“My legs are hay-king!” DJ whined.
“Your legs are aching? Well maybe we should go then, huh?” Rosie teased, ruffling his hair playfully.
DJ gasped and shook his head. “I want to see the rhinos but they’re so far aways! My legs are shorter than yours so I’m walking further than yous two!” he moaned, pouting at us both. We’d been here for hours now, walking a long way between animals, the kid was doing really well for a four-year-old.
I smiled and held out my hands to him. “Here, I’ll carry you to the rhinos, how about that?” I offered.
He whooped and raised his arms at me in acceptance, a smug grin on his face because he didn’t have to walk. I laughed and turned him around, then hooked my hands under his armpits and hoisted him onto my shoulders. It felt weird, especially when he put his arms around my forehead and rested his chin on the top of my head, but it was a nice weird.
“So, where are these rhinos then? You see them from up there, Kid?” I joked, before turning to look at Rosie. But she’d stopped walking, and was just looking at me with a bewildered expression on her face. “You okay?” I asked, a little worried as to why she was looking at me like I’d grown another head.
She shook her head slightly as if to clear, and then walked to my side. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Rhinos are this way according to the sign.”
I nodded, and we started walking in the direction she pointed. I couldn’t help but smile when I felt her hand touch the small of my back before pushing down into the back pocket of my jeans, squeezing my ass lightly.
“Rose, that’s a little presumptuous,” I joked, trying to sound stern.
“What’s a sumpt… sumptsons…what did you say again?” DJ asked, his hand moving down slightly, half covering my eyes.
“Kid, I can’t see where I’m going, we’re gonna walk into a tree or something,” I stated, shaking my head, trying to move his hands from my eyes.
He laughed too. “I’ll be the leader and tells you where to go,” he suggested, obviously happy about this little plan. His hand clamped over my eyes better, thankfully he only had little hands so I could still see, mostly.
“Okay, but if I get hurt then your momma has to play doctors and nurses with us later,” I suggested, grinning wickedly.
Rosie giggled. “I might have been planning on playing that anyway, if you keep playing your cards right,” she stated.
Oh hell yeah, I love the sound of that!
“I’m playing my cards right, trust me,” I answered, grinning in her direction.
“What cards?” DJ asked, making both me and Rosie burst out laughing.
A little while later and we had finally managed to find the rhinos. I’d walked into a tree, a fence, and almost walked into the side of the monkey cage, all because of DJ’s ‘leadership’. The kid was freaking hilarious, and he was laughing so hard when he told me to walk into the glass of one enclosure that he almost fell off my shoulders.
By the time I lifted him off my shoulders so he could look at the rhinos, Rosie was just looking at me again with the same look that she’d been shooting me all day. I was either getting something very wrong and upsetting her, or I was getting something very right and she was finding it hard to deal with. I hoped it was the latter one, I really did.
She flicked her eyes to DJ who was busy shouting, “Here little rhino, rhino, rhino. Come see your friend DJ!” at the top of his lungs, then she stepped closer to me, pressing against me. Her eyes bore into mine, her mouth twitching with a smile as one of her hands gripped my T-shirt, I could feel her breath blowing across my chin and lips and it was making my mouth water.
“Nate Peters, you are so in for a good night tonight,” she purred, her voice so sexy that my dick was immediately waking up and taking notice.
In for a good night? I swallowed my lust before I spoke, “Oh yeah? Are we really gonna play doctors and nurses?”
“I thought maybe we could play cops and robbers,” she replied, her eyes not leaving mine.
I couldn’t help the little moan that escaped my lips at those words. “Will there be punishments involved?” I whispered, watching her eyes dance with excitement.
She nodded. “If you deem that necessary. Maybe there’ll be rewards for good behaviour.” She smirked at me before turning back to DJ, leaving me standing there looking like I’d smuggled my gun into the zoo with me, down the front of my jeans. Damn tease! “DJ, don’t put your fingers on the fence. See that one there? That’s got electricity running through it, you don’t want a shock do you?” she asked, crouching down behind him and wrapping her arm around him, pointing out the electric wire that was just inside the perimeter.
“Yeah, it’ll make your hair stand up, Kid,” I joked, moving to stand behind Rosie as other people came along behind us to look too. She turned her head and laughed, obviously realising her face was level with my crotch. I smirked at her. “While you’re down there…” I trailed off, raising one eyebrow suggestively.
She shook her head, chuckling as she stood up. “Later.” Was the only thing she said, and I felt like my world stopped spinning for a second. Was that a promise or another tease? I could only hope I guess, but I was already another step closer to falling in love with her.
After another hour of looking around the zoo and eating ice-cream, we headed to the gift shop. I gave DJ a ten dollar bill and watched as his eyes lit up, taking in everything in the store, searching for something to waste his money on. Rosie smiled at me and sighed, stepping closer to me as she wrapped her arm around my waist tightly, pressing herself to me.
“Thank you so much for today. I never get to do things like this with him. I’ve loved every single second of being here with the two of you,” she said, her eyes locked on mine.
I brushed her hair off her face, letting my fingers linger on her cheek for a second as I did it. I hated the fact that she obviously struggled for money and that Josh didn’t really help her that much. She obviously worked hard to just get by; things like coming to the zoo were a luxury that she probably didn’t indulge in very often.
“I had a great day too,” I admitted, bending my head closer to hers, but I didn’t kiss her, I didn’t want to push my luck too far in front of DJ. After all, he still thought we were just friends. I’d had an awesome day with the pair of them, I didn’t want it to end on a sour note by him being upset about his mom’s new boyfriend.
She either didn’t think about DJ, or she just decided it was time for him to know, because she pressed her lips to mine, kissing me passionately as her arm tightened on my waist, clamping herself to me.
My whole body was rejoicing. I cupped her face in my hands as I kissed her back with as much passion as she was kissing me with. When she pulled away, I couldn’t stop the moronic grin that stretched across my face because this was another huge step forward that she’d taken, showing her son that we were more than just friends. I loved that.
“Eww! Did you just kiss my momma?”
Ah, fuck.
My lungs constricted with panic as I looked down, seeing DJ standing there with a slightly confused, but thoroughly disgusted expression on his face as his eyes flicked between the two of us. I had no clue what to say. My mouth was dry and my heart was beating ten to the dozen.
Rosie stepped away from me and took a deep breath. I had the strong urge to pull her back to me and use her as some kind of human shield so I couldn’t see her son’s reaction to me. I was used to being in rough situations, but the way the kid was looking at me was scaring the life out of me. I had no idea how he felt about it. It was staggering how unprepared for this I was.
I winced and looked at Rosie. She looked so incredibly calm and collected as she squatted down to DJ’s level and smiled reassuringly at him. Something squeezed my hand, and I looked down at it, seeing that Rosie was holding my hand firmly in hers, our fingers interlaced. She was either using me for support, or she sensed my meltdown and was trying to reassure me. I wasn’t sure which it was, probably a little of both.
“Yeah, we were kissing. Nate and I, well, we’re like boyfriend and girlfriend,” she explained softly.
He frowned. “Like you and Daddy?”
Rosie stiffened and she shook her head. “No, Baby. Daddy and I are just friends.”
DJ nodded, looking a little thoughtful, and we both just watched him, waiting for his reaction.
Oh God, please don’t hate me and make her break it off with me!
After probably the longest minute of my life, he looked at me and scrunched up his face. “You gots girl cooties now, Nate!” he stated sadly. Rosie burst out laughing and I just stared at him in shock as he held out a stuffed penguin toy to me. “Do I have enough monies for this?” he asked, giving me the puppy dog face.
I didn’t bother looking at the price as I nodded, knowing I would pay whatever it cost. “Yeah, Kid, you have enough money for that.” My voice was slightly husky and thick, probably with the shock of him just accepting me that quickly.
Rosie beamed and stood back up, squeezing my hand again. “On the way home we’ll get you some medicine to take care of those cooties, Nate, don’t worry,” she teased.
I grinned and looped my arms around her waist, pulling her to my side so she couldn’t get away. “Seeing as I’m already infected, maybe I should get some more cooties before I get the cure,” I joked, looking down at her lips again.
She smiled and went up on tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine. I laughed against her lips as DJ spoke. “Kissing girls is gross!”
I pulled away from Rosie, picking DJ up, slinging him over my shoulder in a fireman’s lift. “Yeah, you don’t want to kiss girls, Kid, it gets you in all kinds of trouble. You’d best stay away from them for a little while,” I teased, grabbing Rosie’s hand and pulling her to the counter to pay.
I sat DJ down on the counter while the lady rang his penguin through the register. He squealed and picked up a candy necklace out of the pot next to him, looking at it with wide eyes. I smiled and nodded to the lady.
“Can we get two of those necklaces, too?” I asked politely. Rosie looked at me curiously, obviously wondering why I’d bought two. I took one from the pot and stretched it out, pulling it down over her head while she laughed. “Can’t have you feeling left out because I bought your son jewellery and not you, can I?”
She slipped her hand into my back pocket. “Maybe it’s a little soon for you to be buying me jewellery.”
I shook my head and bent and kissed the side of her neck, stopping to bite one of the candy loops off the string. “I didn’t really buy it for you, I bought it for me.” I grinned, showing her the candy on my tongue.
Chapter Twenty-Two
When we left the zoo, we went straight to Ashton and Anna’s place. DJ was practically bouncing in his seat because he was staying there; he was raving on and on about Ashton letting him play on his ‘puter’. Rosie was telling him over and over to calm down, and that he had to be quiet when he was there because of Cameron. I just smiled the whole time, listening to their exchange while I drove. It was comforting somehow, nice, natural.
When we got there, I carried his little overnight bag. “Can I press the floor?” DJ asked, as we got into the elevator.
I nodded and lifted him up so he could reach the button, at the same time that Rosie said, “Just Anna’s floor!”
Too late. The kid ran his hand across every single button, lighting them all up.
“Oh, DJ!” Rosie grumbled.
I couldn’t help but burst out laughing and slap the kid a high five. “You know you’re supposed to do that when you get out though, right? Not when you’re in it, you do it just as you’re getting out of the door so the next people in have to stand in here and stop at every floor, not you,” I told him, winking.
DJ laughed to himself as we stopped at the first floor, the doors opening and no one waiting there. Rosie just leant against the wall with a small, frustrated frown on her face, as if he did this all the time and it drove her crazy. On the sixth floor, a lady got in with us. I could see her getting more and more annoyed every time we stopped on a floor when no one was there.
The lady scowled in DJ’s direction, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to my side and smiled sadly at her. “They really need to fix this elevator, huh? People pay all this money to buy a place here and you have to stop on every floor, it’s a disgrace,” I stated, shaking my head in mock disapproval.
Rosie chuckled behind me, pressing her face into my back as the lady’s scowl deepened.
“Mmm, quite,” she murmured in a haughty voice. When the doors next opened, she got out even though she’d pressed to go up another five floors.
I smiled and gave her a little wave as she looked back over her shoulder at us. “Nice to meet you, maybe we’ll catch you on the way down.” I burst into laughter as Rosie playfully pinched my side, still giggling like a school girl. DJ just grinned at me, hugging his penguin toy that I’d bought for him.
When we got to Anna’s floor, Rosie climbed out, DJ went to follow but I grabbed his hand and shook my head, pointing to the buttons again. “Now’s when you do it, Kid,” I instructed. Rosie groaned and shook her head, but smiled at the same time, so I knew I wasn’t in trouble. DJ immediately ran his hands over all of the buttons that he could reach, while I did the top ones that he couldn’t get to. Just as the elevator doors were about to close, I grabbed his hand and pulled him out.
DJ ran off laughing; Rosie sighed and raised one eyebrow at me.