Stay

Page 10

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.
Chapter Four
Quietly, 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.