“You are completely insane!” I bark at him. He is, the only problem is I like what he just did. I can’t remember anyone ever standing up for me. Here is this man doing it without even being asked. I’m not sure how to react and on top of that there’s Walter. I may like what Bull did, privately. Walter might have been so far out of line that there was no way to recover, but he is my boss. My very vindictive boss, and Bull just threatened to kill him. No, correction he threatened to bury him where no one would ever think to look. What do I do with this? What do I do with Bull?

“Mom?”

I turn to see Matty coming down the hall, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The familiar tug at my heart hits me. Just seeing my baby infuses me with pride. We may not have had an easy time of it, but I don’t regret a minute of it.

“I’m sorry sweetie, did we wake you?” I ask him, getting down on my knees, so I can hold him close and ruffle his hair.

“I heard yelling,” he says looking at Bull. “Who are you?”

“He’s…”

“I’m a friend of your Mama’s. You, Matthew?”

I watch as my son straightens his back and looks Bull over like he’s seeking out everything he can find out about him.

“Yeah. Were you yelling at my Mom?”

Bull smiles widely, almost proudly, at Matty. He’s given me cocky grins and flirty looks before, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a genuine smile from him before, until right now. The fact that he gave it to Matty means more than I could say. Maybe that was the exact moment I decided to soften. Up until this point, I was just fighting an unexplainable attraction for a man I should in no way be attracted to. Now? Now, I think there might be more to this attraction than just hormones.

“Horse feathers…,” I mumble.

“What’s that Doc?”

“Mom always says horse feathers when she gets upset.”

Bull laughs. “Or Christ’s toenails?”

“Sometimes,” Matty says, and I feel myself blush. “Did you yell at my mom?”

“No, there was someone else here, but I got rid of him.”

“You like my mom?” Matty asks, and I hold my head down. I want to interject, but I don’t know what to say. What can I say? Sorry Matty, this can’t be the daddy you’ve been asking me for, because he’s a player who is just now recovering from a disease you get when you bump uglies with another person without protection. I don’t think that would work.

“More every minute.”

Damn it, why does he have to be so sweet and be an ass?

“Let’s get you back in bed, baby. We leave for the zoo awful early. You need your rest.”

“You want to go to the zoo with us?” Matty asks, and I wish the ground would swallow me up.

“Mr. Kane, can’t…”

“I’d love to. I love the zoo. I’m a big turtle fan.”

“Me too!”

I shoot Bull a look that could freeze Lake Michigan harder than any winter storm. He just gives me another cocky grin. I’m starting to hate those. I know he looked at Matty’s pajamas. Jerk-face. He ignores my look.

“Let’s get you to bed,” I say again, leading him back to his room.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Matthew.”

“Later…Hey! What’s your name?”

“Bull.”

“Bull like the animal?” Matty asks.

“That’s it.”

“Cool! See you tomorrow Bull.”

“Bye, little dude.”

I say nothing. All I can think of, over and over are words I can’t say around Matty. Sometimes horse feathers just isn’t a strong enough expletive.

Damn.