Asshole Husband

Pushing those thoughts aside, she looked at their son.

“We should call them,” she said.

“Nah, give them some more time. Believe me, we’ll want the peace later, and they will just fall asleep,” Wolfe said. “It’s all cold food. They’re not missing much by waiting.”

“You think of everything,” Rachel said.

“Of course.” He winked at her, snagging a sandwich. She’d made cheese and pickle, which she vaguely remembered were his favorite. “Ryan, tell me about yourself.”

“What’s there to tell?” Ryan asked.

“You’re a single dad. There has to be a story there.”

“My wife cheated on me with a bunch of men, put Billy’s life in danger, and I won sole custody.”

“Wow, I’m so sorry, man. I couldn’t imagine what you’ve been through,” Wolfe said.

Was he lying or being genuine? She had no idea which it was.

“I’ve got to say I’m shocked you’re here,” Ryan said. “Rachel says you’re always so busy with work.”

“That’s what you get for owning a company in the city.”

“What do you do?”

She drowned out the usual conversation of what Wolfe did for a living. His company helped to expand businesses for a percentage of the profit. He had several different parts to his company from advertising to management and advice and other things. He helped smaller companies thrive. She didn’t know why he wanted a place on her father’s board. He dealt in modern media and technology. He’d expanded the company from the small one his grandfather had built. Neither she, nor Mary, nor Alice had a knack for the kind of work he wanted, and each of them at the age of eighteen had done one year to see if anything appealed to them, and they didn’t have what it took. She knew her father was concerned about what would happen to the company when he was gone.

Again, this was too dark a thought for her to even consider right now. She had to think of the positive. Nothing else mattered right now.

“We’re going to be having another baby.”

Now she tuned back in. “What?”

Wolfe smiled down at her. “Ryan asked why we didn’t have more kids. Benjamin’s been telling him how he’d love to have a brother or sister, and well, I don’t like to disappoint our son in anything. With work, I’ve been pulled away, and Benjamin we conceived on our wedding night. I’m a traditionalist. We’re finally at a place in our life where we can think about a future. Have a big happy family.”

Before she could stop him, he kissed her right in front of Ryan, and it wasn’t a slow, sweet, gentle kiss. No, this one made sure the other man knew who she belonged to, and there was no way for her to pull away or stop him.

Part of her didn’t want him to stop.

Chapter Five

Rachel owned absolutely nothing that would help their evening go by a little sweeter. Wolfe made a note to purchase some beer and wine so he could at least handle nights like tonight a little better.

Ryan had gotten the hint quite quickly, and it had also helped that as Rachel was busy unloading the trunk, he’d set him aside and let him know without a shadow of a doubt, he had no chance with Rachel. She was his, and well, he didn’t share.

He wasn’t kidding with his plans, and he intended to play them out.

Closing the fridge, he stared at the stove. He’d watched her make herself a hot chocolate just last night, and there was no way he’d be able to recreate it.

“How hard could hot chocolate be?”

He poured a bunch of milk into a saucepan and found some chocolate in a tub. It was powdered stuff, and he gave it a sniff, turning away from the stove to sneeze.

Reading the side of the packet, he couldn’t figure out how much milk he used.

He grabbed a metal whisk and began to sprinkle the powder in, and whisking. “How the hell am I supposed to know when it’s done?”

He looked at the tub again, only to sprinkle more powder into the pan.

“Okay, I’m certainly going crazy right now.”

“Crazy? I can give you crazy, mister,” Rachel said. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Making hot chocolate.”

“You’re using a metal whisk on my non-stick pan.” She rushed toward him and quickly pulled the pan away, spilling milk over the sides and onto the stove. She turned off the gas, and looked at the chocolate. “You used half of this already.”

“I put in a lot of milk.”

“Stop, just stop. This … is horrible. What did you do?”

“I did what I had to do to make it nice and yummy.”

“This isn’t nice and yummy.” She took a deep breath. “What the hell was today?”

Wolfe smirked. “I’m making you a hot chocolate because you’ve been stressed and I thought this would help you to relax.”