I hold my beer suspended in midair—frozen—as I watch an adult woman climb the thick trunk. “Is she nuts?” I mutter before taking another drink.
Rhett snorts. “A little. But in a good way.”
Luke’s feet bounce excitedly as he watches her. “Don’t go too high! What if you get stuck?”
“You’d save me,” Willa calls back from what sounds like much higher up the tree than I thought she’d go.
“I’m too small. But my dad would save you!”
Her raspy laugh reaches us at the back deck. It’s still as disarming as it was earlier today. “I don’t know about that. He might be happy to leave me up here, Luke.”
I press my lips together. She’s not entirely wrong. My life would be a lot less complicated if she hadn’t waltzed into Chestnut Springs this morning.
My dick would be a lot softer too.
“Oh never. He helps everyone,” my son replies, making my heart twist in my chest. Sometimes I wonder how I must seem to him, how I look in his eyes. And this one gets me right in the gut.
“Sounds like you’ve got a pretty great dad,” Willa replies instantly, sounding a little breathless now. “How lucky are you?”
“Yeah . . .” Luke trails off thoughtfully. “No mom though. She moved away and doesn’t visit.”
My brother sucks in a breath from beside me, eyes darting in my direction. “Goddamn, kids just say whatever comes to mind, don’t they?”
I swallow thickly and nod. I’ve worked hard to shield Luke from the reality of his mom, of the choices she’s made—the type of person she is.
I never want him to feel unwanted.
Willa drops to the ground, brushes her hands against each other, and crouches in front of my son. Her head tips up to look him in the eye, hands stroking his upper arms as she smiles at him.
“Sounds like her loss, because you might be the coolest kid I’ve ever met.”
She doesn’t use a sad voice, or a baby voice, she just talks to him like a normal human being.
“Fucking hell,” I curse under my breath because she just practically hired herself.
4
Willa
I swallow hard when Luke pushes his soft little fingers between my own. I also swallow down the agitation I feel at the thought of someone—a mother, no less—not coming to visit a kid like this.
The universe blessed me with two badass parents. Ones who would crawl through glass to get to me. I want to be that kind of mother one day. Fierce. Fearless.
Sucking air in through my nostrils, I remind myself that it’s not my business. That I don’t know the full story. That maybe there’s a good reason for whatever’s going on with his mom. But his voice is so sweet, and his hand is so chubby, and he’s been cracking my shit up since he announced his dad wears boxers and not panties.
I don’t really consider myself a kid person, not in the mushy, heart-eyed kind of way. Haven’t spent enough time around them to know for sure if I am. Usually I just talk to them like tiny adults. But after years of bartending, I know people. And no matter what his age is, Luke is a cool person.
Giving his hand a quick squeeze—that he almost instantly returns—I pull back the curtain of branches, only to find Rhett and Cade sitting in two red chairs staring at us.
The similarities in their body language are impossible to miss. But where Rhett is all smiles, Cade is all scowls.
All thick arms and broad chest and furrowed brow. Dirty boots. Muscular thighs.
Cowboy porn with a frown.
“Dad!” Luke calls, darting toward the deck. “Did you see me? Did you see Willa? She climbed so high. I wanna learn to climb that high. Uncle Rhett, how high can you climb?”
“Can we not ask the daredevil in this family that question?” Cade mutters, but he doesn’t look at his son. No, his eyes latch onto me.
Rhett pushes up to his feet beside me. “I don’t know, pal. Why don’t we go see?”
Luke bounces in place. “Really?”
“Absolutely, little man.” Rhett sets down his can of beer and pads across the deck barefoot while Luke turns and races back to the tree. “Let’s go! Gotta let the panty bandit here chat with Willa.”
“Jesus Christ. They already told you about that?” Cade grumbles as a laugh rumbles in Rhett’s chest.
Cade’s eyes snap to mine, and I bite down on my bottom lip to keep from smiling as I continue to walk toward him. Then his gaze drops, and it’s like he can’t peel his eyes away from my mouth.