easily.
“Well.” I cleared my throat, focusing on my nephew. “You be good for Mammy, d’ye hear?”
Jax babbled in his baby language.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
Damien grinned then leaned down and kissed my cheek.
“I’ll see you this evening?”
I nodded.
“Is this all of his things?” Damien asked, hiking the strap of Jax’s baby bag farther up his shoulder while holding Jax against his chest with one arm.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I bought the travel cot since the kids stay with me so much. You have everythin’ he needs in that bag.”
Another kiss and another goodbye, then I was alone with my thoughts, and from previous experience, I knew how dangerous that could be when I doubted something or someone. Damien just lied to me, I knew he did, but it was regarding whatever Kane was doing. I wasn’t sure if I should have been offended or simply brush it off because really, it was none of my business where Kane went, and it wasn’t Damien’s job to tell me, either.
I shook my head, forcing it to the back of my mind and went ahead and got changed into my work clothes. I tidied around the whole apartment, and an hour after Damien left, the buzzer rang, and I knew straight away that it was Morgan. As I walked towards the front door, I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw he was nearly ten minutes early for work, which made me smile.
I didn’t answer the call; I simply buzzed Morgan in once I saw it was him on the monitor. I put Barbara into her crate, just so she wouldn’t freak out when Morgan came in because she didn’t know him and was still a little flighty around me and Damien. Five minutes later, there was a knock on my door.
I opened it with a smile.
“Hi, Morgan.”
Morgan beamed a smile right back at me. “Heya, how’re you?”
“I’m great,” I said. “Come in, come in.”
Morgan whistled after we entered the kitchen.
“Nice place.”
“Thanks,” I chirped. “I love it.”
“Are you ’ere long?”
I shook my head. “I moved in a month ago; me friend lives upstairs and told me about it.”
“Nice,” Morgan said, his eyes roaming around the room. “Where I live is a dive compared to this.”
I chuckled. “I’m lucky, I guess.”
“Yeah,” Morgan agreed. “I guess you are.”
“D’ye want a cuppa?”
“If you’re makin’ tea, I won’t say no. Two sugars, please.”
A man after my own heart.
“I’ve been thinkin’ about what you said about your office.” Morgan spoke as I made the tea. “And I figured between the pair of us, we could get it up and operational today to get it out of the way.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Are you sure? I don’t wanna have you goin’ out of your way.”
“It’s not out of me way,” he replied. “I’m gonna be workin’ ’ere, so I figure I might as well help you get the workspace together.”
“That’s lovely of you,” I said. “Thanks.”
“It’s settled then,” he chirped. “We can get on it when we finish our tea.”
I placed his cup in front of him, and together, we sat at my kitchen table.
“Have you got somethin’ to work on today?” Morgan asked, sipping his tea.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’ve to start a book cover for an author; she has a pretty detailed brief about it. I need to reread it to capture ’er vision as well as combinin’ it with me own to create somethin’ I hope she likes.”
“When is your deadline?”
“In two weeks,” I answered. “It usually takes me a few days to get an outline that I’m happy with, then once it’s scanned to me desktop, things move quicker. I always give meself two weeks, just in case I get a block and lose the vision.”
“Has that ever happened before?”
“Once,” I answered, swallowing. “Family drama sort of knocked me off track for a few days.”
Learning of my da’s affair did more than knock me off track; it hit me like the full force of a fucking train.
“I’ve no doubt whatever you create will be fantastic,” Morgan said. “You’ve never created somethin’ less than incredible.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, so I lifted my cup of tea close to my face, hoping Morgan would think the steam from the scalding liquid flushed them and not his praise.
“Are you ready to check out the office?” I cleared my throat. “I’m eager to get started.”
We left our cups in the kitchen sink, then entered the soon-to-be office. Morgan scanned the room, either taking it all in or figuring out where to start first.
“Where are you goin’ to put the bed?”