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

Her humor had melted beneath the heat of their connection
and her tongue had begun a teasing dance of its own
.
He’d
stopped hearing the blaring background music, stopped listening to the inner voice that warned him that he was losing control.
He
’d
kissed her until her arms
had
curled around his neck, until her back
had
arched to press her
closer to him, and until her breathing
had become
a
s
hot and ragged as his.

Eventually the
hoots of encouragement and echoing catcalls from players in other lanes
had registered and Jake
had
ended the kiss. Heart pounding in his chest, he’d
mentally
scrambled to regain his decorum, but
his body
had
continued to betray him by not releasing her.

Achieving his level of power and success
so quickly
meant that he spent
most of his
time in boardrooms with
people
almost twice
his
age
.
Around Lil, he’d felt impulsive and younger.
Leaning in for one final taste of her lips, he
’d
whispered
against them
, “Your turn,” and
had
chuckled at how quickly
her bemusement
had been
replaced by ire.

She
’d spun away
,
picked up her ball, and
presented him wi
th her tempting ass and an over-
the
-
should
er
smirk
before strutting to the lane.

Game on.

Back in his New York townhouse,
Jake
adjusted his already straight tie, and
donned a charcoal,
Brioni
pin-striped jacket. Not many would get his subtle clothing humor, but
recently
he’d purchased a few of the suits that were famous for their James Bond affiliation.
As he smoothed the perfectly tailored shoulders, he dismissed Lil as the reason he’d decided to walk on the wilder side of business attire.

After all, nothing had actually happened that night.

A call from the security detail he’d sent to China with Dominic had swiftly ended whatever had been building between Lil and him.
Someone had been meeting with the
Chinese
Minister of Commerce
while Dominic had returned to the states for the reading of his father’s will
, news that threatened a contract they’d considered a done deal
.
Jake had flown to Beijing im
mediately after unceremoniously
depositing Lil on her doorstep.

Ideally, that would have been the last he’d seen of Lil.

Then her call had come, begging him to help her find her sister. He’d
flown her to
Isola
Santos.
The sexual tension had been fast and furious between them, especially when they’d met up in the kitchen that first night, but he had wisely
tur
ned down her flirtatious offer to explore
what was between them.
With his business partner and his finances potentially out of control, his personal life needed to remain in order.

Sex could wait until after the present crisis had been resolved.

Not that
his love-sick
business
partner
would agree.

Dominic’s obsession with Abby
Dartley
could not have come at a worse time
; he
was going to lose everything if he didn’t wake up soon.
Jake had invested too much time into their company to idly sit back and watch Dominic piss it away.

Jake’s cell phone rang.
Speak of the devil.

“
J
ake
,
I need you up in Boston,
”
Dominic said with an abruptness that was somewhat comforting
.

“Dominic, I was just thinking about you.”
And Boston.

“Did you see
the video I sent you?”
Dominic asked with complete disregard to niceties
and continued on without waiting for Jake’s response
. “Abby called her sister, but she’s not picking up her phone. Fly up there and see what’s going on.”

“No,” Jake said
and surprised himself
with his conviction on the matter.
“This is an easy fix.
I’ll have
Duhamel make a few calls.”

Slowly, with comical emphasis, Dominic said, “You just said
no
.
You never say no.
”

“
That’s because you don’t normally ask me
to do something that is a complete waste of my time.
I’ve got a couple leads on programmers.
I intend to meet with one this afternoon.”
Programmers who could hopefully do what none of the ones he’d spoken to thus far had
proven successful at
–
remove
the virus Stephan Andrade’s hacker had uploaded to their server.

“I need you up in Boston more.”

Jake took a deep breath. “Dominic,
d
o
you understand that you could lose everything if we don’t do something fast?”

Dominic
countered
,
“I am working on it.
”

Balancing his phone on one shoulder, he tied one of his dress shoes impatiently and
scoffed
, “
I’d like nothing more than to believe that.”

“
When have I ever lost a deal?”

“
Burundi,
Guinea, Andorra, Chile…” The list was endless.

“We closed on every one of those.”

“By the skin of our teeth.”
And because I have
become adept at
justifying your outrageous antics.

“
Suddenly you’re afraid of a challenge?”

“This is different, Dom. You’ve got too much riding on this one deal.
Don’t tie me up with nonsense when the clock is ticking against us.
”

For just a moment, Jake thought Dominic was about to concede that Jake was right.

Dominic said,
“
I’ve
opened a dialogue with
two people who have the skills we need and they w
ill be at my house this weekend
.
If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you finalize the details.”

Jake stopped, sudden
ly alert.
“Who?
Who did you find?”

Dominic
hedged. “
We shouldn’t talk about this on the phone.
”

Finally, something that made sense.
“Right.
Where do you want to meet?”

“I need you in Boston
for
this Lil thing first.”

An uncomfortable vision of Lil’s taunting smile surfaced, distracting Jake for a moment before he forced himself to refocus on the issue at hand.
His irritation with himself w
as evident in his tone when he
said,
“
Why don’t you go?”

“
Abby
made me promise not to get involved. She wants Lil to work this out on her own
.”

“And sending me doesn’t count?”

A serious tone filled Dominic’s voice. “She’s not safe, Jake. Lil is not prepared for all the media attention she is getting or how that has made her a potential target. She thinks she can handle it, but
you know that
she and her baby are vulnerable to everything from manipulation to outright kidnapping.
I can’t believe you’re not already on this.
This interview is just the tip of an
iceberg of potential problems.”

It was never a good sign when
Jake
had to concede that Dominic had a point.

Jake didn’t
want to think about Lil being vulnerable.
He didn’t
want to think about her at all, but now that Dominic had brought
up
the possibility of Lil being in danger
he had to acknowledge the reality of the threat.

“Have you explained this to
Abby
?”

Dominic groaned.
“I tried.
Dartley
women are stubborn.
I sent a nanny,
Lil
sent her back.
I had security watching her house 24/7,
Lil
threatened to call the police if they stayed. I even bought
that girl a damned
penthouse in
downtown Boston,
in a very secure building, but s
he won’t budge. She said she doesn’t want or need my money. She won’t even use the driver I sent.”

Oh, Dominic.

“That’s a lot of involvement for a man who promised
to stay out of it
.”

“That’s what Abby said.”

“The only thing you didn’t do was drag her down to New York against her will.”
Jake
pocketed h
is wallet
.
How a man like Dominic stayed out of jail was often a mystery to Jake, but it was that unpredictable element about him that made him so successful in business.