The Absolution of Aidan (The Syndicate Series Book 3) (20 page)

“Congrats, Alina. Can you all let yourselves out? My woman here continues to test my patience with this Yankee shit. I need to teach her a lesson.” Aidan’s obnoxiously loud performance rebounds off the walls down the hallway. All I hear is thunderous laughter from our friends, who he rudely left behind.

“Aidan. Put my down.” I start smacking his ass, while he continues to ignore me. Then out of nowhere, I’m flying through the air, swallowing my scream when I see through my mussed-up hair my baby boy’s eyes go saucer wide when I land in the middle of the bed with a giant plonk.

“Stay,” Aidan barks out to me as if I were a dog. I lift my hand, shoving my hair out of my face. I’m damn near panting like a dog, too. I’m blistering mad. I may have even started whining. What has gotten into him? He’s freaking gone crazy. Just when I’m ready to go out there and chew him a new asshole on that sexy ass of his, the two of them come back in. My mouth falls open, and I damn near cry at the sight before me.

How Aidan manages to still be holding the baby and carrying a big, pink-wrapped box in his hands beats the shit out of me, but he does. He looks so damn sexy, irresistible. There’s no doubt he’s irreplaceable. He’s proven that since day one.

“Go see mommy, buddy.” He kisses the top of his head, hovering over the bed for me to take him. I settle myself in, my back against the headboard, my son in my lap, my eyes trained on the man I love.

“I’ve said before I’m not much of a romantic, hell, you may even have some of the things in this box. I just… I don’t know. Feel like an ass for interrupting your life, asking you to stay here until we find Ryan when I know how badly you want to do something as simple as taking him outside. Hell, we haven’t even been on a date. I care about you, Deidre, not because we have a child together, because you make me feel worthy of being his dad, of being your lover and friend without even trying. You’ve shown me the one thing no one has shown me before.”

He pauses and sets the box down on the foot of the bed. And when those penetrating eyes of his catch mine, I damn near come undone. He loves me. I can see it.

No, Aidan isn’t a romantic. I’m a woman who doesn’t need it. I’m a woman who only wants the man. Not any man, this man. The one standing before me, seeking out whatever it is he wants to say.

“Aidan,” I whisper.

“Let me finish, baby.” He bends and lifts the lid off the box.

“I love you, Deidre. I do. I love you for so many reasons. To me, you are the perfect mother, you’re self-sacrificing, you’re beautiful, and you’re sweet, tart, and your mine. Most of all though, baby, you listen to me. From day one when you barged into my apartment, you knew before we even spoke a word to each other that a shit storm had blown into my life and here you are. Standing strong by my side. Facing it head on, with me. Besides Cain and Roan and the family I have in the organization, the only other person who has stuck up for me before was my grandfather. Until you. This gift isn’t much, but I want you to know it came from here.” I watch him with tear-filled eyes as he places his hand over his chest. There are so many things I want to say to him, to show him.

I swipe those tears away and turn Diesel around in my lap so he’s facing his dad. The boy has no clue what’s going on here. He’s in his own little world with his fist shoved in his mouth.

“I love you too, Aidan. We may not have fallen in the traditional way. I doubt anything about us will ever be traditional. There are too many reasons why I love you, but there’s one that sticks out and shines above all the rest. I love you because even though you weren’t there when I broke down and lost it, with every breath I took, I felt you here.” I reach up and place my hand over my heart, mirroring where he still has his. In this very moment, I can feel his love beating inside of my chest. Its warmth radiates throughout me. He may think he’s not romantic, but he is. I will never forget those sweet words he said to me.

“Here.” He walks to the side of the bed, places the box beside me, and tucks his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. I really want to laugh through the tears ready to burst from my eyes. The mere sight of Aidan nervously looking down at me when we both know he’s far from shy has my heart dancing a jig inside my chest.

I open it slowly. My heart clenches without my hand over it when I see what’s inside. My vision blurs from the happy tears freely flowing down my face.

“You bought these for me? Oh, Aidan.” I peal the tissue the rest of the way aside to pull out my favorite cupcake pans along with three different sizes of round cake pans.

“Very romantic gift, yeah?” He shrugs.

“To me they are.” My voice is barely above a whisper. He really has no clue what this means to me.

“Romance isn’t all about wining and dining. You already have me, Aidan. Those things mean nothing to me. These,” I purposely run my fingers over the glossy metallic texture of the pans. “Are my favorite. Not because you bought them from The Pantry Store down the street from my uncle’s bakery,” I wink at him, letting him know I know where he got them. “It’s because you have so much going on right now, but you still went out of your way to buy these for me.”

I swallow. God, how I could go on and tell this man how much this really means to me. How ironic it is that he brought these home on the very same day I talked to both my dad and Alina about going back to work. I’m done talking. I want to show him.

I place the pans back in the box then lift the baby so he’s centered in between us, his arms flinging out to his dad. Aidan gladly takes him by pulling his hands out of his pockets and curling Diesel close to his body, which gives me the freedom to touch him. God, how I want to touch him.

“I love you, Aidan Michael Hughes.” I touch the spot over his heart tenderly and bring my mouth as close to his as I can without fusing us together. I slide my other hand around our miracle baby, who tugs at my hair. I wince slightly from the sting, but I don’t care. I watch my man roam my face with certainty of the power of love they provoke in this crazy dance we call our lives. Our breath is mingling, opening up an intimacy all our own.

I have to give him a gift, too. One he will never forget. I’m slightly angry with myself for not remembering to do this before, but maybe it was meant for me to do it now, after we told each other how we truly feel. I don’t know, but what I do know is I know this is going to mean everything to him.

“I love you, too.” He smirks. I shiver.

“I have something for you,” I say on a whisper. My parents are the only other people who know about this. Throughout my entire pregnancy, I never had a doubt what I was going to write on Diesel’s birth certificate. When my dad assured me I could name my child anything I wanted to, I talked to my little boy inside of me, told him no matter what, I wouldn’t deny him his rightful name.

I scamper off the bed after releasing my hold on the two of them and open my top dresser drawer, folding out the neatly creased legal document. With shaky hands, I then hand it to Aidan.

He glances at it, then back to me, then back to the paper.

“Shit, baby.” His eyes light up. Yeah, best gift ever.

“Crazy, huh? We’ve talked about everything else but that.” I point to the paper.

“You gave him my middle name and my last name?” he says more like a question.

“Uh, yeah. I told you from the beginning I was never going to keep you from him. He’s a Hughes. Has been since the day he was conceived.” For the second time tonight, he amazes me with words that will once again stay with me forever.

“God, I love you. Not because of this or him or for anything. I simply love you, Deidre. You may have given me these two reasons why I should, but I don’t need a reason to love you when I simply fucking just do.”

My man is a fool if he thinks he isn’t a romantic. Gifts come from the heart; however, words come straight from a person’s soul. No matter what he may think, I vow right here that I will take my last breath reminding my man he has the biggest soul of us all.

AIDAN

I do believe I’ve created a monster, or a woman on a damn mission. What my girl wants, she will get. Thank Christ for deliveries. The entire kitchen and living room are full of all kinds of baking supplies, and it’s only noon.

She had this all planned out before we crashed last night. Her idea of asking Anna and Grace to help her was brilliant. I know the both of them are going crazy as well. Although Anna seems to be taken with Dilan as much as he’s with her. The moment they showed here about an hour ago, I decided once again that shit is none of my business. The guy may look rough on the outside with his entire body covered in tattoos, but hell, he’s a damn good man.

I look from the living room where Dilan is on his computer to my woman on the phone. For the first time in my life, I told a woman I loved her. And I fucking do. More than anything.

Last night meant everything to me. Not only did we tell each other how we felt, but my god, she named my son after me. It’s right there in black and white on his birth certificate. I already knew she was an exceptional mother, but this, this shows me how she put him before anyone else. Hell, I could have denied him. Made her take a paternity test. She had no clue what my reaction was going to be, and yet she did this for him.

Again, we talked for hours last night after dinner and putting the baby to bed. We made love for the first time. Slowly. I may love to savor her body, take my time with every inch of her, but god, when you look down at a woman whose eyes shine brightly with love for only you, it’s a beautiful feeling.

She knows I’m meeting my dear old mother today. Deidre doesn’t want her here or anywhere near our son. I made it perfectly clear to her that I don’t either. Once I find out whatever the hell Alexis thinks is so important for me to know, then I hope I never see her again. I’ll make damn sure she knows it too. I failed to mention the text messages I received from Ryan. I feel like shit for keeping it from her, but how in the hell am I supposed to tell her that our son has been threatened? No damn way am I going to give her any more reason to worry. Not when she’s happy about being able to work from home. Little did I know the gift I gave her would spark a flame under her sexy ass. God, I fucking love her.

Our talks are becoming more important to me every day. I may sound like a pussy-whipped motherfucker, but who gives a shit. What happens between her and I in the privacy of our home is between us. And yes,
our
home. Wherever these two are, I will be.

Over the course of these past few weeks, I can now say we know more about each other than I realized. Every day we both learn a little more, and I fucking love it.

She’s been on the phone all damn day with her uncle, discussing her brilliant idea of baking at home. I have one more gift for her. He knows what it is. He better keep his promise and not tell her. She’s rambling on about having her baked goods getting picked up and delivered to his bakery, while her mom, Anna, and Grace unload all this stuff she purchased this morning to start baking. Thank fuck she has another spare room here we can use for storage. This is her thing. She’s damn good at it. I just need to remind her before I take off to pick up my darling mother from the airport to save some of the left over batter. I’m hard as a goddamn brick wall thinking about dripping her sweet mixture down her sexy as sin body, then taking my time licking it off.

“I’m proud of you.” I speak the truth. I couldn’t be more pleased with her. Not once has she shown a sign of weakness. She’s been strong through this. That’s why I’ll only tell her what I feel she needs to know.

“Thank you,” she mouths.

“I’m going to take off,” I convey to her the minute she hangs up with her uncle. She turns around, eyes gleaming with happiness. Shit, I’ll do anything to be able to keep that look on her face. Deidre is stunning. Deidre with a genuine smile on her face is priceless.

“Okay. I wish I could tell you to give her my love, but you can tell her to go fuck off and to never call you again.” I stand and stalk her way while adjusting my cock. Her eyes flit down to my hand, then back up to my face. Her sweet smile turns naughty, tempting, and reaches all the way up to her eyes.

“Oh,” she squeals when I take her in my arms and she feels how hard I am.
“I’ll have you saying more than ‘oh’ later. In fact I’ll have you screaming it. Especially if you make those raspberry filled cupcakes.” I press my erection into her even more.

“You’re greedy.”
Yeah, whatever
. He eyes are half-lidded. Who the hell is she trying to fool?

“When it comes to you, I’m everything, sweet-tart.” I take her delectable mouth in mine, kissing the living shit out of her. My tongue is tasting her sweet mouth, exploring every part of it. Fuck. I will never get tired of kissing her. Or making love and then fucking her. She’s mine. I’m hers.

“I’m making something better.” Now she’s piqued my curiosity. With my arms still wrapped around her tightly, I lift a brow. This has to be good, because there is nothing better than those cupcakes or her chicken, and well, there is one thing, but fuck, this apartment is filled with people, not to mention I have to go.

“Look what Anna found?” She reaches behind me then thrusts a piece of paper in my chest. I snatch it just as quickly out of her hand, take a step back, and damn near choke down my laughter.

“You’re shitting me?” Chuckling, I hand it back to her.

“Nope. Anna thought it was hilarious. I’m thinking it’s going to be my specialty cake.” Beaming with pride, she tosses the paper on the counter. I shake my head. “Tease away, woman. You’ll always be my sweet-tart, and Anna is always going to be a pixie.” I then nod toward the light green frosted cake printed on the piece of paper called Sweet-tart and Pixie Stick Cake.

“Love you,” she whispers. God, if I could inhale those words, I fucking would. I will never get tired of hearing her say it.

“Love you too. Got to go, babe. Be a good girl and give Dilan a cupcake, yeah? Save some of that cake batter for later.” I wink then let go of her. She simply nods. That nod has me flashing back to last night when her head was bobbing up and down while she had my cock in her mouth. Fuck, I love her.