Jake wasn’t a villain. In fact, when she’d needed him to get her to Abby’s side, he had helped her without question. Really, the only thing she held against him was that he inspired her to want to rip off her clothes and pounce on a man who could not have been clearer in his rejection of her.
He’d even asked her to reveal less cleavage.
Who does that?
Not a man who is lusting after you, that’s who.
Lil knocked on Aaron’s bedroom door.
I’m not pompous, Jake thought as he waited outside a bedroom door boasting a sign that read, “The force is strong with this one.”
A young man, slightly taller than Lil and dressed in gray sweat pants and a college t-shirt opened the door. His dirty blond hair stuck out wildly in a few places implying that Lil’s visit didn’t warrant a trip to the mirror.
Jake looked down at his black, conservative Testoni dress shoes and felt a bit overdressed. However, he’d intended to spend the day intimidating a local station manager, not rubbing elbows with someone so fresh from college he probably still hadn’t unpacked his diploma.
I only feel about a million years old.
The young man greeted Lil with a smile which fell from his face when he looked past her and saw Jake. “You–you brought Mr. Walton, Lil?”
“You can call me Jake,” he said and held out his hand in greeting.
See, not pompous.
Aaron shook his hand profusely, then stepped back and looked like he was questioning the wisdom of inviting them into his room. “It is a real honor to meet you, Mr. Walton. I did a research paper on negotiating techniques that also address consumer perceived ethicality issues. Your success in Moldova was my inspiration.” He breathed into a cupped hand as if smelling his breath and made a face. “I don’t normally spend my day in my pajamas, but I was…I was…”
Evidently, lying did not come naturally to this kid. He remembered a time when he’d been the same way. “Lil said you wrote a gag order for the news station.”
“I did,” Aaron said and awkwardly waved them into his room. “I just printed it out.” He stepped over several pieces of laundry on his way to the printer. “Don’t mind the mess. I would have cleaned up if I had known you were coming. I thought it was just Lil.”
“Perfectly understandable,” Jake said and glanced back at Lil.
She was watching the exchange closely.
He wanted to say, “See, you worried about nothing.”
The stiff set of her shoulders and that beautifully jutted chin told him that she was prepared to intervene if he stepped out of line with her precious little friend. Since their relationship was clearly not based on anything sexual, he was at a loss for how to categorize it. She’d said he was like family to her. In his experience, friendships between men and women were a cover for something less pure. What did she get out of this association? He had a feeling that the answer to that would go a long way toward deepening his understanding of what Lil wanted. And discovering what she wanted only mattered as far as it would help him convince her to accept Dominic’s protection. The sooner he did that, the sooner he could return to New York and find out who Dominic thought had the answers they needed.
Jake turned in time to receive a paper from the shaky hands of Lil’s “lawyer.” His quick skim of the document slowed as he perceived quality. The kid was good. It was well-crafted and as professional as he would have expected from his seasoned lawyers. He nodded, “This is impressive. Good work.”
Aaron’s face transformed with an ear to ear grin. “Thank you. I based it on the Sterling vs. Laudin Communications case.”
Lil looked across the room and pinned Jake with those amber eyes of hers. “Good enough that you would write him a letter of reference?”
Aaron’s face reddened. “Lil, Mr. Walton doesn’t have to do that. He doesn’t know me.”
It was clear that Lil wanted Aaron to succeed. Why, he couldn’t say yet, but it would cost him nothing to toss the boy an opportunity. “I’m always looking for entry level people and we have a branch in Boston. If you send me your resume, I’ll give it to my legal department. Then it’s up to you to impress them.”
“Oh, my God!” He turned to Lil and his grin grew even wider, if that were possible. “Oh, my God!” A spontaneous hug threatened to erupt from him.
Jake held out his hand to deter him.
Aaron shook his hand with enthusiasm. He turned to Lil. “Thank you, Lil! Thank you!” and hugged her.
Jake wanted to rip the little, tail wagging puppy off of Lil, but he didn’t. Lil hugged him much longer than he would have liked, but eventually, thankfully stepped back and said, “I didn’t do anything, Aaron. You did.”
Jake looked down at his watch and pocketed the paper. “We have to go now if we plan to get to the station early.”
Lil’s eyebrows furrowed, she seemed to want to say something regarding the paper, but instead she said, “I’ll get Colby.”
She stepped out of the room and Jake had every intention of following her when Aaron stopped him with a hand on his sleeve. “Mr. Walton?”
Jake looked down at the hand, which he expected the boy to hastily remove, but he didn’t. Instead Aaron met his eyes with surprising directness.
He said, “A lot of people judge Lil before they know her. She says what she thinks and sometimes she’s more impulsive than she should be, but when she loves someone–there is nothing she won’t do for them, even if it hurts her own chance at happiness.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I saw the way she looked at you. If she falls in love with you, make sure you are worthy of that kind of love. Colby’s father took advantage of her. She doesn’t need to go another round with disappointment.”
The puppy had teeth.
“Is that a warning?” Jake asked in a tone that backed most men down.
Aaron removed his hand from Jake’s sleeve, but did not step back. “I guess you could say that it is.”
“Bold move to take with your potential new employer.”
The young man adjusted his wrinkled t-shirt and said, “Some things are worth the risk.”
Jake nodded. Loyalty was something he respected. “Send that resume. I think you’ll do fine in the Boston office.”
Aaron let out a long sigh. Not smiling. Just waiting. Even more impressive.
Jake said, “I’m only here to make sure Lil is safe. There is nothing more than that between us.”
After a moment, Aaron stepped away and seemed to relax. He said, “Whatever you do, don’t send her flowers. She hates watching them die. She says it’s as sexy as receiving a bouquet of hamsters stapled to rulers.”
Jake grimaced a bit at the image, “That’s quite a visual.”
Aaron said, “That’s Lil. She likes images that evoke emotion. Ask her to sketch something for you sometime. She doesn’t belong in an office, she belongs in a studio bringing those images to life. She’ll never be happy on the path she’s recently chosen for herself. If you care about her, you might want to help her see that.”
A fist of fire curled deep in Jake’s abdomen, but he held back further discourse. He didn’t like Aaron giving him advice on how to deal with Lil. He didn’t like that his displeasure was most likely obvious to the young man before him.
The entire trip was a waste of time and emotion. After today, Jake would have no reason to ever see Lil again–except perhaps across the room at a social event.
Whatever mess she got tangled up in next time would be none of his concern.
Oddly, that thought made him scowl again.
Chapter Four
Lil pulled up to the front of the news station. She unbuckled her seat and turned toward Jake. “Give me the paper.” She held out her hand.
Jake took the paper out of his pocket and turned it in his hand thoughtfully. “It’d be better if you waited out here with Colby while I go in.”
“Just give me that damn paper,” Lil sa
id and made a grab for it, but Jake moved it back out of her reach.
“I don’t understand you, Lil. Why is it so important for you to do this? Dominic or I could have easily handled it with a phone call from New York, but you didn’t take anyone’s calls. I could resolve this for you right now–be back in the car in ten minutes and you wouldn’t even have disturb Colby.”
“I want to fix this myself.”
“That much is obvious, but I keep asking myself the same question. Why?”
Lil gestured at her baby in the backseat. “She’s why. If you genuinely want to know why I’m doing what I’m doing, the answer is almost always the same. Her. She deserves the kind of stability and love that I had growing up.”
“Then why won’t you let Dominic help you?”
Lil threw a hand up in the air for emphasis. “You don’t get it, do you? Dominic is a fantasy. Not even my fantasy–Abby’s. Which is fine. She can walk away from her life and tie her happiness to the whim of some man who may or may not be there for her in a month, but I can’t.” Lil laid a hand on the back of her baby’s car seat. “I have to think of Colby now and what’s best for her.”
He wasn’t going to debate Dominic’s loyalty–honestly, Dominic was dangerously unpredictable lately. He really couldn’t say what he would be like a month from now. Was his transformation permanent or just an extreme and temporary reaction to his father’s death? There was no way to know, but none of that was going to get him an insight he could use. “And dragging your daughter in there to witness something she won’t remember is going to help her how?”
“It proves to me that I can do this on my own. I didn’t need the support of her biological father, I don’t need Abby, and I certainly don’t need some New York billionaire who came here only because his boss asked him to. You want to help me? Don’t stand in my way. Let me do this.”
When Jake didn’t immediately hand her the paper she added, “Please.”
And his breath caught in his throat. The raw emotion in her explanation far outweighed any he’d expressed in perhaps his entire life. It made him want to protect her even though she was asking for him to do the exact opposite.
He handed her the paper. “I’m still coming with you, but I won’t interfere.”
She studied him quietly before removing her baby from the seat behind them. “I can handle this.”
He watched her stride toward the NBN Communications building, shoulders set back with determination, baby balanced on one hip and he thought he’d never seen anything more beautiful. She was a tigress going to battle for the little one in her arms.
The sight was oddly humbling–as if he were witnessing an event he’d carry with him the rest of his life.
His short reflection allowed her to reach the building before him. One step quickly became a short sprint. She wasn’t going in there alone if he could help it.
Lil charged through the front door of the news station and went directly to the receptionist’s desk. “I want to see the station manager.”
“Do you have an appointment?” The blond receptionist who appeared to have dressed for a dance club rather than her day job dismissed Lil with little more than a glance.
Lil wasn’t sure if she should address her next request to the woman directly or to the abundance of cleavage threatening to burst out of her tiny top. “I–” Lil started to say, but the woman stood and flashed a huge smile at someone behind Lil.
“Mr. Walton, I’ll tell Mr. Cooper that you’re here,” the receptionist said in a suddenly sultry voice.
Oh, please. Could she be more obvious? It wasn’t amazing that she’d recognized him, anyone with a tv would have. Lil kicked herself for not thinking of that. But, seriously, did this bimbo have to throw herself at him? I am not going to be happy if I have to stand here and watch these two hook up just so I can meet the manager. “You should have stayed in the car,” Lil hissed at Jake.
“You’d prefer to have to wait?” Jake asked.
At least he didn’t appear to have any interest in the woman who was practically drooling over him. Did he meet with that kind of fawning from women wherever he went? No wonder he looked bored all the time.
I’m not here to analyze Jake’s dating habits.
And he’d made a valid point. What did doing this the hard way really prove? She was being ridiculous. Still, she had come this far, she might was well follow her plan through. “Please, just let me do this my way.”
“I won’t say a word.”
He wouldn’t have to. His mere presence had already changed the rules of engagement.
The manager rushed out of his office, looking a bit ruffled. He walked right past Lil and offered his hand to Jake. “Mr. Walton, what brings you to NBN today?”
Jake ignored his outstretched hand. “I believe your business is with Miss Dartley.”
The man wasn’t smart enough to hide his sneer. “If you wanted to be compensated for your interview, Miss Dartley, you should have negotiated a price before giving it.”
Jake took an aggressive step toward him, but Lil wasn’t going to be dismissed that easily. She handed Jake both Colby and the diaper bag. She took the folded gag order out of her purse and handed it to the manager. “I didn’t give an interview. The phone conversation you have was taped without my knowledge and under the guise of something else. If you or any other news station airs it, I will sue you and them to within a penny of bankruptcy.”
The manager almost said something, but changed his mind. He looked back and forth between Lil and Jake, putting more meaning on their relationship than the paper in his hand.
When he spoke again, his intention was to appease her. “I had no idea, Ms. Dartley. Of course the interview will be pulled.”
It was disappointingly easy.
Which shouldn’t be a problem, but it was.
Today had proven nothing.
Lil turned and took Colby back from Jake. Storming out, but leaving Jake standing there with the diaper bag hanging from one of his perfectly manicured hands.
It must have provided the station manager with a sight that amused him, because the man appeared to have something he wanted to say.
Jake leaned in. “Say it. Give me one reason to remember your name when I walk out of here, and you’ll spend the rest of your life wishing you hadn’t.”
The smile wiped clean off the older man’s face, a fact that gave Jake a moment of satisfaction as he turned on his heel to do what he’d never done in his entire life–chase after a woman.
Chapter Five
By the time Jake got back to the car, Lil had already started the vehicle and Colby was safely strapped in the back.“I did it. He’s not going to air it.”
“You did it.”
She smiled. “I really did it. I’m sure it helped that you were here, but I think it would have worked regardless.”
“I bet you’re right.”
“You must be glad it’s over. Now you can go back to New York and tell Dominic there is nothing to worry about.” Lil let out a tremulous breath. “I know it’s silly, but I was actually nervous in there. My legs still feel a little shaky. Adrenaline, I guess.”
Jake put a hand on his seatbelt and asked, “Why don’t I drive?”
Lil hesitated for a moment then unbuckled hers. “Only because I’m still a little wound up.”
“Of course.”
They quickly traded places. As they pulled onto a main road, Jake asked, “I have to make a quick stop somewhere, do you mind?”
Although Lil wanted nothing more than to get home and relax, she said, “That’s fine.” He had, after all, driven all the way up here just to help her. She’d be home soon enough. Hopefully the press would be gone. If she could settle Colby down for a nap, she might even get some studying done today after all.
Lil stared blindly at the skyscrapers they drove by. Even if she didn’t want to, there was something that needed to be said. “I don’t think I thanked you for coming up here, Jake. I?
??m not really good at accepting help.”
“Really, I wouldn’t have guessed,” he said smoothly, with only the slightest trace of humor in his voice.
Lil smiled. “Don’t start with me. I’m trying to be nice.”
“Is it an arduous effort?”
“With some people,” Lil joked.
He seemed to want to say more, but didn’t. Instead he pulled in front of a high end residential building and handed the keys to her economy car to a valet, appearing unperturbed by the expression on the young man’s face when he took them. She guessed that he didn’t park many cars that smelled of baby powder and sour milk. Lil unclipped the portable section of the car seat and swung the diaper bag over one shoulder. Hopefully wherever they were headed had a spot where she could change and feed Colby or her daughter’s pleasant personality would soon undergo a drastic change.
The security man at the front desk waved them by. Lil followed Jake through the pristine lobby and to an elevator that looked nice enough to live in. She wondered what kind of people lived in a place like that.
People like Jake, she guessed.
They took the elevator all the way to the top to the penthouse, not a surprise. What did give Lil a moment of pause was the way the penthouse was decorated. Large, comfortable furniture. Warm, feminine colors. It couldn’t be Jake’s place, could it? “Do you live here?”
“No, it belongs to a friend.”
Of course it did.
He probably had a lot of friends.
A moment of jealousy was quickly followed by a mental self-shake–none of that was any of her business and she’d be a whole lot happier if she remembered that. She placed Colby’s carrier on the floor and unhooked her. “Colby’s wet. Do you mind if I change her on the bed? I have a blanket.”
A moment later she returned from the bedroom and said, “You didn’t tell me that your friend had a baby, too. The bedroom has a crib and a changing table.”
Jake didn’t respond to that. Instead he said, “Why don’t you check out the view? It’s quite impressive. You can see the Charles from the balcony.”