A Holiday Temptation - Tiffany Patterson Page 0,9

the kid up?” Connor asks, reaching in to take his son.

Tightening my hold around Colin, I give Connor the eye to back the hell off. “I got him. If he wakes, I’ll simply put him back to sleep. Move.” I shoo him away with my free hand before using it to wheel myself over to the dining room while holding Colin in my other arm. Resha and Connor’s home is easily accessible for my chair, so I don’t worry about bumping into furniture or end tables or anything like that. I have enough space to move around, something my brother does in every home of his since my accident.

I grit my teeth thinking about my accident, which inevitably brings back to mind the same woman I came over here to forget. Staring at my nephew and imagining the life he will lead always helps relieve any stress leftover after a long day at work.

“You gave ’em hell today, huh, little dude?” I ask, using the nickname his father gave him.

Resha laughs behind me. “You should’ve seen your brother. I think he almost threw my baby in the garbage.”

“He would’ve deserved it. Got shit all up his back and arms. How in the hell does poop get onto his arms? He’s wearing a diaper for Chrissake.”

I chuckle low, mindful not to disturb Colin, who squirms a little in my arms. Baby stretches are probably the best thing ever, next to their smiles and laughs. Colin isn’t quite giggling yet, though, so I’ll settle for his little stretches and yawns.

“Are you hungry, Mark?” Before I can even answer, I hear Resha padding across the hardwood floor into the kitchen to fix me a plate.

My stomach growls. My sister-in-law is a hell of a cook.

“Sure,” I say, not like it would matter anyway. If I said I wasn’t hungry, she’d still fix me a plate. But I haven’t eaten since that bullshit lunch during the Cypress meeting, and even then, I barely ate half of my sandwich. And though I don’t particularly feel hungry, I know I should eat.

Minutes later, I’m sitting at the oblong dining room table in the space that connects both the kitchen and the living room, with a plate of macaroni and cheese, BBQ ribs, and garlicky green beans. Despite how good the food looks and tastes, my heart isn’t in it.

Resha must’ve noticed I wasn’t eating with the typical gusto I usually indulge her meals in.

“Is everything okay with, uh … what’s the name of that nurse you met at the hospital?” She stares at me from across the table.

It takes me a moment to recall who she’s referring to before my eyebrows lift. “Vicki.”

She was one of the nurses who tended to Resha while she was in the hospital after birthing Colin.

“Vicki, that’s right. How’s she doing?”

I shrug and take another bite of the macaroni and cheese. Vicki and I went out a couple of times. She even made it back to my place on a few occasions, but I just wasn’t feeling her.

“She’s all right, I suppose. You’d have to ask her.”

“She didn’t make the cut, huh?”

I shake my head, looking at Resha before biting into the green beans.

“Well, it’s the holiday season. The perfect time for love to find you.”

I snort derisively at that.

“Don’t think so, astór. Mark ain’t a fan of the holiday season,” Connor interrupts. “How about you take the little dude upstairs so he can sleep without having to hear his uncle chewing in his ear?”

Reluctantly, I push away from the table just enough so that Resha can lift Colin out of my arms. I know Connor used that as an excuse for him and me to be alone. I keep my head down, staring at my plate, and chew slowly. My brother can still read me like a book, and I don’t feel like being read right now.

“You all right? That Townsend fucker isn’t being too much of an asshole to you, is he?”

“Why the hell would you think Aaron’s being an asshole to me? On top of that, if he was, why the hell do you think it’s something I can’t handle?” I demand as my fork clanks against my porcelain dinner plate.

Connor folds his broad arms across his chest and sits back in his chair, eyeing me. “You always gotta take offense when I’m just looking out for you.”

My chest tightens, and the words I’m sorry form in my mind, but I refuse to say them. Connor needs to