The Wedding Agreement (13 page)

Alex let out a humorless laugh and shook his head. “I hadn't been a kid since my dad passed away when I was fourteen. It wasn't long after that when my
mom was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time. And when that happened, any trace of innocence I had left disappeared.”

Cass wanted to reach out and touch his hand, put her arms around him. But there was nothing she could do to make anything better. So she chose just to listen.

“Looking back on it, I probably went to Brown because I needed the space—almost like the physical distance might disconnect me from the situation altogether. But it had the opposite effect. Since I had no idea how she was, I probably worried about her more at school than I would have if I'd been home.” Alex paused for a moment and propped his head on his hand, resting his elbow on the top of the couch. “She promised me she was okay and that she'd get through it, and part of me believed her. She told me to stay at school and try not to worry because Christina was there. She had an apartment nearby with friends, and she'd moved back in when my mom got sick again. But
I
should've been there too. I mean, I know I couldn't have done anything to change the outcome. That always would've been the same. But I could've been there. So much of life is just showing up.” Alex let the words out in a rush, like he'd been holding them in for so long that once he'd started speaking, he couldn't make himself stop until he'd said all he'd needed to say.

Cass didn't know how to respond. So she decided not to say anything. Instead, she reached out to take his hand, running her thumb over the top. Gradually her hand worked its way softly up his arm to his shoulder and around the back of his neck. She ran her fingers through the rough hair on the back of his
head, and Alex let out a low growl as he closed his eyes. Cass took that as the invitation she'd been hoping for. Not that she ever needed one. She'd made the first move plenty of times.

But tonight felt different. Alex had just opened himself up to her—shared something incredibly personal to him, and she wasn't sure how he'd felt about it. She didn't want to take the moment to a place he didn't want it to go. But the current physical contact wasn't enough for her. She needed to be closer, needed to feel Alex's hard body pressed against her—his weight on her as the scruff on his face brushed roughly against her skin. Just the thought sent a chill through her whole body.

“You okay?” Alex asked, in an obvious response to her sudden shiver.

“Yeah,” Cass answered softly as she leaned into him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. They parted slightly, just enough for their tongues to touch and for Alex to tug on her bottom lip with his teeth. Gradually their movements increased their speed, their hands tugging at each other's clothes until both sets lay in a pile next to the couch.

Alex hovered above her, placing light kisses on her forehead and down her neck to her chest. She watched how he explored her, his fingers trailing up and down her sides and over her breasts. She sucked in a sharp breath as his teeth grazed over one of her nipples before his mouth was on it completely. She was certain that the wet warmth of it matched what she felt between her thighs.

Her entire body ached for the man. But she didn't want to be the sole recipient of this pleasure. She suddenly had the urge to run her tongue over his whole body, like he'd done to her countless times. So she
pressed her hands against his chest, guiding him back to a sitting position on the couch and straddling him so that his erection pressed against her in just the right way.

Alex let out a groan as she slid against him. “God, you're so fucking sexy,” he rasped as his hands roughly massaged her breasts. His eyes locked with hers, and he bit his lip as his hips moved in perfect circles below her. “You're gonna make me come if you keep doing this.”

She thought about telling him no, that she wanted him inside her. But what they were already doing felt so good, so raw. She dropped her gaze to watch the tip of his cock pressing against his stomach as she slipped along his long shaft. Cass could come like this too—admiring his slippery erection beneath her, the way his head fell back against the top of the couch cushion.

“Cass,” Alex let out through a breath as his hands gripped her hips to slow her motion.

She knew her name was a warning. But she didn't heed it. “I want to watch you,” she whispered, and the admission seemed to surprise Alex as much as it did her.

His eyes widened as he let out a deep moan. Now he did nothing to hinder Cass' movements. Both of them were frantic, racing toward an end they both knew was near. Cass could feel her body begin to tense, her smooth strokes over Alex's cock becoming sharper and more erratic. Alex's eyes were barely open, his eyelids fluttering in pleasure. The tip of his cock was nearly purple and beaded with moisture.

“I'm so close, Alex.”

He choked out a few unsteady breaths in response and squeezed her ass with both his hands.

The feeling caused her to grind against him even harder, and she felt her orgasm nearing to the point that she wouldn't be able to hold it off much longer. Not that she wanted to. “Oh God,” she huffed. It took only a few more strokes of her body over his before his cock was spurting onto his stomach in quick bursts. And that was all Cass needed to push her over the edge. Her insides clenched as she slid over his length, milking every drop from him as she rode out her own climax.

The release was different from anything she'd ever experienced before. It was sweet. It was consuming. And it was fucking dirty as hell. She looked at the remnants of their encounter between them and then gave Alex a soft kiss on his lips before standing to take both his hands in hers. “How about a shower?” she asked.

Press Release

Alex wasn't sure who had suggested that they spend their evening at the trendy new club, Haven, but he was banking on Simone.
We really need to demote that girl from being our group's social planner.
The place was all hazy air and flashing lights. And if Alex saw one more gym rat who'd managed to squeeze himself into a kids' medium white shirt, he was going to lose his shit. It didn't help that the girls were all bouncing around on the dance floor, attracting the attention of every guy in the place. They'd done a fairly good job of closing ranks around one another, keeping the
Jersey Shore
look-alikes at bay, but Alex didn't think they'd be deterred for too long. Beside him, Scott was getting antsy. He was tasked with not only making sure Lauren didn't get the police called on her, but also with making sure no one got handsy with Quinn.

Alex also had initially declined the invitation to channel his inner fist pumper. He had been feeling a
little . . . conflicted lately. He wasn't sure if he and Cass were getting too into the wedding planning or if it was a by-product of all the time they'd been spending together, but things were shifting between them. The fact that he'd told her about his mom's cancer battle—a topic he normally avoided at all costs—was a big enough sign that they were venturing into dangerous territory. They hadn't spoken about what was going on between them, so he had no idea if Cass felt the same, which only made him more uncomfortable. He didn't want their fake relationship to screw with their real one. It was easy to play the role of happy fiancé, but he needed it to remain just that: a role. Letting himself get too caught up in the ruse could have disastrous consequences. So despite thinking that they'd both benefit from a night out without the other around, he'd caved. It was Tessa's weekend with Nina, and Alex's best friends were going to Haven. It wasn't that he didn't have other friends he could call and hang out with, but his best friends were here. He wouldn't have been as happy anywhere else.

But as he watched Cass flitter off toward the bar—with the leers and smirks that followed her—he realized he wasn't too happy here either.

“I feel like I should have bathed in self-tanner before coming in here,” Xavier remarked.

Alex and Scott laughed. “I'm actually surprised they didn't ask to see proof of a gym membership when they carded us at the door,” Alex added.

“The girls are enjoying themselves.” Scott's tone made it clear that he wasn't pleased by that fact.

Alex's eyes drifted back to the bar. He felt his body tense as he saw Cass still waiting for her drink. She wasn't alone. Alex felt himself slip into investigator
mode. The guy who'd moved to stand next to her wasn't like the majority of the male patrons he'd been making fun of for most of the night. He was actually fairly normal-looking: dark hair, medium build, maybe a little shorter than Alex's six-foot-one frame, and dressed in clothes that didn't look like they came from Baby Gap. Alex instantly hated him.

Cass seemed engaged in the conversation, which only irritated Alex further. Suddenly, he wished that Cass had worn the ring he'd given her. Because even though his view of them was partially obscured by other patrons and by the distance between him and the bar, he still recognized interest when he saw it. And he saw it in both of them. In a few months, when this sham was over, Alex wouldn't care at all if Cass flirted with another guy. But for now, he couldn't risk a friend of Tessa's recognizing him and reporting back that his so-called fiancée was eye-fucking strangers at the bar. Or exchanging . . .
Wait, is he giving her his number?

Alex all but slammed his still-half-full beer on the tabletop. “I need a drink.” He stalked off before his friends could reply. Striding up to the bar, he didn't let himself think about what he was going to do or say when he arrived. If he had, maybe he would've come up with something less cavemanish than wrapping an arm around Cass as he pulled her closer to him and said, “Hey, babe. Who's your friend?”

*   *   *

Cass wasn't sure what she was more surprised by: Connor's—
That's his name, right?
—persistence or Alex's possessiveness. She'd been trying to politely disengage from Connor since he'd approached, but the bar was jammed, so she'd gotten stuck talking to him. Not that there was a solid reason she didn't
want
to talk to him. He was polite and good-looking. So she'd been smiling and nodding for the past five or so minutes, all the while hoping like hell the bartender hurried up.

She wasn't even sure why she was so disinterested. Maybe it was because she was here to hang out with her friends, not score a date. Or maybe because she was here with Alex, though that didn't make sense to her. It wasn't like she was on bride-to-be duty. If she wanted to talk to a guy whom she wasn't pretending to marry, then she could. But she didn't
want
to. And that realization nearly short-circuited her brain. Cass wasn't some kind of bar slut, but she liked to keep her options open. She enjoyed playing the field a little—it was a decided benefit of her insistence to remain single. But talking to this guy felt wrong in every way, and yet in no way she could identify. She'd accepted his number when he'd written it on a bar napkin, and even tried not to judge him for the old-school move. None of it mattered. “Disinterested” didn't even begin to encompass the depth of her feelings. Which was why she'd been so happy to see Alex. Until he'd basically yanked her into him and practically pissed on her leg. That shit was
so
not going to fly.

“This is Connor. Connor, this is my friend Alex.” She made sure to enunciate “friend,” more to piss off Alex than to clarify anything to Connor.

Connor extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Cass felt bad for him. Connor looked legitimately confused, and she couldn't blame him. She was pretty confused herself.

Alex grasped Connor's hand after he'd sufficiently eyeballed the poor guy for a few seconds. “Nice to meet you too.” Alex shifted his body so he was fully
facing Cass, a silent
Fuck off
to Connor. “You still waiting on your drink?”

Cass eyed him warily, wondering what the hell his deal was. “Uh, yeah?” She wasn't sure why it came out like a question, but she could attribute it only to her confusion over what was happening.

“Let me see if I can flag him down.” Alex stepped up to the bar, forcing his body between Cass and Connor. He raised a hand at the bartender.

Connor looked around Alex's back. “It was nice meeting you, Cass.”

Even though Cass had wanted Connor to go away since he'd approached her, she felt bad about the way Alex had basically forced him away from her. Connor didn't deserve to be pulled into whatever dick-measuring contest Alex had challenged him to. She actually gave him credit for not stooping to Alex's level. “You too, Connor.”

Connor left, and Alex turned and leaned against the bar. “This place is nuts.”

“Yeah, almost as nuts as you are.”

Alex's brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“What the hell was that?”

“What was what?”

“Don't play dumb.” Cass felt herself getting more and more riled. She was angry at Alex's brutish display, and his feigned innocence wasn't helping.

Alex shrugged. “I thought he was bothering you, so I came to help out.”

“And why would you assume he was bothering me?”

“He just didn't seem like your normal type. I figured you needed an exit strategy, so I thought I'd give you one. I was just trying to protect you.”

“You were just trying to protect me? How? By making some poor guy feel like an asshole for trying to talk to me?” Then Cass remembered the first part of what Alex had said. “And how the hell do you know what my type is?”

Alex's jaw flexed as though he were gnashing his teeth. He was getting pissed.
Good.
“Guess I don't.”

“No. No, you really don't. And just for the record, I can protect myself.”

Alex took a breath and let it out in a long huff. “Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I know you don't need someone taking care of you. It's just . . . I wasn't sure if . . .” Alex left his thought unfinished, but he didn't stop talking. “What if one of Tessa's friends had seen you? We're supposed to be engaged, you and me.” He motioned between them. “You can't just talk to other guys in public like that.”

Cass glared at Alex as she tried to quell the anger rising inside her. “Don't tell me what I can and can't do.” And with that, Cass whirled around and walked back to their table. Quinn and Simone were there with Xavier. “Where are Lauren and Scott?”

Quinn nodded toward the dance floor. “Out there practicing for their wedding night.”

The last thing Cass wanted to hear was the word “wedding.” She grabbed the gin and tonic Quinn had been nursing for the past hour and took a swig. “Should we join them?”

Quinn and Simone exchanged a look before Quinn said, “Uh, sure.”

Cass threw herself into the music, letting her body bump and grind on anyone in her vicinity. She knew she was punishing Alex for his over-the-top display. She also knew that what he'd done didn't warrant the anger she was feeling. The urge to punish him was
beyond her comprehension, but she suspected that it had to do with Alex thinking he could claim her just because they were in a pretend relationship. The arm around the shoulder, the “babe,” the hostility toward Connor—all of it was part of the illusion they were creating. Okay, so maybe it wasn't that far beyond her comprehension after all. Because the more she thought about it, the more she recognized that the anger was covering up a much scarier emotion: hurt.

She leaned into Simone so she could be heard over the blaring techno. “I think I'm going to take off. I'm not feeling too great all of a sudden.”

Simone appraised her for a second before yelling back, “I'll walk you out.”

Cass shook her head. “I'll ask Xavier to walk me. Have fun.” Cass threw her a smile before walking off the dance floor. She started toward their table, but stopped when her eyes locked with Alex's. Instead of continuing toward him, she changed her trajectory and made her way toward the exit.

*   *   *

“I'll be back,” Alex said to Xavier before following Cass out of the bar. He'd been a dick earlier, and Cass was obviously royally pissed at him. In all honesty, he wasn't sure that what he'd done had been deserving of the level of ire she'd exhibited, but he hated knowing that he'd made her mad at him. She'd been so good to him over the past couple of months—helped him above and beyond what could reasonably be expected from a friend—so if he needed to beg for forgiveness, he would.

Once outside, he jogged to catch up to her. “Cass, hold up a sec.” He was actually surprised when she stopped. “I'm sorry about before. I really didn't mean to piss you off.”

Cass turned toward him and took a deep breath before meeting his eyes. “I know. But you did.”

Alex pushed his hands into his pockets. “I just . . . I didn't . . . God, I don't know . . .” He sighed deeply and tried to figure out what he wanted to say. “I guess it's just harder than I thought it would be. To turn the relationship thing off and on. I mean, I obviously know that the relationship isn't real, but it's weird to go from picking out wedding food and bands to watching another guy flirt with you. It fucked up my head, and I wasn't thinking clearly.”

Cass seemed to think his words over for a second before one corner of her mouth tilted up in a slight smirk. “So you're saying you were jealous?”

Alex pushed one hand through his hair, thankful that the mood seemed to be lightening. “I think your fiancé was jealous more than I was.”

Cass laughed. “What? Do you have multiple personalities now?”

Alex chuckled but sobered quickly. “Don't we both?”

“Yeah. I guess we do,” she replied, her tone now more serious.

“This may be totally unreasonable for me to ask, but do you think that, for the sake of us trying to navigate all this confusing stuff we have going on, that we could keep other people out of the equation?”

Cass sighed. “I wasn't trying to factor anyone else
into
the equation. I was just talking to him. Not making plans to slip off to the nearest bathroom stall.”

Alex winced at her words.
Is that what she believes I thought?
“I didn't think that's what was happening. I'm sorry if I came across that way. It's probably just my own insecurities coming out. My real wife cheated on me, so watching a guy be interested in my
pretend future wife pushed all the wrong buttons. It doesn't excuse how I reacted, but it's the only explanation I have.”

She shifted slightly. “No, that makes a lot of sense, actually,” she said, hesitating as if deciding what to say. Despite the fact that they were hashing things out, there remained a certain level of emotional distance between them. “So, you wanna, like, go steady, huh?” Cass laughed, and Alex immediately felt some more of the tension melt away.

Alex smiled. “I know it's a little backward—getting engaged before declaring monogamy—but it suits us, I think.” Alex let the smile slip off his face. “What I'm asking isn't really fair to you. I know that. You don't stand to gain anything from this arrangement, and now here I am, asking you to put your life on hold and not see other people until this is over. But I . . . I'd really appreciate if you'd agree to do it anyway.”

Cass stepped closer to him. “You're about all I can handle right now anyway.” She slipped her arms around his neck. “Besides, who says I'm not gaining anything? You can repay me in sexual favors.”