The Stubborn Suitor, Book 2 (The Stubborn Suitor #2)(5)

She bit her lip, waiting for Ken to admit he was wrong—that he wasn’t ready for primary custody. She was even willing to offer another weekend a month, if he really thought he was up for it. She could afford to be generous now that she knew this nightmare was over.

“Listen, Cami, we both know you don’t have the resources for a long, blown-out courtroom drama.”

“Yeah,” Cami responded, willing him to get to the point—to get to the apology.

“I would just hate to see you waste any of your time or money on this.”

“Me, either.”

“That’s why I really think we should all just be adults about this.”

“I totally agree,” she said, a smile spreading across her face.

“Good,” he said. “I’m glad to hear that. I’m happy you came to your senses.”

“What?” Cami nearly dropped the phone in confusion. “What do you mean ‘come to my senses’?”

“Cami, you’re not going to be able to afford this if it goes to court. You know I can win this.”

“What are you saying?” Cami demanded, fear slowly creeping back into her chest.

“I’m just suggesting that you be reasonable—that we handle this like adults. Madison is better off with me.”

“Fuck, no!” Cami replied, utterly unable to be mature at the moment. “You’re the one being completely unreasonable. Madison would not be better off with you. You can barely deal with the custody as it is now.”

“That’s not true. And, with Natalie being home, Madison won’t have to be carted around at all hours of the night. Plus, we can afford in-house help if we need it.”

“Madison doesn’t need a nanny,” Cami shouted into the phone. “She needs her family. And that does NOT include Natalie!”

“Cami,” Ken said, sounding exasperated but not nearly as upset as Cami felt. “Be reasonable. Let’s be adults about this.”

That was the last straw. She could not handle him telling her to be reasonable or mature one more time.

“You’re right,” she growled through clenched teeth. “I do need to be more reasonable and adult-like about this. Which is why I shouldn’t be talking to you. You shouldn’t have called me at all. And it will not happen again. Next time you have something to say to me, have your lawyer contact mine.”

With that, Cami hung up the phone. She let it drop into her lap as she took deep, calming breaths. The breathing exercises were not working, however, and soon turned to panic. She now felt worse than she had before the phone call—even more hopeless and desperate. If Ken thought he could simply call her and harass her into giving up custody of her daughter, he must really think she had no case.

Her panic was interrupted by the ringing of her phone in her lap. Without a second thought she accepted the call and brought the phone to her ear.

“Listen up, you bastard,” she snarled, “I am through with your shit. I do not want to hear from you again. If you have anything to say, do it through our lawyers. Do you understand me, Ken?”

The line was silent for a moment. She assumed she’d thrown Ken off with her vehement statement. He wasn’t used to not getting his way.

“Um…” came a very different voice than she was expecting. “Actually, this is Drew.”

Cami grimaced, suddenly extremely embarrassed. Just when she thought her day couldn’t get any worse.

“What do you want?” she snapped, unable to muster up a polite response.

“Oh…um…I just—”

“You just left this morning—extremely early, I might add, as I was up by 6:30 and your side of the bed was already cold. Couldn’t even leave a note either. That’s fine. I’m over it. I know I’m a lot to deal with—especially right now. I’m a single mother—not really an ideal casual fling.”

“And what makes you think I want a casual fling?” Drew replied, humor in his voice.

This made Cami even angrier. She’d had enough conversations with cocky men today.

“Because, as I just stated, you fled my house, practically in the middle of the night, without even leaving a note. Do I really need to explain what that implies? Or can you pick up the context clues?”

“It wasn’t the middle of the night,” he said, still sounding amused. “It was around five-thirty. And I’m sorry about the lack of a note. I was in a hurry. I hadn’t planned on staying the night at all—I had a business breakfast I had to get to at seven. I had to go home and shower and get ready.”

Cami bit her lip, suddenly feeling a little bad for laying into Drew so harshly. Maybe he really didn’t flee this morning; maybe he really did have a reason for leaving so early. Still, it was classic Drew behavior—hot then cold, interested then indifferent, there then…gone. She was sick of riding on that particular roller coaster, no matter how hot the sex was.

“Be that as it may,” Cami replied, “but I just don’t have time at the moment to play games. I’m not looking for anything casual and I get the impression that you’re not interested in anything serious. So I say we just call it a draw, remember the night we shared fondly, and go our separate ways.”

The line was silent again for a few moments. Cami figured that the conversation was not going the way Drew intended. Good, she thought. At least she got the better of one man today.