It Had to Be Fate (An It Had to Be Novel Book 3) (15 page)

The boys eagerly crowded around the phone. Caleb asked, “Can I text him back?”

“Sure.”

While Caleb tapped out a return message, Casey exchanged a glance with Dax, who had been pretending not to listen to their conversation. He sent her an “I told you so” look and then got back to his bread baking. He’d predicted Tomas would be a no-show when she’d filled him in before the boys got there.

Caleb grinned at whatever Zane had replied with and then handed her phone back. “Tell Dad we’ll see him this afternoon. Bye.”

“Bye, guys. Love you.”

They both mumbled, “Love you too,” then headed out the back door.

After the door slammed closed behind them, Dax said, “That bastard. He comes all this way, tells them he’s here for their first day of school, and then can’t bother to drag his prissy French ass out of bed?”

“Typical Tomas behavior.” She shook her head. “He’s always been all talk and no walk. What did I ever see in him?”

Curious about what Caleb had texted to Zane, she read the screen.

Thx. Can I play the song I’ve been working on for you before I show my dad? I want it to be good.

I heard you playing yesterday while Ty was killing me in Mortal Crush. It was awesome so go for it!

That was nice.

Dax asked, “So what are you going to do about the boys if Tomas tells you to keep them away from Zane? They like him.”

“They really do.” She sat at the center island. “I don’t know what Tomas wants exactly, but his lawyer has done his homework. I’m afraid I’m going to have a real fight on my hands this time.”

“Damn e-mail loop.”

“Yeah. I texted Meg and she promised to take him off within the hour, but the damage is done.”

“True.” Dax pulled out the stool next to her and sat down. “But what about you? Are you going to stay away from Zane too? Because I see the way you look at the guy.”

She lifted her head and met his amused gaze. “I look at Zane a certain way?”

“Oh, yeah. Beau, you looked at like you wanted to jump his bones. Zane, you look at like you want to jump his bones . . . and then have his babies.”

“Oh. My. God.” Her cheeks warmed with embarrassment. “I am not having this conversation with you.”

He chuckled. “Just calling them like I see ’em. You really like him, don’t you?”

She studied her nails that were badly in need of a touch-up rather than looking Dax in the eyes, afraid just how much she
did
like Zane would show. “Doesn’t matter. I can’t be with him. Not if Tomas will use Zane’s reputation to say he’d have a bad influence on the boys.” Even though she now knew Zane’s reputation was false. She wished she could shout it from the rooftops, but Zane must have reasons for protecting his brother. Besides, she worried he’d be gone so much, be too busy to have a long-term relationship with anyway. He led a big life she and the boys would never be able to fit into.

“Zane has taught Caleb how to play the guitar, and then he had the nerve to save Ty’s life, so yeah, he’s a real crappy influence on the boys.” Dax stood and uncovered the bread dough he’d left to rise in a bowl. “You ask me, just like the e-mail loop, that damage is done. After catching you and Zane in bed, no matter what you were doing, Tomas will use that against you. Might as well jump the man’s bones for real to see if he’s worth that dreamy look in your eyes.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think it’d be a good idea, Dax.”

He punched the dough with his beefy fist, sending a yummy, yeasty aroma into the air. “You kept your relationship with Beau a secret for months. Pretty impressive in Anderson Butte. And you would’ve gotten away with it completely if it weren’t for your grandmother. I bet you could manage one for a few weeks. No one would ever have to know. And by then you’d know for sure how you felt about him.”

Weirdly, she was pretty sure she already knew. Zane made her feel wanted, needed, and something she’d never felt from a man before, respected. “Since when are you Dr. Phil?”

A smile slowly lit his face. “Since I finally figured out what it’s like to be in love.”

“Really? That’s great, Dax. Have you told Pam?”

“Nope.” He frowned as he sprinkled flour on the countertop. “Pam says she’s not looking for forever. So it’ll have to be her idea to take it to the next level. I’m still working on how to get her to figure out she loves me too. She’s
the most
stubborn woman on earth.”

Casey leaned across the counter and laid her hand over Dax’s. “Anything Meg and I can do, even if it breaks girl code, we’re in. We both want you guys to end up together.” She gave his hand a pat.

“That’s a deal. Thanks, Boss.”

The back door opened and Tomas appeared. “You sleeping with the kitchen help now too, Casey?”

Dax narrowed his eyes. “Listen, pal—”

“I got this, Dax.” She slipped her hand from his and turned to her ex. “I got burned by the former
kitchen help
, so I learned my lesson there, Tomas. We need to talk.”

When she glanced at Dax, he lifted his chin in a “go get ’em, girl” gesture. He was right. She needed to stay strong and show Tomas who was going to win this round.

Zane had just finished moving the last of his things into the guesthouse when Ben appeared on the front porch. He tapped on the screen door and called out, “Zane?”

“Come in.” Zane swallowed back his anger at the doctor for dropping off the sample late. It had set off a chain of events he’d never be able to completely reverse. It took all he could muster to stand from behind his keyboard to greet the man.

“Hi.” Ben stepped inside and glanced around the living room. “Wow. Quite the setup here. Feeling better?”

Zane nodded. “What can I help you with?”

“I came to apologize about the sample. My patient went into cardiac arrest. Once I got her stabilized, I ran your DNA test to the lab as soon as I could.”

“Sorry about your patient.” Zane’s anger instantly cooled. “How long before we get the DNA results?”

Ben smirked. “Just so happens, I date the sexy head tech now and again, so she moved it to the top. I had to promise her a weekend getaway to Vegas in return, but I’ll suffer through it.” Ben grabbed a slip of paper from his top pocket. “I’ve sent the results to the baby’s mother and to her lawyer too. You’re not the child’s father.”

“Thanks.” Relief filled Zane as he read the test results for himself. Looked like his brother hadn’t been lying after all. “I appreciate your suffering on my behalf. How about I keep my plane on standby for whenever you’d like to use it?”

“I’ll take you up on that.” Ben stuck his hands in his pockets and then cleared his throat. “Listen, I ran into Meg last night. She ripped me a new one and said I was wrong about you. That I was too quick to judge and I need to give you a chance. She said Casey hasn’t smiled this much in a long time and that my nephews care about you too. So I’m willing to keep an open mind. Don’t prove Meg wrong.”

Permission from the big brother? Didn’t see that coming.

“I appreciate that, Ben, but I’m going to leave what happens between Casey and me up to her. She’s the one with the most to lose.”

“Fair enough.” Ben stuck his hand out. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.” Zane returned the shake. “Just let me know when you want to use the jet. It’s all yours.”

“Will do! See you.” Ben turned and walked down the steps.

Zane sank back onto his stool and read the test results again, thankful that one black mark against him was erased. Now to get Kip and his PR machine rolling into action.

Casey started for her office, but Tomas grabbed her elbow and stopped her. He said, “I thought we could maybe take a boat out. Have some wine while we talk. It’s a beautiful day.”

Nope. She wasn’t going to let him attempt to charm her. That had worked before, but never again. “I’m busy, Tomas. I still have to work for a living. But I hear you aren’t working these days.”

“I quit my job at the restaurant to spend time with the boys over the summer. I’ll find another one soon.” He shrugged. “Or maybe I won’t. Marie likes when I don’t work so we can travel more often.”

“What would Marie think if you couldn’t travel because the boys have to be in school?”

Tomas glanced over his shoulder at Dax, then lowered his voice. “Let’s discuss this in private, please.”

“Suit yourself.” She headed down the hall to her office.

Tomas caught up with her. “You shouldn’t air our dirty laundry in front of your staff. You need to command their respect.”

“I already have their respect because I’ve earned it. And I don’t have all day, Tomas, so let’s just cut to the chase. What do you want?”

She held a hand out to a guest chair in front of her desk and closed the door behind them.

After he sat, she circled around her desk and settled into her leather chair. It made her feel more in control with the desk between them. She raised a brow and waited for him to answer her question.

“I’m here to help the boys. And
you
.” He reached across the desk for her hand.

She leaned back and crossed her arms. “Help me? This ought to be good. Do tell.”

“Your father doesn’t appreciate the hard work you do here. Remember how we once talked of moving to France? Of opening a little bed-and-breakfast? Now you can. Marie will set you up in a nice little cottage a few minutes away from our estate. We could both see the boys year-round. It’d be a win-win for us all.”

“It’d be great for you, because your whole family lives in France. Mine lives here. And I have no intention of leaving.” She couldn’t imagine being that far from her brothers and sister. They were an integral part of her life and support network.

“Marie has offered to send the boys to the best boarding schools in Europe.”

“Boarding school? Absolutely not. I intend to raise my own kids.” The boys would probably feel completely abandoned if they were packed off to boarding school. They were still dealing with their feelings about Tomas leaving in the middle of the night and then disappearing for months.

“You’d deny the boys that level of education? Others would kill for the chance. And it would make men out of them. Not a couple of pansies bullied by their grandfather and coddled by their soft-hearted mother.”

Pansies?
It took all her effort to restrain herself from reaching across the desk and slapping the man. Instead, she folded her hands to keep them from shaking.

Using the calmest voice she could muster, Casey said, “My brothers make sure the boys get plenty of male influence. Ryan alone spends more time with them than you ever did. But what happens when you get restless and cheat on Marie? Then where will our boys be? You admitted that you’ve never been faithful to a woman.”

“Marie knows this. So she keeps me satisfied enough I haven’t felt the need to cheat on her. Unlike you, who was so tired most of the time, you’d be asleep before your head hit the pillow.”

“Are you kidding me? I was so damned tired because I had to take care of all the
boring
everyday life things in our marriage that you couldn’t be bothered with. Like earning enough money for us to live, paying the bills, fixing broken cars, helping the boys with their homework, their school projects, soccer, scouts, and then I had to come home and pick up after you! All while you were upstairs banging whichever starlet would let you!”

He shrugged. “You know what they say. All work and no play makes for a boring wife. That’s why I cheated.” He leaned closer and whispered, “It was a shame, because you’re still one of the top five performers in the sack,
chérie
.”

Her head threatened to explode into a million pieces. The man was infuriating.

She needed to calm down and find her rational side. He knew what buttons to push and he’d purposely hit every one of them.

“Bottom line, Tomas? I allowed you to steal too many things from me.” She held up her hand to tick off her points on her fingers. “My self-esteem, my pride, and my happiness.” Her middle finger was the only one standing and she left it like that to prove her point. “But thank you for that! Because I’m actually stronger now since you left. Strong enough to fight for what’s best for our children. The boys belong here where they’ll be safe, loved, and provided for.”