His Hotcakes Baby by Sabel Simmons Page B

facing the sea.  Aiden’s face was stiff and slightly
flushed.  Chase appeared relaxed.
    “Dinner is ready.”
    “We’ll meet up then in the morning,
Aiden?”
    “Yes, Chase.”
    “Why don’t you go and tell Essie we’ll
be right there.  I have something to discuss with Mackenzie.”
    He nodded and without looking at her,
he went downstairs.  Chase sat looking at her broodingly and she crossed her
arms over her chest.
    “Why is it that you give me such a
hard time, but you allow your little snip of a brother to walk all over you?”
    “You wouldn’t understand.”
    “I think I have a fairly good idea,
honey.  Somewhere, somehow you have to realize you are doing more damage to
that young man than good.”
    Mackenzie clamped her lips together. 
Hearing the same tune Gaby has sung many a time.  Neither one of them had to
live with the eight year old boy who was devastated when he lost both his
parents.  Neither had to rock him to sleep for years after the nightmares of
the accident, where both of their parents were killed.  He was in the vehicle
with them and even though he was unhurt, he had to watch their parents die
before the emergency services arrived.
    She also could not deny that they were
right.  Mackenzie realized it herself two years ago, but by then his rebellion
had already started. She turned to the door.
    “Dinner is getting cold.”
    Chase frowned.  He noticed before that
she has a tendency to change the subject if she did not want to discuss an
issue.  It was a habit of hers he intended to break.
    “Mackenzie, come here.”
    She turned around and walked a few
steps closer.  His eyebrows rose, but she refused to budge.  He needed to be
more specific if he wanted more from her!
    “Here, honey.  On my lap.”
    “They are waiting for us.”
    “Then stop wasting more time.”
    “I don’t want to sit on your lap.  We
do not have a lap-sit-type of relationship!”
    “Not with that attitude we won’t.  I
have something to say to you.”
    “As I am sure you are very well aware,
Chase Paxton that I am not deaf.   I can hear pretty well from here.”
    Chase sighed heavily and rose. He
pushed his hands in his pockets and strolled closer.
    “Very well.”
    Mackenzie turned and aimed for the
door.
    “We’ll discuss it in our room later.”
    She spun around and nearly slammed
into him.  Her green eyes spat fire at him.
    “What did you just say?”
    “I thought you said you are not deaf?”
    “I am not … I repeat NOT staying in
your room!”
    “Quite correct.  You will be staying
in our room.”
    She turned and walked out the door. 
He followed and smiled at her one sided conversation which he refused to
respond to.
    “I am not even going to accommodate
you on this!  People come to a decision like that together.  Just because I
carry your baby in my belly does not mean you have the right to make decisions
on my behalf!”
    She stomped down the stairs with Chase
following, his hands still in his pockets with a wide smile on his face.  She
jerked to a stop at the bottom stair and he had to grab her as he nearly walked
into her.
    “Bloody hell, Mackenzie!  Be careful!”
    “Did you tell him?”
    “Tell who what?”
    “Did you tell Aiden about the baby?”
    He stared at her with a frown.
    “Are you ashamed of being pregnant
with my child, Mackenzie?”
    “Where … what makes you think that?” 
She literally gaped at him.
    He relaxed at her openly shocked
reaction.
    “You clearly do not want him to know.”
    She threw her hands in the air and
rolled her eyes and then looked at him directly.
    “I asked a straightforward question.
It required a simple yes or no answer.”
    “No, and if you ask me why not, I am
going to spank you!”
    She turned around with a huff and set
off to the patio by the pool where they were having dinner.
    Aiden sat with a long lip throughout
dinner.  Billy kept ribbing him about falling into the sea when they arrived
and he would not listen