Keep Me (25 page)

“Why the hell not? Tessa, after last night I thought—”

I placed a hand on his tensing fore arm. “Slow down there, Wild West. Let me finish.”

He tapped his spoon against the bowl, raising his eyebrows.

“I should take my own car because of Luca. I don’t know how he’ll be around a crowd. And even though I want nothing more than to spend the entire weekend together, I’ll be happier knowing that if something comes up I have a way to get back without having to inconvenience anyone.” The last thing I needed was to make my son a burden on everyone. And by everyone I meant all of Marcus’s unattached, twenty-four-year-old friends.

“You really are incredible, you know that? This boy is one lucky son of a gun.” He scraped the chair against the tile floor and stood to clean his plate. As he turned the faucet on I heard a sound from the other room.

“Hello?” a voice bellowed from inside. “Tess? I really need to talk to you.” It was getting closer. “You’re not gonna believe what I—No. Fucking. Way.” Her mouth dropped to the floor and her eyes looked like they were on fire.

Shit!
Now this was one way to break it to her.

“Riley? How’d
you
get in? What the hell are you doing here?” Marcus remained frozen at the sink, the water still running.

“Me? What’re
you
doing here? And better yet, what the fuck is this all about?” She waved her arms frantically. The scene had to be a total shock to her. “Now you’re playing house? Well, how fucking adorable.” She turned her furious glare to me, her hands pressing into her hips. “And you. I thought you knew better. I warned you about this. Shit, Tessa! How stupid could you be?”

“Enough!” Marcus roared. “You have no right.”

“Oh the hell I don’t. You think you can just fuck whoever you want and leave me to pick up all the pieces, don’t you? This won’t work, Marcus, and when you decide you’re done with her like you did with all my
other
friends, she’ll be devastated and she won’t want to talk to me anymore. Again!”

I had to intercede. There was no reasoning with her when she was like this, but I didn’t want them to fight—not in front of Luca. “Okay, everyone calm down. Marcus, why don’t you let me talk to Riley? We can catch up again later.”

He eyed Riley with disdain, his nostrils still flaring.

I walked over to him and stroked the bulging muscles in his tensing arm. “Relax,” I whispered. “I can handle her.” I winked, signifying my promise and his anger visibly eased.

“You’ll call me later.”

“Promise. Now, go cool off.”

“Fine.” He bent down to kiss me on the mouth. He lingered a little longer than I thought he would, but then again he was proving a point.

When he was gone, I joined a now-calm Riley at the kitchen table where she was babbling to Luca.

“Hey,” I said, breaking the ice.

“Yeah,
hey
, that’s not gonna cut it. I can’t believe you two. I really can’t. He’s bad news, Tessa. He’s just gonna hurt you.”

I knew she meant well, but I was tired of her thinking of me as some fragile victim she had to look out for. I knew Marcus differently now. I was no longer afraid regardless of how much she forewarned me. “Drop it. Please? I understand where you’re coming from and I appreciate it with all my heart, but I like being with him.” It was so much more than like but she didn’t need to know that yet. Too much, too soon might cause her to freak out again.

“Ridiculous,” she mumbled as she shook her head. “I just can’t see how—”

“Riley,” I inched closer to her, locking my eyes on hers, “leave it alone. Now,” I inched back, feeling victorious. “What did you barge in here ranting about before you started your tirade on me and Marcus? I gave you that key for emergencies, is there something you need to tell me?”

There was no hiding the shift in her appearance. Her rigid features softened as her face grew flushed, her cheeks red with embarrassment. This was Riley’s walk of shame. “I—shit, I was so dumb.” Her head drooped into her hands, her fingers covering her eyes. “I slept with Beck last night.”

“You sure you’re okay with driving up alone? It’s a long ride. What if Luca gets cranky?”

“Marcus, I can handle him, been doing it alone for a while. He’ll be fine. I’ll be fine.”

I hated when she said things like that. I knew she was used to doing things on her own and raising her son alone, but what if she didn’t have to worry about that now? I could step up to the plate—I wanted to be that permanent fixture in her life, the person she always relied on.

Resting the phone between my shoulder and my ear, I continued unloading the grocery bags onto the counter hoping that I stocked up on enough for all the guests. “Listen, babe, just promise me you’ll call me from the road if you have any issues. I’ll meet you and come to your rescue.”

“My hero, as always. Thank you, Mr. Chivalrous. I’ll call from the road. Need anything while I’m out?”

I counted the packages of hot dogs and hamburgers, mentally picturing how there would be no room on the grill for all this shit. “Nah, I think we’re good. Just get your fine ass here so we can have some alone time before we’re surrounded by all the annoying naysayers.”

“Screw the naysayers. I thought that was our new motto?”

She was right. We survived almost a whole week of Riley’s lecturing and nonsense. You’d think I was a serial killer the way she warned Tessa about me. And Tessa should only know how weak and fragile Riley saw her. I kept dodging an earful of my sister’s incessant concerns about how sorry she felt for Tessa and everything she went through with Zack. How broken and vulnerable she was. If I had to remind Riley one more damn time that I would protect Tessa
and
make her happy I was going to drop kick her. “Okay, fuck ‘em. To hell with them all!”

“That’s the spirit. Now let me finish packing so I can get on the road already.”

“Okay. And pretty girl, pack that black thing you wore the other night. Can’t stop thinking about those garter belts scraping the sides of my face while I—”

She laughed, cutting me off before I got to the good part. “Yeah, yeah, I get the idea. I’ll call you soon.”

I hung up, packing a hard-on and a smile. Shit was finally how I wanted it to be with Tessa—carefree, consistent and out in the open. Beck was floored—and still skeptical—when I told him that Tessa and I were officially a couple, but I couldn’t wait to show her off this weekend to all the guys. She was one hot woman, even while toting an infant on her hip. I knew that would raise some disapproving brows, but let them say one damn word about the situation—I’d rip someone’s head off. Along with the ‘screw all the naysayers’ motto, I was becoming pretty fond of ‘shut your mouth and mind your business’.

The car pulled up to the house with the unmistakable sound of crunching gravel. It was still light out and the sweltering heat was relentless, even this late in the day. I walked out onto the porch to welcome my girl and her little boy and felt something unfamiliar wash over me. As she stepped out of the car in her green sundress, her usually long curly hair blown out straight, my heart thumped in my chest. I was proud—that was the feeling. Proud that this beautiful girl belonged to me and entrusted her life, her son, and her happiness to my hands. It would be a lie if I said it didn’t scare the shit out of me and that I wasn’t afraid I’d fuck it all up, but I would try like I had never tried at anything before in my life. She was worth it, even if it meant undergoing a total one-eighty on my part.

Shit, I had my work cut out for me.

“Good evening, pretty girl,” I sang as I strolled down the pathway to greet her, taking it all in.

“Good evening, gorgeous,” she replied back with a quick kiss on my lips as I threw my arms around her waist. She stood back and scanned my body, my clothing, my face, as she bit her lip. When she pulled away to open Luca’s car door I quickly jumped in front of her.

“Yeah, not so fast. You can’t look at me like you want to eat me alive and then just go about your business.” I snatched her by the wrist and brought her close to me again. She looked breathtaking today—the color of the dress and the style of her hair accentuated all the things that made her a natural beauty. I leaned down and claimed her mouth, feeding the hunger I always felt for her. Her tongue tangled with mine, but only as a tease. She broke the kiss before we got carried away since she had to tend to Luca. Our kiss was a quick fix, but it didn’t do the trick. It was impossible to tame myself around her—even with Luca nearby—but we couldn’t just drop everything and screw like bunnies whenever we wanted. Being a parent meant putting your own needs aside—something Tessa, Riley, Beck, every goddamned person I knew—warned me about. It was hard not to be selfish, but this was part of dating, right? Living in the real world, out of the cocoon of the bedroom, and making it work
with
all the outside factors involved.

“I can’t wait for him to go to sleep tonight.” I whined.

“Complaining already? I just got here. You’ll have a house full of people this weekend, how do you intend on getting through it?”

She was right. Suddenly I wanted to call off the whole party and lock us away for the weekend with a bonfire for two and a blanket on the dock to watch the fireworks. “
Fuck!
” I growled, just thinking about it. “This’ll suck, but you’d think you could make it a little easier on me by dressing in something frumpier.”

“What?
This?”
she pulled at the hem of her dress. “Oh, you’re in for it if this is what gets your juices flowing. Wait until you see the skimpy bikini I packed for the party. Very patriotic. Just picture it: stars and stripes—well two teeny stars for up here and a few rows of stripes to cover
part
of my ass.” She grabbed her tits and then caressed her ass for affect.

Holy shit.
My jeans became tight trying to confine the swelling. How was I going to keep my rage in check? Every single male attendee would be eyeballing her and, worse, trying to pick her up. “Is it too soon to get a tattoo across your forehead that says ‘Marcus’s girl’?”

She threw her head back and laughed, a contagious, hearty, you-make-me-happy laugh. “Yes, too soon. And don’t go getting all possessive on me. You know I think there’s a fine line between what’s acceptable and what’s creepy.”

Stupid me, hashing up old issues. But I didn’t want to own her the way Zack wanted to. I would never stunt her from being the incredibly special person she was—Zack took that from her.
Fucking asshole.
I just wanted to own her heart. Okay, and maybe her slamming body, too.

“Let me get your luggage, you go on in and get Luca settled.”

She paused for a second before heading toward the house. I wondered if she was contemplating where to unpack her things. The last time she was here she used the guest room, this time I hoped she’d stay with me. “Hey,” I called from inside the trunk. “I was thinking—”

“Oh, so that’s what I smell?” she pinched her adorable mouth into a wicked grin.

I tilted my head, ignoring her joke. “Will you stay with me? I mean, you know, in my room? Just seems weird for you to be sleeping somewhere else now that, well, now that we’re together.”

“
Together.
” She smiled as she tasted the word, played with it. She bounced Luca up and down on her hip, chewing on the inside of her mouth. I wish she didn’t have to think about this. “What about little man? I was going to set up the portable crib in whatever room I stayed in. I’d feel funny having him in our room while we—”

At least it was clear she wasn’t depriving me of anything this weekend. That made
me
smile. Meeting her on the path, I ushered her along to the house. “Why don’t we set him up in one of the guest rooms tonight and see how he does alone? See how comfortable you are with it, too. I wasn’t planning on having many overnight guests on the Fourth—just Riley, Beck and his girlfriend, Marissa, but there’re plenty of other rooms and couches for people to crash without disrupting Luca.”

“I don’t know, Marcus. I think I’ll be more at ease if he sleeps with us when the other guests are over. No offense to your friends, but I don’t know them and I’d feel safer with him close to me.”