Claiming Them by Rosa Mink
Chapter 9
Rylee
Luca moves into the office, dropping a kiss onto my lips and I can’t help but smile. I love being here, working with him. I’d be here every day if he didn’t tell me to stay home and rest in that sexy tone of his, so he can have me again that night, at least two if not three of the days that the shop is open and he goes in. I love feeling cherished by this man.
Not to mention I’ve fallen completely in love with him and his family, and the others at the shop. I’m sure people that knew me six months ago wouldn’t recognize me now, and it has nothing to do with the now unmistakable baby bump. Luca told me himself last night, every part of me was smiling rather than just my lips. It’s true though, even with Tyler’s anger, I’m still so happy I can’t help it.
“You feeling good, mama?” he asks, resting his hand on my belly, and I grin further feeling our girl’s movements. I don’t care what they say, I’m certain she can hear him because every time he’s near and talking to me, I feel her move.
Most of me is still in shock that it’s a girl. I didn’t mind either way just wanted to know she was healthy, but Luca’s eyes lit up like he’d won the lottery when I said it was a girl. She’s his already just as I am.
It’s only been three weeks since his mom learnt we were together and I was pregnant, and now, she’s calling and stopping by to see me, bringing food because according to her, I was too damn skinny for her boy. Luca just laughed, telling her I had all the right curves necessary to satisfy him. And he said it in front of a full house here at the shop, making me blush to my roots.
I haven’t seen Tyler in almost a month now. He wouldn’t come out to lunch after he found Mark’s copy of the divorce papers, so he still doesn’t know about the baby. I don’t want to tell him over the phone, but I might just have to in order to be the one to tell him. So far, I haven’t run into any of the old circle but there’s always the random chance it’ll happen, and I really don’t want him learning about it from one of them.
“Only one way I’d be feeling better, babe, and I know you have a client in five minutes. You’re good enough to get me there by then but it wouldn’t be enough, and you know it,” I add when the corners of his mouth tick up, his hand reaching for the door to shut it. “You’ll just have to make it up to me tonight when we get home, and then get me some of Camila’s tamales to make it even better.”
“Just for you, mama,” he says, giving me another kiss before moving back to the front for his appointment.
My phone rings as I’m almost finished with the latest invoices and I answer, seeing Tyler’s name on the screen. It’s the first time he’s reached out to me since I moved out. The only other time he’s called me is in response to a message I left him. “Hey honey, how are you?”
“I’m okay,” Tyler says, his tone different and I don’t quite know what to expect. “I uh, wanted to see if you wanted to…”
“Here you go, mama, today’s mail,” Hale says stopping Tyler’s statement. “Sorry, didn’t see you were on the phone,” he adds, backing out of the office with a smile at me, the new mail on the corner of the desk.
“Who the hell was that?” Tyler demands, the snapping, angry tone I’ve grown used to the last few months back.
“Just someone at the place I’m working part-time,” I state, hoping to get him off of it and back to what he called me for. “You were saying?”
“Working? You’re working?” Tyler says, the anger gone but the tone still snappy. “Where the hell are you working and why is anyone calling you mama? That’s not appropriate for an office.”
I can’t stop the little laugh that flows from my lips. It’s cute that he’s upset about it. “It’s not an office, Tyler. I’m just helping out a friend with the paperwork, invoices, and stuff. Everyone here is very polite to me.”
“Where are you?” he questions again making me sigh.
“Where I’m working doesn’t matter. I’m enjoying it, having something to do with my time. What did you want to know when you called me?” I add, trying to get back to that but he doesn’t budge for five minutes, and I finally had enough. “Tyler, I’m a grown adult, your mother. You don’t have the right to question me, especially with the way you’ve been acting lately. When you decide you’re ready to talk, give me a call back, until then, goodbye.”
I turn my attention back to the invoices, finishing them before opening the mail. I stack the new invoices to get them entered, then stop hearing a commotion out front.
“Of course, it’d be you! Where the hell is my mom!”
“Tyler?” I call out, moving from the office saying a huge thank you that I chose to wear a dress today. At least the baby bump won’t be the first thing he sees.
“What the hell, Mom? You’re seriously working here?” Tyler questions when I reach Luca’s side. “Who the fuck is he?” he adds pointing to Luca who looks furious.
“Watch your mouth,” I retort, biting my tongue a bit seeing Hale’s smirk. The whole place has started calling me mama, and not just because Luca does, or because I’m pregnant. No, I guess I can’t help the mom tone that comes out at times. “How did you find me?”
“That dumb locator thing works both ways. You know, the one you made me set up when you cared about me,” Tyler says, and Luca takes a step towards him.
“Oh, you shut that shit up, right now, Tyler Curtis,” Olivia says coming in around him before Luca can move. Tyler turns her way, eyeing her in surprise. “Yeah, I know who you are, asshat. You’re the one that’s been making mama cry. So, you don’t come in here and try to start anything, or so help me, I’ll take those scissors over there and I can’t guarantee I’ll stop with just cutting off that hair of yours.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Who the fuck are you?” Tyler adds to Olivia as she moves over, giving me a hug.
“We’re the ones that’s been taking care of mama,” Olivia says, nodding towards Luca who’s standing next to me, his arms cross over his chest, showing off the size of his biceps. “You tell your mama you’re sorry right now.”
“The fuck is going on?” Tyler mutters, making me smile feeling the love from the group here behind me.
“What’s going on is that my sister told you to tell your mom you’re sorry for being a little bitch that didn’t want his life upset. You tell her you’re sorry that you’ve been an asshole little punk to her for months because she couldn’t stay with a man that she didn’t love any longer. A man who incidentally started boning his assistant before your mother asked for a divorce. Because so help me, kid, if you upset her even one more time, it won’t be her or my sister you’ll be dealing with, it’ll be me,” Luca says, making Tyler’s eyes widen.
“Who the hell are you?” he asks in return, his tone not nearly as snappy as before as Olivia’s arm rests around my shoulders.
“The man that’s going to take care of your mom for the rest of her life. The man that loves her for the incredible woman she is, because god damnit kid, she’s a fucking wet dream come to life,” Luca growls, ruining my underwear for the third time this week.
“Loves me?” The words fall as I realize what I heard, a smile hitting my lips as Luca turns my way.
“Fucking hell, haven’t I told you?” he asks, moving to me instantly, his arms wrapping around my back, one sliding up behind my head.
“Not with those words.” I start to tell him I love him too, but his mouth comes down on mine, stealing my breath and bringing on loud cheers and whistles from the others here.
“I love you, Rylee. I’ve loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you. It’s you and me together for the rest of our lives, mama.”
“I love you too, Luca. We both do,” I add, pulling his hand to my belly where our girl is moving. He can’t feel it yet, but we can.
“Mom?” Tyler splutters, reminding me of where we are and who’s here. “Are you…”
“Pregnant, yeah, I am,” I state, turning in Luca’s hold, his hands sliding down to my belly, holding it gently. “I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, but you refused to come see me…”
“Which by the way, a total ass move,” Olivia adds making me grin at her. “You have a kickass mom and you treated her like shit. From everything she’s told us you should have been begging her to let you come live with her instead of bitching at her, yelling at her, throwing shit at her. Yeah, we know even if she never admitted it. She’s the only mom I know that comes close to being as awesome as ours is. She was there for you, always, even when you were being a shit to her. Where was your father huh? Where is he now?”
“I know okay! It’s why I called her earlier. But then I heard someone calling her mama…”
“That’d have been me,” Hale states from behind Tyler. “And Olivia’s right, you’ve been a shitass little punk. Mama belongs to us now, so you’re going to have to work for our respect.”
“If you so much as make her frown from now on kid, you’ll answer to me,” Luca warns, wrapping me entirely in love and warmth from head to toe.
“Why don’t you come to dinner tomorrow night? You don’t have to be back up to school for classes until Tuesday, right? Wait…why aren’t you in them today?” I add realizing it’s Friday.
“I uh, decided to stay here in town and go to school here. Dad…he hasn’t even been to the house in over two months, hasn’t called to check on me, hasn’t texted. I tried to talk to Grandma about it but she told me to stop asking questions and get ready for school so I could go into the family business. That she knew of a good girl that’d be perfect for me in a few years. All she wants is to marry me off to some society chick,” Tyler whines, putting a grin on my face. “The last two weeks with orientation and then classes…hell, I realized that I was lucky to have you hounding me considering what some of the kids there dealt with. You cared and I treated you like crap.”
“You did, hopefully you’ll have it all out of your system before your sister gets here, in January,” I add, making his brow lift as he looks from me to Luca. “She’s Luca’s regardless of biology. Your father said he didn’t want any more kids so she’s not his. She was mine before I knew what she was, and from the moment I told Luca about her, she was ours. We can discuss it more tomorrow, at dinner.”
“Yeah, where?” he asks.
“Tamales?” Luca suggests and I let out a soft moan, nodding. “Preston Park, northside parking lot. Our sister has a food truck there, mama loves it.”
“Can you lay off the mama stuff for a bit? It’s hard enough to think about you and my mom together but with that shit you said…” Tyler stops, shaking his head, and my smile grows further. Luca’s arms pull me tighter into him and I know, I’ve finally found my home.
It’s here in Luca’s arms.
