The Wedding Agreement (2 page)

Once Cass was as naked as Alex, he settled between her legs once more, enjoying the sensation of them wrapping around him as he guided himself inside her. He started slowly, wanting to feel every inch of himself move in and out of her. He also knew how much it teased her, the gentle grind against her. Cass ceased licking his neck to whisper “Faster” in Alex's ear, a request he was always happy to comply with. He sped up and the two quickly found their rhythm, their heart and breathing rates increasing with every thrust. Alex could feel Cass tightening around him, bringing him closer to release.

“God, Alex,” Cass let out as part of an exhalation.

He could tell she was getting closer, and put his hand up to tangle in her hair, pulling gently as he increased the speed of his hips even more, working them both toward their much-needed release. At last he felt her clench around him, her body pulsating around his cock as she released a throaty moan and a few soft curse words. He let her ride out her orgasm before concentrating on his own, which came a few moments later as he pumped inside her hard and fast.

He pulled out of her after a few seconds and headed to the bathroom. By the time he got back, Cass was already in a baggy T-shirt and flipping through the channels. “You going to hang out for a bit?” she asked. “I'm sure one of the eighteen
Fast and the Furious
movies is on somewhere.”

Alex laughed, but it was the truth. He'd watch
those movies anytime they were on, and everyone knew it. He thought about taking her up on her offer. There was nothing that appealed to him more at the moment than a movie and waking up curled around a half-naked—or fully naked—Cass. But before he could open his mouth to reply, Cass opened hers. Except it was to let out a slow yawn. Though it was hard for him to admit it, he knew it was in both of their best interests to get some rest. He gave her a small smile before he started collecting his clothes from the floor and dressing. “I actually have some work I should probably get done before I go in tomorrow morning.”

“All right,” Cass said, pulling her hair up into a loose ponytail as she walked Alex to the door so she could lock the dead bolt behind him. “Drive safely.”

“Always,” he replied with a smile. “And I'm going to stop by next door and say something about the music. You'll never be able to sleep with that going on.”

Cass playfully rolled her eyes, but Alex didn't care. Protecting people close to him was something ingrained too deeply in his personality, and he couldn't shut it off.

“You want me to wait here in case they jump you?” she said teasingly, but he knew the offer was sincere.

“Nah, I'll be fine. If they start getting rowdy, I'll flash my badge and gun. That usually settles people down.” He shot her a mischievous smirk before she closed the door behind him. Then he headed down the hall toward the noise. A loud bang of his fist on the door caused the music to cut off and a shaggy-looking kid to answer the door.

“Can I help you?”

Alex quickly appraised the person in front of him. He was most likely a college kid. Alex wondered how
he could even afford to live in the building until he saw the Tag Heuer watch on the kid's wrist.
No doubt about it; someone has Daddy paying the rent.
“Yeah, man. Would you mind turning the music down? Some of us have early mornings.”

The kid looked at Alex a second, probably trying to assess whether he should do as he was asked or not. “Sure, man. No problem.”

Good answer.
Alex was often thankful for his bulky frame. It kept people from trying to fuck with him. “Thanks. Have a good one.” Alex didn't wait for a reply as he turned and started toward the elevator, wondering if there were any better sleep aids than bowling and hot sex.

Assault

Alex grabbed a spatula out of the bin on the counter and flipped it up in the air before pointing it at Nina, who was seated on the barstool. “Banana or chocolate chip?”

She took a sip of her apple juice. “Daaaad,” she replied, drawing out the word as if it had two syllables, “you know I want both.”

Alex smiled back at his daughter's grin, which, since yesterday, was missing another tooth in the front. “That's my girl.” He shook some of the pancake mix into the blue glass bowl and filled the measuring cup to the correct line with water before dumping it in. “So, did the Tooth Fairy come last night?”

Nina's smile broadened and she tucked a wisp of her soft brown hair behind her ear. “Yeah!” she said excitedly, withdrawing the five-dollar bill and two ones from underneath the countertop.

Alex gave his daughter a look of surprise. “Seven
dollars is a lot of money. You think she gave you that amount because you're seven years old?” he asked, pouring one large circle of batter and attaching two smaller ones to make the shape of Mickey Mouse on the pan.

Alex turned around and watched Nina put a finger to her lips, pulling on her bottom one as if she were pondering the question she'd just been asked. “I don't think so. I only got five dollars when I lost my first tooth, and I was six then.” She furrowed her brow for a second and then spoke again. “You think if I leave her a note and tell her she forgot the other dollar last time, she'll leave it for me?”

Alex chuckled and leaned against the countertop, his hands on the edge of the cold granite. He couldn't lie to himself. A part of him loved that he'd given his daughter more money when she'd lost the tooth at his house than when she'd lost her first one at Tessa's. The ex-husband inside him smiled at the thought that he'd unknowingly one-upped her. But the much larger part of himself—the father in him—felt a pang of guilt at his daughter's question. It was just another example of a time when his and Tessa's trouble communicating caused confusion for Nina. Alex sighed heavily before returning to flip the pancakes. “It's not polite to ask anyone for money, Nina, even the Tooth Fairy. I'm sure she must've just forgotten how old you were—you know, with all the kids' houses she goes to each night.”

Nina seemed to accept this answer as the truth, letting the topic go and quickly replacing it with another. “Okay,” she said simply. “Can we have that coconut syrup we had last time?”

Alex picked up the pan and brought it over to Nina's plate, sliding her cartoon-shaped breakfast onto it. “You
know, you have quite an extensive palate for a little girl.”

Nina had already pulled one ear off the pancake and shoved it into her mouth, getting chocolate on her fingers in the process. “Thanks,” she said, though Alex knew she probably had no idea what his comment even meant.

The two spent the next ten minutes eating and talking about what to do for the day. Nina wanted to feed the ducks at the pond around the corner, and Alex suggested that they stop by the mall later in the day so she could pick out a gift for herself with the money she'd gotten from the Tooth Fairy. Alex had just put the last few bites of his fourth pancake into his mouth when he heard his phone ringing on the other counter. He chewed quickly, wiping his mouth on the way to check his phone.
Who calls before nine a.m. on a Sunday? No one I want to talk to, that's who.
He rolled his eyes as he saw the name on the screen:
Don.
He swiped his finger along the bottom of the screen to answer, and swallowed the rest of the pancake that was in his mouth before speaking. “Walker.”

“Morning, Alex. Sorry to bother you.”

No, you're not
. “It's fine. What's going on?”

“We got a guy we're looking at for the Abner case. We're gonna need to take a look at this before we arrest him.”

Alex heard himself sigh, but quickly tried to cover it with a cough. He hated how his job with the FBI could interfere with his time with Nina, but there wasn't anything he could do.

“Sorry. I know it's the weekend, but you know what a big break this is.”

“I know, I know.” Alex pinched the bridge of his nose and squinted, turning away from Nina and
heading toward the family room. “It's just that I have my daughter until tonight and . . .” Alex let his voice trail off. “Never mind. It's my problem, not yours. Is the afternoon okay?”

“Should be fine. We have our guys surveilling his house now. If he goes anywhere, we'll let you know.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Don.” As he hung up the phone, he thought about how his next phone call would suck way more than the previous one.

Surprisingly Tessa didn't give him too much shit when he'd asked if she could come pick up Nina a few hours earlier than she'd planned. She'd agreed to get there by one instead of after dinner, and Alex was grateful for it. The few hours left still gave him time to take Nina to the duck pond and the mall, so the two got ready quickly and headed down the street with a bag of bread.

Nina seemed to be understanding of her father's work schedule, but he still felt horrible. It wasn't the first time their weekend together had been cut short because of his job, and he was again reminded of the effect that the divorce had to have had on her. She was a seven-year-old girl, not a basket of rolls to be passed from person to person.

But Alex tried his best to push aside the guilt he felt, at least while Nina was still there. The last thing he wanted was for the small amount of time they had left together to be polluted by negative feelings. And, thankfully, he was able to do that. They went through a half loaf of bread, tossing it into the pond as far as each of them could throw. After the mall, they'd headed home for lunch. They'd just finished eating the grilled cheese Alex had made for the two of them when the doorbell rang. “Why don't you go finish packing up your things upstairs while I talk to your
mom?” Alex said, lifting the plate from in front of his daughter.

“'Kay,” Nina answered, quickly bounding toward the stairs.

As Alex walked to the door, he mentally prepared himself for the person who'd be on the other side of it.

“Hi,” Tessa said, as soon as he pulled the wooden door open for her to step inside.

“Hey, thanks again. Don called and—”

“You don't have to explain every time, Alex.” She moved to the stairs, looking up toward the sound of Nina stomping around above them. “I was married to you for four years, remember?”

Unfortunately.

“I know how it is.” She folded her arms across her chest and pressed her lips into a thin line, averting her eyes away from his.

Alex stayed silent. He knew that look. It was the same expression Tessa wore right before she'd come clean after Alex had confronted her about her infidelity. After about thirty seconds he couldn't take it anymore. “Oh, just spit it out, Tessa. What is it?”

Tessa brought her gaze up to his and moved a strand of her strawberry blond hair away from her eye. “Pete's starting a prepackaged-meal company, and I'm going to help him pitch it to some gyms this summer. We'll be gone for about eight weeks, traveling around the country and even overseas. It's a great opportunity for us, Alex. Pete's put a lot of effort into everything. He's even come up with the recipes himself. It's not just shakes and protein bars. It's real food, like—”

“Save your spiel for your international tour,” Alex spat. “I don't give a shit about Pete's cooking skills.
The only thing I care about is that you're taking my daughter during the part of the year when I normally get to spend the most time with her. You can't even do this. Part of our custody agreement stipulates that I get to have her for three weeks—”

“That's not what I meant,” Tessa said, shaking her head. “I didn't mean Nina's coming with us. She can't. It'll be way too much traveling for someone her age. Summer is Nina's vacation. I wouldn't make her come along on some work trip.”

Alex scratched the back of his head and narrowed his eyes. “Oh,” he said. “I thought you were telling me I'd see her less, not more. I'd love to have her for the whole summer.”

Tessa hesitated a moment, biting her lip. “I'm going to leave her with my parents, Alex.”

“You're going to leave
my
daughter with
your
parents? Who live in Jersey?” Alex was livid. “I just said I'd love to have her for the summer.”

“Loving to have her and actually being able to have her are two completely different things. Your work schedule is crazy. Look at what happened today. You can't tell me this is a rare occurrence. Who are you going to call when you need someone to come pick her up suddenly? My parents? They live three hours away.”

“I'm aware. Nina's going to love spending over six hours in the car every time it's my turn to have her, by the way. Not to mention how that cuts into our ability to do things besides play license-plate bingo.”

“You're acting like I'm taking Nina from you. You'll see her as often as you do every summer.”

Alex ran a hand through his thick, dark hair. “Jesus, Tess, you're missing the point. I'm Nina's father, not
some stranger you pay to babysit her for a few hours while you go out for the night.”

“I'm not saying you're not her father. I'm saying my parents are both retired. They have the time for her. Time that you don't have.”

“I have time for my daughter.”

“Okay. What exactly do you plan to do with her while you're at work five days a week?”

Alex scoffed. Tessa clearly thought she'd stumped him. “The same thing she would've done if you weren't going away. Summer camp. I'm assuming you still work at Pete's gym a few days a week and would need to send her just like you've done every other summer. I'll drop her off before work and pick her up on my way home each day.”

Tessa rolled her eyes but didn't disagree that a day camp was a valid solution. “And what about when you get called in to work unexpectedly at night or on a weekend? What then?”

“I'm perfectly capable of handling anything that would come up while you're away.”

“And what would be your idea of handling it? Dragging our seven-year-old daughter to work with you so you can introduce her to some of the murderers and pedophiles you hang out with?”

“Oh, come on. That's completely ridiculous. You're being irrational, and you know it.”

“Well, then what? Tell me, Alex. What do you plan to do when you have to go in to work suddenly?”

Alex searched his brain for an answer, but he couldn't find one. His sister had kids of her own, and she lived about forty-five minutes away. The chances that she wouldn't be carting her three boys around to practice or a doctor's appointment when he called
were slim to none. He knew from experience. “I'll figure something out,” he finally said. “I always do.”

“Like you did today?” Tessa's green eyes glared at him, begging him to admit what he already knew. He didn't have an answer.

And just like that he felt the fight drain from him. He couldn't argue with that. As much as Alex hated to admit it, Tessa had been granted primary custody of their daughter for a reason. Alex had been a single guy with a demanding and often unpredictable career. Not exactly a suitable situation for a young girl. At least in the eyes of a judge. At the time Alex had promised himself he'd become more stable, eventually try to get fifty-fifty custody. That was almost four years ago. And his living circumstances hadn't changed. Deflated, he peeked around the banister and glanced up the steps, making sure that Nina wasn't on her way down. “Does she know yet?”

“Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first,” Tessa said quietly.

“Well, mission accomplished.” Alex let out a disgusted laugh, but tried to cover it with a real smile when he saw Nina bounce down the stairs.

“Ready, sweetie?” Tessa asked.

“Yup.”

“Give Daddy a hug and a kiss good-bye.”

Nina wrapped her small arms around Alex's waist tightly. He knelt down so she could give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Bye, Daddy,” Nina said quietly.

Alex kissed her forehead softly and stood up, watching her as she walked toward Tessa's car. It wasn't until the SUV was down the road and out of sight that he finally responded. “Bye, baby,” he whispered.

*   *   *

Cass sat at her desk, looking at the papers splayed out in front of her, trying desperately to see a way to spin the nightmare before her in a positive way.
How can I turn a stalker who was caught digging through a woman's trash and stealing her underwear into someone with a successful restaurant?
At least he was acquitted—that was something.

The ringing of her cell phone interrupted her thoughts of the large muscular man asking his female customers if they preferred Victoria's Secret or Frederick's of Hollywood. She hoped her bosses appreciated the miracles she worked every day and would eventually reward her with a corner office. Sooner rather than later. Cass glanced at the phone screen before answering, a smirk lifting her lips. “Mr. Walker, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Not sure. But I bet I can think of something,” Alex quipped.

“I'm sure you could. Okay, stop trying to get in my pants—I'm working. What's up?”

“You're separating business from pleasure? Has hell frozen over?”

Cass couldn't help but laugh. “You're a real comedian today.”

“I try. Okay, down to business: are you going to Scott and Lauren's housewarming Saturday?”

“Of course.”

“You want to go in on a gift with me?” Alex asked.

“Ah, so now we arrive at the real reason for this call. Let me guess—you want me to pick out a gift and put your name because you're too lazy to go out and get anything. Right?”