Up in Smoke (Hotshots 4)

“Maybe...” Rolling toward him, Brandt cracked his eyes half-open.

“Yeah?”

“Nothing.” Looking away, Brandt sagged back against the pillow. “Only that you don’t have to go. You can sleep here.”

“That what you want?” Shane stretched out next to him, his front to Brandt’s side, holding him close as he dared.

Brandt took a lengthy pause, several breaths before his head dropped against Shane. “Maybe.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do.” Shane kissed Brandt’s messy hair and held him close. Brandt was already halfway to sleep, and it wasn’t long at all before he relaxed even more in Shane’s arms, softly snoring. Shifting restlessly, Shane willed the rest of his erection to go away. This wasn’t about sex, not tonight. It was about what Brandt needed, about making him feel better after a fucked-up day, and about giving him what little comfort Shane could.

And strangely, sleeping without sex was way more intimate than if Brandt had wanted to get off first. And way more deadly to Shane’s heart, a possibility that kept him awake long after Brandt drifted off.

Chapter Seventeen

“Okay, baby. Let’s do this thing.” Brandt triple-checked the position and tightness of the sling before taking his hands away to close his car door. He’d dropped Shane off at the steak house’s back entrance, then he and Jewel had taken their time getting set to go watch. Fresh bottle. A change. A ride in the sling instead of the bulky car seat. Surprisingly, Brandt liked wearing Jewel, liked her close, and liked how she smiled for him when he looked down at her. Shane might have the magic touch with his singing for her when she was fussy, but Brandt loved how the sling could have a similar calming effect.

All in all, he was feeling like the super dad Shane thought he was, and he stood up a little taller as he reached the hostess station on the expansive porch of the Western-themed building which vaguely resembled an upscale barn in styling.

“Welcome.” The blonde woman working the hostess station had a smile and aggressively helpful demeanor worthy of an insurance commercial. She grabbed two menus before Brandt even had a chance to speak. “Waiting for your wife before you grab a table?”

“Uh...no. No wife. Just us.” Smiling back, he gestured at the baby.

“Awww.” The hostess did the whole fake-melting thing that some women liked to do around small children and animals. She also didn’t hide her slow perusal of his ring finger either. “Table for one, then. Er...two. You going to want a high chair?”

“She’s not sitting up yet enough for a high chair.” Brandt laughed and patted Jewel. From his scouring of the baby book, Shane would know the exact month babies started sitting independently, but Brandt at least knew enough to not put her in something without back support. Planning ahead for sitting on the patio to hear the band, he’d dressed her in the dragon sleeper with the hood.

“She seems pretty happy right where she is.” Having finished examining Brandt’s hands, the woman returned her gaze to his face, far flirtier glint to her eyes. And on a different night, Brandt might flirt back, have a little fun, but tonight his attention was already on the small stage where the band was setting up.

“Hopefully, she stays calm until the music starts.” He followed the woman as she wove her way between tables full of families and couples enjoying the start of their weekends with lots of platter-size steaks and cocktails in mason jars.

“Oh, you came for the music? This group is usually fun. I’ll get you a table with a decent view.”

She finally arrived at a tiny table off to the side. Table for one, indeed. Maybe he should have invited Hartman and Reid or some of the other guys to come out and hear Shane sing. Weird as being so conspicuously single here was, though, he also was strangely reluctant to share Shane with his coworkers. Not because he feared their judgment, but because he wasn’t sure he could hide all his mixed-up emotions and wasn’t really ready for any razzing in that department, didn’t want them cheapening...whatever the fuck this was.

“Enjoy the music.” She gave him another lingering smile.

“Thanks. I’m...friends with the singer they’ve got tonight.” He was, right? If nothing else, he and Shane had to be friends at this point. Fuck buddies didn’t share massages, didn’t hold someone all night simply because they had a bad day, and didn’t wake up early to make sure Brandt had coffee and food for another long day.

“Excellent.” She gave him a last flirty glance, and a more determined guy than Brandt would have probably come away with her number, but Brandt wasn’t that guy, not tonight.

Instead, he was the guy who bounced his kid in the sling and ordered finger food easy to eat one-handed with a baby on his front. Hell, it was only him and Jewel. No one else to care if they got three appetizers and no main dish. And this way, he could maybe save some food for when Shane got his break between sets. While they waited on his order, he made the silverware dance for Jewel. She loved when he got silly with her soft toys, and his antics earned him another gummy grin.