Will & Patrick Fight Their Feelings (#4) (3 page)

Patrick waits for Jenny to return from the Brown Gargle bathroom.

“How long does it take a woman to pee?” he asks Dylan, who sits in his stroller, squeezing a green and purple plush ball between his hands.

“Bah-
bah
-bah!” Dylan yells, throwing the ball as hard as his little arm can manage.

Patrick catches it before it hits the ground. “Okay, sport. I know this game. And I’m not a fan.” He waves the ball around and Dylan reaches for it, a gurgling, pleading, laugh tugging at Patrick’s heart until he can’t help but give the ball back.

Dylan squeals and mashes it against his face. Then he throws it again.

Patrick teases him with it for a minute before the pleas get to him, and he hands it over. Within seconds, it’s lobbed out again, accompanied by a screech. Patrick catches it, hands it back to Dylan, and manages to block the next throw so the ball bounces back into the stroller.

“Oh God, not this again,” Jenny says, dropping down across from him. She wipes her still-wet hands on a napkin at the table. “Jax, hon,” she calls out. “The paper towels are empty in the ladies.”

Jax winks and gives her a smile Patrick thinks might incinerate panties. He wouldn’t know, though, having never worn panties. Not that he’d object if Will decides he wants to see Patrick in them. If it turns Will on, he’s up for it. He’s up for anything really. In the bedroom anyway.

Jenny watches Jax disappear into the ladies room with a box of paper towels. Her cheeks are pink and she clears her throat before turning to Patrick. “So, what’s the latest at the hospital? Did any of those neurologists you and Don interviewed turn out to at least not suck?”

“Zzzzp. Wrong topic.” Patrick leans forward. “When did you sleep with him?”

Jenny goes even pinker and reaches back to tighten her ponytail. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she says primly.

Patrick lifts a brow and waits.

Jenny’s eyes light up and a grin spreads across her face. She glances quickly over her shoulder and then leans close to whisper, “New Year’s Eve!”

“Big night for everyone then.” He barely stops himself from mentioning that he got laid too.

“Tell me about it! The thing with you and Ryan! With him punching you in the face!”

“Straight out of a trashy reality show.”

“I’m glad you’re okay! I was worried.”

“We covered this earlier when you wibbled about the lingering bruise. Get to the good stuff.”

Dylan throws the ball out of his stroller again. She tucks it into her big bag of baby items and hands him a fabric book instead. He frowns, shakes it, declares it, “Ya-ya-
da
!” and then gnaws on a crunchy-sounding corner. 

“C’mon, details.” Patrick pokes her arm with the handle of his fork.

“Ow! Okay, fine. So we were all still gossiping about the showdown between you and Ryan, but the party was over, so we dropped in here to talk some more. I filled Jax in on the punch, and—”

“Glad to know my assault was so gossip worthy.” He already knew that, though.
The Hurting Times
had plenty to say about it, with Ryan, for once, being deemed the jackass. Though few wanted to exactly call Patrick a victim. Most thought he at least half deserved it.

“And he was horrified, too! We were all here about half an hour before Andy’s wife started getting a headache from the champagne, but I wasn’t done with my doughnut. Soooo…” Her voice goes up into a near squeal, as she finishes, “Jax offered to walk me back to my place. But we stayed here awhile first.” She waggles her brows.

“You naughty girl. You did it here?”

She nods.

“Is that even sanitary?”

With a giggle, Jenny nods again.

“More details.” Patrick eats the small rose off the top of the cupcake he’d decided on after Jenny had eaten the last of the jam doughnuts again. “Were you safe?”

“He had a condom in his wallet. We did it on the bench in the back.” She squirms in her seat. “Then he walked me home, I paid the babysitter, checked on Dylan, and he waited around through all of that. We did it
three more times
. And, yes, we used condoms then too. I had some left from when Tom was around.”

Patrick lifts up his coffee. “Cheers.”

Jenny bumps her cup against his and they both drink. Dylan crunches away at his fabric book. “He was fantastic.” She smiles dreamily. “Way better than I’d have expected for someone his age.”

“I’m sure he’s got plenty of experience. Look at him. He’s sex on legs.”

“Pshaw, you don’t say!”

Patrick smirks. “When will you be riding Jax’s joystick again?”

Jenny glances over her shoulder. Jax is coming out of the bathroom now and he shoots her another grin. He goes into the back room, returning with replacement toilet paper rolls and cleaning supplies before striding into the men’s room.

Facing Patrick, she shrugs. “That remains to be seen. There’s the age difference. And there’s Dylan. I don’t want to make it into a big deal. We’re not really in the same place in life.”

“Age difference, schmage difference.”

“Says the thirty-five-year-old man who married a twenty-six-year-old!”

“Twenty-six, huh?” Patrick pushes his lower lip out, thinking it over. “So, nine years younger. I was close. I figured it was ten.”

Jenny shakes her head and looks at him with a wrinkled brow. “Patrick, are you telling me you didn’t know how old your husband was until just this second?”

Patrick shrugs. “He looked legal. They let me marry him. That’s all that matters.”

“Oh my God, you’re ridiculous.”

He sips his latte and glances over to where Jax is wiping down the doorknob of the men’s bathroom with a great deal of diligence. “So, what’s his sign?”

“I don’t know.”

“When was he born?”

“No idea.”

He didn’t like not knowing Jax’s sign, but there was another important question to consider. “Did you come?”

Jenny laughs and her face grows redder. “Yes.”

“Every time?”

“No, just twice at the apartment.” She shrugs.

“Ya-
ya
-
ya
-da-
da
!”

“Dylan’s impressed,” Patrick says.

“Ew!” Jenny whaps his forearm. “You’re an asshole.”

“Yeah. And you love me.”

“I do.” Jenny rubs the place she’s just hit.

“Well, I’ve never touched any woman’s ‘little man in the rowboat,’ but I’ve heard it’s tricky to work. So, as long as he’s not a Sagittarius, if Jax gets you off, don’t let something stupid like age get in the way.”

“Falling for Will has made you a romance junkie. You see it where it shouldn’t be.”

Patrick wrinkles his nose. “I’m telling you to get sexed up, not marry the guy.”

“Uh-huh. You can’t fool me.”

He leaves it alone. “So what’s the plan for handing over your slightly used kidney to Dylan’s Uncle Radar?”

Jenny deflates a little. “They rescheduled it. Something to do with Radar’s test results. I don’t understand medical speak.”

“Alas, so few do.”

“Anyway, jerkface, I’m not all that excited for it. So I don’t mind the wait.” She pushes a strand of blond hair out of her eyes. “Mom’s helping take care of Dylan for a month after the surgery, but she wants to be at the hospital with me the five days I’m expected to be there. Andy and his wife said they’d keep Dylan for four of those, but it turns out they can’t watch him the actual night of my surgery.” She shakes her head. “I’ll figure something out.” 

“Will and I can take him.” He figures his do-gooder hubby won’t complain about doing a favor for a friend.

“Seriously?”

“Sure. I’ve babysat a kid or two in my day.” His second year with Dinah she’d fostered a set of twins for a few months. They’d arrived when they were six months old and he’d helped with feeding, changing, and rocking them to sleep.

“Well, Dylan does love you, and obviously Will’s great with kids.” She contemplates the offer for only half a second longer. “Okay, deal.”

“Problem solved.” He glances toward Dylan, who’s still chewing on his fabric book. His little lashes are dragging his eyelids down sleepily. “Me and the slobber monster can play more ball. It’ll be fun.”

She cocks her head and looks him up and down. “What’s up with you today? You’re all
relaxed
.”

Patrick remembers the scent of Will’s skin where his neck meets his shoulder. “As Don told me the other day, in the beginning, the honeymoon just goes on and on.”

Jenny’s eyes gleam. “Tit for tat. Details.”

“The bed. The bed again. Against the wall, and then the bed. And both of us always come.”

“Bastards.”

Patrick laughs and looks up as the door chimes. A half-formed hope bats its wings in his chest. It’s Don, though, and not Will.

As Don orders his coffee, Patrick glances down at his phone sitting on the table. No texts from Will all day. He hasn’t texted him either. Maybe he should’ve invited him to join them? Maybe Will is in his office hoping to hear from him too?

“You’re frowning,” Jenny says.

“It’s nothing.”

“Aw, you can’t snow me. You’re missing your boo. Didn’t you get enough of him last night?”

It’s hard to imagine getting enough of Will. He’s strong and fit, and he has a way of looking at Patrick that makes his insides knot up. “He gives the best head in the world. There’s no ‘enough’ of that.”

Don clears his throat behind him and Jenny cackles. “Dr. McCloud, Jenny,” he says, a thread of embarrassment in his tone. Then he compliments Jenny on Dylan’s fat baby cheeks, and squeezes Patrick’s shoulder before taking the offered seat at their table.

“Congratulations, Dr. McCloud. Dr. Topol has formally accepted our offer, and Dr. Lerma has indicated she’s planning to accept by this afternoon as well. Two neurosurgeons handpicked by you to round out our new unit. I’m pleased and I hope you are too.”

“Pleased might be stretching it, but since there’s only one of me, these two yahoos will have to do.”

“You’re a hard man to satisfy. I hope you go easier on Will at home.”

Jenny chokes on her coffee and grabs a napkin to cover her mouth. Patrick smiles wickedly.

“You’re two peas in a pod.” Don shakes his head in a fatherly way at the two of them. “Cheap jokes and dirty minds.”

Patrick opens his mouth to confirm Don’s assessment when his beeper goes off. One look at the code and he’s on his feet. “That’s for me. Sorry to cut this short.” He taps the device on his hip. “Next up, old man, after we complete the unit, we’re getting rid of
these
dinosaurs. Pagers are the dark ages of hospital communications technology.”

“Get your husband to fund the upgrade and we’ve got a deal, Dr. McCloud.” Don rises too. “I’ll accompany you. I need to get back to sorting through all the glorious paperwork.”

Dylan is sleeping now, blowing bubbles of spit as he dreams. Patrick bends low to press a kiss to his fat cheek. Then he winks at Jenny as he pulls on his winter gear. “Enjoy your afternoon delight.”

“Pfft. As if.”

He raises his brows and throws a significant look toward Jax, who’s making a show of cleaning a table near them. “You’ve got a few days before you’ll be out of commission for a month or more. Make the most of it. Seize the day.”

Following Don out the door he looks over his shoulder. Jax leans over the back of Patrick’s empty chair grinning at Jenny. She tucks her hair behind her ear and a smile lights up her whole face.

So long as Jax makes Jenny smile like that, Patrick’s down with their affair. Screw age differences. Screw being in a different place in life. Look at him and Will. They’re making the best of it. With orgasms. Jenny and Jax should do the same.

He pulls out his phone and shoots a message to Will.
Got called in for emergency surgery. I’ll be late tonight.

Bubbles appear.

Good luck. You’ve got this. See you when you get home.