Playing All the Angles (5 page)

“That’s because you’re a hopeless romantic, Issie,” Eve chided. “You can’t see the possibility of needing one, but you can never be too sure. And, if he refuses to sign it, that will be a signal to rethink things. Besides, it protects him too, not that I’m worried about him.”

“We just got engaged. We haven’t even set a date yet—”

“All the more reason to start thinking about these things. I’m just looking out for you, Issie. You will end up divorcing this man.”

“Eve!”

“You will!”

“You are so crazy. Weirdo.”

“I’m just looking out for you.”

“I know, and I appreciate that. Let me think about it, okay?”

“Okay,” Eve said seriously, “but I’m going to keep after you about it. Now, back to me. Shag him sooner or later?”

“Later.”

“God, you’re dull!”

Isabelle laughed, doing her best impression of their mother. “But I’m the one who’s engaged, old maid, and that’s why. Men don’t like fast girls.”

“Then I’m doomed. Anyway, I’m going to marry Marcus if I’m still single when I’m forty. He needs a beard, and I want a sugar daddy.”

“It’s good to have a backup plan.”

“Yeah. We sealed the deal last year. He promised he’d let me shag other men as long as I let him do the same.”

“You slept with Marcus?”

Eve laughed. “No, Issie. I’m really not his type. But, if I don’t find better, I sure as hell couldn’t do worse. A sexless marriage in which I get to take all kinds of lovers? Lovely!”

“Well, maybe the new neighbor will be Mr. Right. I’m telling you, waiting can be a really satisfying experience. Anticipation is a great aphrodisiac.”

“You know what else is a great aphrodisiac?”

“What?”

“Foreplay. Besides, I like to know right off if the sex is good. And since you aren’t playing along, I’ve already slept with him. It was fantastic. Well, the first go was all elbows and knees, but you know how that is. The second go was fantastic. Shall I tell you all about it?”

“Evie?” Isabelle asked her sister suddenly, voice changing as she did. “Do you go through men like you do because of Mum? And Alora? Are you happy?”

There was a stunned silence on Eve’s end, and she broke it several seconds later to say, “I’m glad you think you found someone to be with forever, Issie. I’ll talk to you later. Kisses.”

Isabelle sighed and shut the phone. “I shouldn’t have asked that last,” she told Dominic.

“It’s a valid question.”

“I do want her to meet someone and be happy. Not in the same way Mum and Alora want her to get married—misery loving company and all that—but I really want her to be happy.”

Dominic tugged at a lock of her hair. “You’re a sweetheart, love. I’m just not sure she appreciates you.”

“Yes, she does. In her way,” Isabelle said. “I’m the only one she talks to or spends any time with. She avoids the rest of the family like the plague.”

“I could tell, considering how late she turned up at the party yesterday.”

“I’m surprised she came at all. I wouldn’t have blamed her for not showing up. You saw how Mum and Alora attacked her. They always do that.”

“So, she was trying to get you in to a lawyer, hmm? Prenuptial agreement? I could hear.”

Isabelle blushed. “Yes, she thinks we should have one. She was serious about that,” she said.

“And what do you think?” he asked, easing up onto his elbow.

“I don’t know. We both have our own money. It’s not like either of us really stands to lose or gain a bundle if the marriage doesn’t—” She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t want to think about that. It almost feels like tempting ruin to consider it.”

“I think we should do it.”

“What?”

“It’s no harm. It hurts nothing. I don’t think it puts a shadow on anything any more than getting married puts a cap on love. It’s just a practicality.”

Isabelle let herself flop back on the bed beside him. “I don’t want ‘divorce insurance.’”

Dominic chuckled. “It’s just like any other insurance. You get it hoping you never need it, but have it just in case you do. Getting car insurance doesn’t make you crash your car, does it?”

“Of course not.”

“Well, a prenup doesn’t make your marriage fail,” he said, leaning down to kiss her.

She sighed. “All right. We’ll do it.”

“You can tell Eve it’s her birthday present.”

That made Isabelle laugh, and Dominic winked before getting up to take a shower. “But let her pay for it. Good attorneys are ridiculous.”

Isabelle snuggled back down into the sheets and rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. Alora had Doyle. She had Dominic. Eve was alone…and especially alone considering she didn’t even have the family behind her. She’d have to work to draw Eve into the wedding plans—make her feel included. Make her feel wanted. And she’d tell Dominic to do the same.

Chapter 4

“G
OD
D
AMN
I
T
.” Eve’s voice carried through the door.

Marcus Rode was standing on the other side, and both hands flew up over his mouth to cover his excitement at the words. “Yes?” he called.

“Fucking hell,” Eve answered.

“Yes?”

She flung open the door to him, bouncing slightly.

“Are we having a baby?” he asked, delighted.

“No! We are not! We are having a phone directory, and we are calling someone who specializes in these things, and then we are pretending like this never happened.” She stalked past him, only mildly amused at his reaction.

Marcus, her boss and best friend, had been after her to take the test for weeks. Many weeks, now that she thought about it. She listened to him run into the bathroom, skittering to the sink where she’d laid the two tests, and drew up her shoulders at his sharp, happy cry. “In my office now!” he told her.

The two of them walked through the workroom together, ignoring the looks of the three seamstresses who were putting together the muslins for Marcus’s fall show. He pulled her along by the hand, the sleeve of his silk shirt fluttering against her wrist. Marcus looked like a rogue elf half the time. He was slight and feline, with platinum hair that kicked away from his head in a rebellion of long spikes, and his gray eyes were always alive with thought. It didn’t help that he wore a uniform assortment of black or gray that fit him like he’d just stepped out of another world. Even a plain T-shirt and jeans took on a new personality with Marcus wearing it. Briefly, Eve let herself pretend that he was from another world and he was about to lead her out of this one into his native land.

She’d been doing a lot of pretending lately. She had refused to do the test at home and had refused to do it at Marcus’s house, pretending that doing it at work would make it negative. People didn’t bring children to work, so obviously you couldn’t find out you were pregnant there.

Marcus had been insisting that she was pregnant. There was a possibility. There was more than a possibility. She hadn’t been careful.

No, she corrected herself, she had been purposefully careless. She’d gotten broody and had let her pill lapse. Reckless.

She had thought that having a baby might help her. It might force her to become more responsible in her personal life. It might settle her down. It might make her mother fawn over her like she did her sisters, or at least throw a little attention her way for the love of the grandchild.

As soon as she’d come to her senses and realized what she’d done, she’d gotten back on the pill and made an appointment to talk to a psychologist. Still, by then, she had been with Dominic a handful of times, and she hadn’t had a cycle since. That was months ago now, and denial was no longer an option.

Nothing was showing yet. Not really. She could tell a difference in the space between her navel and her pubis, but at worst, it looked like she was dealing with some serious bloat, and she could dress it easily. For now.

“God damn it,” she muttered, letting him drag her along by the wrist.

She already knew what he was going to say. It was too late to do anything about it. Not too late, really; it was never too late. But it was too late to do anything about it without jeopardizing her eternal soul. Some vestiges of her childhood religion clung to her thinking like barnacles, no matter how many vices she tried to use to scrub them off. And she had to admit that she’d had enough time to get used to the possibility and wasn’t as horrified as she thought she should be.

“You have to stop drinking,” he was saying as he frog marched her into his luxe office, “and smoking. You can’t do those anymore.”

“You know this is not yours, don’t you?”

“Of course it isn’t mine.” Marcus snorted, then perked up. “Whose is it? Do you know?”

Eve raised an eyebrow at him, and he shook his head.

“Can’t do anything the easy way, can you? You can’t just get yourself done up by a stranger, or a rock star, or someone who is at least not dating your
sister
.”

“Augh!” she groaned at him. “Stop. Just stop.”

“You said you wanted children,” he reminded. “And you said you knew you weren’t getting any younger. And you—”

“I didn’t do this on purpose, Marcus. At least not entirely. I didn’t really think it was possible. I’ve been on the pill for so long, and I thought you had to be off it for ages before it stopped working. I mean, I wasn’t even off it a full month. I knew, but I didn’t know.”

“You weren’t taking other precautions either. You were playing Russian roulette with more than just your womb; you have to consider your health. What in creation might he have given you? Or your sister? What if you both turn up with the same STD? You could give her your test results for an engagement present. Then she’d be off him.”

She frowned and crossed her legs, thinking that was something she should have done several weeks prior, cursing inwardly again. “Gross, Marcus. I didn’t know he was going to propose to her, or I wouldn’t have. I really thought they were headed toward an end. He’d just be out of our lives, and no one would ever be the wiser. It seemed perfect. But he turned down the opportunity in LA to stay here, and by then…God damn it.”

Marcus walked around behind her and started rubbing her shoulders. “Well, we’ll be in this together. I can’t wait!”

“I’m not going to marry you.” She sighed.

“Why not?”

“Well, for one thing, Eve Rode sounds like a porn name. For another, I’m not in love with you.”

“Oh! I’m wounded,” he yelped playfully.

“And my mother would be far too happy about it. Me marrying a fabulous designer and having his baby at the same time? No, thank you. I’d hate to start realizing their dreams for me at this late date.”

“You’re twenty-seven. It’s hardly a late date.”

“I’ve got two bedrooms,” she said, “and plenty of space. I’ve got a good job—you can’t fire me now, by the way—and a good support system. I’ll just be mysterious about who the father is. No one needs to know.”

“You’ve already really thought this through, haven’t you? In between pretending it wasn’t possible. This is going to drive your mother bat shit.”

“Don’t I know it.”

Marcus slouched forward with his chin on her head. “It’s going to put a damper on your dating life.”

“I need a damper. I need a reason to stop seeing him—something solid that isn’t being worried about Isabelle. We see how well that works to curb my interest in him.” She sighed, softly this time. This was definitely going to throw a kink in the works with the neighbor. She could kiss any possibility of a relationship with Tad goodbye. “God damn it.”

“Shush. He’s going to think that’s his name, and it isn’t. His name is Xavier.”

“What?”

“Xavier. Or Xander. I haven’t decided yet, but it must begin with an X.”

“Marcus…”

“Because his name will be X. Rode, and that is hilarious! I’ve done up the logo and everything. We’re going to start a maternity line, and then a baby line, and we’re going to call it XRode, like crossroads.”

“You did what?”

“When you first told me you thought it was possible. I’ve been daydreaming since. You, huge as a mountain, glowing in a gorgeous column-style gown. Teeny swimsuits. I’m going to make you the most sensational mummy in the world. So X. Rode—it’s a crossroads of life and the line you need when you come to it.”

Eve laughed. “That’s actually quite brilliant, but what if it’s a girl?”

He hummed. “It isn’t, but if it is, then you can name her Xandra. See? Like Zandra, only with an X so my brand doesn’t suffer. Lovely! See? It still works.”

“Absolutely not. Anyway, the baby isn’t going to be a Rode, darling. The baby is going to be a D’Amico.”

“No, you’re putting me on the birth certificate, and I’m getting parental rights. I’m going to be your baby daddy.”

Feeling his jaw working on top of her head, the ridiculous words coming out, Eve chuckled. She had been avoiding it, but avoiding it and ignoring it because she was afraid to admit she wanted the baby. She was afraid if she knew for sure, and if she told anyone, she would be pushed to get rid of it. She was afraid she couldn’t admit that she was happy about it. Happy wasn’t exactly acceptable when it came to her. Except with Marcus.