HisMarriageBargain (15 page)

She nodded. “Thank you.”

A pang shot through him and it felt as if the bones in his
spine momentarily scraped each other all at once.

“Sammi? Sammi, what’s wrong?” Autumn gripped his shirt.

That noise he heard? That was him groaning.

“Not feeling so hot,” he got out through clenched teeth.

“Let’s get you lying down. Do you need anything?” She looped
his arm over her shoulders and together they shuffled back into the bedroom.

Sammi sank onto the bed and sighed. His muscles were
quivering, up and down his legs, all over his stomach and chest. This would not
be a good night.

“Sammi?”

The tightness in his chest eased.

“It’s okay. I think it’s passing.”

Autumn sat on the bed next to him and stroked his hair. Her
face was the last thing he remembered seeing before exhaustion pulled him
under.

* * * * *

Autumn sat with her back against one side of the toilet
nook, the cool tile making her ass numb and her tailbone ache. Sammi copied her
pose across from her. It had not been a good night, and an even worse morning.
His hair was slicked to his face and his color was pale with a hint of green.

“How ya feeling now?” she asked quietly.

“Well, there’s nothing left in me to come up. Breakfast was
a bad idea.” He smiled weakly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure I can eat no matter
what.” As bad as his stomach’s pyrotechnics had been, she’d seen worse.

“I think I’m good now. Going to shower and get to work.” He
grabbed the top of the toilet and started hauling himself to his feet.

“What about going to a doctor?” She hadn’t pried into his
health, not since before their wedding, but things had been good over the last
two weeks. Forgetting his condition had been easy.

“I’ll get in later this morning, but the doctor’s office has
to open first.” He wavered on his feet but seemed steadier.

“I don’t think you should be driving yourself like this.”
Autumn bit her lip and held her breath. She wasn’t sure he should even go to
work, but there were times when a girl had to pick and choose her battles.

“I’m fine. For now,” he said on an exasperated breath,
rolling his eyes like a moody teenager.

“Okay, how about I drive us to work and we commute
together?” It was her bargaining chip, what she’d come up with after figuring
out there was no keeping him home on sick time.

Sammi grimaced, clearly disliking the solution. “I’m driving
and we’re taking my car.”

“Fine. I’m going to text Kellie and let her know I’ll be
late. Lookie there, I’m communicating.” She pulled out her phone and fired off
the text. Maybe she’d get a gold star for the day. By the time Sammi was out of
the shower, Autumn had re-dressed and finished getting ready, all the while
listening for any sound of distress from the bathroom. Maybe she needed to
research his condition, find out more of what to expect. She was totally in the
dark, and Sammi flat-out didn’t want to talk about it or acknowledge what was
going on. He just kept saying he was fine.

“You’re going into the shop early,” Sammi said as he entered
the bedroom, a towel tied around his hips and water droplets clinging to his
skin. She wanted to lick them. Explore all the dips and curves of his body,
those muscles, in an intimate fashion.

Autumn cleared her throat and intentionally directed her
gaze to her cell phone. “Yeah, I need to swing by my apartment to get an old
portfolio book and some of my design books. I’m starting work on a sleeve
today. Well, the sketches at least, and there’s a few random things I need to
see. Will it be a problem?”

“Nah.” Sammi dropped the towel and her eyes went straight to
the little indentations above either side of his ass cheeks as he walked into
the closet, which was almost as big as the bedroom. “How long does it take you
to come up with something like that?”

He was really lucky he wasn’t feeling well, otherwise she
would jump his bones. It was a crime to be taunted by a body so fine and know
neither of them had the energy to see it through.

“Depends on what they want, how specific. This one’s going
to be a pain in the ass. It’s a lot of modern art meshed together, so a lot of
copying, not as much creating, but the end result will be cool.” She turned so
she stared out the window while listening to the sounds of Sammi getting dressed.
There should be a law against covering that body. Hell, if he walked around
naked she might have to invite people to look. Not touch. Just look.

“You’ll have to take pictures and show me.” Sammi’s shoes
clicked on the hardwood as he entered the bedroom. “I’m heading out.”

“Me too.” She turned, sad to see him dressed so sedately in
slacks and a polo shirt. It was so bland when the man was so much more
interesting.

Sammi walked to where she stood at the end of the bed and
cupped her arms, running his palms up and down. He didn’t speak, just studied
her face. What he saw there she didn’t know. He bent and kissed her slowly. He
smelled of toothpaste, mouthwash and soap with a hint of cologne. She wrapped
her arms around his shoulders and pressed her breasts against his chest. He was
the first to pull back, a slight smile on his face where there hadn’t been one
before.

“Shall we?” Sammi held the front door for her and locked it
after she’d passed through.

There was something wonderfully domestic about leaving the
house together and getting in Sammi’s SUV together. Maybe they’d do this again
a few more times.

She closed the passenger door and Sammi pulled out onto the
street. To avoid the morning rush hour, he took an alternate route she
suggested that added nearly twenty minutes to the trip, but meant they weren’t
sitting in stop-and-go traffic.

Sammi pulled his car into the cramped lot with its
decoration of week-old garbage and weeds growing through the concrete. Autumn
would love to break her lease and move out, and before last night she’d
imagined walking into the landlord’s office, flipping him the finger and taking
off. But Sammi didn’t love her, and this wasn’t a happily ever after. The hard
truth was this was a chapter of life. A short one. But one that would end, and
when it did, she wanted to have somewhere to go.

She glanced at Sammi with his phone already glued to his
ear, a heated conversation about—something—going on and shook her head. There
wasn’t any reason for him to come in with her and see the squalor she’d lived
in before him again.

It wasn’t hard to see that Sammi’s family and the inner
circle of friends she hadn’t met weren’t like her. When the end came, they’d
throw her out before Sammi’s body was cold, so for the first time in her life
she was choosing to be smart. Which involved keeping her crummy one-bedroom
apartment. Didn’t mean she had to give up her feelings for Sammi, which were
natural and honest. When she looked at him her heart swelled and she felt
special.

She jogged up the rickety stairs, sweat breaking down along
her spine. Oh to be back at St. Maarten where the heat was accompanied by a
cool ocean breeze. She paused on the stairs to tap out a quick text, just to
mess with his head while he was doing boring business.

I’d do some awfully naughty things to have my own beach
cabana, a cocktail and you right now. Naked.

Grinning, she finished the climb up the stairs to her door,
but her good humor faded. Was a TV on in her apartment?

Autumn wanted to turn around. Leave. Forget this.

There was only one person who had a key to her apartment
she’d never been able to get back. If she left, ran away, she lost. She had to
face this. She slipped her key into the lock and twisted. There was no
resistance.

Her inner alarm bells clamored. She pushed the door open and
was met with the sound of the TV turned up as loud as it would go and the smell
of scrambled eggs with beer. Her stomach dropped.

No. No. No. No.

Despite knowing what she would find, Autumn crept into the
apartment. A buzz came from the direction of the tiny bathroom.

God, her husband was downstairs. This was the world’s worst
situation.

She briefly considered grabbing her books and running, but
she didn’t know where they were and she couldn’t do her job without them.
Taking a deep breath, she shut the door behind her and started shifting through
a box in the corner of the room that held random odds and ends. Tattoo
magazines, discarded receipts and one of the books she was after.

She hugged the hardbound volume to her chest as the bathroom
door opened.

“Autumn, there you are.” His voice felt like oil on water.
Her stomach curdled and for a moment she thought she might vomit.

“Jake, what are you doing here?” She stood and faced him,
glaring.

Jake wore jeans and an undershirt, his face freshly shaven.
He was hot, but it only went skin-deep. Those blue eyes and curling lips told
only lies. “Oh come on, baby. You aren’t still mad at me.”

“No, I’ve moved on and I want you out. Clearly you found my
key you lost. I want it back and you gone.” She pushed past him to the bedroom
and went straight to an old trunk that had once served as her mobile tattoo
shop. Until the new So Inked, it had been part of her station.

“Don’t be like that.” Jake followed her into the bedroom and
sat on the bed Sammi had fucked her in just two days ago.

“Jake, I’m serious. Go away. Fuck off. Die for all I care.”
She pulled the old portfolio out. “Ah-ha!”

“Autumn, we’re good together. That last—”

“No, Jake. You listen.” She whirled and faced him. “I’m
married. To someone I love. That means I’m with someone and, unlike you, I
don’t cheat. I don’t treat my significant other like a piece of trash. You will
give me back my apartment key. You will take your shit with you. And you will
leave. For good. Not just until you feel like coming back, because this, what
we had, was a lie.”

“Autumn? What’s taking so long?”

The front door shut with a hard thud that might have been
the echo of her stomach hitting the ground. Autumn wasn’t sure.

Jake stared at her, probably still struggling to process
past the second sentence. He’d never been a stellar conversationalist, but for
a short while she’d been the center of his world, and it had fallen to pieces
when she realized how adept a liar he was.

“Something going on?” Sammi’s voice was close, maybe even at
the doorway to the bedroom.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Who’s that?” Jake asked, his gaze flicking over her
shoulder.

“You’re leaving,” she said to her ex. “Now, Jake. I have a
job to get to, something that’s a novelty to you, I know.”

“But this was our home,” he blurted. To Sammi, Jake said,
“And who the fuck are you?”

“I would be Autumn’s husband. And you are?”

Autumn gritted her teeth. Once she’d thought she had a
future with Jake. She’d had the idea they were going to create a home. Be happy.
Then the truth came knocking on her door in fishnets and spandex, barely over
eighteen. Even Autumn could be traded in for a younger model.

“Sammi, this is my long-lost ex Jake come back from Jailbait
Island or wherever he disappeared to, oh, I don’t know, a year ago. He’s not
staying. Actually he was on his way out. About that key?” Autumn held out her
hand.

“Knock, knock. Autumn?” The bass tones were a relief to her
ears.

Oh my god, who else is going to show up? The pope?

“In here, Jamar,” she called to her neighbor.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Jake puffed out his chest,
his expression nasty, ready for a fight. A fight Sammi couldn’t take, not in
his condition.

“Buddy, I think this is my wife’s way of asking you to
leave. Now. Do you think you can do that or should I call the police?” Sammi’s
voice carried with it authority, confidence. Just hearing him use this tone
made her panties a tad bit damp.

“I live here,” Jake insisted, hands balling into fists.

“No, you lived here,” Autumn corrected. His name had never
even been on the lease.

“It’s time you left.” Sammi stepped past her, and the
difference in the two men could not be more pronounced.

They were both attractive. But Jake was tall, with the lean,
muscular body of a swimmer and blond hair and blue eyes. His collection of bad
tattoos had always been a little embarrassing, but there were some decisions
you couldn’t undo. Sammi was maybe a few inches shorter than Jake, but he was
wider through the shoulders and more muscular. She had no idea how a face-off
between the two would go down. Jake hadn’t stayed pretty by fighting, and Sammi
wasn’t exactly from a scrappy family.

“Jake, just leave,” Autumn said as she sensed another person
behind her.

Oh right, Jamar.

Jamar was the only neighbor she’d befriended. He was a
kindhearted man, about her age, who simply wanted to live a happy life. They’d
bonded over Twinkies and boxed wine one night shortly after Jake departed from
her life, and Jamar had appointed himself her protector.

“What’s he doing here?” Jamar asked, one large, meaty hand
landing on her shoulder.

“Jake, just leave already,” Autumn begged, hugging the book
harder to her chest.

“You need to leave,” Sammi said.

“You need to back the fuck up.” Jake tipped his chin up,
staring down at Sammi as if having his nose in the air was an intimidating
move.

“Jake, your name is Jake, right?”

“Right. Who are you, asshole?”

Autumn couldn’t see Sammi’s face, but she could hear his
sigh.

“My name is Sammi, I’m Autumn’s husband, and we would like
for you to leave now.”

“You married this dumb cunt?” Jake’s beady eyes raking over
her hurt as if he’d hit her.

“That’s not nice.” Jamar squeezed her shoulder.

“Hey, you don’t speak about my wife like that.”