“Nothing.”
“Well, be nice and don’t upset your sister or I’ll box your ears.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“Of course,” Declan said.
Wendy walked up. “What did you two do now?”
“Well—” Declan said, but Aeden cut him off.
“Nothing. Just Declan being Declan. Who was that guy?”
She blinked, and he didn’t blame her. There was a tone in his voice even he didn’t recognize. He cleared his throat and mentally chastised himself. Declan was a pain in the ass, but his brother was right. Wendy wanted to keep their relationship under wraps. He needed to respect that. “Sorry. It just looked like you knew him.”
“Oh. He’s one of the pediatric doctors here. He didn’t know I’d gotten back, but you can’t keep anything quiet here amongst the nursing staff for long. Word had made it to him and others that I was here in L and D.”
He nodded and noticed one of the nurses, who had been in and out of his sister’s room, had walked up. “Well, Fitzpatricks and Santinis, she’s ready; although, there are a lot of you. I understand the insistence on the private room now,” she said with a laugh. “Let’s see if I can fit you all in there.”
Everyone turned to follow the nurse to the room, but he held Wendy back. “Everything’s good, though, right?”
She smiled and patted his arm. “She’s great, little Mike is great, and Brando seems to have recovered well enough. He no longer looks like he’s going to pass out.”
“I’m never going to let him forget it.”
“Well, he seems to have forgotten, because he’s strutting around like he’s the only man to have impregnated someone, but most men are the same way. Have you heard from his parents?”
“Yes. His Aunt Joey talked his mother. Brando’s mother was a bit miffed that her grandson decided to show up early, but they were on their way to the airport about an hour ago. Vince is going to pick them up at BWI,” he explained. Vince was Joey and Papa’s oldest son, who was stationed at Quantico in Virginia.
“Great. Your brothers?”
“I got read the riot act.”
She blinked. “About what?”
He glanced around them to make sure no one was within earshot. “They apparently think I’m taking advantage of you.”
“I like to think we’re taking advantage of each other.”
He shook his head, realizing she didn’t understand. “They think you need protecting.”
For a long moment she said nothing, but then she said, “That’s kind of sweet. I’ve never had anyone look out for me, with the exception of your sister.”
“You know that’s not true, right?”
“What?”
He rolled his eyes. “You know that we all look out for you, right? There’s a reason Declan makes sure you have food in your kitchen, and mom calls constantly. All of us who work at the station make sure guys know if they want to date you, they better treat you right.”
She blinked again with that same strange look on her face. “You warned guys away from me?”
“Well, I might have a little bit, mainly because…well, you know.”
“No, I don’t know. Tell me.”
“Okay, so I’ve had a thing for you for years. So there. But Emmet, Connal, and Seamus let the guys know you should be respected.”
“I’m not sure I like that.”
“You don’t like having men stick up for you?”
“I don’t like having men think I need them to stick up for me. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time.”
“And, maybe one of these days, you’ll figure out that when someone cares about you, they look out for you. Women.”
“Okay, but still, I don’t want you and your brothers to think I can’t take care of myself.”
“Did anyone say that, woman?”
“No,” she said, looking like she was trying not to laugh in his face.
“What?”
“How long have you had a crush on me?”
“I didn’t say I had a crush on you. I just said…” he realized that, in a way, he had told her just that. “Never mind. I want to see my nephew.”
Aeden knew he was heading for an embarrassing defeat, so he turned and headed off in the same direction his family had gone. She giggled and caught up with him.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby.”
“I’m not being a baby. I want to see a baby.”
“Yeah, well, he’s loud and cranky, so I have a feeling you two are going to get along wonderfully.”
* * *
It was the next morning before things settled down enough for Wendy and Kaitlin to have time together alone. Wendy finally had the little man all to herself. She was seated in a chair next to Kaitlin’s bed.
“I’m so glad Marcella and Tony convinced Brando to go eat something. He looked like he was going to pass out from hunger,” Kaitlin said.
She laughed. They all had been trying to convince the steadfast Marine to eat something, but he hadn’t wanted to leave his wife’s bedside. His mother had seen what was going on, and used his father to bully him into eating.
“You can’t blame the man,” Wendy said. “I wouldn’t want to leave this one behind either.”
He was perfect, but Wendy believed that every baby was perfect—no matter what.
“You look good with a baby.”
She glanced up at Kaitlin. “We’ve had this discussion before.”
Her parents had taught her that the Reynolds family was not built for functional relationships. Even though both her parents had remarried and stayed with the second spouse, they were far from the best marriages. That was why she had always said she wouldn’t marry, and she knew she couldn’t raise a kid by herself. Strike that. She could. She didn’t want to do it by herself.
“I think you’re stupid.”
“Well, I love you too. I thought you were done with calling people names.”
During her labor, Kaitlin had called Wendy a banshee from hell, which had upset Deidre, but it had just made Wendy laugh.
“You act like you don’t want it.”
“I never said that. I said that my family is not good at marriages or relationships. I just don’t want to put a child through that.”
The softening of Kaitlin’s eyes set off warning alarms. “Wendy.”
“No. I don’t want to talk about this right now. I want to be happy, and I am. I have a new little one that I am going to spoil,” she said, looking down at Mike. So perfect.
“Yeah, well, you might have to change your mind about things.”
Wendy glanced up at her best friend. “What are you talking about?”
Kaitlin rolled her eyes. “Really? You’re going to play that card?”
She shrugged.
“Good Lord, I know you and Aeden hooked up.”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
“Ha. You thought I didn’t know you two hooked up before you left and that’s who you’ve been with the last two days.” She sniffed in disdain. “Everyone thinks I’m stupid.”
“I do not think you’re stupid.”
“Good, because I’m not. And, I also know that my brother would never start fooling around with you if he wasn’t at least a little serious.”
Why did her heart have to do a little jump when Kaitlin said things like that? Because, deep down, Wendy wanted it to be true. “It’s not like that.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s not a bad thing not to be serious.”
“No, it isn’t. What is a bad thing is that you don’t think you deserve that kind of relationship. You do, Wendy.”
“Kaitlin,” she said, but she couldn’t continue. They’d had this conversation more than once, and it always ended in a stalemate. The main reason was that Wendy couldn’t see herself trusting a man enough to take care of her, to stand beside her, and, truthfully, to keep it in his pants. She had learned early in life that ho
norable men weren’t a plentiful breed.
Of course, the Fitzpatricks were. They might all be wild, and Lord knows they had their choice of women. She knew for a fact that Aeden had taken advantage of that particular benefit. But, they had always shown respect for women, and that came from their parents, mainly their mother. Not one of them wanted to let Deidre down.
“No. I’m not letting this go,” Kaitlin said given Wendy a determined frown. God, when Kaitlin got like that, there was no way to avoid a conversation. “I mean, we aren’t going to have the argument here, but know that I am going to push this when we have more time. You need to let Aeden in.”
She smiled. “That’s what hooking up is about.”
Kaitlin rolled her eyes again, then let loose a chuckle. “Wendy, you are too much. But seriously. I know that you two have had your issues in the past, but I think it has more to do with the attraction you had and never acted upon. He’s been sweet on you forever.”
Wendy frowned. “What?”
“Seriously, you didn’t know that’s why he would get so irritated when you had a new boyfriend? When you dated Frank, he about lost it.”
Frank was one of the guys from Aeden’s firehouse. It had been brief and, in the end, kind of boring. Both of them had lost interest in the relationship in less than a month, but they remained friendly.
“He did not lose it.”
“Yes, he did. I remember him getting drunk one night, and you know Aeden, he doesn’t like to drink that much. He had a hard time when you were dating Frank. Add in that he has been unbearable while you were gone, and the fact that he took the two weeks off right after you were scheduled to come home sort of gave it away.”
“Your brothers caught us.”
“They caught you doing what?”
She felt her face heat up. “Making out in the closet.”
For a long moment, Kaitlin said nothing. “Wendy. You never fool around on the job. You said that a nurse would lose respect from the people she worked with if she did that.”
“I wasn’t at work. I was here for you. If I were on the clock, that would be different.”
But she realized, it wasn’t that much different, and she hadn’t even had any second thoughts about it.
“And my brothers caught you? Which ones?”
“Declan and Seamus. Both seemed pretty pissed at him about it.”
She shook her head. “We’ve all talked about the way he’s been acting since you left, so they shouldn’t be surprised.”
“He said they were looking out for me, and then he told me they warned people away from me before.”
“No. I know that Emmet talked to Frank just to make sure he understood not to take advantage of you. They never warned anyone away. Well, the others probably didn’t, but Aeden might have.”
She thought back to his comments before. “Earlier, he got upset when Ryan talked to me.”
“Ryan of the perfect body and boring personality? The one they call Dr. McDreamy.”
She chuckled. Ryan Davis was a nice enough doctor, and they had been on one dinner date. He was very pretty and nice, and so damned boring that she almost fell asleep during dinner.
“Yeah. Word got around the hospital that I was up here.”
Kaitlin nodded. “And?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged. “Aeden wanted to know who he was.”
“And?” she asked again.
“He got upset.”
“My point exactly. It happens like that all the time.”
“I don’t think so.”
Kaitlin narrowed her eyes. “You're obtuse.”
Wendy thought back to the conversation. Yes, he had been agitated.
Thinking back, she realized Aeden had used the same irritated tone with her whenever he talked about someone she was seeing. Their fighting had escalated when it came to any man she was dating.
“I just thought he was an ass.”
“He was, just like you always called the woman he was dating at the moment a bimbo.”
“Or worse,” she said with a smile. Then it faded. “Don’t get all excited by this and please, don’t tell your parents.”
“Why not?”
“Which part are you asking about?”
“The second part, or the first part, or all of it. All of it. I’m asking about all of it.”
“Can you imagine how awkward it would be for everyone if we didn’t last?”
There was a beat of silence, and she looked up at her friend. Her expression had softened, and she wasn’t smiling.
“What?”
“It’s just that…you do this all the time, Wendy. You start any kind of relationship with the idea that it will end.”
“They all do.”
“No. They don’t.”
She sighed. “They do. Friendships, affairs, they all end at some point.”
“Our friendship will never end.”
“Yeah? How do you know that?”
“Because I won’t let it. I will hunt you down and force you to stay my friend.”
Wendy stared at her for a long moment; then they burst out laughing together. The loud noise caused Michael to fuss a little, so she rocked him a bit.
“Oh, I’ve missed you, Wendy.”
She looked up at Kaitlin. “I’m sorry I bailed on you during your pregnancy.”
She shook her head “No. It’s who you are, and I think it was good for you. For him too.”
“Him?”
Kaitlin rolled her eyes. “Seriously? It was good for Aeden. He needed time to think. Even went to Hawaii.”
“Yeah, he sent me a postcard.”
“Did he? I didn’t get one.”
“I’m more special.”
She smiled. “You gave him sex.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“You’re impossible.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but Brando burst through the door. “Hey, did I miss anything?”
“Well…” Kaitlin said, but Wendy gave her a warning look. “Never mind.”
Chapter 5
When Wendy woke up the next morning, she smelled bacon. And coffee. God, it was like she had arrived at heaven. She opened her eyes and realized she was in bed by herself. She sat up, the sheet dropped to her waist. She was naked, again. It seemed she spent most of the last few days that way. And that was saying a lot since she spent awhile at the hospital.
After a trip to the bathroom, and getting dressed—if one could call getting dressed wearing a big night shirt and a pair of panties, she wandered out into the living area.
Aeden was standing there at her stove, cooking. Aeden Michael Fitzpatrick was cooking in her kitchen. She blinked. She knew he had some knowledge of cooking, but watching him for just a few minutes seemed to mystify her. He was shirtless, his back muscles flexing with each movement. Lord have mercy. How had she controlled herself for so long?
He turned to grab a plate, and that’s when he saw her. She had the joy of watching his eyes light up as a slow smile curved his lips.
“Morning,” he said.
It took her a moment to find her own voice. He was so damned sexy standing in her kitchen, and that voice of his…god.
“Good morning. Whatcha doing?”
“I thought I’d make a little something traditional for us this morning. Just some bacon and eggs.”
She nodded.
“There’s coffee too.”
She still couldn’t move. She almost felt that she might be in some kind of a dream with a big, bad Celtic god playing in her kitchen. If she moved, or blinked, or took a breath, he might just disappear.
“Wendy? Are you okay?” he asked, concern in his voice snapping her out of the trance she seemed to be caught in.
She nodded and hurried over. “Just need some coffee.”
He grabbed a mug and filled it for her, leaving just enough room for her to add cream and sugar.
“You like your eggs over medium, right?”
She blinked.
“What?”
“You like your eggs over medium?”
She nodded as she grabbed the half and half and poured it into her coffee. “How did you know that?”
He didn’t answer but he shrugged. After finishing up doctoring her coffee, she took a sip and sighed. Lord have mercy, the man could make a good cup of coffee.
“Aeden.”
He glanced in her direction, then back down to the food. “I don’t think you realize how much attention I’ve paid to you over the years.”
She definitely hadn’t noticed if he had been paying attention to the way she liked her eggs. “Was this attention sort of stalkery in any way?”
He chuckled as he easily flipped her eggs over. “No. But, Mom knows and makes sure you get what you want when you are over.”
“Ah.”
“Why don’t you have a seat at the breakfast bar?”
She wasn’t going to argue with that at all. She never really had people serve her, at least not since she left her parents’ clutches. There were always a multitude of servants to help with things there.
“When’s that interview going to be in the paper?” he asked.
“I think they said this morning.”
“That quickly?”
“Or maybe it’s tomorrow. Not sure. I’ve been emailing with the reporter while I was gone. He wanted to get my in the field reaction, then finish up here. Most of it is written, from what he says.”
Aeden set the plate on the bar in front of her.
“I might get used to being waited on hand and foot. You better watch it.”
He grabbed his own plate and sat down beside her. Most of the time there was enough room for two people, but Aeden was a big man. Still, she didn’t mind brushing shoulders with him every now and then. It was intimate.
“What’s on your agenda today?” he asked.
“I want to go by and see your sister and Michael. Then, I want to do some shopping. I haven’t had a chance to buy my nephew anything.”
He glanced at her.
“What?”
“It’s odd being an uncle, you know? I mean, I knew it was going to happen, but it’s weird.”
“Bad weird?”
He shook his head as he smiled. “No, a really good weird.”
“I can’t wait to go shopping.”
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