“Fuck yeah man. That is what I am talking about.”

I grinned as I touched gloves with Joey, glad that I had impressed him this afternoon. After the rocky start to the week, I was glad to get back into my rhythm, feeling lighter than ever as I had danced around the cage. “See? No worries.”

“No worries,” he answered with a chuckle. “You still got two weeks man. We need to make it the hardest two weeks of your pathetic, fucking life.”

“I’m up for it,” I said, stripping off my gloves. “I just hope you are.”

He flipped me off before climbing out of the cage, causing me to follow behind him. “You know, I think I love you, man.”

“Shut the hell up Benji,” Joey said, with a grin on his face. “Hey, thanks for letting Marcella pick up some babysitting hours. She is working really hard at getting some cash together.”

I laughed as I threw my gloves in my bag. “I never thought I would need her services so soon. Tell her there will definitely be more.”

“Hell, no one saw this coming,” Joey said, giving me a wave as he walked back to the locker room. I sat down on the bench, taking off the tape that was around my wrists as I thought about my baby girl. And Danielle, the reason I needed the babysitter to begin with. I was glad she had decided to come over tonight and spend some time with Amelia and me. It was clear that she enjoyed spending time with her and I could only hope that her excitement bounded up to me as well. It had been a long time since a woman had held my attention for more than a few dates and some of it had to do with the fact that I already had a history with her. Did I dare to push this thing forward? Hell, I didn’t know. This was uncharted territory for me, somewhere I hadn’t decided to go to for much of my adult life. Relationships, I didn’t understand them. How could one person be tied down to another for that long and not grow bored? Well, apparently my buddies were finding that out. Every damn one of them had found someone they were willing to try the whole relationship thing with, and I didn’t see any of them running like the devil was at their fucking heels.

Chuckling, I grabbed my bag and threw it over my shoulder. I knew the consequences of my flings. I had one living in my apartment right now. But it wasn’t a bad thing. I loved that little girl already. She had me wrapped so tightly that I would give her the fucking world if I could and we had only been together for a few days. I couldn’t imagine years.

My phone vibrated in my bag, and I pulled it out, seeing Paul’s number on the screen. Holy shit. There could literally be only one reason he was calling me. Putting it up to my ear, I hit the button. “Hello?”

“Dude, I’m a fucking father.”

I could hear the pride in his voice, the tears that he had probably shed. “Congrats. Do we have a male or female?”

“Girl,” he said, his voice rough. “A healthy girl. Sarah was fucking amazing. I couldn’t have even imagined it would be like that. Holy shit man, I have a kid.”

“Give my love to Sarah,” I said, feeling the tug in my chest over my buddy’s happiness. He had been through so much, and Sarah was his other half. There was no doubt about it. “I’m happy for you guys.”

“Thanks,” Paul said. “Gotta go. I’ll send pics later.”

I hung up the phone and whistled on my way out the door. Another fighter in the making.

* * *

“See? That wasn’t so bad.”

Amelia gave me a toothy smile as I admired my handiwork, my first attempt at pigtails. They were lopsided, and some hair was already escaping out of one of them, but I had done them myself. Hey, every step counted, right?

Picking her up, I took her over to the playpen and sat her in there, hoping that she would leave her hair and her clothes alone until Danielle could get here. Dressing a toddler was tiring. “I’ll be right back,” I said, giving her a wink as I walked back toward the bedroom, stripping off my t-shirt in the process. Danielle was due any moment, and I was still wearing my sweats. No wonder yoga pants were back in style amongst the female mother population. It was damn near impossible to keep up with Amelia. Chuckling, I pulled some clothes out of my closet and threw them on, running my fingers through my hair roughly. I was looking forward to Danielle coming over tonight and not just because she was going to be an extra pair of hands. All I had thought about was our night last night and how short it had been. Well, now she was coming over to my place, and we were going to have that sleepover of sorts.

Walking back to the living room, I found Amelia hanging onto the side of the playpen, dancing on her feet as she saw me walk toward her. One of her pigtails had now slid down her head, giving her the appearance of a tail growing out the side of her head. “What in the world girl?” I asked, chuckling as I picked her up, tickling her stomach until she squealed with laughter. The doorbell rang, and I walked to the door, opening it without bothering to look. “Hey, you.”

Danielle gave me a smile, her arms loaded with various bags. “Hey, yourself. I see you have your hands full as well.”

“Tell Danielle hey,” I said to Amelia, who was already squirming in my arms. “Come on in, take a load off.”

She walked in and set the bags on the counter in the kitchen, the smell Chinese food wafting in the air. “Can I take her from you for a minute?”

“Gladly,” I smiled, handing her over. I watched as Danielle started to talk to Amelia, their giggles filling my apartment. It was a great feeling, watching the two of them. “What did you bring to eat?”

“I cheated,” she said as Amelia fiddled with the delicate chain around Danielle’s neck. “I brought an ass load of Chinese food. I hope that’s okay.”

“It’s great,” I answered, just glad to see her. If she hadn’t been holding my daughter, there would have been a good chance she would be in my arms right at this moment, and her clothes would be disappearing shortly thereafter. My cock was already throbbing at the mere thought. “Let’s put this stinker in her high chair and then we can eat.”

Danielle finagled Amelia into the chair at the end of the island as I pulled the boxes out of the bag. “You did get an ass load of Chinese.”

She fastened the bib around Amelia’s neck, giving me a look. “I told you so. If you hadn’t liked Chinese, then you would have been stuck eating smashed carrots.”

I groaned. “Please don’t ever mention smashed carrots again. I will never feed her those.”

Danielle stepped back as I stepped around the island, timing it perfectly as she turned into my waiting arms. “Benji,” she breathed as I pulled her against me, the smell of her coconut shampoo turning me on. “W-what are you doing?”

I leaned her back, giving her a quick grin. “I admit, I’m jealous I wasn’t in your arms.”

Her expression softened as she slid her arms around my neck, a slight grin on her face. “Well, we can’t have you jealous of your own daughter, now can we?”

“No,” I replied, moving in to kiss her, my pulse pounding in my ears. Amelia let out a screech, and we jumped back, laughing as Danielle moved out of my reach. My own kid was trying to sabotage the last bit of game I had left. “Alright, we’ll eat.” Reaching into the fridge, I grabbed two long necks off the shelf along with Amelia’s milk as Danielle opened up some of the boxes. I took a moment to survey the scene, the craziness that had become my life in a matter of a few days. I was feeding a child, my child like it was the most natural thing to do. I was attempting to entertain a woman in my apartment who wasn’t currently naked and enjoying the hell out of it. This was a far cry from my nightly excitement that I normally was in the middle of, and I wasn’t missing my old life, not one bit. It was fucking scary and exciting at the same time.

“Yoohoo, Benji are you even on the planet?”

Breaking out of my thoughts, I looked at Danielle, who was giving me a curious smile. “What?”

She pointed to the cabinets. “I was asking which one had the plates in it.”

“You caught me dad dreaming,” I grinned, walking over to the cabinet and pulling out some of the paper plates stored there. “Here. Sorry about that.”

She took the plates, our fingers barely brushing against each other but it was enough to cause my cock to jump excitedly. God this woman had an effect on me that was frightening. “Are you sure you are okay?”

“I’m good.” I was. Though I should be scared shitless at the thought of not only having to raise a girl by myself but also the feelings that seemed to happen every time Danielle was around. I don’t know which one scared me more.