Riptide (A Renegades Novel)

by Skye Jordan

  Tessa raised her knees and clasped her hands around them, a sound of dread rolling from her throat. Behind Sophia, Zach cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled encouragement and directions. She wobbled, stumbled a step, but stayed on the board until the wave crumbled beneath her, and she rolled into the water at the shore.

  Tessa didn’t breathe until Sophia’s head popped out of the water, and she stood. Then Zach caught up with her, clapping and cheering. Sophia straightened into her trademark Olympic stand, fists overhead, chest out, a grin that took over her face, glowing in the sun. Zach picked her up and threw her in the air, then caught her again, and Sophia’s squeals pierced the air. Sophia wrapped her arms around Zach’s neck tight.

  “Jesus Christ.” Tessa’s words came out on an exhale of relief, and she closed her eyes, slumping her shoulders. “I think I’ve aged ten years in the last few hours.”

  Grace laughed. “They’re so adorable together. Sophia’s really brought out a whole different side of Zach. I think it’s pretty fabulous of you to be willing to work with him on this. A lot of women wouldn’t be as accepting of an absent dad.”

  “It’s not easy. I came here thinking I was going to get a signature and go home to file the final adoption papers. Zach has turned my whole world upside down.”

  “I think that’s mutual. But I also think it’s a good thing.”

  Tessa sighed, not so sure herself. “God, I hope so.”

  Zach took Sophia into a seat on his forearm and grabbed the rope on the front of the boogie board, dragging it behind him as he made his way up the beach. Tessa reached for a towel and stood as they drew close. She knew she shouldn’t be impressed by Zach’s body. After all, she’d had several private hours to learn every rock-hard dip and curve, but she wished she could memorize the sight of him carrying Sophia in one strong arm, wet from head to toe and still dripping seawater. The icing on that cake was his grin. Bright and happy. And proud.

  “Did you see her, Mommy?” Zach asked Tessa. “I think we have a budding surfer.”

  Oh, criminy. Tessa had images of sending Sophia to see her father, and chewing her fingers off in worry Sophia would drown. She pushed the fear to the background and tried to focus on the moment.

  The intimacy between the three of them had gone from zero to sixty in forty-eight hours and hearing him call her “Mommy” and referring to Sophia as “theirs” made her heart flutter.

  “I saw,” she told them.

  “I rided the wave, Mommy,” Sophia said with her adorable enthusiasm while pushing her wet ringlets from her face. “I rided it good.”

  “You were awesome,” she told Sophia. Wrapping a towel around her shoulders, she met Zach’s smiling eyes and said, “And so were you.”

  “Thanks.” His eyes were soft and fixed on hers. If Grace wasn’t there, Tessa thought he might have kissed her. “Hey, Grace. What are you and Josh doing?”

  “He’s talking with Keith,” she said. Tessa recognized the name of the director. “We were going over to Merriman’s for dinner. Do you three want to join us?”

  “Oh, heck.” He grinned at Sophia. “I promised Sophia if she rode three waves to shore on her feet, we’d get her shave ice.”

  “And I did it,” she confirmed. “I did it.”

  “I know,” Grace told her, giving her belly a tickle. “I saw. Okay, you guys go celebrate. We’ll see you tomorrow night at Jax’s, right?”

  Tessa didn’t know what Grace was talking about and didn’t like the idea that Zach had made plans with Sophia without telling Tessa. There wasn’t any logical reason not to let Sophia go somewhere with Zach on her own, Tessa just hadn’t thought about it. This was all moving so damn fast.

  “Probably,” Zach said, glancing at Tessa. “We’ll talk about it tonight.”

  “Okay.” Grace surprised Tessa by turning to her and wrapping her in a hug. “Great getting to know you.” Then she caught Sophia’s hand and kissed the back, making her giggle again. “You too, water baby.”

  As Grace started up the sand toward the parking lot, Tessa took Sophia, set her on a towel, and dried her off.

  “Did Pegsis have a good nap?” Sophia asked, leaning down to pick up the stuffed horse.

  “A very good nap.” Tessa noticed a little pink tinge to her skin and winced. She looked up at Zach while he dried off with another towel. Water glistened on his tan skin, reminding Tessa of how he’d looked getting out the shower their first night together. “I guess she shouldn’t stay out in the sun this long.”

  “You put sunscreen on her every hour.”

  “Doesn’t look like it was enough.”

  “I’m hungry.” Sophia’s grumpy tone set off warning bells in Tessa’s head.

  “You were in the water a long time,” Tessa told her. “I bet you’re starving.”

  “Can we get shave ice now?”

  “Yep,” Zach said.

  “No,” Tessa said at the same time.

  They looked at each other and smiled.

  “I guess your mom’s right,” he told Sophia. “Let’s get some real food in that tummy of yours, then you can have the ice. We’ll call it an early dinner.”

  “I don’t want dinner,” Sophia said, starting to pout.

  Tessa looked at Zach. “She’s going to be wiped out from the day. I think dinner at home would be the safer bet.”

  “I don’t want to go home,” Sophia said. “I want shave ice.”

  Zach crouched beside them and helped Tessa get Sophia out of her wet bathing suit and into a sundress. To facilitate the transition, he took the stuffed animal while he helped maneuver her into a dry outfit. And Tessa had to admit, he looked adorably ridiculous with a sparkling Pegasus under his arm.

  “I wanna go back in the ocean,” Sophia complained.

  All Tessa wanted to do was put Sophia to bed and sink into the bathtub with tropical bubbles. Of course that would come second only to the desire to slide her naked body against Zach’s.

  “But, you look so pretty,” he told her. “And we can go back into the ocean tomorrow.”

  Tessa pulled out Sophia’s sandals and Sophia put a hand on Zach’s shoulder to balance. She looked Zach right in the eye when she told him oh so seriously, “I have sparkly sandals. Like Pegsis’s wings.”

  He grinned. “You sure do.”

  Once Sophia was sorted out, Tessa looked at Zach. “You don’t have to stay with us if you want to hang with your friends.”

  He reached out and cupped her face. “You’re better than friends. You’re family. And I’m right where I want to be. This has been the best day I’ve had in months. And I really want to take you both to dinner.”

  Tessa smiled, covered his hand with hers, and turned her head to kiss his palm, trying to savor the moment. There weren’t many opportunities left. “I just hope Sophia makes it without melting down.”

  “It’s still early. She’ll be fine.”

  Famous last words.

  Sophia sat on a towel and played with the sand while they packed up. When he took the beach bag from Tessa, he slid a hand around the back of her neck in a gentle show of affection. In a low voice, he asked, “When can we tell her?”

  Tessa met his gaze. “Tell her what?”

  “That I’m her dad.”

  Tessa’s mind darted from “When can we tell her?” to what she anticipated his next question to be “When can she live with me?” and some future fear that leaked into her consciousness from nowhere, the anticipated “I’m getting married, and she wants to adopt Sophia.”

  She forced her mind to toss out the future fears for the moment. “Oh.” She looked down at Sophia, who now had sand all over her dress. Tessa shrugged. “Anytime, I guess. Just to warn you, she probably won’t understand the concept. She’s never had one, so she doesn’t really know what it means. I don’t want your feelings to be hurt if she doesn’t—”

  He shook his head. “I understand.” His mouth turned in a silly smirk that made him look vulnerable. “I
just really want to hear her call me Daddy.”

  Tessa’s heart flipped and fluttered.

  “Hey,” he said. “If that’s not okay with you—”

  “No, no. It’s fine.”

  “Then why did you just look green?”

  She huffed a laugh and closed her eyes a second. “Everything’s happening so fast. I just…I’m—”

  “Scared,” he said. “I know. I’m trying really hard to minimize—”

  “You are.” She stroked a hand down his warm muscled arm. “You’re great. It’s not you.”

  Zach clasped her hands. “We should figure out the details of how we’re both going to see Sophia. I think that will ease your stress.”

  No, that wouldn’t ease her stress. Because answering that question led to a million others. Questions she didn’t feel like she had the strength to answer. She tried to smile. “I’d really just rather stop time—”

  Her words cut off as two women approached with surfboards under their arms. They were young and not just pretty, but Sports Illustrated gorgeous, complete with killer bodies in string bikinis. And they stopped a few feet from Zach.

  “Hey, Zach,” the honeyed blonde said, but her speculative gaze was on Tessa. “Who’s this?”

  That hit Tessa as bold and territorial. And the brunette was frowning at Sophia as if the sight of her was distasteful, raising Tessa’s hackles.

  “You have a kid?” the brunette asked.

  “Don’t be stupid,” the blonde told the brunette. “Zach with a kid? What a joke.”

  Tessa was uncomfortably aware of the tension coiling through Zach’s muscles, jumping in his jaw. “No one asked your opinion,” he told them. “So stay out of my business.”

  His abrupt backlash over the women’s approach zinged shock through Tessa. He definitely had an intense side that showed under pressure, bringing back Abby’s “What if he loses his temper with her…?” and making nerves hum along her shoulders.

  He tossed the beach bag over his shoulder, and when he turned, Sophia lifted her arms to him. “Up?”

  Zach bent and effortlessly lifted Sophia into a seat on one forearm, sparkling Pegasus and all.

  “No way,” the blonde said with a snotty laugh, her gaze tracking between Zach and Tessa. “You had a kid with her?”

  Anger broke over Zach’s face. The same anger Tessa had seen that night she’d told him about Sophia, when he thought she’d been lying.

  When he opened his mouth again, Tessa said, “Zach.” She leveled her voice in an understanding but firm tone, hoping to give him a lifeline to perspective. “We should get going.”

  Zach glanced at Tessa, and guilt flashed in his eyes. He cut a look at the woman. “Don’t come around again.”

  Tessa didn’t know what that meant, but the women looked at each other with a spark of surprise. He started up the beach, taking Tessa’s arm gently. “Let’s go.”

  On the way to the car, Sophia asked, “Who were those ladies?”

  “No one important, baby,” he told her.

  Important enough to sleep with. Tessa’s mind was spinning with negativity and jealousy and doubt. The familiarity between the women and Zach had been clear. The way he hadn’t introduced them to her and Sophia, another sign. She’d bet her promotion he’d slept with them. Judging by the way the women acted together, Tessa would also bet he’d slept with them at the same time.

  She might not date much, but she’d met enough of Corinne’s friends and heard enough of their colorful stories to know what happened in the looser singles scene. And that only added insecurity to her insecurities.

  “Are you mad at them?” Sophia asked.

  He hesitated. “A little.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they were rude.”

  Sophia gave him a quizzical frown. “Why?”

  He sighed. “Because they’re, evidently, not as mature as you are.”

  Tessa had to bite her lip to keep from snorting a laugh.

  “What’s mature?” Sophia asked.

  By the time he glanced at Tessa for help, she couldn’t hide her smile. “What are you grinning about?”

  “Why?” she asked Zach in an innocent imitation of Sophia. “Why is the ocean blue? Why do birds chirp? Why did you say that? Why didn’t you say this? Why? Why? Why?”

  Sophia turned her quizzical frown on Tessa. Tessa reached over and tickled her belly, instantly changing Sophia’s expression. And Zach seemed to relax a little.

  Between the beach and the car, Sophia talked about the seagulls, the sand, and how hungry she was.

  At the lot, Zach turned toward his car.

  “Sophia needs to be in a car seat,” she reminded him.

  “Oh, right,” he said. “Sorry.”

  “We can still take yours. I just need to take the seat out—”

  “No, yours is fine.”

  She opened the door, and Zach awkwardly settled Sophia in the seat, then stared at the straps. With a sigh, he stepped back. “You’re going to have to show me how this works.”

  “It’s okay.” Tessa rubbed his arm and gave him a smile. “The secret to kids’ car seats isn’t programed into us at birth. We all have to learn how to use them.”

  Once they had Sophia—and Pegasus—buckled in, Tessa closed the door and handed him the keys. “What about your car?”

  “We can come back for it.”

  She nodded, but when she stepped around him to move to the passenger’s side, he caught her waist and pulled her back. “I’m sorry about them.”

  She shook her head. “They’re the ones who should be sorry, not you. I’m sorry they upset you.”

  He smiled a little. His gaze lowered to her mouth. “A kiss would instantly change my mood. I would have done it earlier, but I didn’t know if I should kiss you in front of Sophia.”

  She smiled up at him, leaning into his body. “She can’t see us now.”

  A look of relief eased his features. He cupped her head and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. Then another. And another. And finally stroked his tongue along them until she opened. He tasted her, gently, slowly, and finally pulled back with a moan. But he smiled, closed his eyes, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

  And Tessa couldn’t help but wonder how he’d treated the women he’d just spoken with. Wondered how long he would treat her sweetly like this. Wondered if Sophia’s continued grumpiness would change his mood.

  No time like the present to find out. Tessa knew dinner would be a challenge.

  “Better,” he murmured against her skin before kissing her there again. “Much better.”

  She smiled and stroked his chest, wishing this could last.

  But for Tessa, none of the good things in her life seemed to be lasting very long.

  15

  “Zach with a kid? What a joke.”

  He couldn’t shake the words. They hummed in the background, aggravated by the fact that he couldn’t even work something as simple as a car seat. On the drive to the restaurant, Sophia alternated between whining and singing and Zach was exhausted trying to anticipate her moods, fearful of another iced-tea crying jag. Tessa had been amazing about everything, but he felt like she was just waiting for him to make one major mistake that would justify denying him the right to be in Sophia’s life. He fully recognized that he only believed that because it was something he would have been doing if their situations had been reversed.

  And, hell, in all honesty, he was probably angry at Kerry more because she was right than because she’d dissed Tessa and embarrassed him. He was a joke when it came to anything related to kids. And he was terrified Tessa would figure that out before long.

  “Where are we going?” Sophia asked from the back.

  Tessa was looking out the side window. She’d been quiet since they’d gotten in.

  “The Monkeypod,” Zach said, pleased when Tessa focused on him and laughed at the name. He glanced in the rearview mirror at Sophia. “Doesn’t that sound like a fun plac
e?”

  “Monkeypod,” she said, her voice comically shocked. “What’s a monkeypod?”

  “It’s a restaurant. And they have awesome shave ice. But…” he added, “all little girls have to eat their dinner before they can have any shave ice.”

  She dropped her head back against the car seat and heaved a sigh. “Oh, man. That’s just not right.”

  Zach barked a laugh at the unexpected comment and all its maturity beyond Sophia’s years.

  Tessa sputtered a laugh too and glanced into the backseat. “What? Where did you get that?”

  She shrugged her little bare shoulders. “I dunno.”

  Zach propped his elbow on the window ledge and ran his hand through his damp hair. “She’s hilarious.”

  “Out of the mouths of babes, as they say,” Tessa said, grinning. “Some jaw-dropping comments do come out of her mouth from time to time.”

  He pulled off the two-lane highway and into the gravel parking area.

  “Look,” Sophia shouted. “A monkey.”

  The restaurant had a colorful sign across the front of the A-line roof over the porch sporting a goofy-looking monkey.

  “You’ll see a lot of monkeys tonight,” Zach said as he parked. “Why don’t you count them?”

  Tessa grin at him. “Good game, Dad.”

  Dad. The word zinged him in the chest. The emotion that accompanied it felt a hell of a lot like fear. Like the burn in the pit of his stomach that came when he looked at a pipeline and knew his timing was off. Knew the wall of water was going to pound him against the sea floor so hard, it could be the very last time it ever happened.

  Only, that fear dissipated in seconds. This one…this one lingered as a dull nagging sensation.

  Tessa was already out of the car, pulling Sophia from the car seat when Zach finally cleared his head enough to open his door.

  “One!” Sophia’s yell drew Zach’s gaze. She was pointing at the monkey on the sign, a big smile on her face.

  Tessa laughed and glanced over at Zach. “You’re off to a good start.”

  Zach’s brain seemed to freeze-frame the moment—Tessa and Sophia looking up at the sign, the late afternoon sun sparkling against the mountains in the distance.