Wicked as Lies (Wicked & Devoted 3)

As she cleaned up the kitchen, the football game played on. Her ex missed a touchdown and a muffed extra point. By the time she’d thrown her fourth load of laundry today into the washer and finished up the list of groceries she’d never gotten to shop for, the opposing team had kicked a field goal, too.

So much for his interest in the Bengals and the Cardinals.

Vaguely, she wondered what Zy was doing tonight. The better question was probably who, and it was none of her business. What they’d shared had been brief and fleeting—and mostly in her head.

Except…that horrible afternoon in the conference room, he’d begged her not to sign that agreement. She’d heard it in his voice. Seen it in his eyes. He hadn’t wanted her to be off-limits. And she’d been so tempted to tear up that agreement because she’d been falling for him.

But she’d had no choice. And ten minutes later, he’d called Madison so he could hook up with her, apparently not for the first time. That had hurt like hell.

She either had the worst luck or the worst taste in men.

How about both, honey?

Finally, she took a shower and got into her own pajamas. After a few pages of a parenting book she’d been reading for the past few weeks, her eyes were heavy. Shoving the bookmark back onto the page, she opened her bedroom door to find Cash planted on the sofa again, downing a can of Red Bull.

“What time does your team meet?” she asked as she checked the locks on the front and back door.

“I’ve got another hour or two.” Cash stood and stretched as the game broke for halftime.

“Make sure you wear your headphones.”

“Yep. I won’t keep you or Hallie awake, babe. I’ll make sure to finish up my special ops missions and rescue everyone quietly.”

It struck Tessa as hysterical that Cash played at the very things Zy actually did for a living.

She gave her ex a smile she couldn’t muster much cheer for. “Great. The pump for your inflatable mattress is in the hall closet. Your sheets are in the dryer.”

“Okay. Thanks for washing them. But you know, I’ve been thinking…”

That never led to anything good.

“What?” Tessa propped her hands on her hips and held in an exhausted sigh. She hadn’t slept much last night. Hallie had been fussy and Cash had looked on helplessly, saying he had to “work.”

Zy would have taken Hallie onto his chest and put her to sleep.

She had to stop thinking about him. He’d proven he wasn’t her knight in shining armor after all, and it was over.

Cash sauntered closer, a sly smile on his face as he took her hand. “I’ve loved being here with you and Hallie, feeling like we’re a family.”

She wanted to ask when he’d felt that way, because he hadn’t done much so far to behave like a father. Instead, she just smiled back. “I’m glad you feel that way. I need to be in the office early, so I need to sleep. Good night.”

When she extracted her hand and turned away, Cash gripped her arm and whirled her around, pulling her flush against his body. “Not so fast, babe. I was about to say that it reminded me of all the reasons we were so good together before. God must have thought so, too, because he blessed us with a baby. I think we should, um”—he skated a hand down her back and cupped her ass—“pick up where we left off. I’ve missed you so fucking much, Tess.”

It was all she could do not to stomp on his foot and cuss him out. She settled for shoving him away. “No, Cash. We agreed when you moved in that we were strictly co-parenting and there would be no sex.”

“No, you said ‘to start.’ That was weeks ago. We’ve already proven that we’re in a good rhythm with the house and the baby and—”

“You mean the rhythm where I do everything?”

“I do stuff.”

“Like what?”

“I work.”

“I do, too. Plus, I take care of all the grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes—”

“Well, that’s all stuff women do.”

Was he serious? “And what do you do besides make money?”

“I’m a father and—” He shook his head. “We’re getting off track. I think I’d feel more involved and more like we were an actual family if we were…being intimate.”

“So you’re telling me that if we were having sex, you would feel more responsible?”

“Yeah. Totally, because it would feel more real. Don’t you remember how good everything was between us before?”

What she remembered was feeling rushed and him not quite knowing where to find her clit. He’d been good at saying all the right things, of course. And she’d fallen for it—once. Now, she saw right through him.

“You know what I think? Since you moved in here, you’ve barely left the house. How do I know you’re not just horny, and that I’ll do because I’m the nearest female?”