Facing West (Forever Wilde 1)

I reached out a finger to lift his chin. “Thank you.”

He blushed to the tips of his ears. “What for?”

“Well, first of all, the hottest sex I’ve ever had. Hands down,” I said with a grin. “Secondly, for coming over tonight even though I know you wanted to spend time with Griff.”

His tongue twisted in his mouth like he wanted to say something but was holding himself back. Finally he spoke. “I can see Griff back in California. I can’t see you back in California.” He crouched down to strip my pants off me before tossing them out into my bedroom and continuing. “I don’t know… maybe it’s selfish. But I…” More twisting of the tongue.

I brushed my hand across his cheek. “You?”

“I can’t seem to stay away from you,” he admitted, looking up at me with a familiar look of defiance on his face, almost like he was daring me to laugh at him.

“I sure as hell can’t stay away from you, Nico. So the feeling is mutual.”

His face softened. “Yeah? Well… good. I’m not the only one being stupid then.” He laughed softly before rubbing his hands up and down my chest. “But… West, it’s more than just sex for me. This… whatever this is here…”

He blew out a breath and looked everywhere but at my face.

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close before murmuring, “Is scary as shit and piss-poor timing?”

Nico just nodded silently against my chest.

“I know,” I said softly. “I don’t want you to go back to California. I feel hopelessly selfish.”

I felt his lips turn up against my skin.

After dropping a kiss into his hair, I reached over to turn on the shower. “Fuck this. Let’s shake it off and get cleaned up so we can get dirty again. What do you say?”

He nodded his agreement, and we enjoyed our shower together, soaping each other’s bodies languidly while catching up on our day. I told him about the patient I’d had who got bitten by a snake in her garden, and he told me about painting cakes with Griff at the bakery.

Nico got squirrelly again a little while later, and I asked him what was going on in that colorful head of his. We were in my bedroom, and I was searching for comfortable lounge pants that might fit his smaller frame so he didn’t have to spray-paint his leather pants back on.

“Would it be okay if I stayed over tonight? It’s either that or sleep on the sofa at home… I mean, at Adriana’s.”

I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Are you kidding? Of course it’s okay. You were staying here either way, but this way it’s not considered felony kidnapping,” I said with a wink, handing him my smallest pajama pants.

The minute the word “kidnapping” was out of my mouth, Nico’s smile dropped. “Yeah, ah… we should also probably talk about Pippa.”

My stomach dropped as I realized the connection he was making. Doc had told me about the run-in with Curt Billingham in town.

“I don’t give a shit what the birth certificate says, Nico. You’re her family. You’re her uncle. I’m nothing to her,” I assured him. “You know I would never let anyone accuse you of having her illegally. You know that. Tell me you do.”

He looked up at me, insecurity plain as day in his eyes, and I wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. I’d never wanted to throttle Adriana before in my life the way I did in that moment for putting him in this situation. For fucking this up for him.

“I know you’re not going to have me put in jail, West, but the fact remains that if you’re listed as the father on the birth certificate, you actually have legal custody of her right now.”

“That’s just a paperwork issue. She’s still yours,” I insisted.

“No. She’s not. Because this is a paperwork issue. I’m putting her up for adoption. But I can’t, because she’s not mine to put up. That means you’ll be the one to sign the adoption paperwork.”

“But I can rescind my paternal rights and—”

Nico interrupted. “Then she would become a ward of the state and the adoption process would have to begin again. Only this time she’d be in foster care. You can’t transfer ownership of a baby to me like she’s a vehicle I’m buying from you. I’d have to go through the entire process to qualify to adopt her. That would include home visits and background checks. Instead, you can just be the one to sign the paperwork for the Warners.”

We’d slipped into more comfortable clothes and sat on the edge of my bed. I turned and took his hands in mine.

“Nico, I’ll do what you want me to do. What do you want me to do?”

Chapter 33

Nico

West was being so damned sweet. Didn’t he know that wasn’t going to help me be strong?