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me to rake leaves?" he asked delicately.
Brandon snorted in amusement, then strolled up next
to Angel, who wasn't able to duck before Brandon
swiped a finger down his wrinkled nose. "Yes, sugar. It's
something we can all do together."
"We don't know how to rake leaves," Trey
commented. He, too, looked skeptical. He picked up a
small rock and tossed it toward the river.
"Nice toss." Brandon shrugged. "Anyway, I just
thought it might be fun. When I was a kid, we used to
pile the leaves up and dive into them. I'd wrestle with
my buddies, and we'd throw the leaves at each other."
He smiled. "Then my dad would get ticked at us for
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wrecking the piles, and we'd have to start all over
again."
Angel tried to harden his heart, but he just couldn't.
Who could resist Brandon like this? Not Angel, that was
sure. To fortify himself, he turned around and started
walking toward the river again. "C'mon, mi'ja." He
waved a hand to Marisa. "Let them figure out who's
going to rake leaves. Let's see if we can see any fish
before it gets too dark."
He heard a snort of amusement from Brandon,
followed by a giggle from Trey as the two of them
whispered together. Angel ignored them both as he
walked over to the riverbank.
With Marisa in tow, he ducked under some branches as
they approached, and at one point, Angel slipped on a
loose rock. "Be careful, mi'ja," he cautioned. Marisa
nodded as he stepped in front of her. They reached the
grassy bank, and he squatted down next to her.
"Can you see any fish, pequeña? Let's look." He
wrapped an arm around her middle, holding her steady
as the two of them leaned over the edge to look into the
water. Here at this section, the river was a couple of feet
below the lip of the bank.
"Maybe we'll do some fishing up here, Trey."
Brandon stopped next to them. "Marisa, what about
you? You want to learn how to fish?"
The little girl nodded rapidly. Trey again looked
skeptical, but slightly more interested than he was about
raking leaves.
"Oh, you are so cleaning the fish, because I'm not."
Angel forgot that he wasn't planning to be there longer
than tomorrow.
"Don't worry, sugar. I know that's not your thing."
Snorting once again with amusement, Brandon looked
him over. "Besides, you'd probably need a new outfit for
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fishing."
That made Trey laugh out loud, especially when the
boy caught the look that Angel aimed at Brandon. Angel
turned his head, hiding a pained smile.
Marisa was pointing at minnows in the water. "Look,
Angel!"
He grabbed her as she reached down, losing her
balance. "Uh-uh, pequeña. Let's not go swimming yet.
It's a little too cold this time of year." Time to distract.
"You know, we should go shopping tomorrow and get
some winter clothes for you. Trey, too." Too late, he
remembered that he was leaving tomorrow. Shit and
damn.
"That's a good idea. One thing I know you can do is
shop." Brandon's voice was very dry as he waved a hand
at Angel's designer duds.
"Only one thing?" He couldn't stop himself. Stop it!
Stop being provocative. You're pissed at him,
remember?
"Oh, no, sugar, but I can't talk about that in front of
the kids." Now that voice was gravelly, and when Angel
snuck a look, he could see the taut front of Brandon's
jeans, stretched over a growing cock.
Unconsciously, he licked his lips. God, that voice and
that dick made him hungry. So hungry he was almost
ready to jump that bone. How easily he could forget his
hurt when it came to sex with this man.
"Easy, sugar," Brandon cautioned in a low voice.
Jerking his eyes up, he met the burning intensity of
the turquoise gaze. Brandon was just as hungry, just as
ready. Brandon was the one, though, who remembered
there were children present.
Thankfully, the kids were oblivious to the
undercurrents and were calling out to each other about
the bigger fish they'd spotted.
The Trouble with Angel - 130
Shaking his head to clear it, Angel blew out a big
breath. What was wrong with him? He's bringing
somebody else here, remember? What had he just let
happen? He looked down at the water again, trying to
focus. He spotted the fish the kids were yelling about
and hung on to Marisa tightly as she tried to lean down
to touch it.
"Mi'ja, let's step back from the water a bit, okay?
You're really making me nervous." He stood up and
tugged her back, away from the bank. She whined a
little as she walked backwards, pointing a hand at the
water. "Trey, you too," he instructed. He jerked his head
at Brandon, his hand coming up with a come on
direction.
Rolling his eyes, Brandon nonetheless obeyed. "Kids,
how about we go in to town to the Dairy Queen?"
Marisa started screaming in excitement, jumping up
and down. Trey chimed in with a hurray and a pumped
fist.
Angel looked at them all, wondering what the fuss
was about. "What's so exciting about Dairy Queen?"
Shaking his head and smiling, Brandon said, "Sugar.
You are so big city. You telling me you haven't tried a
DQ Blizzard?"
Being laughed at was the last straw. "Tried it? I don't
like snow." Hurt again, he blew out a big breath. "And I
was quite happy to keep it that way -- until you came
back into my life."
"Whoa, Angel. Take a breath and calm down. All I'm
saying is that you haven't lived until you've tried a
Blizzard. That's all."
***
A half hour later, the kids were seated in the gazebo
The Trouble with Angel - 131
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