Three
Willow I-Wish-I-Had-A-Clue Tate
Well, this wasn’t how I’d envisioned my first day of work with the Cassels. I hadn’t even been to my desk, and I was already in a wedding chapel. Granted, it wasn’t with me in a big white dress, my groom staring adoringly at me, but at the moment, Jamie’s eyes were devouring me, and it was making me hotter than I wanted to be—ever. I’d sworn off this man. He couldn’t keep making me tingling and wet.
Shifting my gaze from my infuriating temptation, I refocused on the couple at hand. Despite his no family at the ceremony dictate, I think Luke was glad to have Jamie and me there. Laura was thrilled to have one of her closest friends in attendance. And I was super glad to be there when her father had shown up in the middle of the ceremony and tried to break up the most nontraditional wedding I’d ever witnessed.
When he’d first shown up, I’d thought, wow, I’d like to have a dad who cared even a little about what I did . Then I’d realized Laura’s father was as much of an asshole as my own was. Maybe, all men were just dicks.
I glanced over at Luke, who was ready to go to war for Laura. I knew Luke and Jamie’s brother, Fray, would do the same for my best friend, Emerson. So, maybe, I couldn’t count them in that generalization.
And that’s when I realized, Jamie was shielding me with his body, standing between me and the angry interloper. When the man left, realizing he’d lost the confrontation, Luke had pulled Laura into his arms while they’d declared their love.
Jamie moved beside me. His fingers brushed my wrist, sending a shiver through me as he started to take my hand. Apparently, thinking better of it, he crossed his arms while we watched his brother and new sister-in-law.
“You’re mine. All mine. Forever,” Luke growled, pulling her closer.
Laura melted into him. “All I want is your love. And maybe babies, one of these days.”
At the mention of babies, I fought the urge to splay my hand over my stomach. Thankfully, the pants and loose, untucked blouse I wore hid the start of my bump, but I knew there’d be no hiding it soon. Especially since Jameson insisted I work at the family firm, now.
Luke grinned. “I look forward to making as many as you want. And as for my love, you’ve owned that for months. You’re stuck with it.”
Beside me, Jameson made a gagging sound. Infuriated that he’d interrupted the romantic moment, I punched his arm.
“Shut up, dick,” I chided. “Your brother is exactly what women want. Sweet, romantic. He’s the kind of guy I’ll—”
I screeched as Jameson suddenly threw me over his shoulder and stormed from the chapel, interrupting my declaration about the kind of love I desired. We were barely outside the building when he had me around the corner and pressed up against the wall, his mouth devouring mine. And my traitorous body… My arms squeezed around him, my legs wrapped around his hips, and I kissed him back with equal hunger and ferocity. Whenever we were apart, I missed him so much, more than I’d ever be willing to admit. His hand wandered over to my breast then down toward…
My eyes went wide, and I shoved him away hard before he touched my stomach. My feet thumped to the ground, and I stumbled a few steps from him. Jameson was dazed for a split second before he came after me and enclosed me in his arms. I tried not to shake, not to sink into him, not to fucking cry, but my over-hormonal body had a mind of its own. It wanted a home. And whether I liked it or not, home had always been him.
Maybe, that was why I hated him so much. Hated him, loved him… It was a fine line, and I tended to leap back and forth over that boundary like I was playing jump rope. I knew if we just surrendered, we could have the kind of relationship history wrote about. But Jameson would never give in. He said he didn’t love me, and mostly, I believed him. And God knew, I would never show my vulnerability and admit my feelings to this man. Loving him and not having him love me back would be completely humiliating. I wanted and deserved more.
“Why do you fight this so hard?” he asked into my hair where he pressed his lips to my crown.
“Because I’m in love. And that means I can’t be with you,” I said, telling the truth, but knowing he’d take it wrong and believe there was someone else in my life. Did that actually make it a lie?
He stumbled backward a few feet, his hands up as if he’d touched lava. His eyes were wide and full of hurt. “W-what?” he gasped. “Since when? Who?”
“None of your business.”
Okay, Willow. Your maturity level is stunning.
My hand went unconsciously to my belly, and Jameson’s eyes followed the movement. If possible, they widened even more as he interpreted the movement. “You’re pregnant?” he practically yelled. “Willow…but…you’re…”
His shoulders slumped, incredible pain emanating from him. Stricken, he breathed hard through slightly parted lips, his eyes shining in the late-afternoon light, appearing almost glassy with emotion.
Instant regret pricked me, and tears filled my own eyes. More than ever, I knew if I revealed I carried his baby, he’d do the right thing.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. At the moment, I didn’t hate him nearly as much as I usually did. Far from it. He was reacting as if…he might have feelings of some sort . For me. Was it because he was losing his toy, his regular fuck buddy? It certainly was love. He’d said a million times that he’d never love me.
I pushed away my own confused feelings. This reaction was nothing other than him realizing he’d lost a convenient plaything or something.
He gave a sharp nod as he absorbed this new reality between us. His gaze fell to my stomach again before he closed his eyes, hiding his thoughts from me. But… Had I seen longing there?
“We should go,” he said.
I sighed quietly. “Yeah, probably. I have things to do.”
“Like what?” he asked, his voice flat, devoid of anything, as he led the way to where his driver waited. I’d never heard this tone from him.
“Well, for one, I need to find a job,” I sighed.
“You have a job.”
“Last I knew, you got me fired.”
He growled, glaring at me. “Damn it, Willow! You work at my company now, and you fucking know it. Why do you have to be such a pain in the ass?”
“Why do you have to be such a dumbass?” I retorted.
He held the vehicle’s door open for me, silently glowering. It slammed behind me, then he circled to the other side.
“We had something good going,” he muttered as the driver pulled away from the curb.
“Excuse me!” I exploded. “How is constant fighting and random booty calls a good thing? I’ve never been anything to you but a good fuck—a very good fuck, if I do say so. Beyond that you… You have never cared about me. Pardon the fuck out of me if I want something more than that.”
His mouth opened and closed a few times while he stared at me. Then he shook his head angrily, not saying another word for the rest of the trip.
* * * *
Jameson wasn’t speaking to me. In the week since I’d officially started working at Cassel Brothers , he’d avoided me like the proverbial plague. As a project manager in the remodeling division, I was under the supervision of his brother, Tatum. That was just fine with me. Aside from personal issues with Jamie, I was happy as a clam, so to speak. I had charge over a small remodel at one of Tarrytown’s hotels, and I wasn’t doing peon work.
But like a clam, there was a little grain of sand irritating me. Namely Jameson and my never-ending desire for him. Though, some days, I waffled between desiring his dick and desiring junk-punching him. On most days, both would make me equally happy. I didn’t see a pearl coming from the irritating situation, either. Unless you counted little baby Tate-should-be-Cassel.
Annoyed by my thoughts drifting in that direction again—and to be real, when didn’t they?—I grabbed up some paperwork Fray needed and headed over to the executive offices.
“Hey!” I heard just after I’d handed off the folder to Fray’s assistant.
“Emerson,” I exclaimed, hugging my bestie. “How was your honeymoon?” I hadn’t seen her since her wedding on the cruise ship, where I’d spent most of my time avoiding Jameson.
And there was that huge grain of irritation again.
“Perfect,” she sighed dreamily. The girl had it bad for her husband. Stars in her eyes and all that…
“You’ll have to show me pictures when you get a chance—the PG ones, of course.”
She swatted at me, rolling her eyes. “They’re all PG. Fray is completely paranoid about someone seeing too much of my skin. I just know he’ll freak out and make me see a female OB when the time comes. Heaven forbid, a male doctor see my business.”
“Damn straight!” he called through his open office door.
She rolled her eyes again.
“We should go to lunch,” she told me. “Catch up and stuff.”
“Oh,” I groaned in regret. “I wish I could, but I have a doctor appointment today.”
“Doctor?” Jameson said from behind me. I closed my eyes and huffed out a breath. Of course, he’d heard that. Where had he come from, anyway?
“I’ll see you later,” Emerson whispered, giving me a pat on the shoulder before practically skipping away. I swear to God she should have birds, butterflies and fairy dust fluttering around her.
“Is everything okay? Why do you have to go to the doctor?” he demanded, drawing my attention away from my departing friend.
“ Now you’re talking to me?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“Cut the shit, Willow. Why are you going to the doctor? Are you okay?” His eyes scanned over me as if he could detect something wrong.
“It’s just routine,” I said then whispered, so the whole office didn’t hear, “It’s my first ultrasound.”
He swallowed hard, looking as if he’d just tasted something bitter. And maybe, it was a bitter pill to him that his booty call was out of his reach.
“Is…um…” He scrubbed his fingers over his lips then looked over my shoulder. “Is the…father…going with you?”
“No.” Though, I wished he was. And I really wanted to tell Jamie he was the father more than I wanted anything, other than for him to love me.
“Can…can I come with you?”
My first instinct was no. I should say no. I knew it.
I swallowed hard around the rock of emotion in my throat. “Yeah. Sure.”