Marriage With Benefits (12 page)

“Condom,” she whispered.

He had about four seconds to produce it. An accidental pregnancy would tie her to this man for life, and, besides, she didn’t want children. Well, she didn’t want to cause herself heartache, which was practically the same thing.

“Right here. I was warned I’d need it.”

Fabric bunched around her waist an instant later, and her panties hit the ground. He lifted her effortlessly, squashing her against the door and spreading her legs, wrapping them around him.

The second he entered her—buried so deep, every pulse of his hard length nudging her womb—she threw her head back and rode the wave to a mind-draining climax.

Yes. Brainless and blistering. Perfect.

When she came down and met the glowing eyes of her husband, a charged, momentous crackle passed between them.

She’d keep right on pretending she hadn’t noticed.

*

Warm sunlight poured through the window of Lucas’s office. He swiveled his chair away from it and forced his attention back to the sales contract on his laptop screen. Property—dirt, buildings, concrete or any combination—lived in his DNA and he’d dedicated his entire adulthood to it. It shouldn’t be so difficult to concentrate on his lifeblood.

It was.

His imagination seemed bent on inventing ways to get out of the office and go home. In the past few weeks, he’d met a sprinkler repairman, an attic radiant barrier consultant and a decorator. A
decorator.
Flimsy, he had to admit.

A couple of times after showings, he’d swung by the house, which was mostly on the way back to the office. Through absolutely no fault of his own, Cia had been home all those times, as well, and it would have been a crime against nature not to take advantage of the totally coincidental timing.

Ironic how a marriage created to rescue his business was the very thing stealing his attention from business.

Moore had signed. Walsh had signed. Both men were enthusiastic about the purchases they’d committed to, and Lucas intended to ensure they stayed that way. Cia’s interactions with them had been the clincher; he was convinced.

His dad had gone out of his way to tell Lucas how good this marriage was for him, how happy he seemed. And why wouldn’t he be? Cia was amazing, and he got to wake up with her long hair tangled in his fingers every morning.

The past few weeks had been the best of his life. The next few could be even better as long as he kept ignoring how Cia had bled into his everyday existence. Every time they made love, the hooks dug in a little deeper. Her shadows rarely appeared now, and he enjoyed keeping them away for her. He liked that she needed him.

If he ignored it all, it wasn’t really happening.

Matthew knocked on the open door, his frame taut and face blank. “Dad called. Grandpa’s in the hospital,” he said. “Heart attack. It’s not good. Dad wants us to come and sit with Mama.”

Heart attack?
Not Grandpa. That heavy weight settled back into place on his chest, a weight that hadn’t been there since the night he met Cia.

Lucas rose on unsteady legs. “What? No way. Grandpa’s healthier than you and me put together. He beat me at golf a month ago.”

Protesting. Like it would change facts. His grandfather was a vibrant man. Seventy-five years old, sure, but he kept his finger on the pulse of Texas real estate and still acted as a full partner in the firm.

When Lucas had graduated from college, Grandpa had handed him an envelope with the papers granting Lucas a quarter ownership in Wheeler Family Partners. A careworn copy lined the inner pocket of his workbag and always would.

“I’ll drive.” Matthew turned and stalked away without waiting for Lucas.

Lucas threw his laptop in his bag and shouldered it, then texted Helena to reschedule his appointments for the day as he walked out. Once seated in Matthew’s SUV, he texted Cia. His wife would be expected at the hospital.

The Cityplace building loomed on the right as Matthew drove north out of downtown. They didn’t talk. They never talked anymore except about work or baseball. But nothing of substance, by Matthew’s choice.

They’d been indivisible before Amber. She’d come along, and Matthew had happily become half of a couple. Lucas observed from a distance with respect and maybe a small amount of envy. Of course his relationship with Matthew had shifted, as it should, but then Amber died and his brother disappeared entirely.

Lucas sat with his family in the waiting room, tapped out a few emails on his phone and exchanged strained small talk with Mama. His dad paced and barked at hospital personnel until a dour doctor appeared with the bad news.

Lucas watched his dad embrace Mama, and she sobbed on his shirt. In that moment, they were not his parents, but two people who turned to each other, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.

Apart from everyone, Matthew haunted the window, stoic and unyielding as always, refusing to engage or share his misery with anyone. Not even Lucas.

The scene unfolded in surreal, grinding slow motion. He couldn’t process the idea of his grandfather, the Wheeler patriarch, being gone.

Cia, her long, shiny hair flying, barreled into the waiting room and straight into Lucas. He flung his arms around her small body in a fierce clinch.

The premise that she’d come solely for the sake of appearances vanished. She was here. His wife was in his arms, right where she should be. The world settled. He clutched her tight, and coconut and lime wafted into his senses, breaking open the weight on his chest.

Now it was real. Now it was final. Grandpa was gone, and he hadn’t gotten to say goodbye.

“I’m glad you came,” Lucas said, and his voice hitched. “He didn’t make it.”

“I’m sorry, so sorry. He was a great man,” she murmured into his shirt, warm hands sliding along his back, and they stood there for forever while he fought for control over the devastating grief.

When he tilted his head to rest a cheek on top of Cia’s hair, he caught Matthew watching them, arms crossed, with an odd expression on his face. Missing his own wife most likely.

Finally, Lucas let Cia slip from his embrace. She gripped his hand and followed silently as he spoke to his dad, then she drove him to his parents’ house with careful attention to the speed limit.

Mama talked about funeral arrangements with his father and grandmother, and through it all Cia never left his side, offering quiet support and an occasional comforting squeeze. Surely she had other commitments, other things she’d rather be doing than hanging out in a place where everyone spoke in hushed tones about death.

Her keys remained in her purse, untouched, and she didn’t leave.

It meant a lot that she cared enough to stay. It said a lot, too—they’d become friends as well as lovers. He hadn’t expected that. He’d never had that.

For the first time, he considered what might happen after the divorce. Would they still have contact? Could they maintain some kind of relationship, maybe a friends-with-benefits deal?

He pondered the sudden idea until Matthew motioned him outside. Cia buzzed around the kitchen fixing Mama a drink, so he followed his brother out to the screened-in porch.

Matthew retrieved a longneck from a small refrigerator tucked into the corner, popped the top with the tail of his button-down in a practiced twist and flopped into a wicker chair, swigging heartily from the bottle.

Lucas started to comment about the hour, but a beer with his brother on the afternoon of his grandfather’s death didn’t sound half-bad. Might cure his dry throat.

Bottle in hand, Lucas took the opposite chair and swung one leg over the arm. “Long day.”

Matthew swallowed. “Long life. Gets longer every day.”

“That’s depressing.” His life got better every day, and considering the disaster it had been, that was saying something. Lucas hesitated but plunged ahead. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. But I have to.” He sighed. “First Amber. Now Grandpa. I’m done. It’s the last straw. I can’t take it anymore.”

That sounded serious. Suicidal even. Lucas looked at his normally solid and secure brother. “Do you need a vacation?”

“Yeah.” Matthew laughed sarcastically. “From myself. Problem is they don’t offer that with an all-inclusive resort package. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get me back on track, but whatever it is, it’s not here.”

“Where is it?”

Shrugging, Matthew drained his beer in record time. “I have no idea. But I have to look for it. So I’m leaving. Not just for a few days. Permanently.”

“Permanently?” Lucas shook his head. Matthew was a Wheeler. Wheelers didn’t take off and let the chips fall. Everything Lucas knew about being a Wheeler he’d learned from watching his brother succeed at whatever he attempted. Obviously Matthew was overtired. “You can’t leave. Take some time away. You’ve been working too much, which is my fault. Let me handle clients for a week or two. Backpack through the Himalayas or drink margaritas in Belize. But you have to come back.”

“No, I don’t. I can’t.” Stubborn to the core. That was one Wheeler trait they shared.

“Wheeler Family Partners isn’t a one-man show. We just lost Grandpa. Dad’s been taking a backseat for a couple of years, and now he’s going to be the executor for Grandpa’s estate. We’re it.”

And Matthew was more it than Lucas-the-gray-sheep could ever be.

Matthew’s sharp gaze roved over Lucas in assessment. “You can do it without me. You’ve changed in the past year. Maybe Lana snapped some sense into you, or maybe it started happening long before and I didn’t see it. Regardless, you’ve turned into me.”

“Turned into you? What does that mean?”

“Responsible. Married. Committed. I always thought I’d be the one to settle down, have a family. Raise the next generation of Wheelers to carry on WFP. But lo and behold, it’s not going to be me. It’s going to be you.”

The beer bottle slipped out of Lucas’s hand and broke in two against the concrete patterned patio. The sharp yeasty scent of the last third of a beer split the air. “What are you talking about? I’m not settling down. There’s no family in my future.”

“Right.” His brother snorted. “If Cia’s not pregnant within a month, I’ll fall over in a dead shock.”

Oh, man. They’d done a spectacular job of fooling everyone into believing this was the real thing, and now Matthew felt safe leaving the firm in Lucas’s hands. “Uh, we’re being careful. She’s not interested in having children.”

“Yeah, well, accidents happen. Especially as many times as I’d bet you’re doing it. You’re not quite as subtle as you must think when you dash off during an event and sneak back in later, without giving Cia a chance to comb her hair. You two are so smoking hot for each other, I can’t believe you haven’t set something on fire.”

So now he was supposed to apologize for enjoying sex with his wife? “Sorry if that bothers you,” Lucas retorted. “We have a normal, healthy relationship. What’s the problem?”

Matthew raised his brows. “No problem. Why so defensive? I’m pointing out that you landed on your feet. That’s great. I’m happy for you. I admit, I thought you rushed into this marriage because of Lana or, at the very least, because you’d screwed up and gotten a one-night stand pregnant. Clearly, I was wrong. Cia’s good for you. You obviously love each other very much.”

He and Cia surely deserved Oscars if Matthew, who missed nothing, believed that. “Thanks.”

“Although,” Matthew continued in his big-brother tone, “you probably should have thought twice about marrying someone who doesn’t want kids. Isn’t family important to you?”

If the marriage had been intended to last, he definitely would have thought more about it back on that terrace. Now Matthew’s words crowded his mind, shoving everything else out. “Isn’t it important to
you?
You’re the one talking about abandoning everyone.”

“Only because you can take my place. You can be me and I can be you. I’ll go find fun and meaningless experiences, without worrying about anything other than myself.”

“Hey now.” Was that how his brother saw him? “Lay off the cheap shots.”

“Sorry.” Matthew gave him an assessing once-over. “Six months ago, you wouldn’t have blinked at such a comment. It’s an interesting transposition we have going on. You have no idea how hard it is for me to think about marrying again. Having a baby with someone who isn’t Amber. Something is busted inside, which can’t be repaired. Ever.”

Quiet desperation filled Matthew’s voice, the kind Lucas would never have associated with his older brother, who had always looked out for him. Whom Lucas had always looked up to, ever since the first time Matthew had stood shoulder to shoulder with his little brother against bullies. As Matthew took full responsibility for a broken flowerpot because he hadn’t taught Lucas the proper way to hold a bat. As Matthew passed off the first client to his newly graduated brother and whispered the steps to Lucas behind the scenes.

A long surge unsettled Lucas’s stomach. His brother had never been so open, so broken.

Matthew needed him. The firm, his family, his heritage all needed him. Lucas had to step up and prove his brother’s faith in him wasn’t misplaced. To show everyone Lucas knew what it meant to be a Wheeler, once and for all.

It would be hard, and parts of it would suck. But he had to.

Of course, he lacked a wife who wanted all the ties of a permanent marriage or who looked forward to filling a nursery with blankets and diapers. Where in the world would he find someone he liked as much as Cia, who excited him like she did even when they were nowhere near a bed? It would take a miracle to tick off all the points on his future-wife mental checklist. A miracle to find a wife as good as Cia.

Matthew clamped his mouth into a thin line and shifted his attention as Cia’s hand slid across Lucas’s shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said. “I just wanted to check on you. Doing okay?”

Concern carved a furrow between her brows, and he didn’t like being the cause of that line. “Fine, darlin’. Thanks.”

“Okay. I’m going to sit with your mom for a little while longer. She’s pretty upset.” She smiled and bent to kiss the top of his head, as if they were a real married couple in the middle of for better or worse.