Payback (26 page)

“Caden, tell me the truth. D
o you want the baby or are you just being the responsible adult?”

I had pissed him off just asking the question. He took a deep breath and
said, “I want this baby.”

“Okay, so how do I know if this contract is a good one?”

He laughed. “I could tell you it’s better than most literary contracts, but I’m going to give you five thousand dollars and you take it to any attorney you want to have them look it over.”

“I’ll pay the attorney on my own. I’ve got my down payment for the house that I can use.”

“But what about the house?”

“Obviously, if this deal
of yours is as good as it looks, I’m going to be quitting my job in Bakersfield and moving closer to Hollywood.”

“You can live here.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready to live with you again.”

“I’ll be in Montana. Until the screenplay is written, there’s no reason for me to live here. I have to get back for the summer. There’s a lot going on.”

“So you’ll miss the last few months of my pregnancy?” I sounded so pitiful.

He rolled his eyes. “Do you want me here?”

“No, no, go back to Montana. I’m sure it’s much more important for you to be up there,” I said it with a tone that clearly indicated I was hurt by his indifference.

“Oh, Jesus Christ, will you make up your mind?’

“You say you want the baby, but you’re ready to run off when the going gets tough.”

His forehead furrowed. “What?”

“The last few months of pregnancy when I’ll probably need help.”

“I’ll hire you a full-
time maid.”

“You just don’t love me.”

“How did we get from you not wanting to move in with me to me not loving you?”

“You just need to follow the brea
dcrumbs.”

His face and body started to quiver from the amusement he was trying to hold back. And then he blew…the house rocked with the sound of his laughter. “I’m sorry, but you’re so cute when you’re pregnant…and so totally illogical.”

“Don’t make fun of me!”

“I can’t help it. You remind me of a sixties Doris Day comedy. Pregnant and adorable.”

“I’m glad you’re going back to Montana!” I growled with my lower lip protruding.

“
Actually, I was just feeling you out. In fact, you’re coming with me to Montana.”

“Like hell.”

“Like hell. Do you think I could leave you down here pregnant with my child? You’ll come with me to Montana where I can take care of you and the baby. You’ll be able to write, and I’ll be able to work on the ranch. You’ll love Montana in the summer.”

“Why would I go with you?”

“Because you’ll be my wife.”

My mouth dropped. “Wife?”

He nodded.  “I’ve thought a lot about this over the last few months. I’m not letting you get away this time. I’ll have my lawyer draw up a prenup, and then we’ll set the date.  Do you want to get married here, Montana, or Philadelphia?”

“I haven’t said yes and I won’t say yes.”

“Why not?”

“The same reason as before when
we danced around the issue six years ago.”

“Damn it, I thought now that you’re older you’d be more mature and understanding.”

“I’m old-fashioned. If you want to marry me, there’s no hedge betting on us getting divorced.”

“A prenup is not a bet that we’re getting a divorce.”

“It’s a safety net…and marriage is all about taking risks. If I give you a prenup, then there’s nothing to prevent you from not working through the rough patches and just getting a divorce.”

“Did you think that maybe being in love with you might be a deterrent?”

“I tell you what, if we get a divorce, you get to keep all of your money and I get to keep the baby.”

“What?”
he balked.

“Well, your money is so precious that you want to make sure you keep yours if we part. My baby is so precious I want to keep it if we part. That’s the deal.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“No, I’m serious.  I’ll sign a prenup if you agree in it to give me full custody of the baby if we divorce.”

“I’d never give up my child.”

“Then now you know how it feels. I want to protect my child
, and you want to protect your money.”

“It’s not the same thing.”

“Maybe, but those are my terms.”

“Fine, then we won’t get married.”

“Then if we’re not getting married, there’s no sense moving in together. I want a relationship where I know that marriage is an option. Since it’s not an option here, why waste our time?”

His blue eyes were dark and wide and his breathing was labored. “You would deprive our child of a family because you won’t let go of
my
money?”

“I’m depriving our child of a family that’s not built on trust.”

“On trust?” It was said with all the cynicism only a man who had walked in on his girlfriend having sex with his best friend could muster.

“Yes, trust that we’ll make it, trust that we won’t divorce, trust that if we do divorce I
won’t
take your money.  A prenup shows a lack of faith in our love. Besides, when have I ever been after your money?”

He looked so angry I knew that he wanted to hit something--maybe not me, but something. He left the room to calm down.

Chapter 11

The Uneasy Path

Nothing was ever easy with her. Why couldn’t she be modern and sign the damn prenup? Trust?  Didn’t she trust him enough to know the prenup would be generous? But then, why couldn’t he trust her enough to know that if they divorced she wouldn’t ask for much? She had every right to ask for thousands of dollars in child support
, and instead all she wanted was just enough to get a crappy two-bedroom house. Still he had doubled his fortune by being careful and a prenup was an absolute must.  Some of his investors in some of his companies would require it if he was going to marry. A messy divorce could cause shockwaves that could damage his investments. Besides, look at Paul McCartney--he’d trusted his feelings over his business sense and gotten screwed.

Now what? He loved her, wanted her, wanted to marry her, wanted the baby, but he had to face that they were at an impasse.

Caden took several deep breaths, slammed his fist against a table and then went back out, only to find the ice pack in a bowl and Marie gone.
What the hell? Where does she think she’s going with a swollen ankle?

“Marie?”

No answer.

“Damn you.”  He opened the front door and saw her hobbling down the gravel lane at a fairly
quick pace. 
Man, you sure can move when you want to get away from me.
“Marie!” he yelled, but she didn’t stop. Strangely, from behind, you couldn’t really tell that she was pregnant. Her bottom was wider, but not enough that you would think she was pregnant. Jumping into the golf cart, he zipped up beside her. “Can I give you a lift?”

“No. I can walk. I just want to go home.”

“Marie, get in the cart. You look exhausted.”

“You would too if you’d been up eighteen hours straight.”

“I’ll drive you home, just get in so that I can go back and lock up.”

He wasn’t lying; the rings around her eyes were deepening. She put a hand in the small of her back and stretched backwards, clearly nursing a pain in her lower
spine. She climbed inside the cart and gave him a look of warning.

“What?” he asked.

“Just don’t do anything funny. I want to go home.”

“You sit here. I’m going to go get your car and we’ll take you home in it so that you’ll have your car.”

“How will you get home?”

“I’ll charter a plane, rent a car, take a bus, hire a limo…I’m a big boy. Now, may I have your key?”

Opening the car door, he could smell her perfume as he climbed inside and made the seat adjustments. When he drove down the gravel road, he could see the golf cart and her silhouette. The emotions inside of him caused him to heave back and forth between anger, hurt, and desperation. He could see her only a few yards away, and yet she was slipping away from him again.

Marie plopped into the passenger seat
, and then they drove back to the house. Inside, Caden brushed his teeth, grabbed a shirt to go over the T-shirt, and a straw fedora. Then he pulled his pillow from the bed, along with two bottles of water from the refrigerator before walking back out to the car. 

“Here.” He handed her the pillow and then put the two waters in the drink holder.

“Is this her pillow?” Marie asked with narrowed eyes.

“What do you think?”

Marie sniffed it and gave him a guarded smile before placing it between the door and the seat so she could rest her head on it.

“You try and get some sleep.  I’ll get directions from you when we get close to Bakersfield.”

She fell asleep almost immediately
, with her face partially buried in the pillow.  Her breathing was deep and even. After an hour, he reached over and put his hand over her round belly in the hopes that he could feel the baby move, but he didn’t feel anything.

“The baby isn’t moving.”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to wake you; I was just curious.”

“When it moves, I’ll let you know.”

“You don’t know the sex?”

“Next ultrasound is on Tuesday. At the last one they couldn’t get a good look at the genitals.”

“Go back to sleep. We still have an hour.”

An hour later
, she woke and gave him directions to her studio. They drove across the straight plains of the desert into the city limits. Bakersfield was depressing on a good day, but today he noticed it was exceptionally windy, with tumbleweeds chasing each other down the streets. After pulling up, he opened the door and moaned when a blast of heat hit his face. “Crap! Marie, it’s friggin’ hot.”

“This time of year
, it’s always hanging around 100 to 105 degrees.”

“I’m sweating already.”

She opened the door, and Caden, who had expected relief from an air conditioner, groaned.

“Turn the
A/C on.”

“It is on.”

“Turn it up.”

“It’s as
cool as it gets.  It’s old and on its last leg. That’s why the studio is so cheap.”

He stared at the 360-
square foot studio. “You live here?”

“If you recall, I can live just about anywhere
, including a tack house.”

“
But now you’re pregnant.”

“Pregnant women have lived in a lot worse. At least the air conditioner brings the temperature down in the upper eighties. I’m really tired. So if
you don’t mind, you can sit on the chair and make your arrangements to get home, but I need some sleep.”

“I’m going to spend the night, but I’m go
ing to get a room with real air-conditioning. I’ll get a room with two beds, and you can use the other one.  Come on, get your things.”

“I should stay here.”

“Get your things. You need a good night’s sleep.”

It was
oven-roasted hot, and she was miserable.  Her back was acting up, and she felt as if her whole body wanted a break from life. “Okay.”

After packing her bag, Caden checked them
into the Holiday Inn Express. The room was large and had two queen beds. After tucking her into bed, Caden went out to run several errands. By the time he returned, she was up, showered, and watching television.

“Are you hungry?”

“Very!”

“Can you walk?”

“I think so.  The swelling has gone down.”

“Then let me take you out for dinner.”

Stepping out into the Bakersfield evening, both of them briefly closed their eyes to the warm wind that blew through the space between the buildings. 

“It’s like having a hair dryer on your face.  How can you stand it?” he asked.

“You get used to it.”

“I’ve decided to stay in Bakersfield for the scan.”

“Really? You’re going to stay until Tuesday? Why? Why not just drive back up on Tuesday?”

“Because I’d like to see where you work and where my baby is going to live.” What he didn’t tell her was that he was in the middle of an important business deal in Bakersfield.

The conversation drifted to Jason and Chris, who, according to Caden, had told him that he was crazy for not saying something to Marie the last night they spent together in Montana. “If you recall, I asked you to stay, but apparently you didn’t get my message that I wanted you to stay.”

“
You asked me to stay in your bed when I got up to leave.”

“So you thought I was just asking you to stay in bed? What about our time together at the wedding? Didn’t you feel something between us?”

“You mean your generosity that night? I thought you were being nice just so that you could pull the rug out from under me.When I saw the keys and the money, I thought you were kicking me out.”

“I was hurt when I heard the Porsche start up.
”

“I was hurt when you essentially told me to go.”

“But I didn’t,” he snapped. “I was essentially saying that you no longer owed me anything. You were free to make your choice—stay or take the money and go.” There was a silence as he reigned in his frustration.

“Yeah, well
, neither of us is very good at communicating with the other.”

They looked deep into each other’s eyes
. There was so much love it was painful—painful because neither knew what was going to happen; how this love story would play out. That night, in order to keep on her graveyard schedule, she stayed up reading in bed. He was shirtless and flat on his stomach, sleeping quietly in the air-conditioned hotel room. 

Marie could see his toned muscles as he pushed one of his hands under the pillow and pulled it into a knot. Standing up, she took off her cloth
es, rubbed her burgeoning belly,pulled the crisp linens of his bed back and crawled in next to him. The warmth of his body was welcoming in the cool of the air conditioning that was working hard to keep the room in the upper sixties.  Marie draped her arm over his back and waited to see if there would be a reaction. It was late, perhaps too late, but she wanted desperately to feel the hair on his arms and legs against the smoothness of her own, to savor the smell of his body, the sound of his breath, the strength of his embrace.

He stirred and turned onto h
is side to face her. The round belly pushing against his hip made him reach out and touch it, rub it, caress it. “I want to make love to you. You’re so sexy, so sensual like this. But I’ve never made love to a pregnant woman.”

“Yes
, you did, you just didn’t know it.” She smiled and stroked his cheek. “I want you tonight. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us, but tonight I just want to feel you inside me again, where you belong,” Marie said.

Caden’s hand slid down Marie’s back
, cupping her ass and pulling her into his groin. “Touch me.”

Marie took his erection in her hand and started to stroke as Caden grew hard. He, in turn, closed his eyes to let the pleasure surge through him. 

“Roll on your back,” she whispered.

“Yes, mistress,” he teased. On his back, he had suspected that she would mount him, but instead she let her tongue tease him until he could take no more and begged for her to take him inside or he might not last. Marie climbed over and guided him until he was partially inside. Lowering herself over his shaft, she watched as he grimaced
, as if in pain, but, in fact, the sensation was overwhelmingly pleasant. Tightening her grip on him with her vagina, she lowered herself all the way down his shaft and waited. She didn’t have to wait long; Caden immediately began to thrust up, grabbing her ass in his hands. Faster and faster he bucked, as he pulled down on her hips. It was all over in just a few minutes, ending with his eyes flying open and a deep-throated moan coming from someplace deep inside.

“Fuck, Marie, you always do this to me.”

She chuckled at the sound of resignation in his voice. “Do what?”

“Make it hard to love anyone else.”

“You mean when we have sex?”

“I don’t just love you because sex with you is great. Do you really think that?”

“It is a fact that men are more likely to profess their love to a woman after really good sex.”

He grinned. “It was real
ly good sex. That’s the problem. When I’m with other women, I picture making love to you.”

She rose up on her elbows. “Really? All these years?”

“Don’t get a big head. It probably says more about the women I’ve been with than my obsession with you.”

She socked him in the arm. “Bastard.”

“Ewww. You’re going to pay for that.” He pushed the covers off of her and crawled down between her legs, placing his warm, wet tongue on her clit. His tongue danced lightly over the swollen clit and then lapped quickly and firmly until she screamed his name out over and over. 

When she pushed his head away
, he started laughing at her. “Does the baby feel your orgasms?”

“I guess it does. There’s a flood of endorphins in my bloodstream. It must feel really good.”

“Then I’m glad I could be of service—to both of you.” He crawled up to the pillow and turned on his side.

She angled towards him and put a hand to his face. “You have always been a very
good lover.”

“When do you have to go in to work?”

“An hour.”

He nodded. “These work hours are horrible. They can’t be good for the baby.”

“I’m sure I’ll be moving to days soon. I told them that once the baby is born, I’ll need to take advantage of their daycare or I’ll be forced to leave.  They don’t want to lose me.  They’ve been trying to find a way to put me on days so that I’ll stay.”

“They’re lucky to have you.  You’re a good worker.”

“Of course, if you buy my novel, it won’t matter. I’m going to take a shower and then drive in early so that you can get some sleep.”

“You don’t have to go in early.”

“It’s okay, I’ll see you in the morning. I usually stay up until late morning before sleeping. We can have breakfast, if you’d like.”