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A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. It wasn’t until he opened it that he realized he’d never told Braden where he lived. “How’d you know where our house was?”

Braden slipped inside, brushing against Wes as he did. He wore a long-sleeved shirt, camo, with a leather necklace around his neck. For some reason, Wes wondered if he wore the black leather bracelets that he usually had on his wrists. He couldn’t see because of his shirt. But he did notice the scent of soap drifting around Wes when Braden passed.

“I asked Coop, who had to call Noah at the shop. I drove, he called me with the address as I did, and abracadabra, I’m here. Where’s the Squirt?” He crossed his arms, looking completely comfortable leaning against Wes’s deep green couch.

How in the hell did they get here? He’d fucked this man after knowing him for an hour, and now he would babysit Jess?
He’s Cooper’s friend. He works for the fire department.
He could trust him.

“She’s in the second room down the hall. She’s sleeping right now. Maybe go check on her like every ten minutes or so. I gave her medicine two hours ago. She gets a teaspoon every four hours, but only if she’s not feeling well or has a fever. It’s on the bathroom counter. I’ll keep my phone on vibrate. Text me every little while to let me know how she’s doing. If you need me, call. I don’t give a shit if she just has a runny nose and wants to talk to me. Call.”

It wasn’t till he finished talking that he realized the right side of Braden’s mouth kicked up in a partial smile. Dark stubble, matching his chocolate brown hair, teased his jawline. Fucker. Why did he have to be so sexy? “What?”

“I have six nieces and nephews. I can handle it. You better go before you’re late.” Braden crossed his arms, his deltoids flexing when he did. Wes loved those damn muscles. They’d always been his favorite.

Braden’s smile grew. “Aren’t you running short on time?”

Wes shook his head, adjusted his tie again. Yeah, he needed to go. Go to his interview so he had money to take care of his niece, who slept in the next room. These were the things he needed to focus on. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

He turned toward the door when Braden’s voice stopped him. “Wes.”

He looked back. “What?”

“The suit? Holy shit, what I can imagine doing to you in that thing. You look good.”

Wes closed his eyes. He couldn’t do this right now. Really couldn’t. Maybe not ever. He wasn’t good at this kind of thing. Didn’t really know how to open his mouth and accept the compliment. And at this time in his life, dealing with a man wasn’t something he needed to worry about. Not that he even knew what he’d say regardless.

Wes opened his eyes and turned for the door again. This time he got as far as opening it before Braden called his name again.

“What?” Wes groaned out, this time without turning around.

“You’re doing real good with her. Just thought you should know.”

His fist tightened on the doorknob. He wanted nothing more than to do right by that little girl. The words
thank you
lodged in his throat; not because he had a problem thanking someone, but because Braden’s words meant something to him. They made his chest fill and blood rush through him.

Everyone who knew him understood how hard it was for him to talk about things that really mattered. If he didn’t say them, he could pretend they weren’t true. Not feeling made it a whole lot easier when he lost them, and Wes always lost the people who mattered to him.

“Tick tock, man. You’re going to be late.” Braden saved him. Wes took the life raft he tossed and walked out without another word.

––––––––

Q
uietly, Braden slipped down the hallway for his fourth fifteen-minute check of Jessie. Fifteen minutes he could do. Wes’s suggestion of every ten was just crazy.

He pushed the door open to see her lying on her side with her eyes open. “Hey Squirt. You remember me, right?”

She nodded. “You’re Braden, and you’re not a stranger. I asked Uncle Wes.”

That made him smile. He wasn’t a stranger, huh? He had a feeling even something as small as telling Jessie that had been tough for Wes. “Your uncle had to go somewhere very important. He’ll be back in about an hour, though. How ya feeling?” Braden stepped into the room.

“Okay.”

He stopped next to her bed and saw a thermometer there. “Do you think we should take your temperature real quick?”

She nodded, looking much more puny than she had at the grocery store the other day. He told her to lift her tongue and he put the thermometer into her mouth. When it beeped, he saw her temperature was ninety-nine point nine. Not bad at all.

“Can I watch TV?” Jessie asked him.

“Sure.” TV sounded like a better idea than thinking about Wes, which is what he’d been doing before she woke up. Wes’s rambling step-by-step instructions on taking care of Jessie had been cute. Wes was already a good father to her, yet he didn’t see it. Braden couldn’t understand how he couldn’t. Those little things intrigued him, made him want to know what made Wes tick and why.

Braden helped her up, grabbing her blanket and pillow. He made her a bed on the couch and turned on the TV. She snuggled under her princess blanket as he flipped through the channels.

“Nice. Tom and Jerry is on,” he said, and she wrinkled her nose at him. “Is that a ‘I don’t like Tom and Jerry’ frown, or an ‘I’ve never seen Tom and Jerry’ frown?”

“I only watch princesses or Disney.”

Oops. Tom and Jerry wasn’t bad, was it? “Because you aren’t supposed to watch other things, or because you only like those things?”

“Princesses are pretty.”

That was a good enough answer to him. “How about we watch one episode, and if you don’t laugh like crazy, I’ll turn it. Deal?” He held out his hand to her but Jessie just smiled in response.

“Mommy paints my nails when I’m sick. Can you paint my nails?”

Umm, did he have to? “Are you bribing me into painting your nails so I can watch Tom and Jerry?” Braden tried not to laugh but couldn’t help himself. She was good.

His laughter died when she asked, “What’s that?”

Nice. Wes left him with her for two hours and he almost taught her how to start bribing people to get her way. “Nothing. Where’s the nail polish?”

He looked in the bathroom cabinet like she said and found about eleven thousand shades of pink. He grabbed two of them and took them out so Jessie could pick. As it turned out, she wanted both. He set them on the coffee table and sat down on the floor in front of her. Jessie stretched her arm out toward him, all messy curls and red cheeks.

“You’re enjoying this too much,” he teased as he opened the bottles. As he did, Jerry snagged Tom in one of Tom’s own traps and they both started laughing. “You haven’t seen the best of it yet. Keep watching.”

Jessie giggled, her eyes on the TV.

Braden wasn’t going to pretend he knew the first thing about painting nails. What he did learn was wiping the brush was a must, because her first nail had polish halfway down her finger.

She didn’t seem to mind, though, just lay there watching Tom and Jerry. Every so often he’d forget what he was doing and get lost in cat and mouse antics, but then Jessie would wiggle her fingers again and he would start painting.

The door opened while he painted her last nail.
Fuck.
He’d hoped to finish before Wes got back. The man stood in the doorway, looking down at Braden on the floor with two colors of bright-pink nail polish open next to him.

“Tom and Jerry’s on.” Braden winked at Wes, which seemed to wake him up.

“I see that. And you’re painting nails.”

“I have two sisters.”

“I had two sisters as well, and I’ve never painted a nail in my life.”

Braden shook his head while Wes smiled. He closed the door and walked over, laying a hand on Jessie’s forehead. “How ya doing, kiddo?”

“Good.”

Braden closed the bottles and stood. “I didn’t give her anything. Her fever’s only ninety-nine point nine. I haven’t checked in a bit, though. You might want to.”

He noticed Wes had loosened his tie, leaving it draped around his neck. The urge to grab it and pull him closer made Braden’s palms tingle but he held back.

“You get the job?” he asked.

Wes’s eyebrows rose playfully, something Braden had never seen from the man. “Nailed it.”

Oh, the things he could say to that comment. Wes seemed to realize it, because he added, “You say it and I’m kicking your ass.”

“That’s not nice, Uncle Wes!” Jessie called from the couch.

Wes’s jaw tightened.

“Smart kid.” Braden chuckled.

“You’re always taking his side.” He ruffled Jessie’s hair. Braden watched his eyes when he looked at her, saw how much he loved her, but the fear there, too. Damn, he respected the man. He wanted him again, too, but now probably wasn’t the best time to be thinking about that.

“Well, I guess I’ll let you guys get back to your day. You get better Squirt, okay?” Braden waved at her and took a step back. When he did, Jessie sat up.

“Don’t go. Can’t you stay? I bet Uncle Wes hasn’t seen Tom and Jerry, either. We can all watch. And I’m hungry. Do we have anything to eat? Popsicles, too. Mommy says the only time you can eat as many popsicles as you want is when you’re sick.”

Wow. That was a mouthful. Braden looked at Wes. “How do you keep up with her?”

Wes had his eyes firmly on Jessie. “I’m sure Braden has things to do.”

“Please, Uncle Wes. Please, Braden!” Jessie asked before she started coughing again.

Wes knelt beside her, stroking her hair. “Please Uncle Wes?” she asked again.

Braden heard Wes exhale, but then he looked up at Braden, question in his eyes. “Sure, Squirt. I can stay. Only if you have popsicles, though.” Hanging out with them sounded more fun than anything else he could think of anyway.

***

W
es set the bags of groceries on the counter as Braden slipped into the kitchen behind him. “She fell asleep again. I left her on the couch. I didn’t know if I should carry her to her room or if leaving her there would be okay.”

“She’s good where she is.” He kept his voice low as not to wake her. “Since she’s sleeping, you can head out if you want. I don’t want to keep you.” Being Friday, Braden probably had plans tonight.

“Nah. I promised the kid I’d make her chicken soup, so I will. It was my mom’s staple when we were sick. Unless you want me to go?” Braden cocked a brow at him. He always did that. It shouldn’t be so sexy, but it was.

He also should tell Braden to leave. The man had no business being tied into their lives. He didn’t want Jessie to get close to someone who had no reason to stick around. “Listen,” Wes peeked into the living room to see she still slept. “This is probably going to make me sound like an ass, which I’m sure wouldn’t be a surprise to you considering I have a habit of it, but we have a lot of shit going on right now. She lost her mom. I don’t know the first thing about raising a kid. I don’t have time in my life for anything else.” All the truth, but what Braden didn’t know was that he never had time for anything else. Lydia had been right about that.

It took a minute for Braden to reply. He stepped close to Wes and fingered his tie. Heat scorched through him that easily. Damn the man and the physical response he had over Wes.

“I know I gave you hell before, but I get it. It’s never really happened to me before, but you apparently have more important things in your life than fucking me.”

Wes laughed. “Always joking around.”

“Not when it’s important. I know the difference. Just friends.” He held up two fingers. “Scouts honor.”

“Don’t they hold up three fingers?”

“Don’t know. Never was a scout.” He grabbed Wes’s tie again and yanked. Wes went easily, cursing himself the whole time. His body lined up flush against Braden’s. He smelled the man’s soap again and felt Braden’s body heat seeping into him.

He lowered his lips so they were close to Wes’s ear, and damned if his cock didn’t start to stir.

“Sorry. That fucking tie was killing me. Just wanted to do that once.
Now
just friends. Scouts honor.” He let go and stepped back.

A small tingle of anger formed in Wes’s gut, but it wasn’t stronger than his amusement. “You would have made a shitty boy scout.”

Braden winked. “For more than one reason.”

Wes had no doubt about that.

Jessie slept on and off all afternoon. Braden made chicken soup, something Wes never would have expected, before getting sent back to the store for popsicles.

Jess drank a little of the broth but that was all. Mostly she and Braden ate popsicles all day and watched cartoons. Hours passed, and Wes expected Braden to leave at any time but he didn’t.

The afternoon flew by faster than he expected. By seven that evening, Jessie was ready for bed.

It didn’t take Wes long to get her ready. He slipped her bedroom door closed and went into the living room to hear the water running. “Hey. You don’t need to do the dishes. You cooked.”

Braden shrugged. “I get antsy if I’m sitting around too much. It’s no problem.”

“That go for your personal life, too?” he asked, not sure why he did. To distract himself, he went over and started filling the dishwasher as Braden rinsed.

“I guess. I get bored easily. Always have. There’s a big world out there, and I don’t want to miss anything, ya know?”

No, he really didn’t. He’d never had his head in the clouds, never really wanted a whole lot. They hadn’t had much growing up. As long as he had his family, he’d been okay. His dad had been like that, though, which was why he left and never came back.

“So that’s why you swing both ways. Just one bores you?” Wes turned off the water and leaned against the counter. It was another question he shouldn’t be curious about.

“No, not really. I mean, in one way, you could look at it like that. If something feels good, I do it. Why not? But then, it’s not like I get bored of a woman so I go in search of a man, or the other way around. I’m attracted to people because of how they make me feel. I’m attracted to who they are—the person, and not their gender.”