Page 130 of The Pursuit

“But you love me anyway, don’t you, mija?” AJ prompted with a wink.

“Very much.”

AJ turned his attention to Patrick. “What a lucky little man you are to have such a precious and beautiful mother.”

Patrick made a slight coo of approval, which of course melted everyone in the room. After tearing her gaze from Patrick, Gaby quirked her brows at me. “Besides the dark hair, I don’t think I see very much of me in him.”

I winced. “Considering what you went through with the labor, I wasn’t going to mention it. I didn’t want you making a last-minute call to Fabian.”

AJ’s brows furrowed. “Fabian?”

While Gaby’s face flushed, I chuckled. “Yeah, she threatened to have him cut my dick off for putting her through so much pain.”

As AJ laughed, Dad took Mom’s hand in his. “Sounds like your mother when you were born.”

“Yeah she told me.”

With a smile, Gaby said, “I really don’t mind that he looks so much like you. I know he’ll be a looker someday by looking like his dad.”

“And in turn his grandfather,” Dad replied, which earned him an elbow from Mom.

I rolled my eyes. “Once again, let’s hope for his sake he doesn’t inherit his grandfathers’ cockiness.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be just from his grandfathers,” Gaby countered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Seriously, Noah? You were a douchelord of cockiness when we first met.”

“Yeah, well, we wouldn’t be here today without it,” I argued.

“Please. We’re together because you wouldn’t stop pursuing my stubborn ass.”

As I stared into her dark eyes shining with love, I thought about that day when she’d first walked away from me and the advice Dad had given me.Any woman worth having is hard work. Because they deserve the effort, son.

“You deserved the effort,” I replied. When I glanced over at Dad, he nodded his head before drawing Mom closer to him. “You’ll always deserve the effort.”

And then I kissed the stubborn, feisty woman who had somehow become my wife and was now the mother of my son. One hell of a pursuit had turned into the greatest blessing of my life.

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