Chapter Eleven
Kaden
Ithink about everything that I know about Alyse and everything I don’t know. We start randomly asking each other questions on the way back to her place.
When talking about my parents, I’m hit with the realization that they are grandparents. They don’t about K.C… how the hell am I going to unload this bit of news? I think about what Alyse had to overcome and had to do all alone.
“How did you tell your grandparents? I mean, I need to tell my folks. Any guidance?” I ask, feeling the palms of my hands suddenly become sweaty.
“Well, I just called them and told them. They were upset at first, especially with what my mother had done. But I assured them I wasn’t going to be like her. I was all in with this baby. They came to visit right after he was born and left knowing I had things under control. I was more nervous about you,” she says.
“I was supposed to go down and visit them for a few days after they got home from traveling. How do you feel about coming with me? Just for a day or two? I know it’s a lot to ask…” I say, glancing over to try to see her reaction.
She squirms a little in her seat, reaching back to touch the top of K.C.’s head. He’s facing backwards, which I learn they need to be for at least the first year. This baby stuff can be overwhelming.
“I need to check with Kat. She’s my diner manager, remember? Today was the first day I’ve ever taken completely off at the diner since Kaden was born. I still want to make sure she’ll be okay. I can’t wait until all these surprise reveals are over. My stomach can’t take it,” Alyse says with a nervous smile.
“I’ll tell them everything beforehand. As soon as I do, though, I know my mom is going to demand to meet you two immediately,” I say with a chuckle.
“I feel really bad now not giving you some kind of heads up,” she says, rubbing her hands up and down her legs.
I reach out to stop her movement and end up entwining her fingers with mine. It feels good. I give them a squeeze and look at her with a soft smile.
“It’s okay, Alyse,” is my only reply.
We finally make it to the diner and Alyse instructs me to pull around to the back. The sun has started to set in the sky. There’s a beautiful orange glow to everything. I can’t believe I’m here with her right now. Seeing her in person again is playing with my emotions. I want to swoop her off her feet and get re-acquainted with her body. The body that I’ve only felt once but is embedded in my brain. Yet, I want to just watch her with my son and remember all the moments I witness between them.
K.C. slept on and off during the drive back so he was ready to play. When I think of babies, I think about crying. Not with K.C. He’s got to be the happiest baby I’ve ever seen. I can’t help but continue to fall in love with him more.
Once we are in her apartment, I’m struck with not knowing what to do. I’m standing right inside the door still holding my rucksack and just staring at her.
She’s like a whirlwind. She has K.C. in a highchair with a few pieces of cereal in a matter of second. Then she’s pulling stuff out of the refrigerator and seemingly putting together something I’m assuming is for dinner.
And I’m still just standing there staring.
K.C. squeals and I hear him calling “Dada.” It’s breaks me from my temporary spell.
“Hey, buddy,” I say, smiling over to him.
Alyse spins around and notices me still standing inside the door.
“Kaden, oh my goodness. Please make yourself comfortable. I’m sorry. I just kind of went into my normal routine. I’m figuring you may be hungry and I usually give K.C. a little snack before his bath and bed. I have a feeling he’s going to be a little off schedule and probably won’t be falling asleep at his normal time tonight. Do you want to take a shower or anything?” she asks as she drops another handful of that familiar circle cereal in front of K.C.
“Yeah, a shower would be wonderful. I need an iron, too. I’m sure the dress shirt I have in this bag isn’t going to be in very good shape. I may need to press my khakis, too,” I say, setting the bag on the floor.
“Pull them out and I’ll press them for you while you are in the shower. Down the hall, first door on your left. There’s towels in the closet. And, umm…I don’t want this to seem like I had anything planned, but just in case, I got some toiletry stuff for men. It’s in the closet, too. Along with a new toothbrush, just in case, “she says as a little blush crosses over her cheeks.
“You don’t have to iron for me,” is all that I can seem to get out. The blush seems to fascinate me and I find myself mesmerized. Then I think about her actually getting me toiletries and I break out in a wide grin.
“What are you smiling about? Get me your shirt and pants and go,” she says, tilting her head as she holds out her hand and looks up at me.
“You got me stuff. Just in case?” I say as I continue to smile. “I like when you blush.”
It comes out sounding stupid, so I clear my throat and unhook my bag to dig through to find my shirt and pants. I pull out a t-shirt and a pair of sweat shorts to change into.
“I like that you like when I blush,” Alyse says, wiggling her fingers for me to hand over my clothes. “And I like your clean-shaven face, but I liked your beard more.”
“It’ll be partially back in a couple days, sweetheart,” I say, smiling.
I hand over my clothes and peck her cheek with a kiss. I walk over to K.C. and blow raspberries on his neck, which is received with a huge belly laugh that sends a burst of joy through me.
“Daddy loves you, little man,” I say as I head down the hall to the bathroom.
As I stand under the steaming hot water, I feel the tension of the day wash away. I look around at the different items in the shower/tub combo. From her various selections of hair and body products, to the same for K.C. I see a net that is stuck on the wall with suction cups that hold various bath toys. Everything neatly in its place. I wash my entire body and run my razor over my head. I go to shave my face and stop. There’s already a little bit of growth from just the last twenty-four hours. Even though I’ll have to shave it off again, I’ll let it go for Alyse until then.
After I’m finished, I dry off and slip on my t-shirt and shorts. Heading back out into the main living area, I see Alyse sitting on the couch with the TV on and K.C. sitting on her lap playing with what looks like a book made out of soft plastic. Alyse is talking to him and flipping through the pages as they both point to different things.
“Feel better?” Alyse says as I nod in agreement. “Sit down and let K.C. show you what he can do. K.C., do you want to show Daddy your book?”
I sit down on the couch and K.C immediately crawls over and sits on my lap. He wiggles until he seems to find a comfortable spot and pats the book.
“Boo,” he says.
Alyse scoots over and says, “K.C. is learning like no other child I’ve ever known. Not that I know a lot. But I’ve read a ton of books and did research. He’s incredibly smart. However, he rarely says more than one syllable words and he sometimes doesn’t finish the end of the word. Like he just said book now but left off the ‘k’ sound. You’ll get used to it. Though, I don’t think it will last long. It seems like just last week he started forming more words. They grow more every day.”
K.C. grabs my hand and pats the book with it. “Yeah, little man. I see the book. Are you going to read it to me?”
To my amazement, he nods his head and opens it to the first page. It’s a picture book with animals. The first one is a picture of a dog. Alyse says, “What sound does a dog make?”
K.C. immediately lets out a small barking sound and claps his hands. She proceeds to ask him what sound each of the animal’s make in which K.C. correctly makes the sound of each. The chicken had to be my favorite, though. I asked him a few times to make that sound. It came out sounding like buck and was pretty damn cute.
“Okay, buckaroo. Time for a bath. Does Daddy want another lesson?” Alyse asks in which K.C. nods his head yes for me. This makes me laugh, which in turn, makes K.C. laugh and then Alyse. I’ve never laughed this much over such simple things before. We all three are sitting on the couch giggling to the point of tears.
Bath time was so fun. It let me pretend to be a kid again. I almost dropped my shorts and climbed in with him. There was water everywhere. Playing with his little animals that could spray water was the best. I got Alyse a few times, and of course, I aimed for the chest area. This earned me a few teasing slaps, but the way her nipples started to stand at attention, I knew she liked it. I had to adjust myself a few times and try to think of something other than wanting nothing more than to have those beautiful breasts in my mouth again.
I asked if I could read him a story and put him to bed. I even put on his diaper and pajamas, with Alyse’s help. At least there were snaps and not buttons.
With his bottle gripped tightly in his chubby hands, he snuggles into my arms. Alyse hands me a book and leaves the room. I read a story about ten fat turkeys. It’s actually pretty funny. There’s a repetitious saying of gobble gobble wibble wobble where K.C. tries to say it along with me. With the bottle in his mouth and his limitation of being able to really speak words clearly, it comes out so endearing. I can’t even describe the words, you would have to hear it for yourself.
By the end of the first few pages of the book, I feel his body go limp in my arms. The bottle is hanging from his lips that are hanging open. I set the bottle on the little table sitting beside the chair and wipe his mouth with my shirt. I sit there with him in my arms and take in his sleeping form. I see myself in him so clearly, but I also see Alyse. He’s a great combination of the two of us. I lift him up so I can place a kiss on his forehead. He smacks his lips and makes a cute little face. I stand up and walk over to his crib. I have no idea how I’m supposed to get him in there.
As I’m staring at the front of the crib, looking and seeing there has to be a way to lower the front, Alyse walks in. Her eyes look like she may have been crying.
“Are you okay?” I whisper.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just say I was spying a little and that was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.” She wipes her eyes and let out a puff of air.
Grabbing the sides of the crib, she lowers the front. I step forward and place my son gently down inside. He stirs a little but doesn’t wake. I wrap my arms around Alyse’s shoulders and pull her into my side.
I know she said she didn’t have expectations. I’m trying not to have any either, but this feels good. This feels right. I developed feelings for this girl over the last eighteen months.
Since we’ve been sharing emails, the feelings have gotten stronger. As we look down at this incredible human being that we created, the feelings just solidify. I want this. I want us to be a family. Now I just hope I can convince her to feel the same way.
“I can’t say this enough. He’s beautiful, Alyse. Thank you for keeping him and giving me one of the greatest gifts a man could ever get,” I say, kissing the top of her head.
She rubs my arm and kisses my hand. “I couldn’t imagine not having him. Thank you for giving him to me. Oh, I hung your clothes in my bedroom and dragged your bag in there as well. I don’t want to be presumptuous, I just wanted them out of the way. What do you have in that bag anyway? I literally had to drag it.”
“You didn’t have to do that. I would have gotten it. There’s basically everything I own in there. There’s a few things back at the barracks, but yeah, pretty much all I own as far as clothes go,” I say, walking Alyse backwards out of K.C.’s room.
“Are you the one dragging me this time?” Alyse says with a snicker.
“Not what I meant to do. Just can’t seem to stop looking at him,” I say as I continue to walk us backwards.
“I used to sit in here almost every night and just watch him sleep. He makes such cute faces sometimes,” she says.
“Can I just sleep in here tonight then? I feel like I need to catch up, to capture every second that I can. I hate that I’m going to be leaving again and missing moments that I’ll never get back,” I say, suddenly feeling depressed.
“There’s Skype, and now that you know about him, I don’t have to hide. We can Skype every chance we get. It won’t be the same as being here, but it’s close.” She stops and turns into me, pressing her cheek into my chest.
“The thoughts going through my head when you made excuses of why we couldn’t Skype, I can’t even explain. I’m not a very secure person,” I say, taking one last look at K.C. before I round us around the corner.
“I’m sorry about that. I realize now that I probably should have just told you. I feel like I kept you from seeing some important things. I promise I will never let you miss another moment.” She chokes up a little at the end.
“I didn’t mean it to make you feel guilty. Let’s just stop talking about it. It’s in the past, and I have so much more to look forward to in the future,” I say as I hold her tighter.
I lift her chin to look up at me and can see her eyes are glistening with a few tears. I use both of my thumbs to wipe them away. I take her face fully in my hands and lean down to lightly rub my lips against hers. I feel her tongue peek out and run across my upper lip. It sends a jolt of pleasure straight down my spine. Reaching down, I lift her up making her wrap her legs around my waist. Wearing these loose sweat shorts does nothing to contain my hardness.
We devour each other’s mouths as I maneuver us to her bedroom. Tossing her on the bed, I grab the bottom of the leggings she is wearing and pull them off with one quick yank. She pulls off her shirt and takes off her bra. I stand at the foot of her bed and take her in. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
“Jesus, Alyse. You are incredible. How did I get so lucky?” I say as I slip off my shorts.
“Me? Kaden, you are like a God. Do you not ever look in the mirror?” she says as she rolls over and pulls out a condom from her bedside table.
“Thank fuck you are prepared this time. I have them, but they are buried,” I say as I crawl on the bed and pull off her panties.
I can see she’s ready for me, but I want to take my time and devour this woman. I take her foot in my hand and lay a soft kiss on the arch of her foot. I watch as she squirms as she plays with her nipples. I continue to kiss my way up her leg until I reach the apex of her thigh. I latch on and suck hard to leave a mark. I can smell her sweetness. She tries to squeeze her legs together, but I push her knees apart.
I can’t wait anymore. I can’t tease anymore. I want to taste her. I use my tongue to dive in, spreading her. I instantly find her engorged clit and suck it with my lips as I flick it with my tongue. She grabs the back of my head and pulls me into her. I slip two fingers into her and curl them up. I feel her tighten and her wetness runs down my hand.
I can tell she is close, so I stop, receiving a growl. I grab the condom and rip it open. I continue to kiss up her body as I slip it on. Once I reach her neck, I slowly guide myself to her opening.
We both sigh as I slide in until I’m fully seated. I feel her pulse around me, and I know I’m not going to last long. I want to feel her let loose around me. I grab both of her legs and pull them up to my shoulders. I run my arms under her shoulders and lift up on my forearms.
Pulling her down as I thrust up, I pick up speed. I hear her gasp and tighten even more. I can feel the tingle roll down to my balls and I get even harder. She digs her nails into my back and her legs become like a vice around my neck. A tremble rumbles through her body as I feel myself let go. I feel like my head is going to blow off as I empty inside the condom. I wish I could have been free of the condom again. I shake my head of the thought.
“That was amazing. Holy shit, Kaden…” she puffs out.
I bury my face into her neck taking a deep breath. I don’t want to move, but I need to take care of the condom, and I’m afraid I’m crushing her.
After cleaning up, we snuggle under the covers and both fall quickly to sleep.
I didn’t have any nightmares. It was the best sleep I’ve had since the last time I was with her.
I wake up as soon as the sun peaks through the window. I can hear baby sounds coming from K.C. I don’t want to move, but I’m excited to spend some more time with him and try to do some Daddy duties.
I glance over and see Alyse’s tangled mop of hair snuggled under the blankets. I can only see a part of her nose and it makes me laugh.
I throw on my shorts and head quickly to the bathroom. After I’m finished and washed my hands, I walk into K.C.’s room. He’s pulled himself up and is bounding up and down. As soon as he sees me he starts bouncing even more with a huge smile on his face.
“Up! Da! Up!” he coos.
“Good morning, little man,” I call out as I swoop him up from his crib. His diaper feels like it’s expanded twice its size. Oh boy, guess I’ll find out if I can do this on my own.
Laying him down on the changing table, I get him out of his onesie. Simple snaps at the crotch are easy enough. I remember to grab something to cover him as soon as I undo the old diaper. In a matter of seconds, I’ve successfully changed his diaper on my own. Re-snapping the closure, I pick him up and head into the kitchen.
“Okay now what?” I ask myself. I remember Alyse giving him cereal last night, so I start with that. I secure K.C. in his high chair with a little struggle and look around the kitchen. I see a coffee pot, so I decide to start that first.
“Sorry I slept in. Wow, thank you. You are going to spoil me. I’m not used to having extra hands in the morning,” Alyse says, rubbing her eyes.
She’s wearing my t-shirt. And nothing else. It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. I just stand there staring at her, noticing that her hair is now brushed. Moving my eyes from the top of her head down to her cute little polished toes.
Giving me a little shy smile, she asks, “What?” with a tone of innocence.
“You know what. Don’t act all innocent,” I say smiling, reaching down to cup myself.
Clearing her throat and tucking her head, she smiles even wider. Going over to the coffee pot, she watches as it brews. As if trying to change the subject she says, “Thank you, again.”
I decide to take her lead and not push it, although I feel like I’m comfortable enough to banter with her. I’ve always had difficulty finding the right words, but with Alyse, they seem to come easier every day.