Page 182 of Make Us Yours
He finally turns to look at me, a small smile lingering on his lips. “Thanks, man.”
I look back to the photograph, smiling at the tiny baby sleeping soundly in his grasp. “I can’t wait for us to live that.”
“Live what?”
“A baby. Holding that tiny little fragile life in your arms, knowing it will forever own your heart. Watch it grow and become its own person. Figuring out if it takes more after Mom or Dad.” I chuckle. “If we have a girl, I hope she looks exactly like her mother.” My heart constricts. “She’ll be the most beautiful girl on this earth.”
“Just like her mom,” he finishes for me.
“Yeah…” My cheeks hurt from how wide my grin is until it drops. “Fuck!” I turn to face him with wide eyes. “You do realize how hard it will be to keep men away from our little girl, right? I mean, look at Vixen. They are drawn to her everywhere she goes…”
He nods with a frown. “We’ll probably have to hire one of Julian’s men to follow her everywhere. No way in hell am I letting any fucking prepubescent jock get near her.”
“That’s a good plan. We should probably mention it to him in advance. You know, so we can go through his guys and choose the best-fitted one.”
“You mean the one who looks like he could crush you with his bare hands,” Noah says.
I snap my fingers at him. “Exactly.”
A giggle sounds behind us, making us turn toward it. Ronnie stands a few feet away, arms crossed over her chest with a raised brow and an amused look on her face. “You do realize that you twoarejocks and that this child you are talking about doesn’t exist, right? And before talking about hiring someone to follow her around, maybe mention it to the mother first.”
I walk up to her, taking hold of her hips. “We just want to protect our little girl as best as we can.”
“A little girl that isn’t even in the making yet. And what if it’s a boy?” She smirks.
“Simple, we’ll teach him how to play hockey and how to get girls.” Noah comes up and kisses her cheek.
“And what if he likes boys?” She narrows her eyes, still holding that side smile.
Noah and I exchange a wide-eyed look, unsure how to respond to that until I finally shrug. “Then you’ll teach him how to get boys. I mean, look at the two you picked up; you know what you’re doing.” I wink and kiss her other cheek. We have no issues when it comes to that and will support our child no matter who they choose to love.
“Oh, you two are unbelievable.” She laughs and pushes me away, picking up her purse from the side table. She kisses Blubber on the head who’s sleeping on the couch, then walks toward the elevator. “You guys coming? And don’t forget the gifts.”
We arrive at Clay and Morgan’s house a little over half an hour later, and apparently, we aren’t the only ones late. Aubrey’s just stepping out of her car as we park behind her.
“Oh, thank God! I thought I was the only one not on time.” Sherushes out as we walk over with our gifts in hand, hugging her quickly.
“Nope, this one was taking forever.” I nod toward Ronnie as I lower to kiss Aubrey’s cheek. “How are you doing, baby Ford?” I look around with a frown. “Where’s your man?”
She turns pink. “He’s not my man. You all need to stop calling him that,” she whisper shouts.
I suck in my lips, holding back my laugh as Noah chuckles and Ronnie hides her face against my shoulder. “Umm… I was talking about your guard.”
Her eyes go wide, the pink along her cheeks turning a bright red as clear embarrassment shines in her eyes. “Oh… um, he’s down the street somewhere. He said I didn’t have to worry and that they were around here watching from a distance.”
“That’s good.” Noah nods.
“Yeah, although he thought someone was following us yesterday. He reported it back to Julian with as many details as he could give. He thinks it was Victor. I just don’t understand why he would be following me.” Aubrey frowns as Noah’s eyes find mine quickly.
He told me about what happened a few weeks ago during his morning jog, but we both agreed it was best to keep that information from Vixen, not wanting to cause her more worry.
Ronnie goes stiff beside me. “What?! He went after you? Why didn’t Julian tell us?”
“Because we are still going over all the details and street surveillance.” Julian pops up out of nowhere behind us with his two brothers. “We did not want to worry you without having actual proof that it was him.”
“And did you? Find any proof?” Noah asks, turning to face him as we all do.
“From what unclear footage we can get, yes, it does appear to be him. But I would like to think he was not intending any harm to Miss Ford. With the length of space he was leaving between the two vehicles, I believe he was only sending a message,” Julian informs us, like he’s talking about the weather and not a man clearly threatening us in some way.
