“How can I help you?” Katie asks coolly, after she’s gotten over the shock of seeing me on her doorstep.

I’ve been coming to her house every day after work, but she wasn’t home yesterday or the day before.

It’s probably her day off today. It looks like she’s been home all day. I like seeing her like this, with an old T-shirt, comfortable sweatpants, and no make-up.

I can see the subtle freckles dotting her skin. I want to know her so well I can map those freckles like they were star constellations.

I don’t know why she’d be surprised to see me. I did tell her I wasn’t just going to leave, after spending so much time looking for her and finding out that she’s given birth to my first-born son, too.

“How about by opening the door wider and letting me inside?” I ask.

Katie crosses her arms over her chest. She doesn’t seem to realize that it only pushes her tits forward and up. Somehow, I manage to stop myself from glancing at them.

I still have very vivid memories of how those tits look underneath her clothes, although a little refresher course would be nice.

“Why would I do that?” Katie asks.

“Because William’s my son, and a father has the right to see his child,” I say.

“You don’t know that he’s your son.” Katie scowls. Even with her face scrunched up like that, she looks beautiful.

“What if I say I do?”

She glares at me, her eyebrows knitted together in chagrin. “It’s impossible for you to know that for sure. Besides a close friend of mine, I’m the only person who knows the identity of William’s father.”

I smirk. “Didn’t you tell me last night you didn’t know who the father was?”

Caught in a lie, Katie freezes for a couple of seconds before she shrugs.

“Do you really know who William’s dad is? I doubt you even knew my name before now.”

“Would you stop pretending you know something you obviously don’t?” she asks, her voice growing louder. She stops and twists to look behind her. “In any case, you’re not coming in, Alex. I—”

“Adam,” I say, cutting her off mid-sentence.

“What?” she asks, raising an eyebrow in a way that tells me she’s just been mocking me. She knows my name.

“The name’s Adam.”

“Right. Adam.” A mischievous little smirk plays on Katie’s lips. “As I was saying, Alex, you’re not coming in. William’s taking a nap.”

“That’s okay. I’ll be real quiet.”

“You know, you’re being really creepy. You wasted a lot of time and money tracking me down. Now, you claim you’re the father of my child—a baseless assertion, by the way—and you’re trying to force your way into my life,” she says. “I want you to leave.”

I’ve already prepared myself for the possibility of her reacting badly to my visit. I wish I didn’t have to do this, but she’s leaving me no choice now.

I’ve already missed more than two years of my son’s life. I’m not going to waste another day, now that I have undeniable proof that he’s mine.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I repeat. “I know William’s my son, and you’re not going to keep me away from my son.”

“You’re a pretty stubborn guy, aren’t you?”

“And you’re a pretty stubborn girl,” I say. “You know he’s mine. Your mouth says something, but your eyes say something else.”

“Yeah? What are my eyes saying, then?” Katie asks, looking straight up into my eyes with her big, doe eyes.

“Mostly, that you’re angry,” I reply honestly. “Maybe you’ve made up your mind not to tell me about the identity of William’s father now. But when I first asked you about it at dinner last week, you hesitated, and your eyes told me I’d guessed correctly.”

Katie looks away, which is just further information that I’ve been reading her accurately.

I take a moment to take a quick glimpse at her tits—fuck, they’re beautiful. I want to bury my face in that smooth, creamy skin and just stay there for hours.

“Look, it doesn’t matter what your guess is. I don’t care.” Katie lets out a deep exhale. “Legally, William’s my son. And legally, this is my house. I don’t want you to enter my house, and I don’t want you to see my son, which means you can’t do either one of those things.”

Katie’s tone suggests she ending this conversation, but what she doesn’t know is that’s not up to her.

I feel bad for doing this because she looks exhausted, and she’s probably been dying to rest, now that William’s sleeping.

Believe me, I know why she doesn’t want me here. I can still sense the attraction between us, and I can tell she still wants me, but things are different now.

She’s no longer the carefree girl who worked at a sex club just for the experience. She’s a mom now, and her priority is her son’s safety.

I can respect that. In fact, seeing as William’s also my son, I love that she’s so fiercely protective of him. There’s a lot of strength and courage packed into this beautiful little package called Katie.

Regretfully, I reach into the pocket of my coat and hand her an envelope. That’s just one of the multiple copies I ordered, of course. I’m not reckless enough to have just one copy when Katie might decide to tear it into pieces.

She may be a kitten in the bedroom, but she’s a lioness when it comes to her son—I mean, our son.

Katie frowns, but she takes the envelope in her hands and pulls open the letter inside.

“You’re a nurse, right?” I ask. “You should understand what the test results mean.”

Katie’s eyes widen, even as her eyebrows furrow. I watch as her gaze scans the letter from left to right, then goes back to left again whenever she starts reading a new line.

The afternoon sun casts warm, golden light over the green grass, the grey sidewalk, and Katie’s honey-brown hair. Wavy strands tumble forward to cover her gorgeous face.

When she looks up at me, there’s flame in her eyes—not completely unexpected, but it still bothers me to see it.

“You did a paternity test?” Katie’s voice isn’t loud or shrill or high-pitched, but her every word is consumed with red, hot anger. There’s a slight quiver in her voice, and the letter in her hand is rustling as it shakes in her hands.

“I wish I didn’t have to,” I say.

“You didn’t!” Katie exclaims. “You could’ve just walked away and left me alone. You still can.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You need to leave, or I’m going to call the authorities on you.”

“You can’t stop me from seeing my son,” I insist. I’m not backing down from this.

“Yes, I can. You can’t do a paternity test on my son without my permission. I’m pretty sure you can’t do anything with this piece of paper.” Katie lifts the letter up, then crumples it up and throws it onto the ground. “It’s worthless.”

“Maybe it is. And maybe there’s nothing I can do with it,” I admit calmly. “But now that I know William’s mine, there are other things I can do to make sure I get to see him.”

“Like what?” Katie’s frown deepens. “Are you threatening me?”

“Not at all. I’m just giving you some important facts. Firstly, I’m not going to stop until I get all the rights afforded to me as William’s father by the legal system. And secondly, you don’t want to go against me in the courtroom. Unfortunately for you, I’m probably going to win, just by virtue of being able to afford better lawyers.”

“You’re threatening me,” Katie says quietly with accusing eyes.

“It just looks that way from your perspective. All I’m doing is telling you the consequences of standing between me and my son. I’d really prefer it if we didn’t go through the legal system. All I want is to see my son.”

“Like I said, I’m not letting you in. William’s asleep.”

“He’s asleep now. I can come back another day.”

“Suit yourself.” Katie grabs the door handle and steps back like she’s about to shut the door.

“So, you’re going to let me in when I come back to see William?” I ask.

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“If that’s not what you’re saying, then I’m calling my lawyer right now.” I pull out my phone and let my thumb hover over the screen. “Do you really want to fight a legal battle you can’t win?”

Katie glowers at me, but she knows she’s lost this battle.

“Or, I can just come back another day to see William and you can just let me in.”

“Sure.” Katie keeps her answer brief. Her beautiful brown eyes are still burning with anger.

“Okay, let’s do this date, then.” I give Katie a grin, hopefully to defuse the situation.

“It’s not going to be a date,” Katie says tersely.

“You can call it whatever you want,” I say.

We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, which means it’s not a good idea to be bickering all the time.

Besides, I don’t just want William; I also want Katie. I need to win Katie over, and I’m not going to accomplish that by picking fights with her. I’m not a little schoolboy who pulls the ponytail of the girl he likes.

That said, pulling a ponytail still sounds hot. The sense of power and control that comes with it makes me feel like a total beast. I wonder if Katie wears her hair like that sometimes.

I’ll find out. There is time. No matter how long it takes to convince Katie to let me be a part of her life, I’ll wait, and I’ll persevere.

I’ll make her mine, and we’ll be a family.

“So, when are you and William going to be available for this ‘not-date’?” I ask.