Free Lemon Truffles - Love Instantly by Cece Monét Page B

stick figure man she had a feeling was supposed to be Cheng. They were all smiling and standing next to a square shape with a red blob on it. She was pretty sure they were all happy in the drawing as they watched one of Jayden’s favorite TV shows.
    Slowly she turned to look over her shoulder. Cheng was staring at her intently as though he was awaiting her answer as eagerly as Jayden was. She knew intuitively that he’d heard their son’s excited, high pitched voice, especially with the high volume on her phone. Damn broken volume button. She slowly turned back around and closed her eyes, willing her pulse and breathing to both slow down so she could think. Knowing she couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer, she finally replied as her son prompted her with “mommy?” Almost as if he’d had to remind her so she didn’t forgot he was still there. That was laughable. As if that could or ever would happen.
    “ Yes baby. I’ll bring him so we can all watch Yo Gabba Gabba .”
    “ Yay! Okay, I’ll see you later. Bye mommy.”
    As she turned back to look at her son’s father, who still maintained a bit of a tight posture, Angela knew for sure. Heaven help her, but she was in trouble.
    ~
    Cheng should have felt happy about this situation. Ironically, his son had made the first move when indecisiveness seemed to have plagued both Cheng and Angela, causing them both to have tied hands, thereby guaranteeing their inaction. Cheng had been allowing Angela to have space in order to figure out what she wanted to do. He had also been preparing himself mentally for if she ultimately rejected him.
    His hormones and thoughts were in disarray right now though as he drove to her house. Sitting next to her during what felt like a marathon meeting earlier had been sheer agony. She smelled so feminine, so soft and sweet like night blooming jasmine. He’d wanted to slowly run his fingers up and down her stocking covered leg until his hand could disappear under her skirt and between her thighs... He’d actually spent most of that meeting being quite uncomfortable and trying to hide his hard on.
    Now at his own child’s behest, he would continue to be forced to spend time in the presence of the very source of his hellish anguish. Cheng sighed in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair as he was now stopped at a traffic light. He wanted to convince himself when he agreed to this meeting that he was simply doing what would be in Jayden’s best interest.
    He didn’t want the nagging thoughts that felt an awful lot like an ulterior motive to detract from the time he would spend with his son. If he were being honest with himself, he could admit that he was not a damn monk though and his attempts at feigning such were failing miserably. He still hadn’t been able to divorce himself from desire at all, much less keep himself from the one woman he really wanted.
    In preparation for eventually spending time with Jayden, Cheng had spent time looking at his son’s photos and videos at least a few times every week. Truthfully, he’d found that one of the reasons keeping his distance from Angela was so hard was because it also meant spending even more time away from his only child. He hadn’t been actively focused on it, but his desire to have a family had grown exponentially, especially since he’d found out how much time he’d already missed being a part of Jayden’s life.
    Maybe this is what happened to people once they were in their thirties – the ache to be a part of their own family bit and sank in hard. They finally thought about their long term futures with the desire to be settled at least to some extent becoming downright relentless. Then again, his own immediate family of origin being gone might have something to do with his specific increasing need to start his own family now too.
    Cheng’s mother had died of pancreatic cancer seven years ago and his father, who was significantly older than his mother, thirty years