Hard Fall (St. Louis Mavericks 1)

“Promise me, Wes.”

“What?” I looked up in confusion. “Promise you what?”

“That no matter what the custody agreement says on paper, you won’t send me packing once this thing between us burns itself out or you fall in love with someone or whatever.” She lifted her chin a notch, as if daring me to disappoint her.

“Babe, that should go without saying.” I ran a hand through my hair and resisted a yawn. “But I think—” I had to stop talking as the yawn won out, the day’s stressors apparently catching up to me.

“Wes?” She leaned over and lightly pressed her lips to mine.

“Yeah?” God, I fucking needed to touch her, and I slid a hand around her waist, pulling both her and Benny against my chest.

“I’m physically exhausted and mentally drained too. Can we just get Benny settled and go to sleep? I can’t think anymore. I can barely keep my eyes open. To be honest, I’d love to just curl up in your arms and go to sleep.”

“That sounds like the best thing I’ve heard in a week,” I said. “Let me run down and warm up a bottle for him, and once he’s in bed, we can do just that.”

She smiled. “Thank you.”

I padded down the stairs to the kitchen, my thoughts whirling as I hunted for a clean bottle and Benny’s formula. It seemed like Susan had moved everything in the kitchen and it took a minute to find what I needed, but I mixed formula in with the bottled spring water we used and then put it in the microwave. As the seconds ticked by my thoughts drifted back to Hadley.

I was probably as exhausted as she was, but I wasn’t too tired to realize she didn’t have a clue that I was in love with her. I didn’t know for sure whether or not she felt the same, but I was counting on it because we’d been through too much together over the last few months to give up on this little family we were building. It hadn’t started out that way, and even though I would have given everything I owned to have Ben and Lauren back, that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, I had their beautiful babies. All I wanted in life was to raise them with the infuriatingly intense, passionate, smart, sexy woman who loved them as much as I did.

Raising them might be the easy part, though.

The hard part would be convincing Hadley not just that I loved her, but how right we were for each other. How good we would be together.

That was definitely going to be a challenge because I’d obviously dropped the ball so far. I was up to the task, though. One way or another.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hadley

I relished the pause on the other end of the phone, smiling as Liz processed the two-week notice I’d just given her.

“I’m willing to keep you on,” she finally said. “At a lower salary of course, but we can negotiate something where you can work remotely all the time.”

“I appreciate it, but my heart’s just not there anymore. I want to pursue something new.”

“Something new?”

“Yeah, I’ve been feeling like I had no professional options for so long, but I was just seeing things the wrong way. I have unlimited options and I’m excited about my future.”

Was I rubbing it in her face at this point? A little. But if anyone deserved it, it was Liz.

“I’ll just remind you about the noncompete clause in your contract,” she said sharply.

“Oh, I know. But it’s only a year, and it would take me that long to get all the groundwork laid if I decide to launch something new.”

A pause. “Launch? Are you going to start your own magazine?”

Probably. But I wasn’t telling Liz that. I wanted her to spend time trolling the staff listings for other magazines for the next year, wondering what I was doing but not knowing.

“I don’t know,” I said, a smile in my tone. “Maybe? Anyway, with my smaller office, I hardly have anything there anymore, so if you guys could just box up my personal items, I’ll have someone come by and pick them up.”

“Sure. And don’t worry about working the next two weeks. I’ll have payroll cut your last check.”

This bitch. If I wanted to steal any future story ideas from Willow, I would have done it before putting in my notice. And it’s not like I could overhear anything while working from home. But as soon as she hung up, Liz would send out a company-wide email telling everyone I’m no longer employed by Willow and anyone who speaks to me about any ongoing things there risks termination. She liked making it sound like she fired people even when she didn’t.

Joke’s on her, though. I told all my friends at Willow I was quitting yesterday.