Page 39 of Daddy Wolf's Secret Baby

Jace nodded, but he didn’t look convinced. Josiah hated not being able to make Jace feel better. More than anything, he wanted to take away his fear.

I guess that’s the not-so-fun part about being a dad.

Zahra showed up right at six with some ice cream, waffle cones, and the chocolate syrup that gets hard when it’s poured on top of the ice cream.

“Yummy,” Jace said, rubbing his tummy exaggeratingly.

She laughed. “After supper, Buddy.”

The steaks turned out perfect and Jace proved himself to be a real estate shark when playingMonopoly. He decimated both of his parents. As his prize, Jace got two scoops of ice cream.

Josiah raised his eyebrows as the boy happily licked his cone. “Is he going to be up all night?”

Zahra shook her head. “Nah. We’ll watch a movie and the sugar rush will wane, and he’ll be ready for bed at his usual time on Friday nights.”

Sure enough, after they enjoyed their treat and watchedJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,Jace started yawning.

“Can all three of us read tonight?”

“Of course.”

As usual, Jace tried to con extra chapters out of them but good-naturedly closed his eyes when Zahra told him no.

Josiah and Zahra walked quietly back into the living room.

“You are doing a great job with him. He worships the ground you walk on.”

“Thank you. I guess it’s what people call baptism by fire.”

They sat on the couch and Josiah reached for her hand. “Jace is worried.”

“Let me guess. He’s worried about Elias.”

“Yes, he asked me if you were in trouble.”

She sighed heavily. “I should have known. I’ll talk to him about the situation. I’m just really glad that he felt comfortable enough to talk to you about his feelings. He doesn’t open up to too many people.”

The statement made Josiah feel great. He smiled widely and puffed out his chest.

Zahra scooted closer to him and he looked into her eyes. A million different emotions whirled around in the blue orbs. Josiah touched her face and leaned down to kiss her. Lightning instantly exploded around them the second their lips touched.

He was instantly hard and wanted nothing more than to rip off her clothes and take her right there on the couch.

As though she could read his mind, she asked, “Should we take this into the bedroom?”

Without a word, he grabbed her hand and led him to the large master bedroom. She looked around the room curiously. The white walls were adorned with pictures of wolves and the moon. A dark green comforter covered his bed, and a large recliner was in the corner, positioned perfectly toward the big screen television mounted on the wall. Below that was a cabinet with a video game system and several games.

“This is a man cave with a bed in it,” she commented looking around.

“Yep. I live alone, so there’s no one to tell me I can’t hang out in here and play games all night long.”

She laughed.

He grinned at her and tugged at her shirt. “Do you need that?”

“Not right this minute.”

“Take it off. As a matter of fact, take it all off.”

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