The Marriage Bargain (16 page)

“Such as?”

“Ever play strip poker?”

“You’re an amazing woman, Alexa.”

“I know.”

Chapter Nine

“I don’t want to go.”

“I heard you the first time, the second, and the third. Now be quiet and pull in the driveway slowly. The wine will tip over.”

“I hate family functions.”

Alexa prayed for patience. Nick reminded her of a kid who dragged his feet and wanted to stay home to play with his toys instead of see relatives.

The past two weeks had flown past in relative smoothness except for his growing complaints regarding the holiday. Maggie had reminded her Thanksgiving with the Ryans was more of a Halloween nightmare, so Alexa gave her husband wide berth, but refused to let him off the proverbial hook. “We don’t have a choice. As a married couple, we’re expected to show up for dinner. There won’t be too many people there, anyway.”

Nick snorted. “I’ll be bored.”

“Get drunk.”

He scowled and swung into the driveway. The pile of cakes and pies and wine clattered in the backseat but held steady. She reached for the doorknob and stretched out her legs. The bite of November wind ripped up her skirt and through the thick tights she wore under her mini. She shivered and looked at the pile of cars already lined up on the lawn. “I knew we’d be late.”

His features changed, became softer, more intimate. Those chestnut depths gleamed with memories from early this morning, of warm, tangled sheets and cries and long wet kisses. Her body came to immediate attention. Her nipples pressed against her purple sweater, and an achy heat pooled between her thighs.

He reached over and ran one finger down her cheek, then lightly traced her lower lip. “I clearly asked if you wanted to continue, remember?”

Heat rushed to her cheeks. “You shouldn’t have started in the first place. You knew we’d be late.”

“We could skip the whole thing and spend Thanksgiving in bed.” Her stomach dipped at his low murmur. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re trying to bribe me.”

“Is it working?”

“No. Let’s go.” She heard his low laugh behind her. He knew she lied. He always tempted her. After two weeks of steady sex, she still couldn’t get enough of her husband, and a day in bed with him sounded like sheer heaven.

She carried in the pies and he grabbed the wine. The door was open and they were immediately folded into family chaos, with loud greetings and handshakes, drinks thrust into open hands, and a thousand different conversations overlapping.

“Hi, Ma.” She kissed Maria and took an appreciative sniff of the plump turkey filled with sausage stuffing. A cloud of moist, fragrant steam rose in the air and wrapped her in warmth. “Smells great. You look pretty.”

“Thanks. It’s amazing what paying off the mortgage does for stress load.”

Fear shot through her. She leaned in. “Mom, please don’t mention it—remember our deal?”

Maria sighed. “Ok, honey. I’m just so grateful and it feels strange not to say something.”

“Mom!”

“Fine, my lips are sealed.” Her mom gave her a quick kiss and readied the tray of antipasto.

Alexa plucked a green olive from the tray of appetizers. “I’ll bring it out.”

“Don’t eat them all on the way. Where’s Nick?”

“Talking with Dad in the living room.”

“God help us.”

Alexa smiled and joined her husband. He reached for a black olive and popped it in his mouth.
Typical
, she thought. He liked black olives, she liked green. So many ways they were complete opposites. In other aspects, they were perfectly in sync.

Her niece raced down the hall. Honey blonde hair tumbled around her shoulders, and her legs and feet were bare underneath her green party dress, a rich velvet with a frothy skirt that made her seem like a fairy princess. Taylor hurled herself into her arms with a leap, and Alexa caught her with ease. She slid her around to rest on one hip. “Hey, squirt.”

“Aunt Al, I want ice cream.”

“You can have some later.”

“Okay. I want an olive.”

“Green or black?”

She made a terrible face only a toddler could master. “Green is yucky.”

Alexa rolled her eyes at her husband’s look of triumph. Nick took a fat black olive and stuck it on the end of his finger. “The child has great taste. Here you go.” He offered it up and watched her chew in delight. “Good?”

“Hmmm. Now can I have ice cream?”

Alexa laughed. “After dinner, okay? Go tell Mommy to finish dressing you.”

“Okay.” Taylor scurried off and left the adults together amidst drinking and munching and frequent bursts of laughter.

Alexa noted her husband took her advice and started drinking early. He held his Scotch and soda with tight fingers. He nodded at various conversations, but retained an air of assessing distance that caused her heart to ache. Then his gaze broke and lifted to meet hers.

Fire.

The air lit and charged around them. He raised his brow in comic wickedness and motioned toward one of the bedrooms.

She shook her head and laughed. Then spun on her heel to go find her cousins.

…

Nick watched his wife enjoy the closeness of her family. He remembered his own holidays at home. His mother drank while his father made passes at all the other attractive female guests. He remembered being able to sneak in bottles of liquor and cigarettes because nobody cared. He remembered the overstuffed turkey for show, cooked by the maid, and the Christmas presents his parents never stayed around to watch them open.

The McKenzies seemed different. Genuine warmth beat beneath all the usual chaos. Even Jim seemed to fit in again, and it must have taken years for Maria’s sister to finally forgive him. Alexa’s family may have been broken, but they had weathered the storm and now seemed even stronger.

Nick struggled to play the part of the newly married husband and not get sucked into the ruse. The tiny glow of belonging grew to a strong flare, but he snuffed it out with a decisive blow. This was not his family and he was only tolerated because he’d married Alexa. He needed to remember that. A dull ache pressed against his chest but he ignored it. Sure, they seemed to accept him, but only because they believed their marriage was real. Like all things, acceptance would end, too.

He might as well get used to the idea early.

Jim thumped him on the back and called over his brother. “Charlie, did you hear what Nick’s doing down by the waterfront?”

Uncle Charlie shook his head.

“He’s one of the few firms up for a bid to completely renovate all the buildings. We’re talking big time here.” Jim puffed up with pride. “Now I got a doctor and an architect to brag about. Not too shabby, huh?”

Uncle Charlie agreed and they threw a bunch of questions at Nick regarding his career. Inside, something shifted. He gave his answers but the strong wall around his emotions rumbled in warning. Jim spoke like he was no son-in-law, but a real son, comparing him to Lance. Maria made note of his favorite foods and pointed them out, smiling with pleasure when he almost blushed under her attention. Uncle Eddie invited him to his house to check out his new flat screen television and watch the Giants, seeming genuinely pleased to gain another male in the family.

Needing a break to get his head clear, he excused himself and walked down the hallway to find an empty bathroom. On his way, he glimpsed a bunch of giggling women packed in the small spare room. Alexa held a baby in her arms, her cousin’s he presumed, and rocked the infant back and forth with a natural feminine grace. The women spoke in hushed whispers and he caught the tail end of “great sex” when he paused in the doorway.

The mass stopped and stared at him in silence.

Nick shifted on his other foot, suddenly uncomfortable with the blatant looks of all Alexa’s cousins. “Hi. Um, just looking for an empty bathroom.”

They nodded but kept taking inventory. Finally, Alexa spoke up. “Use the one in the back bedroom, sweetheart. And shut the door, will you?”

“Sure.” He closed the door on the tail end of another giggle, then the whole group broke into hysterics. Nick shook his head and headed toward the back.

He was stopped mid-flight by the three-year-old.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” he said back. Her wide eyes were serious, and he swallowed hard, wondering if he had to make conversation with her or if it would be acceptable to just step around and move on. “Uh, I’m just looking for the bathroom.”

“I have to go potty, too,” she announced.

“Oh. Okay, why don’t you get your mommy?”

“She’s not here. Have to go bad. Come on.”

She reached out a tiny hand and he panicked. There was no way in hell he was going to take a toddler to the potty. He didn’t know what to do. What if there was a problem? He backed off a few steps and shook his head. “Uh, no, Taylor, why don’t you get Aunt Alexa to take you?”

Her face screwed up a bit. “Gotta go now. Bad.”

“Wait here.”

He turned and knocked on the door where the women were. Again, silence fell past the wooden barrier. “Who is it?”

“Nick. Uh, Alexa, your niece needs you to take her potty.”

A pause. “I’m busy now, honey. Just go in with her, okay? It’ll only take a minute.” He heard a low mutter, then a cackle. Nick retreated, afraid to admit he couldn’t handle it in front of a bunch of women who judged his every move. He turned back to the little girl.

“Uh, can you wait one more minute? Maybe Grandma will take you?”

Taylor shook her blonde curls and jumped up and down. “Gotta go now, please, please.”

“One minute.” He raced down the hallway and into the kitchen where Maria was immersed in turkey stuffing. “Maria?”

“Yes, Nicholas?”

“Uh, Taylor needs to go the bathroom and wants you to take her.”

She mopped her brow with her elbow and resumed basting. “Can’t right now, why don’t you take her? It will only take a minute.”

Nick wondered what would happen if he burst into tears. The horror of the situation hit him full force, and he realized he had no choice or Taylor would pee her pants and tell on him and then he’d be in real trouble.

He raced back and found her hopping on one foot. “Okay, let’s go. Hold it, hold it, hold it.” He chanted the same line over and over as he slammed the door and picked up the lid. She lifted her dress and waited, so he assumed she needed help with her underwear. He closed his eyes and pulled them down, then lifted her onto the toilet. He heard a sigh of relief and a slow steady trickle that told him so far everything worked okay. His confidence came back. He could handle a kid. Nothing to be afraid of.

“I want ice cream.”

Oh, shit.

Nick recited the same words Alexa had used that worked so well. “You can have ice cream after dinner.”

“No, now.”

He took a gulping breath and tried again. “You can definitely have ice cream. But just wait a bit longer, okay?”

Her lower lip trembled. “I want ice cream now. I’ve waited, and waited, and I promise I’ll eat all of my dinner if you get me some now. Please?”

His mouth dropped open at her heartfelt pleas. What was he supposed to do? Nick reminded himself he was a successful businessman. How bad could a little girl be?

He kept his voice firm. “First eat your dinner, then you can have ice cream. You have to listen to your mom and your aunt.”

The lower lip wobbled even more. Tears filled china blue eyes. “But Mommy and Aunt Al and Grandma never listen to me. I promise, promise, promise to eat everything on my plate, but I want some now. You can sneak it from the freezer and I’ll eat it right here and I’ll never tell. And you will be my best friend forever and ever! Please!”

He squirmed in pure terror and stuck to his guns. “I can’t.”

Taylor started to cry.

At first he thought he could do it. A couple of tears, he’d calm her down, walk her back to her mother, and still be the adult in this whole thing. But she opened her mouth and wailed while tears dripped down her smooth, rosy cheeks. Her lips shook and she looked so miserable Nick couldn’t take it anymore. After begging her to please stop and she continued, he did the only thing left.

“Okay, I’ll get you the ice cream.”

She sniffed prettily. Droplets clung to her long blonde lashes and stuck to her cheeks. “I’ll wait here.”

He left her on the potty and walked back out in the hallway. He figured he’d meet a parent or grandparent or aunt along the way to stop him, but he just walked into the kitchen filled with chaos, opened the freezer, and found a popsicle. Still he paused, awaiting discovery.

Nothing.

So, he unwrapped the popsicle, grabbed a napkin, and walked back to the bathroom.

Taylor was still on the toilet.

He held out the ice cream and she reached her chubby hand out and broke into one of the sweetest smiles he had ever seen in his life. His heart did a quick meltdown, and she stared into his eyes and promised him the world. “Thank you. You will be my very best new friend!”

Pride streamed through him as she enjoyed her ice cream. Kids were always hungry anyway, so he was positive she’d eat her dinner, but decided he better tell her this whole thing was to be kept under wraps.

“Uh, Taylor?”

“What?”

“Don’t forget the ice cream is a secret, remember? Just between you and me.”

She nodded seriously. “Emily and me have lots of secrets together. But we can’t tell anybody.”

He nodded with satisfaction. “Exactly. Secrets aren’t told to anybody.”

Someone knocked on the door. “Nick, are you in there?”

“Go away, Alexa, we’re fine. Be out in a minute.”

“Auntie Al, guess what?” Taylor screamed. “I got ice cream!”

Nick closed his eyes. Leave it to a female to break your heart.

The door swung open. Nick imagined the scene before her eyes. Taylor on the potty, eating an ice cream pop, while he crouched on the small wicker stool in front of her, holding a wad of toilet paper in hand.

“Ah, shit.”

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit,” Taylor repeated happily. “See my ice cream, Auntie Al? I got it from him! My new best friend.”

Nick waited for the explosion. The laughter. Anything but the dead silence from the bathroom doorway. When he finally got brave enough to look up, Alexa stared at him with sheer amazement, shock, and another emotion he didn’t understand. Almost tenderness.