Page 71 of Fierce-Michael

But she already knew he was loyal and caring.

Everything he did for his ex, he said he did it for Ty.

She believed that, but there were times she wondered if he did more than he needed to.

Yes, he wanted his ex happy so that she was in a good situation or mental health around Ty, but when she’d heard what Ty had said while Michael was talking about him having a girlfriend and the questions the four-year-old asked, she knew Michael was pissed.

She was a little upset for him.

Those weren’t things that should be coming out of a child’s mouth.

But she knew it was none of her business to say anything either.

“He’s not a dog,” she said. “Trust me when I say I’ve dated my fair share of what I’d consider a dog.”

“I don’t want to know,” he said.

“I don’t want to tell you,” she said, laughing. “But you know all the important things.”

“I do,” he said. “Enough about busting my ass. I know Owen has questions so he might as well get them off his chest and then we can relax and shoot the shit. Owen is good at that too.”

“Questions?” she asked.

“Yep,” Owen said. “Michael said you like kids. How would you feel about being a stepmother? And would you treat Ty any differently if you had your child with Michael?”

“No,” Michael said. “That’s out of line and you know it.”

Kelly was laughing. “I think he’s busting on you. Right?”

She hoped.

Owen started to laugh and even slapped his knee. “Dude. You’ve never gotten so serious in your life over a question. I asked Kelly to seeyourreaction. I got the answer I needed.”

She turned and saw Michael roll his eyes. “I should have expected that.”

“Do you want me to answer or not?”

“If you want to,” Owen said. “Unless Michael has a problem with it.”

“I don’t care if he has a problem with it,” she said. “I think it’s a fair question. We are nowhere near marriage or babies. And yes things happen because I believe Michael has some powerful little swimmers, but trust me, they’d have to break through two barriers there.”

“Huh?” Michael asked.

“I’m on the pill. I have been for years for several reasons, but I don’t have unprotected sex either. So we’d have to be unlucky for me to get pregnant.”

“That’s good to know,” Owen said.

“Moving on to your question. Whether the word step or not is in front of the word mother, it makes no difference to me. I know Ty is Michael’s son, but when I love someone, I do it unconditionally. I would no more make decisions with my child, let alone Ty, without talking to Michael first and making sure we agreed on things.”

“Look at that, Michael,” Owen said. “You’re winning tonight and all you need to do is sit there and listen.”

“Keep up the questions,” Kelly said. “I’m game. Michael can observe and maybe this is a good way for us to get things out without it being uncomfortable.”

She lifted her eyebrows at her boyfriend and he just shrugged and ordered a beer when the server came around.

“Okay, next question...”

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