Abby pulled back a bit and looked her sister in the eye. “And?”
Lil nodded as she made her inner resolution. “And then I’m going to return to Boston and look for a job.”
Dominic said, “I own several companies in Boston. Name a job and you’ll have it.”
Lil smiled at her new protector, grateful for the millionth time recently that her sister had found happiness. Maybe one day she would find the same for herself. Rebellion was replaced by self-awareness. Her words were simply said and held no anger. “I don’t want your charity, Dominic.”
“There is no such thing as charity when it comes to family,” Dominic countered.
“I don’t even know what I want to do, Dom. I might take an office job for now and sign up for some art classes. I have so much I need to figure out.”
“How about an entry level position in a graphic design department? I’ll tell people I don’t even like you. You could sink or swim on your own,” Dominic said.
“You would do that?” Lil asked, grateful that he understood.
Abby wrapped an arm around her future husband’s waist and laughed up at him. “You are so full of it, Dom. I bet you couldn’t go a week without calling her department head and threatening to fire him if he wasn’t nice to her.”
“Woman, you sorely underestimate me.”
Watching the banter between the two of them removed the last of Lil’s resistance. People found jobs every day by using their connections. Lil held out her hand to Dominic. “I accept your job offer.”
A wide smile spread across his face as he shook her hand.
Lil added, “But I don’t need your help with Jake. If we ever work it out, it will be on our terms, not yours.”
Dominic started to say something and Lil cut him off. “I mean it. Promise to stay out of it.”
Dominic promised nothing, but he did say, “You and Abby are so much alike.”
The two sisters smiled at that.
Abby hugged her husband-to-be again, “Lil, that means that he’s going to try, but he doesn’t know if he can help himself.”
“Do you translate everything I say because I’m not speaking English?” Dominic asked with some amusement.
“Exactly, you speak some dialect of barbarian dictator most of the time,” Lil teased.
Dominic bent down and growled playfully at Lil, “Barbarian, huh? I know how much you like that.”
“Okay,” Lil interrupted with a laugh. “I’m heading back into the party. You two just follow when you’re ready.”
She walked halfway down the hallway before turning slighting to check if they were following.
They weren’t.
And it didn’t look like they would be for quite a while.
Lil turned away with resolve.
I want to love and be loved like that.
I want the fairytale.
Jake spotted Lil the instant she walked through the door. He cut through diplomats and royalty with neither subtlety nor etiquette. He had to get to her side before she disappeared again.
“Lil,” he said, “we need to talk.”
She nodded calmly and allowed him to guide her into a room across the hall. He closed the door and his concern grew when she didn’t fly at him with accusations.
She surprised him again with a softly spoken words. “Jake, I am so sorry for everything I’ve put you through. I was looking for answers in the wrong places.” He went to take her in his arms, but she moved away from him and continued. “No, I need to say this. I shouldn’t have said what I did in front of your parents. I’m the last one who should judge anyone for how they deal with their family. I can’t believe mine is still intact after what I’ve put it through. I–”
“It’s okay, Lil.”
“No, it’s not. Words hurt and you didn’t deserve my anger. You never lied–which is more than I can say about myself.”
“I understand why you did it.” He did. The more he’d thought about what she’d done, the more his anger had been replaced by admiration. That same fierce love that he knew she had for her daughter had driven her to protect her sister…and then, unbelievably, him.
He couldn’t remember the last person who had risked anything for him, and Lil had risked everything. He needed to make her see that they belonged together.
“Do you? Do you really–because I’m still trying to figure out if I did it to protect Abby or because I wanted something to be wrong with her happy ending. I’ve wasted so much time falsely thinking we were in some sort of competition. I finally see that her happiness doesn’t threaten mine. I’ll find my own way. I believe that now.”
Something about her tone warned him that this was good-bye and he refused to accept that possibility. “I love you, Lil.”
She looked up at him from beneath her long, beautiful lashes, her dark brown eyes brimming with emotion. “Don’t. Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
He took her arms in his hands and held her before him. “I love you.”
When he’d imagined her reaction to his declaration, he pictured her throwing her arms around him and the passion that would follow. Her steady stare was disappointing and disconcerting.
“You don’t believe in love. You’ve said that more than once.”
“I was wrong.”
She studied him quietly, then shook her head. “No, you were honest and I appreciate that. You’re a good man, Jake.”
Then why does this still sound like goodbye?
“What do you want, Lil?” He heard the emotion in his own voice and didn’t care. She couldn’t leave like this.
“I’m not sure yet, but I know what I don’t want. I don’t want to continue our casual beginnings, I don’t want to ever lie to you again, and I don’t want to settle for less than everything.”
“Everything?” What more was there? “I’ve told you that I’ll marry you.”
One tear rolled down her cheek silently. “It’s not enough, Jake. I want the lover, the best friend, the hero.”
“You think I can’t be that?” Hell, Dominic’s fist had hurt less.
Lil shrugged sadly and looked away. “Dominic offered me a job in Boston and I’m going to take it. It’ll be a creative job and I’ll take an art class or two. I have to find my footing.”
“So, that’s it?” He strove for calm. “You want to end this?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do.” He kissed her with everything he was feeling. He kissed her until she was shaking with passion against him. “Stay,” he whispered. “We’ll figure the rest out.”
She pulled away. “No. It would be too easy to let passion decide this.” She backed another step away from him and opened the door to the hallway. “Please leave me alone for now, Jake. I need time to figure this out. You do, too.”
He went to the door and watched her disappear back into the party.
A disheartened male voice broke the silence that followed. “Man, if you can’t get the girl, I’m screwed.”
Jeremy stood beside Jake, watching Lil disappear into the crowd. “I’m going to marry her.”
The poorly-suited man gave Jake a sympathetic pat on the back. “Of course you are, man. Of course you are.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jake spent the next couple of days introducing Jeremy to how Corisi Enterprises looked from the right side of the computer. In addition to the image consultant Dominic had found for Jeremy, Jake had offered him an office in their main building. At first he’d balked at the idea of formally joining a team, but the lure of working, even temporarily, with the Waltons proved too tempting for him to pass on in the end.
If the initial tests were correct, the Chinese server was patched and ready to go. No more surprise rewriting of the codes. No more unauthorized access to emails or mainframes. Between his parents and Jeremy, Jake doubted there was another company on the planet as secure as Corisi Enterprises had become.
This should have been a time to celebrate, but Jake found
no real joy in the news. He lingered in the Corisi Towers long past when everyone had left for the day. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he didn’t want to go home.
Dominic walked in Jake’s office, plopped in one of the chairs in front of his desk, and propped his feet up on it. “Stop sulking.”
Jake leaned forward and pushed his friend’s feet off his desk. “I’m not sulking.”
Unperturbed, Dominic stretched his legs and crossed his ankles on the floor before him. “Do you know what your problem is?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
Dominic smiled. “You’re over-thinking this. Normally I respect that side of you, but it doesn’t work with women.”
“Spare me the Cro-Magnon tips on romance.”
“I don’t care what your IQ is–you’re an idiot if you think that sitting in this office is going to get her back.”
“She said she needed time to figure out a few things.”
“That is code for, ‘Get off your ass and show me that you care.’”
“How have you never had a restraining order taken out against you?”
“Say what you will, but my woman is planning a wedding and yours is…” Dominic snapped his fingers as if he’d just remembered something. “Oh, yes, you don’t know what she’s doing because you’re giving her time to figure things out.”
Jake pushed his chair back and stood. “What’s scary is that you’re beginning to make sense to me.” He needed to take action now before she figured him right out of her life.
Dominic joined his friend near the door and gave him an encouraging slap on the back. “The trick is selective hearing. Women tell you what they want; they just throw in all that other shit to confuse you. Now stop thinking and go get her.”
“You’re right.” Jake said and suddenly he knew exactly how to do it.
A week later, Lil was eating a salad at a small table in a café of a downtown office building. True to his word, Dominic had found her a job immediately upon her return. Mrs. Duhamel had flown back to Boston with her, determined to watch Colby until they found a nanny both she and Lil could agree on. Although it was difficult to leave Colby, there was something invigorating about the challenge of learning a new job. She didn’t know much about graphic design, but not surprisingly, the position offered as much on the job training as she wanted.
Okay, there were definitely perks to being Dominic’s little sister.
A shadow fell across the table. Lil looked up and her breath caught in her throat.
Jake.
“Please forgive my boldness, but when I saw you I had to come over and introduce myself. Jake Walton.” He held out a hand in greeting.
She shook it, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
What was he playing at?
“Lillian Dartley.”
He put a hand on the back of the chair across from her. “Is this seat taken?”
“What if I said yes?”
He didn’t smile. “I would come back every day until you said it wasn’t.”
She gulped. Her voice was a bit of a croak as she said, “Please. Sit.”
He sat and leaned back in the chair. “So, you work here?”
“Yes.” Then, because she didn’t know what else to say, she said, “This is my second week.”
“You like it?”
“It’s okay.” Getting more interesting by the minute. “Everyone is very nice.”
“I miss you.” He reached across the table and took her hand lightly. “You and Colby.”
Lil’s hand shook in his. “What is this, Jake? What are you doing here?”
He turned her hand over in his and curled his fingers through hers. “You were right. We have things we need to figure out, but we shouldn’t do it alone. I want to hear about your first week at work, to see the paintings you bring home from your art class. I want to be there when Colby takes her first step. I’m not going to settle for less than everything.”
Tears welled in Lil’s eyes. She wanted so badly to believe, but she couldn’t.
He asked, “Do you think your boss would let you take an extended lunch?”
“I think he’d be fired if he didn’t,” Lil said with a rueful smile. Working for Dominic’s company wasn’t exactly like getting a job on her own merit. There was a price to pay for being associated with such a powerful man, but Lil was becoming more comfortable with it each day. Life could be much worse. Curiosity got the best of her. “Why?”
“I have a surprise for you.”
Instead of heading out the front door, Jake led her to the elevator and pressed the button for the roof. There in the middle of the landing pad was a luxury helicopter with a huge red ribbon on the side of it. Lil had seen helicopters before, but none like this. It was longer than most and had two distinct sections, a front area for the pilot and a passenger area that looked as comfortable and private as a limousine. Lil cupped her eyes and peeked into one of the round windows. Jake opened the door to the passenger compartment and said, “You can look closer than that, it’s yours.”
Lil looked at the six ivory, leather seats that flanked a lushly-carpeted, center aisle and turned back to Jake. “You got me a helicopter?”
Jake shrugged. “I heard you hate flowers. The interior is completely soundproof so you don’t have to worry about headphones for Colby.”
“This is crazy.”
“No, this is how we start over.” He handed her a card. “Call this number and a pilot will be here in about thirty minutes. Boston to New York takes about an hour and a half, but you’ll never fight traffic. Colby’s car seat will clip right in.”
“So you want me to come down to New York more often?”
“If you want to. Or I’ll come up here. I know how to be your lover. I’m working on the rest of your list.”
Best-friend?
Hero?
He’s serious.
Oh, God, he’s serious.
“I have one other surprise,” he said.
Lil wasn’t sure she could take another one, her heart was already beating double-time in her chest. “I’ve hired a real estate agent and he compiled a list of lofts available in both Boston and New York.”
A loft? Had Jake decided that instead of marrying her he would stash her somewhere convenient? “I don’t think–”
Jake pulled her against him and tipped her chin up so she was looking at him. “Let me do this for you. I know you want to do everything yourself, but it will just be a large empty space. You’re the one who will have to hone your craft and fill it with artwork.”
“What are you saying?” Then she understood and gasped, afraid to believe she had heard him correctly. “You’re looking for an art studio for me?”
“If you want one.”
“If I want one?” She laughed and cried at the same time. Somehow this man saw past what she said and knew her heart. She wasn’t walking away this time. “Okay.”
“Okay, you’ll accept the helicopter? Okay, you’ll let me buy you a studio?”
“Okay, I’ll marry you,” she said simply.
He swayed a bit on his feet then crushed her to him.
She added, “I do love the helicopter, but what really got me was…”
“My charm?” he asked with a tint of humor.
She shook her head with a smile. “Not quite.”
He gave her a playful squeeze. “My persistence?”
She laughed up at him. “It took you long enough to show up here.”
He smile back at her, knowing that she would eventually tell him what he was waiting to hear.
Lil looked him in the eye and said, “What got me was how well you know me. Not the me I pretend to be or the one I was convinced I had to be–just me. Somehow you sorted through all the crap I said and heard what I needed.”
Jake shook his head and said, “I hate when Dominic is right.”
That piqued Lil’s curiosity. “About what?”
Jake leaned down and
kissed her until she forgot what they were discussing.
Until her only thought was that dreams really do come true.
When he finally rested his forehead on hers and their ragged breathing began to calm, he said, “I know you’re looking for a hero, Lil, but you’ve already earned that title. Our server is clean and ready to go online, issue free.”
Even though the topic meant downshifting a bit emotionally, Lil know it needed to be discussed before they could move forward. “I’m so glad. Jeremy had the solution?”
“He had a large piece of the puzzle. My parents worked the rest out. However, his insight was invaluable as far as debugging the system in time to meet our deadline.”
Lil absently played with the hair just behind one of his ears. “Speaking of you parents–are they staying for the wedding?”
“I have no idea. For now, they are staying with the Andrades. It’s going to take us a while to put the past behind us, but they seem to sincerely want to be part of my life.”
“You should have Dominic invite them, Jake. They’re family.”
He smiled down at her. “Is this what I’m signing on for–a lifetime of you telling me what to do?”
“Absolutely,” she said without missing a beat.
He sobered suddenly and said, “I love you, Lil.”
She kissed his lips softly. “And I love you, Jake.”
“Do you want to go back to work now?”
Lil rubbed herself playfully against him. “Surprisingly, not as much as I thought I would.”
Within moments she was grateful that Jake had invested in a large and remarkably private helicopter interior. He whipped open the door and laid her across the off-white carpeted flooring.
With precision, he undressed himself and then her. Then his hands slowed as they explored her, worshipped her, guided her to a place where coherent thought was no longer possible. Although the passion remained strong between them, this time there was no need to rush. Knowing that they had the rest of their lives added a depth to their lovemaking. Each touch meant more. Each kiss lingered longer so they could savor it.