supposedly co-parent. But he’s useless as a dad. There. I said it. I can’t pretend anymore.”
The tequila had definitely loosened her up and gotten her talking. Zy was glad. “So I’m guessing that when he told me you two fuck. All. The. Time, that was a lie, too?”
Her eyes went wide in horror. Her half-drunken expressions would be adorable if the conversation wasn’t so dead serious. “Eww. That asshole! It’s a giant lie. Oh, he tried. About three weeks ago, he did that fast-talking thing to convince me that we’d be a better family unit if he and I were…ahem, intimate. I said no. You know what he said then? That you might have wanted to fuck me, but he’d make love to me so much better. It was all I could do not to laugh in his face. I mean, I don’t actually have the real comparison, but I already know.”
Zy did his best to keep a straight face. “So you don’t have feelings for him anymore?”
“None.” Suddenly, she shook her head. “No, that’s not true. I’m starting to loathe him, like, a lot. I want him and his baggy boxer shorts and those balls he feels the need to scratch all the time off my damn sofa. And every time I see him across the house”—she teared up again—“I wish I was seeing you.”
Tessa might not realize just how much she was admitting to him, but he heard it—even without her saying the words.
I love you, too, baby.
He kissed her forehead. That was as close as he dared let his mouth near hers. Besides, she didn’t need sex right now. She needed to rest in safety, in comfort, so she could escape and heal and rejuvenate.
“It’s almost midnight. Why don’t you try to get some sleep?”
“Because if I close my eyes, when I open them again, it will be morning. It will be time for me to go. And I don’t want to…”
Jesus, she was killing him. Honestly, he didn’t want her to go, either. They still had over a thousand days before they wouldn’t be fired for giving in to their feelings. Yes, he was counting. “You can stay as long as you want.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want to be a—”
“Don’t say burden.”
Her lips curled into a crooked grin. “Or you’ll spank me? Now that you clued me in, I can picture all of our bosses being that kind of guy.”
It was probably a good thing that the tequila had her thoughts hopping from one subject to the next. If not, he probably would have asked her to move in and fuck the contract. And he knew without asking that she wasn’t ready.
“Do you want me to go over to your place and clear Cash out before you go home?”
She looked at him as if she wanted to cry, press him to her chest, and thank him profusely. So he was shocked when she shook her head. “It’s really sweet of you to offer, but no. It was my screwup for believing him. I need to be the one to tell him to go. I just…can’t right now.”
No, not tonight. Maybe not even tomorrow. Zy didn’t blame her. She’d endured a lot. And now that he knew the truth, he could handle Cash living at her place without feeling homicidal…kind of.
“Get some rest, okay? Here.” He guided her to her back and laid her head on his pillow. “Close your eyes.”
Tessa tried to sit up. “I can’t take your bed.”
“I want you to.”
“I only want to be here if you’re with me.”
Fuck, he was running out of strength. “Baby…”
“Just lie next to me. That’s all.” She blinked solemnly, looking as if she’d cry if he refused. “Please.”
It was going to kill him, but better his pain than hers.
With a sigh, Zy toed off his shoes and lay down beside her. “All right.”
She turned her head, looking at him with a heavy-lidded smile as she reached for his hand. “Thanks. Since the colonel called you to my house, my life hasn’t been the same.”
“Mine, either, baby.” And as awful as seeing her every day and knowing he couldn’t have her was, he wouldn’t trade it for the world.
November 3
“Come in, Garrett,” Hunter called from the far side of the conference room. “Sit down. We need to talk.”
Logan motioned him to an empty chair.
Joaquin watched him with those expressionless eyes that gave him the heebies.
He had no idea what the fuck they wanted, and he’d never stepped a toe