Keep It Simple (MMG Series Book 4) (11 page)

“Did you have sex with her?”

“I used a condom.” I did not enlighten him to how many times Alexandria and I had been together, as this would have sealed the deal in his mind.

“Condoms break.”

“I would have known if it broke.” At least, I think I would have known. Isn’t it obvious if there’s a gaping hole at the end of a rubber?

“Maybe, maybe not,” he replied, “All I am saying is, if you are the father, make the most of the situation. Being Sterling Gibson’s son-in-law is not a bad person to be, Caswell.”

It is for me, I thought, but did not say out loud. All my father could see were dollar signs. Forget about shit like happiness and well-being. I gave my mom a kiss on the way out the door. There was only so much of my father I could handle.

Alexandria called me to ask for a sample for a paternity test a month later. I had begun to think she’d given up and found another scapegoat. Needless to say, her call put me in a shitty mood. For the next twelve days I was on pins and needles. I knew there was no possible way the kid was mine, but…what if I was wrong? The thought of being strapped to that woman for the rest of my days made me physically sick. On day twelve, as I sat at my desk, Alexandria waltzed into my office and slapped down proof of paternity. My worst nightmare had come true.

“Congratulations, Caswell. You are going to be a father. Oh, and by the way, we are having a son.”

I married Alexandria Gibson in a small chapel on the beach in Wilmington, North Carolina one month later. At my insistence, the guest list was limited to fifty people. Both my parents were over the moon about it. Not only were they now connected with one of the richest families in North Carolina, they were connected by blood. The only people who knew how I felt about Alexandria, other than both of our fathers, were Bobby and my younger sister, Melissa. Everyone else believed Xandria’s fairy tale lie about how I whisked her off her feet and begged her to be mine forever. I found myself completely trapped in a helpless situation and there was not a damn thing I could do to change it. At the ripe old age of twenty-four, I had become a husband and a father.

Reality of my newfound situation hit home on my wedding night. I had arranged for a two room suite for the evening as, wedding night or not, I had no intention of sleeping in the same room as my new wife. When Xandria showed up in my doorway with nothing on but a white see-through negligee, my mind said no, but my traitorous cock said…why not? We were both victims of seriously shitty circumstances. Why shouldn’t I try to get some enjoyment along the way?

“Just pretend she’s someone else,” Bobby advised earlier that day.

That night I gave her what she needed and, believe it or not, got something in return. It was not the wild, raunchy sex we had the night our son was conceived, but more of a mutual agreement to make the most of the situation. There was no love, but there was respect and lust. I was pleasantly surprised at the protective feelings the pregnancy brought out in me. This was my child. I may not have planned it, but here we were. After sex, I waited for her to fall asleep before getting the hell out of there. I spent the rest of the night on the living room sofa. The next morning we both acted as if it never happened. This is how our marriage proceeded. We rarely had sex and, when we did, I made sure it was only that and nothing more.

With the help of my wife’s trust fund, we purchased a four bedroom house right off the beach. I immediately had a top of the line security system installed, as well as top and bottom locks on the French doors leading out to the pool. At that point in her pregnancy, Xandria was too big and uncomfortable to hit me up for sex. This, of course, made my life a hell of a lot easier.

The day Kalan Alexander Ashford was born was one of the best days of my life. I had no idea the multitude of feelings one tiny little person could evoke inside me. His mother and I may not have loved each other, but we sure as shit loved him. At least, I did.

“Look what we made, Caswell? Isn’t he perfect? Isn’t he perfect? Isn’t he perfect?”

“Cas, wake up.” I felt someone shaking my arm. Slowly, I lifted my head from my desk and blinked the sleep from my eyes. Bobby was staring down at me with a concerned look on his face. “You need to go home and get some sleep. This is what, the third night you’ve been here this late?” My clock read nine forty-three PM.

Damn, I’ve been out for over an hour.

“Why are you pushing yourself so hard? Is it because of Sarah?”

Was it because of Sarah? Maybe.
Stretching my arms over my head, I stood from my chair. “I really could use a beer right now.”

“Patterson’s or Dragonfly?” he asked.

“Dragonfly is closer to my place. I’m just going to have one and then I’m hitting the sack.”

In February, a townhome I had been eyeing came available. It was a stretch to buy it, but I knew I would be dumping the house in Wilmington the second the divorce was finalized. I could afford two mortgages until then. The first weekend in March I moved into my new place. That same weekend, Garrett took me and Bob to Dragonfly and introduced us to Kurt and Dillon. We had been trading off between the two bars ever since.

On the drive over, I thought back to my conversation with Alexandria two days ago.

“I’m done with rehab, Caswell.”

I hated when she called me Caswell and she knew it. Not surprisingly she was still playing games. “You have one more month to go, Xan.”

“I can’t be here another month. This place is nasty. The food is horrible and I haven’t had my hair done or a mani-pedi in weeks.”

“You either finish rehab or go to prison,” I told her.

“I am better. I haven’t thought about taking a drink or pills in weeks.”

“Just think how great you’ll feel in a month?”

She let out a loud sigh of exasperation. “Fine, but only for one more month.”

“And then you are going to stay with your dad, right?”

“Yes, but I only agreed on a few weeks. I will go crazy in that house if I stay any longer than that.”

I need to call Sterling tomorrow and warn him.

I pulled into Dragonfly’s parking lot and waited on Bobby, before exiting the truck. As we hit the bottom step of the bar, the door flew open and out spilled a mass of people, the last of which was a giggling Sarah.

“Well if it isn’t old Cas,” the blonde standing next to her crudely slurred. I recognized her from when I met Sarah at Patterson’s back in January.

Sarah instantly sobered. “Cas, what are you doing here?”

“The last time I looked, this was a public bar,” I clipped. Hurt skittered through her eyes and I felt like an ass. “I’m going to have a beer with Bobby.” I added, in a softer tone. Bobby shot me a warning look, before slipping inside the bar. Now probably wasn’t the time to clear the air between us, but when was I going to get another opportunity? “Hey, can we talk for a second?”

Sarah told her friends she’d call them tomorrow. Then she turned back to me with a hesitant smile. I felt it all the way to my toes. Confusion swirled within me. She was Max’s little sister and I didn’t want to want her, but she looked so damn good. She wore her hair curly tonight, just the way I liked it, and a short dress that showed off her long, sexy legs. I curled my fingers into fists to keep from touching her hair to see if it was as soft as it looked. The gloss that tasted of berries shone on her deliciously full lips and I was so tempted to take another taste.

“I didn’t know who you were. If you had given me a chance to speak the other day, I would have told you. I would never intentionally compromise your job, Cas. I’m sorry for any trouble I might have caused you.” She placed her hands over her heart. “Please believe me?” Her heartfelt apology both surprised and pleased me. It also made me want to back her against the wall and take her. The last time I took what I wanted, even though I knew I shouldn’t have, landed me with a wife and child.

I have to set her straight.

“We had a fun week, Sarah, but that was all it can ever be. You know this, right? We,” I motioned between the two of us, “cannot be together. Your brother can never find out what happened.”

“I have no intention of telling Max. I would never do that to you.” The hurt in her voice made me feel like a world class shit.

“If I had known how old you were, I would never have…” She held up her hand and I stopped mid-sentence.

“Yeah, Cas. I picked up on that at Jos and Kurt’s. You regret it. I understand,” she snapped.

Without thinking, I cradled her gorgeous face in my hands and stared into her beautiful blue eyes. “It’s bad timing, sweetheart, that’s all.” I lowered my mouth to hers for a goodbye kiss. The second our mouths touched and she opened her sweet, berry lips for me, I was a goner. Pulling her around the side of the building, I pushed her back against the brick wall and devoured her alcohol tinged tongue.

“This is all I’ve thought about for months,” I confessed.

“Me too,” she whispered against my mouth.

Whenever I touched this woman all rational thought slipped from my brain. This left my cock to take over, which was a really bad idea. My body screamed to get inside her again. I skimmed my fingers up her thighs while she worked on the top button of my pants. Right as I was about to plunge my fingers into her slick, wet heat, the bar door swung open and out stumbled several drunk patrons.

I froze.
What the hell am I doing?

“Don’t stop,” Sarah’s warm breath whispered against my ear.

Fuck!

Placing my hand over hers, I halted her fingers from reaching their destination. She let out a cute huff of frustration and blinked up at me.

“We can’t,” I told her.

I could see her lust filled eyes struggling to focus and felt bad for opening Pandora’s Box. “What?” she asked.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have started this. I didn’t mean to,” I stammered.

The incredulous look on her face seared a hole through my gut. Yanking her hand out from under mine, she growled in frustration. Then she ran her fingers through her long, dark hair and sighed. “Bloody fucking hell, Cas, why did you kiss me then?”

“I shouldn’t have. Look, your brother is my friend and my client. This thing between us has nowhere to go,” I tried to explain.

Hurt shone in her eyes and her bottom lip trembled. “Then you should have thought about it before you went there, not after.” Before I could reply, she turned on her heel and stormed across the parking lot towards her car.

“You good to drive?” I shouted.

She raised her hand and waved her middle finger in the air. “Talk to the finger, Boyo!” she shouted back at me, and I tried not to laugh.

The woman was an absolute force of nature and I needed to keep my fucking hands off her. The problem was…I didn’t want to.

Bobby didn’t push when I joined him at the bar. After one drink morphed into four, I said goodnight and began to walk home. I would jog over tomorrow morning to pick up my car. On the way home I thought about Sarah and all the reasons I should stay away. I didn’t want to stay away. This was not good.
Not good at all.

Sarah

‡

“T
his can’t happen.
We both know it, Sarah
,” I mocked under my breath
. Then why the hell did you kiss me, shitarse?
I was trying not to stomp, but I was so damn mad.

“You good to drive?” Cas’s sexy-as-sin voice shouted behind me.

I wanted to tell him to kiss off, but I was too angry to get it out, so I shot him the bird and kept on walking. The sound of his laughter chased me across the parking lot and I bit my tongue to keep from shrieking obscenities at him. I was angry…and frustrated…So, very, bloody frustrated. Apparently Max wasn’t the only person in the world who knew how to push my buttons.

I opened my car door and slid behind the wheel. As I threw my head against the back of the seat I screamed in frustration. When I was done with my shrieking fit, I gave myself a pep talk. “Don’t let him get to you. You have fought too long and hard to reign in your self-control. Do not let one arse-of-a-cow man tear it all away.”

Cas was all I had thought about since the pool party. Discovering he worked for Garrett, not to mention my brother, was shocking news. His less than receptive attitude towards me in the pool house hurt more than I wanted to admit. However, after a few days of nursing my hurt feelings, I gained a different perspective on the whole thing.
No matter how much I may wish it, Cas can’t be with me. End of story.
Right then and there, I made up my mind. The next time I saw Cas, I would simply apologize for my part of what happened and move on. I was good with this plan until I saw his sexy ass standing outside Dragonfly. The man had a hold over me I could not shake. The minute he touched me, my good intentions flew right out the window.
Why did he have to kiss me? More so, why did I let him?
The moment his lips hit mine I was gone for him all over again
. I can’t believe I tried to stick my hand down his pants. Ugh, just shoot me now.