“Hey, little man, you need a name,” I say, while I put a pair of blue booties on his tiny feet.

Careful not to hurt him, I change his hat for a knitted one that Brynn brought for him.

“Did Mama have a name for you?” I hold onto his hand for several seconds, staring at this little miracle.

Our miracle.

He’s fragile, tiny, and yet, he feels like a gift. The best gift that Sadie could’ve given me. If only she could see him.

“Do you want to hear how I met your Mom?” I pull a chair closer to the crib and take his hand one more time. “We might have to do some censoring because things heated up after I wore her down.”

My lips finally smile, as I remember the day we met.

Three Years Ago

“We’re back to playing in coffee houses,” Jax complained. “You wouldn’t think that we just arrived from a sold-out concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles or that our latest single has been on the top chart for ten weeks in a row.”

“It’s only a couple of nights, and for a good cause. Don’t be such a snob.” I leaned my guitar case against the wall. “Think of this as your good deed of the decade.”

He should be thankful. It took us a long time to be where we are. Killing Hades started as a garage band when we were sixteen. Once we moved to Seattle, we worked twice as hard and played wherever we could. Like this coffee shop, or the bar that’s a couple of blocks away from here. Many business owners gave us a chance to play during weekends to get some exposure. For that, I’ll always be grateful.

Logan, the owner of the café, was a friend of ours. Afraid that his sales might drop due to a Starbucks opening a couple of blocks away, he thought including acoustic concerts on the weekends would help sales.

“Whew!” Jax stared at the door. “I wouldn’t say no to those hotties. The blonde seems like an easy one.”

My eyes diverted toward his line of sight. Two beautiful women stepped inside the café. The blonde shook her long mane while taking off her raincoat, unlike the second one who just took off her beanie hat and shoved it inside the pouch of her hoodie. Then, when she took off her sweatshirt, her blouse lifted enough to show some of her sun-kissed skin.

“I’ll definitely take blondie,” Jax called out as if choosing a player for his softball team. “Or both if they’re willing.”

“The brunette one is out of your league,” I said, concentrating on the cables. Our roadies were on vacation, but we didn’t need help setting up a couple of microphones and the speaker.

Logan had designated the far-left corner of the café for the band. He assumed that the patrons would stay around their seats, maybe sit on the floor if he ran out of space.

Right at seven, we were ready to play. The place was full. We played our old songs first, and then Jax began to take requests. Two hours of playing and chatting with the audience flew by in what felt like only a few minutes. It’s not often we got to be in a small space and jam as if we were with friends at a party.

Or serenading a beautiful woman who’d held my attention ever since I set eyes on her. She knew the words to every song. While I sang, it was like it was just the two of us feeling the music and keeping the tempo. I itched to touch her beautiful face. I was dying to learn her name, listen to her voice.

As I ended the last song, the spell broke. The patrons began clapping, standing and asking for autographs and selfies. I tried to keep an eye on her, hoping she wouldn’t leave before I talked to her, but after an hour I lost track of everyone around me. I tried my best to chat with the fans, and my face was surely stamped all over Instagram and Snapchat.

But my mood changed when from the corner of my eye I spotted her walking with a smooth saunter toward me. The woman who had brightened the entire place when she’d arrived. She smiled with ease. Everyone around her felt compelled to greet her and smile back.

She was a beauty. And her luscious curves woke up my sleepy body. Her long legs were wrapped in a pair of leggings and knee-high boots.

I didn’t want to be obvious, but I observed her as her hips swayed. Her steps were assertive, and her pouty lips drew a beautiful smile. It wasn’t flirty, just determined. She was a woman on a mission.

Did she feel the connection?

Fuck I hoped so, but I wasn’t sure how to feel about her coming to me. With her, I wanted everything to be different. After fourteen years in the business, I was used to groupies throwing themselves at me and offering sexual favors. Not that I had taken them up on the offers. What had happened with my ex-wife made me cautious.

My ex had been a hardcore groupie, and I was too young and only cared about getting pussy. The joke was on me when I learned that I’d knocked her up. After things ended with Alicia, I’d fuck around, but I was always cautious.

But this woman seemed different from all the ones I’d crossed paths with. Something about those bright, whiskey color eyes of hers told me that I was in for a treat.

“Hi,” she greeted me using a silky voice that sounded like a siren call.

“Hey.” I threw a smirk and continued packing.

She didn’t have a phone for a selfie or a pen for an autograph. Maybe she wanted the same as me, one night of sex. I bet she felt the connection too. And for her, I’d break some of my rules and take her home. My daughters were with their mom for the weekend. We had more than forty-eight hours to satisfy the sudden craving I had for her.

I waited for her to throw some line. But after several seconds of silence, I was the one asking the question, “Need a selfie, an autograph?”

“A date,” she requested, pressing her lips together. “Well not anything serious, more like a rebound.”

“Rebound sex?” My brain froze at her request, my attention shifted toward the owner of that sweet, melodic voice whose request was making my cock twitch.

“A rebound date. Not sex,” she clarified, enunciating each word. “I’m sure that a man like you has already booked an entire weekend with some model. Though, a weekend of sin might help exorcise the ex—”

“A weekend to exorcise someone?” I chuckled.

My eyes roamed over her gorgeous body, stopping as I found her beautiful eyes challenging me.

“One weekend full of sex to make you forget,” I licked my lips checking her out one more time.

She was one of those women who were so beautiful she didn’t need any makeup. Her wavy chestnut-colored hair had a few strands of honey, burgundy, and purple highlights. She looked young, yet mature. And I wanted her so bad. My dick hardened as I imagined how it would be to touch her soft skin. To be inside of her, pounding her against the wall while sucking her tits.

I examined her delicate features. The button nose, the luscious lips, and those crinkling, dark brown eyes that smiled at me. If I had her for one night, I’d make those eyes burn with lust and turn them into liquid chocolate. She’d be trembling and screaming my name, again and again.

“Sweetheart, I’d only need one time to make you forget any man who’s ever touched you before me.”

She released a full-blown laugh, touching her chest lightly and shaking her head. The sound was magical, soothing. Like a melody made just for me. At that moment, her laugh became my tune. The rhythm I wanted to live by.

“Oh my, you think so highly of yourself,” she said once she sobered up, but the smile remained on that beautiful mouth that I wanted to devour. “But I’m not asking for myself.”

She turned slightly toward her table and pointed at Blondie. “Ella, my friend, is the one who needs a good rebound guy from the asshole she dated.”

“What makes you think I’d agree?” I narrowed my gaze.

“We aren’t assuming.” She looked at her friend, whose forehead was pressed on the table with her arms covering her head. “But it never hurts to ask. I mean, how amazing would it be to say that Kaden Hades exorcised the lowlife out of her system.”

I rubbed my chin, pretending to think about the proposal. “What’s in it for me?”

“A date with a hot, sexy woman. She’s tall, slender, busty, and beautiful.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “If you play your cards right, something more could happen.”

“How about you?” I grabbed her hand and kissed it, my lips stayed pressed against her hand as I enjoyed the heat created by our touch. “Any kind of satanic ritual you’d like me to perform on you?”

She touched her chest lightly and shook her head. “No, I’m good.” Leaning forward, she whispered. “My dating policy excludes players.”

“Only players?”

“Well, and slimy assholes.” She studied me with those perfect eyes. “But I don’t want to assume.”

“Glad you’re withholding judgment. In the name of full disclosure, I’ll confess that I am a recovered asshole. But I was never slimy.”

“Noted,” she scribbled something in the air. “Anything else we should add to your file?”

I chuckled and pulled out my phone. “Why don’t you give me your number? We can discuss your plan this upcoming Thursday, over dinner.”

“Thursday?” She frowned. “Dinner. This is a simple yes or no.”

“There’s more at stake than you think.” I checked my watch. “If I had time, I would do it now, but I have to leave. What’s your number?”

She chewed her lip as her eyes focused on me. The woman tried to guess my intentions, but I had a great poker face.

She couldn’t see the heat burning inside me—for her. A spark ignited a fire that created an urge to kiss her.

“Five-seven-zero-three-two-one-one.” She recited it. I put it in my phone and dialed right away.

I wanted her to have my number, to know that I was calling her. Because I wouldn’t wait until Thursday to hear her voice again—or to see her.

Her eyes grew wide as I put the phone close to my ear.

“Gino’s pizza, what would you like to order?”

I stared at her, shaking my head. “Is pepperoni fine with you?”

She opened her mouth, closed it and shook her head. “What?”

“Well, I’m guessing you want to have dinner now seeing as you gave me the number of a pizza place.”

She pressed her lips together, but her body shook as she tried to swallow the laughter.

“Hello,” the man on the other line said.

“Yes, give me a second. We’re trying to decide if we’re going for your meat lovers or vegetarian.” I went on, serving her with my best grin. “They’re waiting for you.”

“This is so embarrassing,” she moaned, and that throaty noise hit me right in the groin. “I don’t usually do this, but Ella has a big crush, and she just broke up with a dirt worm scumbag.”

“A fucker?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Well, think about Ella. You and I can discuss her situation over pizza.”

The beautiful woman shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Forget that I asked.”

She turned around, but I stepped forward and reached for her elbow.

“Wait,” I begged her. I wasn’t ready to let her go. There was a need inside me urging me to stop her. “What’s your name?”

I swallowed hard as the warmth of her skin sent an electrical current through my fingers, shocking my entire body. My heart beat so hard in my chest that it threatened to break loose. I fought the need to pull her to me and kiss her senseless.

“Her name is Ella,” she mumbled. “She called first dibs on you when we were fifteen. You’re on her list of guys she’d do if she ever met them. And she’s my best friend.”

I lifted my hand, running my thumb over her jaw and then her beautiful lips. “But I want to get to know you,” I whispered, leaning closer to her, pressing my lips so close to her ear that I could smell the sweet floral scent of hers. “What’s your name?”

“Sadie,” she mumbled with a throaty voice. She stared at me with heavy eyelids.

“Sadie,” I repeated, tasting the word for the first time and hoping to repeat it over and over. “Give me your number. I want to have dinner with you. Give me one date.”

Those words didn’t make sense. I’d never been on a date. Ever. Not even with my ex-wife.

Sadie rose on her tip-toes. She kissed my jaw. “Sorry, I don’t date.”

I closed my eyes and groaned as the most beautiful woman in the world walked away from me.

Thinking fast, I pulled out a paper from my backpack. After doodling a few lyrics, I wrote my number. Walking toward her table, I handed it to her. “As lovely as it’d be to perform the ritual, I couldn’t. Not when my only goal is to see you again.”

I gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek and left.