Billionaire's Baby Surprise, Part Two Read Free

she noticed I was gone, but I’m sure my sister and brothers did. I felt kind of bad for leaving the younger ones, but I had to get away from her.”
    “How did you make it at seventeen?” He took a moment to order dessert when their waiter stopped by. “That’s so young.”
    “I stayed with my friend Maevyn and her family. We’d met in art class—an elective for her, a lack of options for me.” She grinned, enjoying the pleasant warmth spreading through her veins. It couldn’t be alcohol-induced, because she was abstaining from the wines the sommelier brought with each course. Why did Jake leave her so relaxed, yet simultaneously so tense? Maybe not tense, exactly, but on-edge, as though expecting…something.
    “After high school, I worked two jobs and got Pell grants. The government doesn’t really give you student loans when your mother won’t fill out the tax information.” Sondra shrugged. “She might have done if I’d asked, but I didn’t want to renew contact. Anyway, I’m grateful now that I didn’t have to do student loans, but it did make for a rough four years.”
    He nodded, his gaze thoughtful. “I can better understand why the idea of me buying you an apartment is offensive. I’m sorry if I angered you.”
    Sondra didn’t reply until the server set a raspberry tart before her and sinfully rich chocolate truffle cake before him. After the young man moved away, she leaned in closer, keeping her tone low. “I’m not angry, but it is a big deal. I wish you had discussed it with me first. I like having some input on my life, Mr. Jacobi.”
    He winced. “Oh, no. I’ve gone back to Jacobi.”
    She took a slow bite of the tart, enjoying the ripe berry bursting on her tongue. Moaning softly, she closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them again, she found him staring at her with a hungry expression, and she doubted he wanted a bite of her tart. It was the same hunter look he’d worn that first night they had met. “Speaking of, your mom calls you Wallace, huh?”
    He nodded. “She considers Jake undignified and common.” He rolled his eyes, but his expression showed affection rather than exasperation. “She’s never going to change, so I don’t bother correcting her any longer.”
    It was her turn to stare hungrily as her dining companion put a forkful of the rich cake in his mouth. He didn’t close his eyes or moan, but the wrinkling around his eyes betrayed his pleasure. A small smear of chocolate at the corner of his mouth caught her attention. Before she could stifle the impulse, she lifted her hand and wiped it gently with her thumb. His gaze on her the entire time she brought the tasty morsel back to her mouth to suck off slowly sent her body plunging into a maelstrom of desire.
    He leaned closer, his voice little more than a whisper. “Let’s take the desserts to go.” After clearing his throat, he no longer sounded husky, but he still looked aroused. His crisp voice was a marked contrast. “I’d like to show you the apartment, and then you can make a more informed decision.”
    She nodded, rendered incapable of speech for a moment by the heady combination of raspberry and dark chocolate on her tongue. No, that was a lie. Jake was the one heightening her senses, not the decadent dessert. She wanted him, and it was suddenly impossible to pretend, at least to herself, that she didn’t. All the sensible reasons why they shouldn’t get more involved with each other were leaking out of her head like sand in an hourglass, and she couldn’t seem to summon enough will power to care.
    Twenty minutes later, they were at his building. The same doorperson and security attendant were working, and she was surprised when they greeted her with, “Welcome, Ms. Elliott.” Perhaps Jake had been preparing them for her visit, or maybe she had been so clearly out of place that first night they couldn’t help remembering the curvy black woman who’d intruded.
    She sighed at the