Playing Dirty: San Diego Social Scene Book 3

by Tess Summers

  Luke grabbed her elbow across the table. “Is that what you think? I view this as an obligation? This is a goddamn gift. The universe is saying you and I were meant to be together.”

  Cassie shrugged out of his grip. He didn’t get to choose her now because she was pregnant.

  “As far as you and me… well, there is no you and me anymore. You’re already married, remember? Giving your marriage a shot.”

  He blanched. “Don’t do this to me, Cass. Don’t throw that in my face now. I’ve been miserable without you, but I did what I had to for the sake of my son. I don’t blame you for being angry, but please don’t torture me for trying to do the right thing.”

  She reached into her purse and pulled out the box with her engagement ring.

  “I wanted to give this back to you,” she said as she handed it to him across the table.

  He looked like she’d slapped him and pushed it back toward her. “No. It’s yours, I bought it for you.”

  She shook her head, more emphatically this time. “Etiquette says to return it.”

  “Etiquette? You think I give a fuck about etiquette right now? It’s your ring, Cassie, I bought it for you. I don’t want it. I still hope you’ll wear it someday, but either way, I don’t want it back. It’s yours.”

  She slipped it back into her purse and patted her stomach. “I’ll give it to him when he decides to get married.”

  She knew he was seething, but he said nothing more than a terse, “Whatever you want.”

  Their food arrived, and they remained silent until their server left. She could tell his mind continued to race. He cut his steak while asking, “So what does this mean, Cass?”

  “I guess this means you’re going to have two children with two different women,” she said snidely.

  Her bitch switch had been flipped. Ah, pregnancy hormones, gotta love ‘em.

  He looked so sad when he asked, “What if I ask you to wait for me?”

  Setting her fork and knife down forcefully, she glowered at him.

  “How can you even ask me that? You’re married and last I knew, trying to make things work for the sake of your son. Then you find out I’m pregnant and suddenly, you want me to wait for you? No thanks. I’m not interested in being your second choice, and damn you for even suggesting it.”

  Her outburst didn’t seem to insult him. “You know I want to be with you, Cassie,” he said quietly.

  “I do?” Her voice was loud enough for other diners to look their way, so she toned it down to a hiss. “Because I haven’t heard from you in over a month after you told me you were going to try to make it work with your wife.”

  “And you also know why I said that. It was a mistake to lie to you, Cass, but you know why I did it. It wasn’t fair to ask you to be with me while I figure things out with Adriana. I have to be smart about this and patient. It’s the only way I’m going to get Lucas. He’s what matters most.”

  She’d only taken a few bites of her food, but suddenly felt sick and jumped up, tossing her napkin onto the table. With her hand on her belly, she said wryly, “I wondered where we would rate in your life,” before rushing to the bathroom.

  How appropriate Cooper was there with friends from work when she walked out of the bathroom. It was purely coincidence, she hadn’t texted him, just pretended to in order to save her dignity when Luke exchanged texts with his wife at the station.

  She didn’t know how she was going to sell this. She wasn’t dating Cooper Johnson, but she sure as fuck wasn’t going to tell Luke that. Yet if she acted like she was, Cooper might be confused and not play along or worse, freak out, thinking a pregnant woman was interested in him.

  Taking a deep breath in, she greeted the Marines at their table with a friendly hello and leaned down to kiss Cooper on the cheek. He smiled when he put his hand on her hip from his chair and asked what she was doing there, then waved to Luke when she told him who she was having lunch with.

  “Well, I’ll let you get back to lunch. I just wanted to say hi.”

  He stood and kissed her on the cheek. “Great seeing you, Cassandra.”

  The scowl on Luke’s face as she returned to their table told her she had been successful in making him believe she and Cooper were an item.

  It was a hollow victory, but at least her pride remained intact.

  *

  Luke

  He watched her briskly make her way to the restroom, then surveyed the untouched food on their plates. He wasn’t hungry anymore. He’d managed to say the wrong thing, again.

  She’d just broke the best news to him he could have ever received, and he couldn’t even wrap his arms around her and hold her in celebration. He was in a no-win situation.

  If he asked Adriana for a divorce, there was a good chance she’d bolt to Mexico with his son, and he’d never see Lucas again. While the woman he was in love with was carrying his baby and had moved on with someone else.

  When he watched Cassie leave the bathroom and make a beeline toward the front of the restaurant, he thought she was leaving without telling him goodbye. Once he saw where she was headed that might have been his preference.

  Cooper Johnson better hope to never run into Luke in a dark alley. He’d beat the fuck out of that jarhead for having what should have been Luke’s.

  Cassie appeared at the table, paler than before.

  “I don’t think I’m going to be able to eat lunch,” she stated unapologetically as she sat down.

  “Did you tell him we were coming here?” Luke snarled.

  She looked over at the Marine’s table. “What? No, of course not.”

  He didn’t know if he believed her but decided to drop it. There was no point arguing about it.

  With a nod toward her lunch, he asked, “Do you want to get it boxed to go?”

  She shook her head. “No, I think my days of eating fish are done, at least until the morning sickness passes.”

  “You probably shouldn’t eat a lot of fish, anyway. I remember reading about mercury in it or something.”

  She gave him a placating smile. “Salmon is okay. But it doesn’t really matter right now, anyway,” she said with a wrinkled nose as she looked at her plate and pushed it away.

  Luke picked it up and brought it to his side of the table, covering it with his napkin, then moved to sit next to her. He needed to touch her, fuck everything else. With one arm draped on the back of the booth behind her, he ran his fingers over the back of her hand before entwining it with his. She seemed to lean into him momentarily before catching herself and stiffening.

  “You’re just as important to me as Lucas is. I’m sorry I’ve not been able to show you that, but you are.” He dropped his hand to her belly, it felt softer than the last time he’d touched her. “You and our little raspberry.”

  She let out a laugh, which turned into a sob. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Luke. Just be there for the baby, okay?”

  He held her in his arms, half expecting her to bristle against his touch. Instead, she did the opposite and melted into his embrace. He noticed the Marine looking at them but didn’t give a fuck.

  “I’m sorry, Cass. I’ve messed this whole thing up from the beginning. I should be marrying you tomorrow instead of you going home to Cooper, but I’m not sorry we’re having a baby. I’m fucking ecstatic.”

  He felt her smile. “Brenna said you would be.”

  “Brenna’s a smart woman, you should listen to her.”

  She pulled away from him and stared into her lap. “She also said I should date Cooper.”

  That elicited a scowl from him. “Okay, maybe you shouldn’t listen to everything she says. Does he know you’re pregnant with my baby?” The question came out more accusatory than he intended, but Cooper Johnson getting to be the one to take care of her felt like a kick in the gut.

  “As a matter of fact, he does, and he’s been nothing but kind.”

  He knew he had no right to say what he was about to say, but he did anyway. “I
don’t like you seeing him.”

  With a look of incredulity, she huffed, “Huh, well you don’t have any say in who I date these days.”

  “I do have a say in who is around my baby,’ he snarled.

  “Really? You’re going to go there?”

  “Cassie…” he softened his tone to plead his case.

  She interrupted. “Are you getting divorced, Luke?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Are you getting divorced any time soon? Like before the baby is born?” she clarified.

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “It really is that easy. You’re the one making it complicated. As Lucas’ father, you have rights like you’ll have rights when this baby is born.”

  “Those rights don’t do me any good if Lucas is in Mexico.”

  Her smile was sad. “Well, at least you won’t have to worry about that with our baby. But I also get a say in who’s around him, and I’m not thrilled about the prospect of your wife caring for him when he’s with you. Maybe I’ll request supervised visits since she’s such a flight risk to Mexico, I wouldn’t want her taking off with my child, too.”

  His stomach dipped. “You wouldn’t do that.”

  She shrugged. “Probably not. But don’t you dare tell me who I can or cannot see while you sit playing house with your happy family. I’m just getting used to this Mama Bear business, you don’t want to see what I’m capable of when my cub is bigger than a raspberry,” she warned.

  His baby doll was going to be his baby mama bear. It was the most inopportune time for his dick to get hard, but the realization did exactly that.

  “God, I love you.”

  “No,” she glared at him, shoving him out of the booth, then scurried out behind him, poking his chest with her finger. “You don’t get to say that to me anymore, Luke. You made your choice, and it wasn’t me.”

  Borrowing a move he’d perfected over the last few years, she threw a hundred-dollar bill on the table and left without another word.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Cassie

  She brushed the tears away from her cheeks while brusquely walking to her car. Damn Luke Santiago Rivas to hell. She had told herself she was done crying over him. She was blaming it on the pregnancy hormones, not because he made her toes tingle at his slightest touch, and it felt like her heart was breaking all over again.

  She heard someone calling her name behind her. “Cassie, wait!”

  Turning around, she watched as Cooper jogged after her in the parking lot. She hesitated, she wasn’t in the mood for his attempt to comfort her, but out of politeness, waited until he caught up with her.

  His face visibly was concerned when he rubbed her biceps and asked, “Are you okay?”

  Cassie took another swipe under her eyes with her fingers and gave him her best attempt at a smile. “No, but I will be.”

  “Want some company?”

  Her bottom lip began to tremble as she nodded her head. He brought his arms around her in a warm embrace.

  “Hey,” he whispered. “I’m here. It’s okay.”

  Her eyes were closed, but she heard footsteps of someone running and knew it was Luke when they stopped suddenly a few feet from them.

  His voice was contrite when he asked, “Can I talk to you, Cassie?”

  Cooper pulled away and bent down with a questioning look.

  She knew if she said no, the two men would get into a pissing match—the last thing she needed right now.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered to her friend.

  “I’ll call you later,” the Marine said as he reluctantly released her and began to walk away.

  “I promise I won’t take much of your girlfriend’s time,” Luke said caustically.

  Cooper paused and turned back toward them, jerking his head. “My girlfriend? You think we’re together?”

  Fuck.

  The blonde man must have noticed her look of panic because he made his best attempt at a recovery.

  “Well, er, good. I’m glad you, uh, know,” then awkwardly directed at Cassie, “I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

  The amused look on Luke’s face let her know he wasn’t buying it. Before he could say anything, she turned to walk away.

  “I really can’t stay, Luke. I’m late for an appointment.”

  He grabbed her by the elbow and spun her around, with a gruff, “Bullshit.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked, trying to jerk out of his grip. He reluctantly let go but pinned her in place with his glare.

  “Bullshit, Cassandra Jo Sullivan. You scheduled at least a few hours for our date, and we didn’t get through half that. You’re not late for anything except running away from me.”

  She placed her hands on her hips. “Did you just full name me, Luke Santiago Rivas?” She couldn’t help but laugh since she’d done that in her mind to him moments earlier. Of course, she was damning him to hell at the time but, hey.

  He didn’t hide his own grin. “Whatever works, doll.”

  “What do you need, Luke?” Her tone turned more serious.

  “Well, first, you dropped this,” he held her folded hundred-dollar bill out.

  “That was for lunch.”

  “I told you before, I take care of what’s mine.”

  This made her fume. “Well, you don’t have to worry about taking care of me, since I’m not yours.” Her anger was like water off a duck’s back for him.

  “Well, that baby you should be feeding is mine, so…” he declared as he tucked the money in her purse, leaving no room for further argument.

  Whether it was because she was too tired to fight anymore, or she genuinely was appreciative, she wasn’t sure as she said with a polite smile, “Thank you,” and left it at that.

  They stood in awkward silence before she spoke again. “I really do need to get going. I wanted to go to the grocery store since my food options seem to be dwindling by the day and take a nap before I have to go to a work dinner tonight.”

  He was a little too nonchalant when he asked, “Can I go with you?”

  That surprised her. “To the grocery store? Don’t you have to go back to work?”

  “I’m taking the afternoon off. I’m going to use some of my much-accumulated personal time to get used to the idea of being your Baby Daddy. So, let me go with you, or do you think your boyfriend will mind?”

  “Okay, fine.” She let out a heavy sigh and rolled her eyes. “I admit it—I’m not dating Cooper. But why do you want to go to the grocery store with me?”

  “A couple of reasons. One, to make sure you’re feeding my baby healthy things and not junk.” She shot him a look of exasperation. “And two, because it will let me spend time with you. I’ll take that however I can get it.”

  She teared up again, and he looked horrified. “What?! What did I do?”

  “Stop being nice to me. I’m trying to hate you right now.”

  He slid his hand around her waist with no hesitation. “No can do, baby doll. I won’t let you hate me,” he murmured in her hair, then gave her a long kiss on her head before slowly releasing her.

  “I wish you would,” she whispered. “It’d be so much easier that way.”

  “No, it wouldn’t, and you know it. We’re having a baby, Cass. We need to be on each other’s team.”

  “I don’t know how to do that with you any more.”

  He guided her toward her car. “Well, let’s start with groceries.”

  ****

  Luke

  He stopped pushing the shopping cart and stared at her incredulously.

  “How can you not want to know? Think about how much easier it will be to prepare for its arrival.”

  “Stop calling the baby it.”

  He laughed. “That’s also why I wanna know! How about if they tell me, then when your Type-A personality takes over, and you need to get shit done before it gets here, you’ll ask me. Maybe I’ll tell you.”

  They resumed walking down the aisle wi
th Cassie shaking her head with a smirk.

  “You think you know me so well. You don’t know.”

  Luke pulled a box of Life cereal from the shelf and shook it at her before putting it in the cart. “I know you like cereal for dinner because you’re too impatient to cook anything.”

  “Everyone knows that.” she scoffed.

  “I know not feeding your caffeine addiction during this pregnancy has probably been harder for you than morning sickness. Your favorite color is blue, you say your favorite author is Stephen King, but the only thing I’ve ever seen you reading are romance novels. You don’t easily forgive people who have wronged you, but you’re fiercely loyal to the people you love,” he put his hand on her stomach, “and you are going to be the best mama bear with our little cub.”

  She stood glaring at him. Twice she opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it. Finally, she took over pushing the cart and mumbled, “You think you’re so smart.”

  That elicited a loud laugh from him as they continued towards the fresh vegetable section.

  “You know you love me.”

  “I love you like a friend,” she said very matter-of-factly as she surveyed the produce.

  He patted her back. “Sure, doll. Sure.”

  Without even looking at him while she inspected peppers, she asked quietly, “Are you going to ask Adriana for a divorce?”

  He stood next to her, picking up a red pepper.

  “I have to be smart about it but, yes, eventually. I meant what I said. I do love you and want you to wait for me. Don’t give up on us, Cass.”

  “I think I have to, Luke,” she said in a low voice, looking up at him. She set down the yellow pepper she’d been holding as a single tear slid down her cheek. “I can’t do this. Being with you like this, like a couple—feels so natural. It’s not fair to me. You’re going home to your family tonight, and I’m going home alone. You’re someone else’s husband, whether you’re together as man and wife or not doesn’t matter. You’re not mine. Yes, you’re the father of my child, so we’ll always be connected, but we need to stop this. My heart can’t handle it.”