Page 34 of Accidental Dad’s Best Friend (Unintentionally Yours #7)

One year later…

“ D id you get enough water balloons?” Jax runs inside the house, a trail of water and grass and lord knows what else forming little footprints across the tile as he goes.

“Jax, honey, where is your towel?!”

“Oh it fell in the pool. Mom. It’s literally the best pool ever !”

The best pool Costco can buy. Ethan wanted an in-ground pool. He went as far as to have a construction crew come in to look at the grounds right after we bought the house. But I shut it down.

“Why?” He asked, wrapping his arms around my waist. “We can afford it. And the kid is a great swimmer.”

“Being able to afford it and needing it are two different things. An above ground pool will suit us just fine.” I grinned, kissing Ethan on the cheek and going back in the house.

That’s code for, what I say goes. And I get my way, a lot of the time anyways.

Like how I got my way with the house in Cherry creek.

As much as we liked the townhouse, Jax was having nightmares there.

It was also bothering me that we still lived so close to Rosilyn, even though she never came around.

After the explosion at NBT, she was afraid to show face ever again.

I did worry about Luca, though. And I empathize with her being a single mom.

That shit’s no joke. I was able to convince Ethan to cut her a decent severance package.

What she did with it, I don’t know. But she doesn’t bother us anymore.

I also convinced him we didn’t need a mansion, another thing he argued that we could afford.

Again. Afford and need are different things.

After some back and forth, me stomping my foot and him punishing me with rolling orgasms, we found a middle ground.

A medium-sized house down the street with a back yard, gas stove, and enough rooms to grow a family, if we decide to do that.

At first I worried that it would stunt his ego not living in a ten-thousand-square-foot castle or a penthouse overlooking the city.

But I quickly learned that Ethan’s ego is much smaller than I’d assumed.

If anything, he was just doing what I was doing all those years– presenting a certain way to deal with my dad.

To survive. To keep himself from acting on his impulses…

Glad we knocked that stuff off. We act on every impulse now. It’s much easier when you live in the same house and don’t have to hide everything. It’s also easier when you have a split concept house and don’t have to bite the pillow so little ears don’t wake up.

Now, Jax is turning seven. Seven! And we are throwing a birthday party with several of his friends from school and people from the office at Out and About.

“Mom, for real. We don’t have enough water balloons.” Jax stops in front of me, a look of true panic on his flushed face.

“You have, like, fifty. How is that not enough?” I smile as I put the finishing touches on the cake.

Another thing we had to compromise on. Ethan wanted to buy one from a bakery.

Some three-tiered monstrosity that would set us back about two hundred dollars.

I wanted to make him a cake, like I always have.

The compromise? Water balloons. So. Many. Water balloons.

“Did I hear someone say they need more ammo?”

Speak of the devil. Ethan walks in the back door holding, I kid you not, at least two hundred more.

“You’re the best, dad!” Jax jumps up and down. Meanwhile, two more little boys appear out of the woodwork and they all confiscate the new balloons.

“Have at it,” he chuckles, putting his hands on his hips as they rush back out the door, leaving a river of pool water across the floor.

I shake my head too. At him. “You’re insane.”

“It’s the kid’s birthday! A little spoiling is allowed on a birthday.”

I sigh and go back to my cake frosting. “You spoil us in every way,” I shake my head.

Ethan walks over and puts his arms around me from behind. “And is that such a bad thing? Loving my family? I have years to make up for. Mistakes to make up for.”

“What mistakes?” I ask, looking back at him.

“Your dad’s mistakes.”

Guilt swells over my heart and slump against him. “You don’t have to make up for the pain he caused in our lives. He hurt you too.”

Ethan spins me around to face him. “I know. But I can still create enough good that all that pain washes away.”

He’s grinning at me, his jawline sharp, his eyes intense but soft. And I smile back. Our lips are about to touch when Jax comes flying back in the kitchen.

“Is it cake time! I want to do cake!”

We both laugh and Ethan steals the smallest kiss before we get back to work. There’s presents to be unwrapped, burgers and dogs to be flipped and a party to be had.

And party we do. Everyone hangs around clear into the night. The pergola is strung with lights and the mini bar is in full swing (because, you know, compromise) and we hang out with our friends and the other parents while the boys play glow stick tag.

“This is perfect,” I sigh, buzzy from my second mai tai. As I lean into Ethan, I can feel his gaze on me. I can feel a lot of people’s gazes on me.

Something is up.

I can feel it.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“What do you mean?” Ethan feigns innocence and I just give him a look.

He laughs. “Alright you caught me. All these people aren’t just here for a birthday party. Jax?” He calls out and Jaxon drops what he’s doing, perks up and runs over.

“Is it time?!”

Ethan nods down at him. “Yes, my good man. It is time.”

“Time for what? What’s going on? Ethan. What did you do?”

But Ethan doesn’t say anything. He just runs inside. Then a moment later, he comes back out. Stopping next to us. Someone turns the music down and everyone is watching us, drinks in hand and smiles on their faces.

“So dad and I had a talk,” Jax starts in very seriously. “And we made a decision.”

“A decision?” I arch an eyebrow. “Without me? I think that’s against the rules.”

“Sometimes you have to break the rules a little,” Jax says and everyone laughs. “He asked me if I want to be family.”

I’m confused. “We are a family, honey.”

“Not all the way. Not yet. Not until you say yes.”

“Say yes? To what?”

I’m lost.

Until I’m not.

My hands clasp over my mouth as Ethan lowers to his knee. He smiles over at Jax who hands him a small box with a nod.

“You’re a good man, Jaxon,” he tells him.

“You too, dad.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” I whisper.

“Kidding? Not a chance.” Ethan flips the box open.

“You are…incredible. I’ve always known you to be strong, stubborn, challenging.

But I’ve learned you are also compassionate, brilliant, and beautiful in every way.

You’re an amazing mom and an even more amazing partner.

And a damn good writer too, while we’re at it. ”

Everyone laughs and Jax adds, “He can say that cuz he’s also your boss.”

“I’m not her boss though,” Ethan shakes his head.

“When I found out Jaxon was mine, I was scared. Scared I wouldn’t be a good dad.

Scared I wouldn’t know how to love you the way you deserve.

But then I realized something. You’ve done life alone for so long.

And if you can do it, I can strive to be that strong too.

You’ve proven to be an amazing partner at work, helping me run the magazine with both grit and grace. Even if we do butt heads.”

I giggle through the tears that are already spilling down my cheeks.

“But I don’t want to just be partners. Facing it all together. Forever. Izzy-not-Isabelle Sloane, will you marry me?”

Guests gasp and shriek softly before I even answer.

Jax cuts in before I get the word out either. “It’s okay mom, you can say yes. I want you to say yes.”

I laugh at that. “Yes,” I nod down at Ethan. “A thousand times yes.”

Ethan’s smirk spreads to a grin that reaches his warm eyes and lights a fire deep in my chest. He slides the ring on my finger and stands up. We kiss and the party erupts.

“Forever?” He asks.

“Yes.” I nod again, looking down at the ring. It’s…a rock. Quite possibly the most beautiful, over the top, Marilyn Monroe shit I’ve ever seen.

Ethan knows what I’m thinking and a smug smirk tugs at his lips. “You wouldn’t let me buy you the estate downtown, so I settled for Tiffany’s finest.”

“It’s bigger than the estate downtown,” I blurt out, tilting my hand and watching it sparkle.

Ethan laughs. “And that’s called compromise.”

I give him a look.

He winks.

We kiss again.

I wouldn’t change a thing.

What to read next? You’ll love Accidental Doctor Daddy: A Silver Fox Ex Boyfriend Dad’s Romance , available on Amazon. Read now!

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