Chapter 16
CASSIA
I wasn’t sure how to act now that I was actually considering a future with Memphis. As much as I hated the idea, I had originally been considering a short marriage. I wasn’t as mercenary as Oksana. I didn’t plan on divorcing him and taking him for a chunk of money.
No, I had high hopes that we could become friends, part amicably, and become a good co-parenting team as we worked together to raise Ivy while we went on with our lives separately.
It was the best of both worlds. After a short stint together–just long enough for me to officially adopt Ivy–we could part ways and then move on to find someone we were better suited with.
Those hopes were dashed when I realized he was very serious when he explained that he believed that marriage was forever, and that was something he strived for and wouldn’t bend on.
It was admirable, and I believed the same thing, but I’d been trying very hard to think of this as more of a business transaction than an actual marriage.
And then the asshole started behaving in an odd but absolutely wonderful way.
He couldn’t just leave the emotions out of it, could he? Of course not. I’d only been living with the man for four days and had already realized that he just couldn’t leave well enough alone. From the kitchen to the tires on my SUV, the man insisted on being wonderful.
What a prick, right?
Every time I walked into the kitchen to cook, he was all but glued to my side, asking questions and taking notes on what seasonings I was using. And then he just had to start being helpful and looking things up online so he could ask me even more questions and share ideas about recipes.
When he bundled Ivy up and dragged us to at least half a dozen small grocery stores in Rojo looking for hard-to-find spices that I’d mentioned or he’d read about in his research, I tried really hard to hate him, but it was freaking impossible.
Every single time he did something wonderful, I realized he wasn’t going to let this be a business arrangement. He would insist that I get my heart involved.
I wanted to dislike him. I wanted to find just one single flaw in the man, but he was keeping them carefully hidden.
I could wait him out, though. He might not keep his toenails in a jar, but there had to be something about him that was bad enough to make my heart and brain sync up so I could be strong and resist him.
Even though I was searching, I couldn’t find anything annoying enough to get under my skin.
The man was orderly, organized, helpful, and considerate.
He picked up after himself, volunteered to clean the kitchen after dinner, and insisted that I sit and relax since I’d done all the hard work.
He entertained Ivy, jumped up to take care of her needs before I even had a chance to move, and kept her smiling and laughing throughout the day while I tried to work.
Which was pretty damn difficult since I didn’t want to be sitting in my room on my laptop when it sounded like they were having so much fun in the rest of the house.
Memphis loved his dog, cared for his family, and treated my sisters like they were his own.
He teased them and annoyed them on purpose just like Ivan had always done, and I knew without a doubt that they were already half in love with the man.
If I didn’t watch myself, they’d stage a coup and draw straws to see which one of them needed to throw me off a cliff so they could meet him at the altar.
The man was that fucking perfect.
The prick.
I realized that I should just stop fighting the inevitable this morning when he appeared at my bedroom door and explained that he had made arrangements for his parents to watch Ivy for the day so he could take me shopping.
As much as I hated shopping, I jumped at the chance just so I could be near him.
Obviously, my plan to keep my distance so my heart didn’t get broken was working out just fine.
When he dragged me into a home improvement store and had me pick out paint colors for the room that was to become my office, I felt one of the tiny cracks in the armor I had so carefully donned split wide open.
When we were finished there, he took me to a store to look at office furniture and insisted that I get a chair with lumbar support and all of the other bells and whistles.
An entire chunk of that armor fell off and disappeared.
Now, walking up the sidewalk to visit his aunt and uncle’s home, I knew it was inevitable.
I was falling for the man who fathered the little girl who my brother had gone to his grave thinking was his own biological child.
The thought was like ice injected straight into my veins, but I realized now that wasn’t Memphis’s fault at all.
Like he said a few days ago when we argued, he was not and had never been the marriage police.
Regina’s infidelity could not be pinned on him.
He was not at fault for anything other than falling for the wiles of a good-looking woman who was offering a quick fuck with no strings attached.
I had no doubt that before Ivan married Regina, he had more encounters like that than I even wanted to imagine.
I was no saint and had more than my fair share of fun over the years. Even though I wasn’t exactly the kind to partake in quickies backstage, and as much as I hated to admit it, I’d done the morning-after walk of shame more than once in my life.
I would never be able to condone what Regina had done, but like I’d explained to Memphis before, if she hadn’t done that, then Ivy wouldn’t be here, and I didn’t want to imagine a world without her in it.
And now, because of Regina’s careless actions, I was walking into a stranger’s house to look at something Memphis was dying to add to his home–the house he was now referring to as “our’ home.
And the problem was, it gave me a little zing of excitement every time he did it.
The man was a complete asshole. Maybe if I kept repeating that like a mantra, I’d start to believe it.
“Remember when I mentioned that I wanted to get Ivy a slide?” Memphis asked as we got closer to the porch.
“I do. She had a swing set in our backyard that she loved playing on, so I’m sure she’d .
. .” My voice trailed off when Memphis punched in a code and unlocked the front door before he took my hand and dragged me in behind him as if he owned the place.
“Is it still considered breaking and entering if you use the front door?”
“If it is, then I’ve been committing the crime since I was old enough to open a door by myself. This is my aunt and uncle’s house, and when we were kids, I spent hours here, even if no one else was home.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.”
We walked through the doorway into the small foyer that led to a sunken living room full of comfortable-looking furniture with high ceilings. The house had a well-decorated but comfortable feel, and it seemed to have an energy that I somehow knew had come from years of love and laughter.
As we walked down the two steps into the living room, I looked around and saw that the house was well-lived in too.
There were baskets of toys and some things for older kids, but there was more for children Ivy’s age.
When I looked over my shoulder at the kitchen, I found a high chair up against one wall and a row of children's cups in the dish rack.
“They have kids Ivy’s age?” I asked.
“No, their kids are all around my age. My cousin Raven is in the band with us, and she’s their youngest. Now they’ve got grandkids who spend a lot of time here.” I was looking ahead at the pool outside the patio door when Memphis suddenly stopped. “This is what I wanted to show you.”
I turned to look in the direction he was pointing and was shocked to see that the edge of the staircase had a wooden slide. Just like the furniture, it looked like it had been used often but well taken care of.
“They have a slide in their house?” I asked in shock.
“Two, actually,” Memphis said as he turned and motioned toward the other staircase behind us. “When Bird and Summer got together, she already had three sons–my cousins Hawk, Crow, and Nix. Bird was worried about them falling on the stairs, so he had Bear install slides for them.”
“That’s so . . . just wow.”
“I’ve been up those stairs a million times for no other reason but to slide back down.
When we got older, the slides became racetracks for our cars, ramps for our motorcycles, and whatever else we could think to use them for.
At some point, Ivy is going to be able to crawl over the gate to go upstairs.
When she does, I’d rather have her go down a slide to get to the first floor than risk tripping and falling down a flight of stairs.
Covering her in bubble wrap and keeping her in a padded room isn’t an option, so I just want to make things as safe as I can. ”
“Installing a slide is a brilliant idea. She’s good at crawling up the stairs, but she’s really unsteady going down,” I agreed as I looked from the slide over to Memphis. “You’re really taking this fatherhood thing seriously, aren’t you?”
Memphis laughed softly before he said, “It’s a slide, not a college fund, but I’ll get to that soon.”
“You make it very difficult not to like you, Memphis.”
“I didn’t know making you dislike me was the goal.”
“You know what I’m talking about. I’ve been trying to process what we talked about a few days ago. I’m doing my best to look at it rationally and figure out whether I can marry you and make it work. But your behavior isn’t making that any easier.”
“My behavior? I’m trying to let you get to know me!”
I all but growled at him before I said, “It would be easier to talk myself out of this if you could just be an asshole for a little while!”