Bedding the Billionaire (Book 3) (Legacy Collection) (6 page)

“Are you doing this because you’re jealous of your sister’s recent publicity?”

After securing Colby in the back seat, Lil hastily slid into the driver’s seat of her
little, red Ford Focus
and breathed with relief
.
Unfortunately, s
he wasn’t going to get anywhere very fast
with those reporters
blocking her driveway.
She
considered simply backing up
and forcing them to scramble
.
That’s wha
t the old her would have done
in a heartbeat and
she wouldn’t have
given a thought to possible consequences.

The new
her
was trying to figure out how
not to give
them another reason to feature her on the news tonight.

Her cell phone rang.

Jake.

Great.
That’s the last person I want to talk to right now.

When she didn’t answer, he merely rang again.

Impatiently swiping her phone to connect, she said, “What do you want, Jake?
I’m a little busy right now.”
She’d given up trying to impress him.

“Where are you going?”

The hair on the back of her neck rose. “How do you know I’m going anywhere?”

“I’m parked across the street.”

A quick turn confirmed his claim.

“Shit.”
Lil quickly checked her daughter in the mirror. “Don’t worry, Colby, Mommy is going to stop swearing after today.
Don’t remember any of this.”

“Are you talking to me?”
Jake asked.

“No,” Li
l shook her head. “Sorry. I was
–
.” Lil stopped herself from sharing what would only make her sound crazier than she already felt. “What are you doing here, Jake?”

“
I wanted to see you
.”

If only that were true.

“You mean Dominic sent you.”

“Does it matter?”

It shouldn’t, but it did.
There could
never be anything between them;
he’d sa
id so himself. Those
words still
stung even
all these weeks later.

“
Not
at all.”

“Why d
id you give the interview, Lil?”

“I didn’t
–
” Once again, she stopped herself.
She didn’t owe him an explanation.
“You can tell Dominic that I have the situation under control. The interview won’t be airing.”

“Did you have a change of heart?”

“Think what you want, Jake, but think it in New York.
I’m having a bad enough day.”

Jake hung up.

Lil watched him exit his
silver BMW,
every bit as immaculately groomed as the last time she’d seen him
.
He towered a good foot above the reporters, but Lil was sure that wasn’t what
made them take a step back as he approached them.
Jake wore wealth and
influence
like some people wore an old coat
,
with comfortable indifference
.
He didn’t doubt for a moment that
people
should respect him and wasn’t surprised when they did.

Whatever he said to
the reporters
was
tempered with a smooth smile. The combination worked, they responded by reorganizing their cameras on the opposite side of the road with seemingly no complaint.

No one should be that good looking and that powerful.

Life should
bestow
one.

Getting both
was
just plain unfair.

She fought the impulse to drive off while he was otherwise occupied.

He strode toward her car and she caught her breath.
No wonder
I threw myself at him.
I mean, look at him.

Damn.

S
he’d almost convinced herself that she’d exaggerated his attractiveness in her memories.
No, it was all t
here
–
the
c
lassically square jaw, perfectly styled
dark brown hair,
expertly tailored clothing that accentuated his muscular frame
and
golden
brown eyes that sent shivers of excitement down her spine as they seared through the distance between them.

Could any woman be blamed for wanting to believe that lightening could strike twice in one family?
Her sister had gotten her own fairy-tale ending, why couldn’t the universe have sent Lil one?

In retrospect, the
possibility lacked precedent.

Even the
Grimms
knew
–
o
ne Prince Charming per village.

That made Jake
the
wolf
?

More like a crappy narrator who breaks in to remind you that none of it is real.

He yanked the door open and
slid into the passenger seat.
The subtle scent of his cologne
teased and tempted.

Okay
, an incredibly sexy, crappy narrator.

She
gripped the steering wheel and focused on the dashboard.

Gorgeous men who don’t want to be with you shouldn’t be so difficult to
avoid.

To fill the silence she said,
“Thank you for whatever you just said to
the press
. Now I really have to go.
I’m already late.”

“For?”
The click of his seatbelt being secured echoed in the small car.

“If you must know, I’m seeing my
lawyer this morning.
He’s wri
ti
ng up a gag order for the interview which I will then
deliver to the station manager and this whole thing will hopefully just go away.”

“So, you didn’t
sell the story
.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I’
ll come with you
.”

Of course you will,
Lil thought, but said,
“I don’t suppose you’ll
believe me if I tell you that I can handle it myself?”

Those beautiful eyes stared
blandly back at her.

Lil
turned away from him again.

“
Lil,
”
he com
manded softly with just the use
of her name
.
Lil reluctantly met his eyes again.
“You have no reason to be embarrassed around me. I wanted to take you up on your offer that night, but
it would have complicated an already
difficult
situation.
”

What the hell did that even mean?

“I didn’t
offer
you anything,” she denied hotly.

“Then you have even less of a reason to feel awkward around me.”

“I don’t
–
” H
eat rushed up her neck.
What was the use of denying what was
blatantly true?
“
Can we leave that night in the past?
This is about today. I don’t need your help.
And I’d like you to get out of my car.”

“You know I’m not leaving until this situation is resolved.”

Her heart flipped in her chest. There was nothing about th
e
situation that needed to be resolved.
She’d let the emotions of the weekend overtake her common sense.
A man like Ja
ke could have his pick of women;
he didn’t need the complication of a young mother.
And he’d said as much
,
rather clearly
,
when he
’d explained that he didn’t
see how there
could
ever be anything between them.

As her embarrassment ran its course,
a more
painful realization came to her.

He wasn’t referring to
that
situation.

This was about the
interview
– nothing more.

She lashed out at him.
“Because you do eve
rything Dominic tells you to do?
”

The bastard didn’t even flinch, just inclined his head slightly and said,
“When it suits me. And right now I
need to know exactly what you said in that interview.”

No, you don’t.

Lil ground the engine when she started the car for the second time.
“It doesn’t matter what I said because the interview is never going to air.”

“
Finally, something we agree on.”

His unflappable calm sent a wave of angry adrenaline coursing through Lil.
She backed out of her driveway with too much force and heard the crunch of her garbage can beneath her rear tires.
She had to pull forward, back up, and pull forward again to dislodge it from beneath the vehicle.

She looked at him quickly, daring him to say a word.

Quite wisely, he didn’t.

Another man would have needed to drive, but that wasn’t how Jake operated.
Very rarely was the figurehead
of any situation
the one who
was actually in control
.
By charging forward, most people limited their potential. Few took time to analyze and take advantage of the spectrum of possible outcomes to any given decision.