The Predicament (The Proposition #3.5) (4 page)

Craning her neck down the hall, Casey questioned, “Em?”

“She’s not here.”

Casey whirled around. Placing her hands on her hips, she demanded, “Where the hell is she?”

“Down the street at Becky’s for Book Club.”

Casey grimaced. In her turmoil, she had completely forgotten that Wednesday night was Book Club. More accurately it was “a kid free night hanging out with the girls while the wine freely flowed”. Casey would have been there herself if not for Nate’s work schedule.

At the prospect of not getting to unload her traumatic troubles on her bestie, Casey stomped her house-shoed foot like a petulant toddler. “Motherfuckingshitdamnhell!” she screeched.

Aidan snorted in amusement at her cursing. After crossing his arms over his chest, he asked, “What could have possibly happened that warranted a ‘motherfuckingshitdamnhell’ situation?”

Gazing into his amused blue eyes, Casey did something she rarely, if ever did—she burst into tears.

Through her blurry vision, she almost laughed at the look of horror that stretched across Aidan’s face. As he shifted on his feet, it looked like he was debating tearing out of room and sprinting down the street for Emma. That was something the Old Aidan from three years ago would have done—the one who broke out in a nervous sweat at the sight of any expression of female emotion. But thankfully, Emma had changed all that.

The New Aidan gave her the sweetest, sympathetic look. “Oh hell, Case, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have teased you. It’s obvious from your...” He motioned at her attire. “look that something is wrong.”

“No. It’s okay,” she reassured, as she swiped the mascara stained tears from her cheeks.

Placing a hand on her back, Aidan instructed, “Come over here and sit down.” With expert precision, he guided her through the maze of baby paraphernalia littering the living room floor.

When Casey sank down onto the couch, her ass emitted a high pitched squeak. She quickly reached under her to jerk out a fluffy pink toy. A smile played at her lips because her Olivia had one just like it. In spite of it being annoying as hell, it was the four month old’s favorite.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Aidan asked, as he sat down beside her.

Groaning, Casey tossed the bunny to the side. “It’s too mortifying.”

Aidan nudged her knee. “Come on. Nothing can be that bad.”

Oh fuck yes it can
. Staring down at her hands, Casey decided to bite the bullet and tell Aidan the truth. As the flashback played in her mind, she pinched her eyes shut. “I kinda dozed off…” She swallowed hard. For a moment, she felt as bashful as Emma was when it came to talking about sex. “I dozed off for just a second while doing a…job.”

When she dared to look at Aidan, his blond brows were scrunched in confusion. “You fell asleep at work?”

Rolling her eyes, Casey then grunted in frustration. “No. Not at work.”

“Then what—”

“I fell asleep while blowing Nate, okay!” she blurted.

Her words had the same effect on Aidan as if she had slapped him. He shook his head back and forth like he was trying to wake himself out of a daze. For the next few seconds, he just stared ahead without blinking.

Throwing up her hands, Casey demanded, “Well say something, dammit!”

“Motherfuckingshitdamnhell,” Aidan muttered.

“Thanks for making me feel so much better,” she snapped.

“I’m sorry. It’s just…wow.”

Rubbing her fingers along her temple, she said, “Once again, you’re not helping.”

“Yeah, well, I’m really sorry. It’s just it’s one thing for you to come barreling in here, looking like someone was killed or something, and then you drop that kinda bomb on me…It’s going to take me a little while to recover.”

“Well, I’m sorry if my threshold for patience and understanding is a little thin. Catch me on a day when I haven’t just fallen asleep giving oral sex.”

Aidan made a strangled noise. When he recovered, he questioned, “I’m still not completely grasping how that is even possible?”

A frustrated growl escaped Casey’s lips. “I don’t know exactly. It just is.”

“You didn’t like…” Aidan swallowed hard and shifted on the couch. “Bite him. Did you?”

Casey rolled her eyes. Leave it to a man to be only concerned with the all mighty dick in the story. “The last thing I want to do right now in my frame of mind is get technical with you, but if you must know, Nate and his dick are unscathed. I didn’t have him in my mouth when I dozed off.”

Aidan exhaled what could only be described as a sigh of relief. When she glared at him, he held up his hands. “Sorry. I needed to put that worry to rest.”

“Ugh, you men and your precious Penis Brotherhood.”

Leaning forward on the couch, Aidan picked up his phone. “Don’t you dare call Nate and let him know where I am!”

“I’m not. I’m texting Emma to come home. I’m am
so
not the person for this situation.”

Casey shook her head. “I don’t want to interrupt book club.”

Aidan snorted. “Like I don’t realize there’s no real reading involved, and it’s a just a means for her to have a kid free night with the girls.”

Widening her eyes, Casey said, “You know?”

“Yeah, I know. I just play dumb to save face. As much as she does for me and the kids, she deserves three hours to herself.”

“That’s pretty damn considerate of you, Douchenozzle,” Casey said.

“I have my moments.” Nudging her knee again, he said, “So let me have a moment to play the sensitive, caring guy friend. Tell me exactly what happened.”

After studying the earnest expression on Aidan’s face, Casey decided she might as well open up. Once she had drawn in a ragged breath, she purged herself of the story from start to finish. She didn’t look at Aidan until she was done. She hadn’t wanted whatever facial reactions he had to interrupt her train of thought.

When she finally dared herself to tear her gaze away from wringing her hands, she found him to be staring earnestly at her with a concerned, contemplative look on his face. Thankfully, he didn’t appear to be feeling his original shock and horror.

Breaking the silence between them, she said, “So tonight was supposed to be perfect—I was supposed to get my hot sex life back. Instead, I fell asleep in the middle of giving oral sex, threw a psycho fit, and ran out on my poor husband.”

“I can see why you had the reaction you did.”

“You can?”

Aidan nodded. “Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but you just had a baby four months ago. All aspects of your life are turned upside down, especially your sex life. Change is hard regardless the circumstances, but then when you throw in all the post-pregnancy hormones, it makes for an emotional shit-storm.”

Casey blinked a few times as she took in his words. Either she was farther gone mentally than she thought, or Aidan was making good sense. “Okay, I gotta be honest and say that you’re slightly wigging me out with the words of wisdom. It’s not like you…well, maybe it’s not like the old you.”

Aidan’s bare chest rose and fell with a chuckle. “Just calling it as I see it…and felt it.”

“I didn’t realize you went through anything like that.”

With a wry smile, Aidan said, “Yeah, I’m sure it’s hard to imagine me ever being that deep.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she argued.

“I know. I’m just teasing you.”

“So what happened with you?”

Aidan drowned the last of his beer. “Well, obviously I didn’t have the hormones, but Noah’s birth was a real transition for me. Sure, I was so fucking happy to have him and to have Emma, but in the course of a few months, my life was completely unrecognizable. And that wasn’t my previous wild and crazy life—that was just the life I built with Emma as husband and wife. Then there were three of us—one being completely dependent on us for survival. I was scared out of my fucking mind that I wasn’t going to be the father that he needed—that after screwing up before, I would screw up again.”

“How did you get through it?”

“By talking to Pop and some of my brothers-in-law—you know, people who had fought their way through the trenches of fatherhood before.”

“I see.”

“But even if you talk to all the women in your mommy group, you still have to communicate what’s going on in your head to Nate.”

Casey winced and rubbed her eyes. “He has to already think I’ve lost my damn mind.”

“Knowing Nate like I do, I’m sure that’s the last thing on his mind.”

“Like you wouldn’t be slightly concerned about Emma’s sanity if she had run out on you like I had?”

“Well, maybe a little,” Aidan admitted.

“I rest my case.”

Aidan’s expression became suddenly grave. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something—something not a living soul besides Emma knows. And I’m only telling it now so that you can feel a little better about what happened.”

With Aidan’s tone and body language, Casey couldn’t help leaning forward expectantly on the couch. “What is it?” she questioned in almost a whisper.

After doing a nervous pop of the knuckles on his hand, Aidan cleared his throat. Whatever he was about to tell her seemed especially painful. “This one time when Noah was about two months old…” He swallowed hard. “Emma fell asleep when I was going down on her.”

Seconds crept by as she could merely stare at him, blinking. If her situation hadn’t been so bleak, she probably would have busted out laughing at the absurdity of it all.

“Aidan, while I appreciate you trying to commiserate, I can tell you from a woman’s perspective that’s really not a bad thing.”

Aidan’s blue eyes widened. “Are you fucking kidding me? Putting your wife to sleep during a sex act is never, ever a good thing.”

“But oral for a woman can be very relaxing—sometimes an orgasm is just what we need to get the best sleep of our life.”

He shook his head furiously from side to side. “Oh hell no. It’s not supposed to be this—” He closed his eyes, lolled his head to the sound, and made exaggerated snoring sounds.

“But—”

“It’s supposed to be
this
!” Rolling his eyes back in his head in mock ecstasy, he then mimicked the high-pitched voice of a female as he moaned, “Oh God! Oh God! Yes, yes, YES!”

Casey snorted back a laugh, which earned her a frustrated grunt from Aidan. “Last time I ever tell you something to make you feel better,” he grumbled before hopping up off the couch.

As she watched his retreating form stomp away, Casey sighed and rose up herself. She followed him into the kitchen where he had his head stuck in the fridge. “I’m sorry.”

He pulled back to eye her around the side of the fridge door. Waving a longneck at her, he asked, “Want one?”

Her mouth watered in anticipation. “I really shouldn’t.”

“Pump and dump. You’ve earned it.”

A laugh escaped her lips. Who would have ever thought Mr. Manwhore Fitzgerald would understand all the ins and outs of breastfeeding? “Okay. You twisted my arm.”

Always the gentleman, he popped the top off before passing the cold bottle to her. Holding his bottle, he clinked the neck of hers. “To great sex.”

With a groan, she repeated, “To great sex.” After taking a long, foamy swig, she leaned back against the counter. “Just for the record, your reputation as the ultimate lover has not waned one bit in my eyes because of that story.”

Aidan grinned at her over the top of his longneck. “Really?”

“Really.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” After nibbling his bottom lip a tad bit nervously, he added, “And it was only that one time.”

Casey bit back a smile. “I believe you.”

“Good.”

Aidan’s phone began to ring. When he picked it up, he glanced at her. “It’s Nate.”

Sitting the beer down on the counter, she waved her hands back and forth. “I don’t want to talk to him.”

With an exasperated look, Aidan answered the call. “Hey man.” Although Nate couldn’t see him, Aidan bobbed his head. “Yeah, she’s here, and she’s fine.” Nate must’ve asked about talking to her because Aidan grimaced before scratching the hair at the back of his neck. “Um, she really doesn’t want to talk to you right now.”

If she tried, she could almost picture Nate at home, pacing around their bedroom—his dark brows furrowed in worry. His hair was probably disheveled from jerking his fingers through it, which was one of his nervous quirks. The thought that she was the source of that worry caused an ache to burn through her chest.

“Tell him I’m on my way home,” she blurted.

Aidan’s brows rose, but he didn’t question her. “She’s coming home.” Once again, he bobbed his head. “Yeah, I’ll make sure she gets to the car okay.”

Tears stung Casey’s eyes when she thought of how concerned Nate was for her. God, she loved that man with all her heart and soul. The last thing in the world she ever wanted to do was hurt him. Humiliation once again stung her at the way she had overreacted. Man, she could sure manage to fuck up a situation, couldn’t she?”