Taking It Slow - Reese Knightley Page 0,16

handle his own business.

“Spencer.” Liam’s hand drew him to a stop again. “Let him stay. I’ll take him to breakfast with Adam and Jessica in the morning and drop him off at your parents’ house.”

“Our dad is dead.”

“Mother’s house then,” Liam said softly.

Spencer paused, cringing inwardly when he imagined Liam seeing his mother’s house. Maybe that was a good thing. It would show Liam how different they were, and it would save him time.

“Okay, let me tell him goodbye.” He never left without saying goodbye to his little brother.

Standing on the bottom step to the front porch a few minutes later, he looked up at Liam.

He flat out didn’t want to leave and it had nothing to do with his little brother in the other room and everything to do with the confident man gazing into his eyes.

“I’ll take care of him, I promise.” Liam read his hesitation wrong.

Still, though, Spencer didn’t move. Liam’s brow furrowed and he stepped down those few steps that would bring him closer.

Something knotted up in his stomach the closer Liam came until Spencer couldn’t take it and froze. His awareness of Liam hung thickly in the air between them. Could Liam feel it?

“I know,” he rasped suddenly through a dry mouth and took several jerking steps back.

Liam stilled, smiled slightly, and slid his hands, palms flat, into the front pockets of his jeans in a move that was so goddamned sexy, Spencer had to spin away to hide his reaction.

“I’ll see you later,” Liam called after him.

Spencer kept walking.

Liam

Fucking Christ. Wesley’s house was located in a rough part of Torrance, but then he reminded himself that most people didn’t live behind a gate, protected from the world. Still, though, it sucked when he noticed some shady characters hanging out near the corner liquor store.

He pulled into the cracked driveway of the house Wesley pointed at. Fuck. He didn’t want to leave the kid there. It went against everything inside of him. It wasn’t that the house stood out, it was in the same disrepair as the surrounding blocks, faded, cracked paint over the stucco in a similar rundown state. It was the overgrown, dried up weeds filling desert dry flower beds that gave this one more disrepair. The other neighbors seemed to care about keeping their yards tended even though the yards were yellow from lack of water.

“Listen, do you have a cell phone?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Wesley pulled out an old flip phone that had seen better days.

“Program my number in.” He waited patiently for Wesley to put the number in his phone.

“Thanks.” Wesley smiled at him, but made no move to get out of the truck.

“Here.” He pulled his wallet and handed the teen a twenty. “Lunch is on me. See if you can get ahold of Spencer or ask your mother if you can stay over this coming weekend. I know Adam and Jessica would love it.”

Wesley’s eyes grew wide at the twenty, but he eagerly tucked the bill away in his sock.

“Hell yeah. I’d like that. I’ll make sure it’s okay.”

“I’m headed to the base, but call me when you find out.”

“Thanks, Liam!”

He found his arms filled with Wesley as he was given a brief, tight hug. Even though Wesley had been sad his brother had been called in, the boy hadn’t let it ruin their fun that morning. Wesley had managed to eat Adam under the table and Liam was left in awe at the amount of pancakes and bacon the teen had consumed.

“Don’t forget to call me. For anything,” he said, and with a tightness in his chest, he released the boy.

“I won’t!” Wesley sprang from the truck and shut the door. Jogging to the broken-down front porch, Wesley turned and waved at him with a smile.

Liam waved and waited until Wesley was inside before he backed out of the driveway.

If only your brother was as receptive to my charms, he mused before driving down the street.

For one moment, and maybe it had been his imagination, he’d thought Spencer wanted him to kiss him.

“Keep dreaming, Cobalt,” he muttered to himself, checking both ways before taking the freeway onramp.

It turned out to be a relatively quiet week filled with meetings. He was just about ready to give thanks that it was Friday when a set of mission details crossed his desk. It took a few hours to relay the orders.

Leaving his office, he hurried down the hallway and punched in the code to the command center before entering the secluded