Bedding the Billionaire (Book 3) (Legacy Collection) (27 page)

Lil had heard of the museum before and the
quirky history of the woman who had built it and then donated the building
to the city.
She’d always meant to come see it, but somehow never had.
She was reasonably certain
, however, that
the courtyard was
normally
closed to the public
. Of course it wasn’t closed to Jake.
She didn’t imagine many places in the world were.

Colby’s needs overshadowed the romance
of the location at first. Lil sought
a place to change her,
then
asked the staff to help her prepare a bottle
.
Jake sat across from Lil, appearing to wait patiently while she fed her daughter and then settled her down into the
stroller
for a nap.

When Lil finally settled back into her seat, she expected Jake to be irritated with her, but
found him looking rather pleased with himself instead. He said,
“I h
ad a cook prepare a meal for us. I hope you like
beef tenderloin.
Normally, I would ask for your preference, but it would have
ruined
the surprise.”

He accepted a glass of wine from the
staff,
tasted it and nodded in acceptance of it.
“Do you like it?”
he gestured
with the glass
to the area around them.
The server offered
to fill Lil’s glass
,
but she shook her head.
The last thing she needed was to relax her tongue.

Do I like it?

The
setting
was unimaginably beautiful
, the staff
was attentive yet unobtrusive
, and
the space provided enough quiet for her daughter to sleep while they ate.
Who wouldn’t love being treated like visiting royalty?

Only a woman who had no right to enjoy it.

She couldn’t look him in the eye. “It’s beautiful,
”
she said.

He took both of her hands in his and
waited for her
look up from the table
.
When she finally did he
said,
“Why do I get the feeling that there is
something wrong
?”

“Today was beautiful, Jake.
I mean that. The way you included
Colby
into our day together…”
She motioned to
the garden around them and the
staff that perked up as soon as her hand
raised
.
“All this...”

“Your
daughter is your priority.” His expression held a bit of longing.

Why are you making this so hard
?
“
You
have to see how this wouldn’t work.”

“
Why?
Because I don’t love you?”

Ouch.

Lil pulled her hands out of his.
“
There’s
that.”

He opened his napkin and placed it on his lap. “
Love is a myth perpetuated by people who don’t have anything better to believe in.
You’re fantastic in bed, you make me laugh, and I enjoy your company. That’s enough for me.”

Sadly, he
probably
meant what he was saying.

“That sounds like the last
,
valiant
declaration
of a man about to lose hi
s heart completely,” she scoffed.

Instead of brushing her comment off or picking up the challenge, he gave her that steady, unblinking look she was beginning to understand meant that his mind was set to his course.
“Maybe,” he answered.

More on the subject was i
nterrupted by the food arriving.
Delicious as it looked,
Lil couldn’t
imagine putting anything into her churning stomach.
She finally toyed with a piece of
beef
enough to bring it to her lips.

“
Move in with me,
”
he said calmly.

Lil dropped the fork to her plate
with a loud clatter
along with the meat she hadn’t tasted
.
“We discussed this.”

The strong set of his ja
w and the proud look in his eyes
told her that he wasn’t going to let her brush the topic aside.
“Not because you might be pregnant.
Move in because you want to fall asleep in my arms
at
night
and
wake up next to me each morning.”

Lil hedged,
“
I have Colby…”

He said,
“
Don’t hide behind her. You know I could more than take care of both of you.
She would have the best of everything.”

Except his love and what kind of life would that be for either of them?
“For how long?”
Lil asked.

He shrugged.
“If you’re looking for promises, I don’t have any.
If it’s your financial future you’re worried about, I’ll have my lawyers draw up some sort of settlement to remove that concern.”

There’s the Jake I know.
Lil
tossed her napkin onto the table and stood
.
“Wow, you’re about as romantic as my car service plan.”

“Sit
down. Lil,” he said in a tone that probably worked on people who cared about pleasing him.

Lil was unimpressed.
She leaned one hand onto the table and looked him straight in the eye.
“No, I will not sit down.
Did you seriously just offer me a settlemen
t to ease my pain on the day
–
whichever day you choose
–
when you throw me out?”

His explanation was lacking.
“It’s quite common to think about…”

Lil gathered her purse,
took her baby stroller
by the handle and started
to leave
.
So as not to disturb Col
b
y, she lowered her voice, but her tone remained angry. “Maybe
it’s common
in your world.
Not mine.
I’m one of those poor sops, I suppose, who has nothing better to believe in than…
than…
”

He
blocked her exit. “You can’t even say the word and you think I’m the one with the problem?”

She sucked a breath in harshly
, her hands flexing
on the handle of her stroller
.
“Fine.
You’re right. I’m too screwed up to accept your offer.
Luckily for you, there are probably a hundred
women within yelling distance who would jump at your offer.
Ask one of them. Now get out of my way.”

“I
don’t want them.” His jaw set, he planted his feet and continued to block her path.
“I want you.”

Lil could be just as stubborn. “We all want things we can’t have, Jake.
That’s reality. Now, seriously, don’t make me ask someone for help to get past you.”

He step
ped aside. “I’ll drive you home,
”
he growled.

“No,” she said and held
a hand in front of him
. “You’ll give me my keys and
find your own ride to wherever you’re going – hopefully New York.”

Smooth Jake was struggling to contain his growing frustration with her. Impatiently h
e dug the keys out of the front
pocket of his shorts, but did not immediately give them to her.
“If
you’re sure that is what you
want.”

Lil
simply
maintained her stance.
What she wanted
didn’t matter; s
he knew what she had to do.
She wanted to throw herself in
to
his arms, tell him everything, and accept his
pitiful
offer
. She wanted to believe that despite what he said, he was already half in love with her.
And against all common sense, she wanted to think that he could forgive her if she told him the truth.

Wanting wasn’t enough.

And it certainly didn’t make his last offer any less insulting.

“Lil,” he said and paused as his cell phone rang.
He checked it quickly. “I have to take this.”

Unable to stop herself,
she said,
“Maybe it’s your lawyer and you can tell him to leave the name blank for now on that settlement form.”

His phone rang again.
He answered his phone, but mouthed to Lil, “This is not over.”

Yes, it is
, Lil thought.
I’m not doing this again.

She was almost through the
roped
area that led to the rest of the
museum when she hear
d Jake
completely
lose his cool for the first time
since
she’d met him.
His voice boomed through the courtyard.
“
What the hell?
I thought you’d beefed up our firewall in anticipation of something like thi
s. I’m absolutely coming back
–
right now. And I’m going to find out how this happened.”

Lil stepped up her pace.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

This was exactly why he didn’t believe in acting impulsively.

He should have been in New York, in his office, on top of the situation and keeping
his team
on
high alert.
There was absolutely no excuse for something like this happening, but there was an explanation.