“This is such bullshit,” Tessa told Gordon over the speaker in the rental car as she made her way back to the condo. “Two weeks ago, I was sure I had this bill in the bag.”

“Shit always flies at the last minute.”

It did. And she’d always handled it. But this time…this was bullshit on a whole different level. And this time, the bullshit wasn’t just affecting her. It was going to affect Sophia. Tessa’s whole damn world looked different than it had two weeks ago.

“What was Styles’s bottom line?” Gordon asked. “They all have one.”

The question made her teeth clench. Tessa stopped at a red light and wrung her hands on the steering wheel. “The firm. I had to promise to take him on as a client.”

“You didn’t,” Gordon said with sincere dread.

Her stomach swirled with frustration. “I did.”

“Did he accept it? Is he giving us his vote?”

“He is.” But the victory felt hollow.

“Jesus Christ,” Gordon breathed. “James going to shit a brick.”

Yes, her boss, one of the firm’s largest partners, would be royally bent out of shape. Clients like Styles shifted James’ view of what the firm stood for. But Tessa would deal with it, the way she dealt with everything. Because if Styles didn’t vote for the bill, several other politicians would hold their vote back as well. And if this bill didn’t pass, tens of thousands of veterans wouldn’t get the care they needed, the care they deserved. And Tessa wouldn’t be getting that promotion, that pay increase, or that flexible schedule. Which meant the bullshit Tessa dealt with every day would end up hurting Sophia. And she wouldn’t let that happen.

“As a fourth-generation vet, he’ll deal with it.” The light turned green, and Tessa drove the final two blocks to the condo. “He wants this bill as badly as the rest of us. He’ll do what he needs to do just like I will.”

“Goddammit,” Gordon complained. “People suck.”

Tessa knew he was referring to politicians on the Hill. And after years of slogging through the muck, she’d have to agree. People did suck.

“I’m fucking crazy about you.” Zach’s words dissolved Tessa’s frustration. Some people sucked. But Tessa still had Zach and Sophia in her corner.

There were countless times she’d wanted to throw in the towel over the last couple of years—when Corinne had told her she’d been hiding her cancer. When she’d sprung the news of her death sentence on Tessa along with Sophia’s care. When Tessa’s boyfriend had dumped her. When her previous firm had taken her partnership off the table because she couldn’t continue to give them five hundred percent of herself.

The scheming, manipulative, two-faced, narcissistic shit she dealt with to get laws passed was just part of the job. The fabric of her everyday professional life. Something she accepted and dealt with for the greater good. As long as Tessa could keep a wall between that scheming, manipulative, two-faced, narcissistic bull and Sophia, she’d continue to handle it.

“I’m sorry, Tess,” Gordon offered. “I’ll keep my ear to the ground here and let you know if anything changes.”

“Thanks. And thanks for all you’ve done while I’ve been gone,” she told him. “Really. You’ve been a godsend.”

“Wish I could send a couple of angels your way now.”

Sophia and Zach came to mind, making Tessa crack a smile. “I think I’ve got a couple in my pocket.”

She parked, turned off the engine, and sat in the quiet for a moment to level herself. To transition back into the real world.

“I’m fucking crazy about you.” Remembering his words and the passion behind them made Tessa smile. Made her hope. Made her see the glimmer of a silver lining on the cloud of failure that had been hovering above her head, waiting to break.

“I’m ready.” The words dissipated in the quiet car, but that didn’t diminish the surety they brought to her soul.

She was ready for something different. Something more. The threat of having all she’d worked and sacrificed for torn away was the last straw. And she was crazy about Zach too. Crazy enough to entertain all sorts of alternate scenarios to her present life.

She was both buoyed and exhausted by the thought of more changes in her near future. But she stood from the car with solid hopes of Zach lending all that awesome strength to help her through.

She moved quietly up the stairs, sure Sophia would be asleep by now. Judging by the way her daughter had gleefully waved good-bye to Tessa, she didn’t envision chaos waiting. The memory of just how easily Sophia had let go was a sharp double-edged sword. But she pushed away her fears of losing her daughter to Zach and his friends as she entered the condo.

One glance around at the orderly state of the apartment and Tessa’s stress eased. She slipped off her shoes and set her briefcase on the sofa as she continued toward the bedrooms. Pausing at the door to her room, she laid a gentle hand on the wood and eased it open to peek in. She’d expected to see Zach lying with Sophia, but her daughter was curled on her side, sleeping alone in the big bed, clutching her Pegasus.

Tessa checked the room across the hall, but it was empty.

A sting of uncertainty tugged in her belly. She scanned the living area again, starting toward the kitchen. That was when she heard voices. Zach’s and…a woman’s. She moved that direction, expecting to find Lexi, Rubi, or Grace who’d come along to help him put Sophia to bed, but she was wrong again. He was talking on the phone, which was on speaker.

Her mind brought up the memory of the women who had approached them at the beach, and her insecurities snuck in. Maybe Tessa had misconstrued his “crazy about you” comment. Maybe he was crazy about a lot of women.

She paused near the door and lifted her hand to knock against the jamb to tell him she was home, but hesitated as she scanned him from the top of his blonde head to the bottom of his bare feet. He was in a familiar wardrobe of board shorts and a T-shirt. The sight comforted her. No suit. No shiny shoes. No fancy briefcase. Tessa hadn’t realized just how attractive that was or how badly she’d been craving a different kind of man from those she’d been living and working with until this very minute.

“I’ve consulted with a number of colleagues, from child psychologists to judges.” The female voice sliced into Tessa’s sweet moment. It was familiar. The same woman he’d been talking to when she’d gone to his room at the hotel—his sister. “And I’ve thoroughly investigated the law with your unique situation in mind. By all accounts, you have every right to custody of Sophia.”

What? Shock slammed Tessa. Her mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. This either wasn’t his sister, or his sister was an attorney, not getting her masters in clinical psychology.

“I would suggest going for partial custody, initially,” the woman said, her cool business tone leading Tessa to believe the prior. “Now is the time to build up a track record of caring for Sophia and building a solid relationship with Tessa.”

Zach didn’t respond.

Terror snuck into Tessa’s shock. She gritted her teeth, willing him to say something—anything—to make her believe she wasn’t hearing what she thought she was hearing.

He finally sighed, shifted on his feet and muttered, “Okay, but—”

“You’ve done the groundwork perfectly. You’ve gotten past Tessa’s initial barriers. You’ve shown her you can handle caring for Sophia and that you can be trusted with her. And you’ve done it in an environment where others can vouch for you.”

Tessa’s heart turned to rock. Her hands coiled into fists.

“Now, just stay on Tessa’s good side. Work out something amiable for the immediate future. This will be a process, but after a year or two of consistency, we can go back to court and petition for you to take full custody in time for Sophia to enter kindergarten.”

Tessa’s entire body vibrated with anger. And fear. A fear that knowing her legal rights couldn’t calm.

“Uh, look,” Zach said. “Things are pretty up in the air right now, but this is all good information. I appreciate you looking into this for me and for all the research you’ve done.”

“My pleasure. I’m always gratified when I can reunite a child with their father.”

Tessa bit her lip in an effort to control the hysteria bubbling beneath the surface.

Zach thanked the attorney again, who added, “Well, you know how to get ahold of me when you’re ready to move forward. Jax has me on retainer, and he’s made it clear he’ll cover any legal costs involved in the custody arrangement. So don’t hesitate to call.”

Zach thanked her, disconnected, and leaned his forearms on the railing, staring out at the ocean.

So many emotions roiled inside Tessa, she didn’t know which to grab on to first. She crossed her arms tight over her middle, fisted her hands, and searched for her barriers. But they were all shredded.

Zach turned toward the condo and froze. “Oh. Hi.” He darted a look behind her, then back. “I didn’t hear you.” He scanned her expression and lifted his hands, palms out. “Okay, I can imagine how that conversation sounded, but—”

“That’s the same woman you were talking to when I came over to your hotel.” She crossed her arms. “So which story was the lie? That she’s your sister, or that your sister is getting her masters in clinical psychology?”

Zach pushed the screen aside and stepped into the house. “I didn’t hire her—”

“How long?” Despite the fear and pain and panic whipping up inside her, Tessa’s voice came out cold and dead. “Why didn’t you tell me you were consulting with an attorney?”

“Don’t make this more than it is. Jax hired her for me so I’d have someone to talk to.”

“You could have talked to me. I’ve been totally open with you. Totally honest. You should have talked to me.”

“I know that now, but I didn’t know that in the beginning.”

“Yet, here you are, still taking her advice.”

“Tessa, be reasonable. You’re an attorney. You had an attorney draw up those papers for you. Don’t try to tell me you didn’t consult with her.”

“I didn’t do it behind your back. And I didn’t conspire with her to take Sophia away from you. Once I discovered the truth of your situation, I never even considered taking Sophia from you.”

“I’m not—”

“You don’t give a shit about me.” The truth of it felt like a hammer in her gut. “You’ve only been with me because you thought that was your best avenue to Sophia.”

“No.” His denial was quick and deliberate. “That’s not true.”

She shrugged and shook her head. “And why would I believe you? You lied about who you were talking to on the phone. You met with this attorney behind my back. You’re conspiring to sue for custody—”

“I’m not.”

“That’s not what I heard. I’ve been completely honest with you. I told you the truth when I could have lied. I stayed when I could have left. I fostered a relationship between you and Sophia when I could have built a wall. I’ve given you my very best—all my patience. All my experience. All my trust, my hope, my belief.” And all my love. “All while you were getting advice from your friends and consulting a lawyer.”

The hurt of his betrayal throbbed beneath a hard, numb shell. “How do you think it makes me feel knowing everyone at dinner tonight knew what was happening? And knew I didn’t have the first clue? None of them were sincere. This was all just…an act. God, I’m such an idiot. Of course it was an act. You all live in Hollywood, what else would it be? Everything that’s happened between us—it was manipulation to get what you wanted in the end. All your friends—they pretended to be genuine.”

“No.” His adamant bark didn’t faze her. But when he caught up with her and wrapped his warm hands around her biceps, tears burned her eyes. “Tessa, I care about you. I want you and Sophia. But you have to admit, you haven’t been exactly eager to find middle ground.”

“Middle ground doesn’t happen overnight. Middle ground is finding something that works best for Sophia, not for you or me. And it may have to come when she’s older, when she has the emotional ability to handle things. You find middle ground by working things out together, looking at options, searching for alternatives, communicating. What the hell do you think we’ve been doing?”

He rubbed his eyes with both hands, paced in a circle. “You’re leaving in a couple of days. I was…” He faced her. “I’m scared. I don’t want to lose you.”

No. Tessa was just a means to an end. That was all she was to anyone. For Corinne, she was a substitute mother. To her clients, she was a path to creating law out of ideas. And to Zach, she was a convenient lay while he manipulated Sophia away from her.

“You don’t want to lose Sophia.” She pulled her lips between her teeth, biting down hard to stem the tears before she met his eyes again. “And you won’t. We’ll set up reasonable visitation. If I need to take time off work to bring her here while you’re filming, I’ll find a way to do that at least once during the season so you won’t have to go months without seeing her. You’re welcome to Skype and call her whenever you want.”

“I want more than that, Tessa.” He closed in and gripped her biceps. “I want you.”

She sputtered a disheartened laugh. “No, you don’t. The only reason you’re saying that is because you know Sophia and I come as a package deal. You want all or nothing. That lawyer of yours isn’t stupid. She read you, she read the situation, and she positioned you for the kill.” She poked his chest with one rigid finger. “Next time you talk to her, ask her if she’s got kids of her own. I’ll bet you your first paycheck as a television star that she doesn’t. Because when it comes to kids, there is no all-or-nothing. Everything is a fucking negotiation. A goddamned moment-by-moment battle over minutiae. A day-by-day, hour-by-hour, moment-by-moment work of art—all in infinite shades of gray. There is no sanity or stability in trading a child between parents on opposite sides of the continent every few months. And there sure as hell is no pulling a child from one parent to live with the other just because she’s starting kindergarten, and expecting everyone’s life to be all ribbons and flowers.”

“Those were her words,” Zach said. “Not mine. I just want to be her father, Tessa. And I want to do it with you.”

“You will be a father to her. A damn fine one, I have no doubt.” Tessa’s throat tightened with emotion. She’d experienced enough deception. “But not with me.”

Pulling out of his grasp felt like a rip in her heart. She turned away from him and moved to the door. Once she’d forced herself to open it, she stood back, inviting him to leave. “I’ll call you before we leave so you can say good-bye to Sophia. That will give you a few days to figure out your schedule and tell her when you’ll see her again.”