Page 27 of Talk Wicked to Me

“It’s kind of messed up,” Zander said. “It’s not like you can hook up with her.”

“Dude,” Zeke chided.

Baz glowered at him. “Did I say I wanted to hook up with her?”

“No, but you asked if it was fucked up, and who knows what’s going on in your head,” Zander said.

“That’s fair,” Gunner said. “You don’t exactly have a history of long-term relationships with women.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t think it’s fucked up that Baz feels this way about her,” Zeke chimed in. “It means something’s there.”

Tank crossed his arms, serious eyes locked on Baz. “I think so too, B. Nobody caught my attention the way Leah did.”

“Same with Blaine and Maverick. Reese had a hold on Blaine from the second he saw her at some party, and Maverick chased Chloe for an entire year,” Zeke added.

Tank nodded. “Maybe you were meant to deliver her boy, the same way I was meant to go after Leah’s car when it hit the river.”

That was a night none of them would ever forget, and Tank never brought up, which told Baz how strongly his brother felt about what he’d said. “You’re not helping me shut this shit down.”

“Because I think you ought to trust your instincts,” Tank said.

“I second that,” Zeke added.

Baz had been fighting his instincts since the second Emerson had walked through the door. “I don’t know about that.”

“Bro, do you remember what you said when I wasn’t sure which way to take things with Sid?” Gunner asked.

“I remember you saying she was like a cool guy and telling you that you had your head up your ass.”

Zander looked at Gunner like he’d lost his mind. “A cool guy? Sid? Bro, she’s fucking hot.”

“No shit. I was in denial,” Gunner gritted out, and returned his attention to Baz. “You also told me to do what’s best for Sid or what’s best for me and that only I could decide if they were one and the same. That was great advice, and now I’m married to my best friend and happier than I’ve ever been. I suggest you take your own advice and figure it out.”

“Yo, Tank. Are we going to ride, or what?” one of the guys hollered from the lawn.

Tank eyed Baz. “You good?”

No, he wasn’t good, but hopefully the ride would fix that. Baz nodded.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Tank called out, and everyone headed for the driveway.

Baz straddled his bike, thinking about what they’d said. There was no doubt that his brothers and a couple of his cousins had found their soulmates, and the advice he’d given Gunner had been sound. He and Sid belonged together.

Baz, on the other hand, wasn’t looking to get tied down.

Motorcycles roared to life around him, and as he fell into line with them, heading onto the main road, the urge to drive to Emerson’s was so strong, it rivaled the call of the open road.

So much for clearing his head.

EMERSON FINISHED CHANGING Brennan’s diaper, marveling at her beautiful little boy as she snapped the onesie Ginger had given him with IF YOU THINK I’M CUTE, YOU SHOULD SEE MY MOMMY written in a blue crayon font on the front. He’d woken up about fifteen minutes after she’d lain down for her nap. In the hours since, she’d nursed him several times, changed a handful of diapers, paced the floor with him when he’d gotten fussy, and had spent so much time admiring him, she already knew his soft dimply skin, innocent brown eyes, button nose, and adorably tiny fingers and toes by heart. A pang of longing for her own mother moved through her. She allowed herself to feel it ever so briefly, picturing her mother marveling at her and her father marveling at her mother holding Emerson and falling harder in love with both of them.

She wrapped that image in a bow, gently tucking it away deep inside her with all the others she’d conjured over the years.

“You are the cutest baby in the entire world.” Smiling down at Brennan, she wrapped her fingers around his teeny feet and kissed their bottoms. His eyes widened. “I’m so lucky to be your mama. I don’t care that I’m tired and sore and my belly will forever look like a road map of stretch marks. Those are small prices to pay for our little family.”

She was exhausted, but she was happy. Gwen had called during one of Brennan’s naps, and they’d talked right through it. Emerson had made good use of the time while they’d chatted, baking cookies in the shapes of dogs’ and cats’ faces to give to Baz when he brought Ollie back. She’d confessed to Gwen that she was kind of missing Baz, though she was trying not to think about him. She’d gotten used to him being around. She enjoyed the way he joked with her and whispered to Brennan like he understood every word, and the way he looked after them. Gwen told her she’d done the right thing asking him to leave. You don’t want him sticking around out of a sense of duty, or worse, pity. That was true, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that even if he felt a sense of duty or pity, he hadn’t stuck around just because of either of those things.

But the way her hormones were messing with her, she was probably way off base.