Page 16 of Single Teddy (Mayberry Protectors #6)
FOURTEEN
WESLEY
I ’d gone my entire life thinking I wasn’t much of a man, feeling less than, but after the way I’d just stood up in front of a room full of big, bad Navy SEALs and bossed them around, I felt like I had balls of steel.
All I needed now was to grab said balls of steel and jiggle them to assert my manhood and authority, but seeing as I wasn’t fourteen, it was enough for me to turn my nose up and walk out of The Outpost without another word.
Today’s meeting was a roaring success. I knew we were still far away from getting the desired outcome, but action was better than inertia.
“Hey.” Teddy ran out of the bar just as my phone jingled with a new message. I gave the screen a passing glance only to choke on my own saliva.
Ruby:
Hope you’re spending Sunday deep-throating Mr. Hot Uncle.
“Jesus, Ruby,” I muttered under my breath and turned to Teddy. He caught up with me, and I walked down the front steps to the parking lot side by side with the man with the bluest of blue eyes and a million-dollar smile that looked even better in the light of day.
“Hey,” I said, then I remembered I hadn’t driven here, so I stopped in the middle of the parking lot and put my hands on my hips.
“You were brilliant in there. I’m in awe of you.”
“Eep.” The bizarre, mortifying sound escaped me before I could control it, and I could feel my cheeks going red without my volition.
All right, Wesley. He just said he was in awe of you. No need to wet your pants.
“Th-thanks,” I mumbled and avoided his gaze for fear of combusting upon impact.
“No, really. The way you handled that was… I don’t think anyone has ever gone head-to-head with Wyatt and lived to tell the tale.”
I shrugged and focused on this wild burst of confidence instead of the way my body was leaning toward Teddy like we were opposing magnets trying to keep away from each other.
“I don’t know what to say. It’s far scarier to stand in front of twenty seven-year-olds than it is to stand in a room full of SEALs.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t been shitting my pants while trying to convince those thickheads to act now.
“Well, you’re my new hero,” he said.
Another embarrassing sound escaped my lips.
“Huh?” he asked.
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “Nothing.”
I made the mistake of looking at his eyes, and it took every ounce of self-control not to melt into a puddle before him. I turned away from him so fast I almost made myself dizzy.
I kept looking at the few cars already parked here as if mine would magically appear, but it was the only thing I could think of to not embarrass myself any further.
“My car’s right there,” Teddy pointed to his black Jeep, and I marched straight for it without even glancing back at him.
“Oh right,” I said as if I’d forgotten.
I hadn’t. My mind had this nasty habit of remembering every little detail about him.
Like what kind of car he drove, how many strands of hair were out of place at any given time on his forehead, and how warm his touch made me feel all over.
It was why it was dangerous spending more alone time together because my freaking elephant brain would store those moments in my head and use them to boost my jerk-off time onto a whole new level.
He unlocked the car and I rushed inside, for what reason, I didn’t know. As if being trapped in a tight space with him would be better for the sanctity of my ecosystem.
“Actually,” he said after he’d turned the engine on. “Before I take you home… I was wondering if you’d like to join me?”
“Join you?” I asked and made the mistake of looking at him.
Was he asking me to join him in the shower? A bathtub? A Jacuzzi?
I wasn’t fussy, to be honest. I didn’t have to be wet to join him. I’d join him in the backseat or the nearest available bed if I could.
“Yeah. I…I’ve got some house viewings and…” He shrugged. “I’d love your input.”
“Oh,” I said, and a part of me deflated. I hoped it wasn’t a part he could see. “You move fast.”
“I’ve been dragging my feet long enough. I need Bear to know I’m here for him so…I set things in motion.”
Dear fucking gods. Just when I was starting to think maybe I was done with this physical boner, he goes and says things like that and—hello, emotional boner!
“That’s great,” I managed to say without sounding drunk or desperate. I almost sounded human. “Bear might not know it yet, but he’s grateful to have you in his life.”
Was it me, or did his cheeks turn red?
“Does that mean you’ll come with me?”
Oh, I’d come with you in an instant…
“Sure, but aren’t we missing someone?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Teddy frowned, and then came the clarity.
“Oh right. Bear. I thought it might be stressful for him.”
“If it becomes stressful, you can take a break, but I think he needs to see you fighting for him, for both of you, and shouldn’t he have a say where he lives too?
He’s had so many choices taken from him, it might actually make him a little more confident knowing he’s not being thrown around like a tennis ball. He’s his own person.”
He kept staring at me long after I’d stopped talking, and I froze, unsure what to do with myself. Every second under his scrutiny felt like a century, a wonderful, beautiful century, but a century nonetheless.
“What?” I said when it was apparent there would be no end to that staring, and I was under serious danger of grabbing him by the shirt and kissing those gorgeous lips of his.
Teddy cleared his throat and looked away.
“N-nothing,” he said. “You just… You amaze me with how wise you are.”
“Are you calling me old?” I said with as much snark as I could muster, and I immediately regretted it because the way his whole face—heck, his whole body—smiled was a thing of perfection.
“No. Not at all. Just wise. I wish I had your brains.”
“What? To eat? Are you trying to tell me you’re a zombie?”
Yeah, I was flailing. Yes, I was using my humor to make this interaction less…just less of whatever it was, but I didn’t know if it was working. But I knew what definitely would.
“So…should we pick Bear up and go view some houses?” I clapped my hands together and looked straight ahead, and I didn’t dare look at him again until we got to Slade and King’s house and picked up his nephew.
And as soon as we hit the road again, I was cursing myself for it.
Being in the car with Teddy and Bear, interacting with the little one outside the classroom, getting him excited for the house viewings…
Heck, even going with them to said house viewings felt very…
familial. Intimate. Something which definitely didn’t help my obsession with Bear’s uncle, and let’s not even talk about how much it would hurt when this was over and I was alone in my house again, with my thoughts, my books, and my plants.
The first house was too big, and from my understanding, too expensive for Teddy, seeing as he almost had a heart attack when he heard the rent price.
Needless to say, we promptly left the viewing, but not before I stared daggers at the Realtor, who thought hiding the price until viewing would benefit him.
The second viewing was an apartment on Main Street that overlooked the campaign poster for Jake Wilson, a local businessman who’d decided to take a shot at being mayor.
He was also the dickhead that built his entire campaign on promises of investing on the island.
By wiping out entire working class neighborhoods and building new, more expensive, more upmarket houses and tourist attractions.
And he thought calling himself a philanthropist and volunteering at Duke’s Animal Sanctuary was good enough for everyone to ignore his plans.
The most frustrating thing, however, was that it was working.
People were all too quick to dismiss any criticism and turn the attention to all the good he was apparently doing.
As if doing a couple of charitable things could erase all the harm he intended to do and the harm he was probably already causing.
Gosh, even the sight of him made me angry so I turned my attention to the happenings inside the apartment.
Poster aside, the size of the property wasn’t ideal, especially as it only had one bedroom, and either Teddy or Bear would need to make the living room their sleeping quarters, both of which would be terrible choices for this new family.
The third one was out in Hummingbird County, a beautiful property that needed some loving, but it was outside of the hustle and bustle of the town and definitely a level-up house, not a newbie place.
“I’m tired,” Bear said from within Teddy’s arms, and I gave his cheeks a squeeze.
“Of course you are. It’s been a long day. Looking for the perfect home is hard work,” I said.
“Just one more place, Bear. Do you think you can make it through one more viewing?” Teddy asked.
Bear considered it for a moment, and then said, “Okay,” with a sigh and an eye roll that was far too adorable for his own good and hugged his pink dragon tight.
“I’m sorry to drag you around town too. I’m sure you had plans of your own,” Teddy said as he watched Bear strap himself in the backseat.
I blew raspberries and dismissed the comment.
“I’d probably have spent my day locked in, prepping for class, and falling asleep on my couch, so believe me, you saved me from a long, boring day,” I said.
He didn’t answer, just smiled and opened the door for me, like the perfect gentleman. Because, of course, he was that too.
Could this man be any more flawless?
My phone dinged before he got into the car, and I braced myself for the text message from Ruby.
Ruby:
You still haven’t replied, so I hope to god you’ve got some throat lozenges and make sure you hum. It won’t just make him come faster, it will soothe your throat too xx
“Agh,” I groaned and dismissed the notification with a swipe.
“Everything okay?” he asked and got in.