Page 45 of Pumpkin
“You have my word that I won’t take JJ away from you. That is the last thing I want. But I need to be in her life, Dosia. I have to be a part of it.” He cleared his throat. “I grew up without a father. Learning that she’s been without me all this time…” His voice trailed off. He ran a hand down his face, from forehead to beard. “SJ’s mom was… Well, she’s not in the picture anymore. A mere coincidence even informed us that she was pregnant and then a bunch of us had to do a paternity test to see who the father was. I just… I kept thinking ‘not again’. Because a mere chance led me back to you and JJ. What if I never even knew SJ existed? What kind of life would he even have now? And while I don’t doubt you’ve been taking very good care of JJ, it kills me that I wasn’t there too.”
Shame washed over Dosia. She’d judged him harshly by a sight through a bar window. She should have tried to contact him over the years. At least looked him up to see if he was still the same man she’d assumed him to be.
“Will you tell me why you didn’t come to me when you found out you were pregnant?”
Dosia pulled her long sleeve over her hand and used it to wipe her eyes. “I did. It was roughly six weeks after we were together. I skipped classes and drove all the way back here. Even took three pregnancy tests because my roommate said guys want to have multiple tests done as proof. It honestly didn’t take that long to find you. The entire town was abuzz with the club’s new bar’s grand opening.”
Pumpkin’s eyes widened and his face paled. “Oh, shit.”
“Yup.” Dosia nodded, her lips pressed together. She wasn’t sure if itwas good or bad that he remembered what he was doing during that celebration. “Didn’t even have to make it inside the bar to find you. You were right there by the big, glass window.” Pumpkin closed his eyes as if that would keep him from hearing what she said next. “You had two women on your lap and were swapping saliva with both of them. Given what little I remembered of our night together, plus that, I drew certain conclusions about you and decided that I didn’t want that sort of influence in my child’s life.”
Pumpkin’s eyes shot open, and Dosia caught the flash of anger in his eyes before he quashed it. She held up her hand to stop him from speaking.
“I was wrong,” she admitted. “Even if it wasn’t that night, I’ve had six years to tell you about JJ. You had a right to know regardless of what kind of man I thought you were, and I’m sorry.”
Pumpkin let out a long breath. “One of my brothers reamed me a new one yesterday after I told him what happened here. He reminded me how…wild,” he cringed, “we were back in the day. Most of us fresh off deployment and still adjusting to civilian life. Even as hard as I tried to find you, even I’ll admit I gave up pretty quickly. Hell, I’m pretty sure I was sleeping around while still trying to find you.” He made a face. “As much as it chafes to admit, I have no idea how I would have reacted six years ago if you’d told me about JJ then. Going off of how I reacted when I found out about SJ, it likely wouldn’t have been good.
“But I’m a different person now, Dosia. Better. I’ve sowed my wild oats, as they say. Hell, I’m practically an old man.” He waved a hand at his walker beside the couch. Dosia couldn’t help chuckling at his joke. “I have a lot to make up for, starting with six years of child support.”
Dosia quickly shook her head. “No! I mean, that’s a lot of money, and we’re doing fine. Moving took a chunk of my savings, but we’re okay. I never wanted your money, Pumpkin.”
He patted the leather seat next to him. “Please. I don’t like you being so far away.”
Dosia hesitated for only a moment before standing and crossing the round carpet. She sat beside him, turning slightly so they were stillface to face. That intoxicating scent hit her nostrils like a sledgehammer.
“There’s a lot we have to talk about, but one thing you have to know is that money isn’t a problem for me, and now isn’t for you either.”
Dosia blinked, having no idea how to respond to that. “Um, what?”
Pumpkin reached over to take her hands. He couldn’t twist on the couch like she was, but he had his head facing her. “I am laying my intentions completely out here, Dosia. With the understanding that I am a package deal, I still mean to follow through on my plan from six years ago and ask you out. Granted, things are a bit more complicated now, but that hasn’t changed my mind. If anything, it’s cemented it.”
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about.” Because he couldn’t possibly be saying what she thought he was saying.
“I mean to make you mine, Dosia. I don’t have a ring yet because I don’t think either one of us are ready for that. But I gave you my cut. In my world, I’ve claimed you. It gives you rights in the MC, protection. JJ too. You both are mine as much as SJ is. The rest,” he shrugged, “it’s just details. I knew the moment I saw you in the restaurant on Sunday that you were mine, Dosia. Finding out we have a daughter together? It’s just icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned.”
Dosia just stared at him, mouth opened, eyes wide. The only words that came to mind werewhat the fuck, and that certainly wasn’t the answer he was looking for.
Pumpkin cringed,but not at her stunned silence. “I can’t sit like this. My hips are not so good at twisting. Here.” He took advantage of her shock to wrap an arm around her waist, pick her up, and plop her on his lap. Sitting back, he adjusted her legs to be on either side of his and then smiled up at her. “Much better.”
Dosia looked down between them. “Are youhard?!”
“With the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen straddling me? Fuck yeah, I’m hard.” He wasn’t ashamed of it either. He was justtrying to keep his dick under control while they had this much-needed conversation.
Pumpkin rubbed the top of her thighs. “You don’t need to say anything today, baby. It was a done deal the moment I put my cut on you the other night.”
“What if I don’t…” She blushed, her unique caramel eyes continuously looking down at where their covered sexes now touched. “What if I don’t want to be claimed by you?”
Ouch. Pumpkin cleared his throat. “Doesn’t matter. I claimed you, meaning you get all the perks that go with that. Whether we’re involved romantically or not doesn’t have a standing on whether you’re my ol’ lady. Just means, no one else can be.”
“So,” her cheeks flushed, “if I started seeing someone else, I would still be your ol’ ladyandhis girlfriend?”
Pumpkin growled, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck to pull her face closer to his. “There’s no ‘seeing someone else’. I’ll give you time, baby. But you and Iarehappening.” He ran his thumb over her pulse and dropped his voice down. “I can see how much you want me. The way your eyes dilate when you look at me, the slight catch in your breath when I smile at you. Feel it in how quickly your heart is pumping right now.” He brushed his lips lightly across her warm cheek. “You can’t deny that we have something here, Dosia. It’s early, I’ll grant you that, but it doesn’t make it less powerful. It’s six years in the making.” His teeth scraped along her earlobe. “We are inevitable…”
Dosia’s back arched, pushing her breasts against his chest as her breathing sped up and her eyes fluttered closed. Her hands skimmed up his biceps like they were following an invisible path. And her hips gyrated, pressing her hot center down onto his erection. Sparks flew as the air between them ignited.
Pumpkin licked down her jawline. “You’re mine, baby.”
He swallowed up her gasp with a kiss. It was in no way gentle and not a kiss of lovers who knew the other’s lips from years of familiarity. It was rough, hurried, and messy. Pumpkin coaxed her lips opennearly immediately, claiming victory over her mouth like a warlord staking his claim on new land.
