Bedded Bliss (Found in Oblivion #1) - Cari Quinn Page 0,120

the time

“Chopter?” Axl asked, still winging his arms up and down as Michael swung him through the air. Doing it didn’t involve much thought, since the kid would’ve been content to fly around that way for days.

“Chopper,” Michael corrected, since it was one of Axl’s favorite words but he never quite got it right. “Yes, you’re just like a chopper. Not quite that high though. Someday we’ll go on an airplane. Would you like that?”

Axl’s big brown eyes got even bigger as Michael brought him in for a landing in his arms. “Plane?” He craned his neck comically to find Chloe. “Mama, plane?”

“Yeah, baby. Someday we’ll go on a plane.” She came closer to scoop her fingers through Axl’s floppy hair. No matter how much gel Chloe used, he had a bit too much to pull off the same look Michael had.

“Don’t even have to wait for someday. My dad has a jet. We could take it out anytime you wanted.” He propped Axl on his hip. “Go up to San Fran sometime maybe, show Axl the bridges and the zoo. They have some incredible B&B’s. And you’re not feeling it,” he said as Chloe glanced away.

“A jet, Michael? Really?”

He shrugged as Axl chewed on the sleeve of his Nine Inch Nails T-shirt. “It’s just a plane. A large one,” he acknowledged at Chloe’s raised brow. “My dad won’t care if we take it, as long as we schedule our plans around his business trips. He’s in Venezuela right now. Has been for a few weeks actually.”

Which was why he’d avoided hearing from his dear old dad thus far. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. His father had left him a couple text messages, usually with mentions of the news and needing to talk to him.

That conversation probably wouldn’t consist of an educational father-son chat about the joys of marriage, so Michael had avoided him thus far. The jig would be up soon though, because his father was due back in the country anytime now—if he hadn’t already arrived.

“Venswayla?” Axl asked, mangling the country name so badly that even Chloe laughed. Those worry wrinkles hadn’t left her forehead yet, but at least her eyes weren’t so heavy anymore.

“Venezuela, pal. We’ll go there someday.”

“Chopter,” Axl said quite seriously, lifting his head from his gummy work on Michael’s sleeve.

“Chopper.” Michael laughed and handed him off to Chloe. “Go on and get dressed with your mama. Daddy’s gotta get to rehearsal.”

He hadn’t meant to say it. He definitely hadn’t intended to by design. That name was reserved for someone who had earned the title, and he hadn’t, not yet. He hoped he was on his way, that one day Axl would want to call him that, but man, he hadn’t wanted to force Chloe’s hand.

“Sorry,” he mumbled at her astonished look. “It was an accident.”

“It’s okay.” Swiftly, she brushed back Axl’s wayward hair. “C’mon, buddy. Let’s go get you ready so we can go to the store. Gotta get groceries for the Ax-man.”

“Chopter?”

She had to laugh. “Go fish. We’re going in the car like usual.” She shot Michael another glance and scurried out of the room.

Actually scurried, like a mouse fleeing a certain trap.

Well, fuck.

He went back to the other side of the table to pick up his oatmeal and resume his viewing at the window. Even though it had been only a few minutes, the mood had been broken. From jubilance to a regular family morning to the feeling that he was going to have what he wanted pulled out from underneath him, just because he wanted it a little too much.

Ry had tried to tell him a couple of times that this family thing, it wasn’t real. You couldn’t meet someone who was practically a stranger and build a life with them. Sure, that worked in movies and books, but in real life? No. He was setting himself up for a fall. Setting up Chloe too, and she had a child to think about, so really, he should know better.

But dammit, he didn’t know better. He didn’t want to either. What he wanted was this. Just this. A wife and a kid who he could love and be loved back. A real foundation for the rest of his life. His career was insane enough. The idea of screwing his way through a bevy of groupies had lost its appeal for him that night at the House of Blues.

Maybe most people didn’t fall in love at first sight—or re-sight, in his case—but too