Bedding the Billionaire (Book 3) (Legacy Collection) (16 page)

Dominic replied, “Can’t.
Sent a packet to y
our office regarding the party though.
”

“And the two people you’d like me to meet?”

“They will be there
Saturday
.”

“Did you send me their names?”

Dominic typed, “Sorry.
Bad connection.
Talk later.”

Bad connection?
More like bad joke.
Why wouldn’t Dominic want him to know who he’d found to work on their server?
They didn’t have time for surprises.

Pacing his living room
,
Jake ran through a mental list of all of the poten
tial mistakes Dominic could be m
aking.
If he’d reached into the criminal world for assistance, they might end up with an altogether different problem.
He hoped that this
time
Dominic
was going to choose a solution that was less dangerous than the problem at hand.

Coming slowly to a halt, Jake took in his surroundings.
Nothing had changed since he left that morning.
His tablet was still positioned near the chair he reclined in each evening to read the news.
Everything was still perfectly in place.
His home was immaculate, contemporary, and quiet.

Empty
.

Private
, h
e corrected.

Orderly
.

He thought about the chaotic evening he’d spent
with
the
Andrades
at Dominic’s request.
Children everywhere.
Competing conversations so loud they made intelligent conversation difficult.
It had been a
relief to return home afterward
.

He should feel the same
way
tonight after
the rollercoaster of
a day
with Lil and an evening of watching her child.
It bothered him that he didn’t.

Instead,
the day had left him feeling…

He
dismissed the first word that came to mind
since it likely had more to do with fatigue than anything else.

He was not and had never been
–
lonely
.

The next day,
Lil deposited her purse, diaper bag and notebook on the dining room table
with relief
and
stepped out of her uncomfortable pumps
.
She put Colby’s car seat on the floor beside the table and bent to release her, noting how her child filled it.
“You are almost too big for this, Colby.
Don’t grow up too fast, baby.”

Colby reached for her mother’s hair and gave a yank, making no such promises.

Lil hugged her little one to her then held her back so she could see her beautiful face.
She touched one of the blond curls.
Colby smiled and the weight of everything dissolved.
All of this was worth it
as long as
her daughter
was happy and
healthy.
The rest would work itself out.

“Well, hopefully Mommy passed her exam this morning
and can get a real job now.
When I do, you’re going to have to go to day care, Colby.
It’s not going to be easy on either one of us, but I’ll find a good one and you’ll get to meet other children. You might
even
like it.”

Colby didn’t
understand
what she was saying, and Lil was happy about that.
Thus far, she’d
only
chosen jobs that
had
allowed her to work only a couple of hours a day so she could spend more time with Colby
;
Abby
or a friend
had watched her when
Lil had
attended
night classes.
She’d doubled up on her course load at times so she could get her degree earlier, but now she wished she hadn’t.
T
hings were about to change
, and she wasn’t sure she was ready
.
Most likely, she’d work an eight
to ten
hour
day depe
nding on where she found employ
ment. An administrative assistant had to be flexible and available to work the hours her boss required.
It wasn’t going to be easy and it certainly wasn’t her dream job, but if she wanted to build a secure futu
re for herself and her daughter–
it would
require
some sacrifice.

None of her sketches had made it over in the move, and that was probably for the best.
It was time to let
go of her childhood fantasies and put all of her energy into more practical endeavors
.
Maybe if she had made better choices, worked harder to get scholarships
or minded her own business more–
maybe she would
have
gone to that art school and taken
her
modest raw talent and done something amazing with it.
Looking back and wondering what might have been was a waste of time. Growing up was about
realizing that what you want to do and what you have to do are often two very different things.

Like
living in an apartment paid for by your sister’
s love
r
.

A knock on the door interrupted her self-lecture.

Don’t let it be Jake.

Okay,
please let it be Jake.

No, I’m not ready to see him again.

Lil opened the door and told herself that she wasn’t disappointed to see her friend,
Alethea
.
As usual,
Alethea
was dressed in what she liked to call “casual chic.”
Her clothes were trendy, but low-
key,
the kind most
people wouldn’t remember later–
tan cotton pants, a
peach
silk blouse. The only hint of the wild personality that lay beneath her deliberately bland attire stuck o
ut from beneath her long pants;
Alethea
had a weakness for outrageously priced high heels.

Looking at her perfectly polished friend now, it was hard to believe they had ever
stayed up all night eating pizza and watching horror movies together
.
Alethea’s
long
red
hair was held back in a
stylish
pony tail that emphasized her delicate facial features and
green
eyes that Lil had spent half of her life envying.

She
swept into Lil’s penthouse, scanning the place quickly before turning back to Lil and saying,
“
How is my favorite baby?”

Lil hel
d
Colby out
for
Alethea
to take and cringed when her friend
tossed her up into the air, sending the baby into a fit of giggles. When
Colby’s
amusement subsided,
Alethea
tossed her again and joined the laughter.

“P
lease don’t drop her,” Lil warned.

Her friend rolled her eyes dramatically and said to Colby, “Your mother is a worry wart now.
You did
that to her.” She
wagged a finger in front of the laughing baby
, tickling her with the finger and saying,
“
Who did it?
Y
ou
did it
, little
blondie
.”

Lil le
d the way back to the seating area.
As expected,
Alethea
went on a quick self-guided tour
, returning to join Lil in the living room.
She sat on one of the overstuffed chairs and bounce
d
Colby on her knees.
“Whew!
It was actually difficult to get in here.”

Lil tucked her fe
et beneath her on her own chair, feeling the pinch of her pencil skirt and deliberately ignoring the discomfort.
“Did you try ringing up from the front desk?”

“What fun would that have been?
”
Alethea
made a face at Colby, laughing along with the child.
“
Do you know you have your own personal security detail in the back alley?”

“Apparently not very good security, if you got
past
them.”

“I haven’t met a security system yet that could keep me out.”
Although
Alethea
was answering Lil’s questions, she was doing so in an exaggerated tone that sent Colby back into giggles.

“Have you forgotten…
”
Lil said.
             

“That was high school, Lil.
I hadn’t
realized
my potential.”
At Lil’s sour expression, she said, “Don’t make m
e apologize for it again.
Geez
, you get your friend arrested one time and they hold it against you forever.”

Laughing would only encourage her.
Lil adjusted her position in her chair as one of her legs went numb.
“I really wish you had gotten into the FBI.
You need to be monitored.”

“
They didn’t think they could
reform
me, but don’t worry, I’m making much more money freelancing my skills. So, what happened
to you? Were you snatched
from your house in the middle of the day and
didn’t
think it’s worth calling me about?”