Jacqueline breezed toward the door with a wave over her shoulder but not even a backward glance at Lauren as Jason escorted her out to the hall.
Lauren sagged in the chair, her purse sliding to the hardwood floor with a hefty thump. She smoothed her hand over the slight bulge of her stomach, the baby rolling under her hand. No child of hers was going to be seen as merely an opportunity to climb up some social ladder.
A tear dripped off her chin.
Damn. She scrubbed the back of her wrist along her face. She hadn’t even known she was crying. She heard the creak as Jason closed the door, and she swiped her fingers under her eyes again, praying she’d cleared away any mascara tracks.
As he stepped into the apartment again, she scavenged up a smile. “I can’t even begin to thank you.”
“For what?” He pulled a chair closer to her and sat.
“For running interference with Mom, for not saying anything about the baby or my slimy accountant.”
“I’m all about making things easier for you and our baby.”
Our baby.
His words sent a shiver through her. Of excitement or fear?
She thought of their kiss in the corridor and how quickly she could land right back in his arms again, in his bed. Jason had a way of making her lose control, and that scared her most of all.
Lauren clenched her hands together to keep from clasping his hand on the table. “You’ve been great. Really. Coming here the minute you found out, dinner, handling Mom.” In so many other ways, but still she couldn’t forget the past months of no communication, not even so much as an e-mail. They needed to talk about that night sometime. Discussing it seemed less daunting now in light of the land mine she’d just dodged with her mother. “You haven’t asked how I ended up pregnant.”
He scratched his jaw, leaning back. “I figured the condom must have failed.”
Memories of their frantic coupling churned through her mind, her body still humming from their make-out session in the hallway. Four months ago they’d torn at each other’s clothes. And yes, they’d kissed then, too, deeply, frantically, desperate to connect. Then the mad fumbling through his wallet to sheath him before…“We were pretty preoccupied at the time.” Lauren shifted in her chair, suddenly unable to get comfortable. “I appreciate you not questioning me about it.”
Her eyes lingered on his strong neck as she remembered the strength of it under her lips, savoring the bristly texture of his late-day shadow.
“We’ve known each other for a year and worked together most of the time the last month before I left. And I realize you weren’t seeing anyone else around the time we, uh, landed on your office couch.”
“I wasn’t seeing you, either.” Yet they’d ended up having impulsive sex, something she’d never done before. She’d only ever been with two men before, both long-term relationships, both men she’d considered marrying.
He angled closer, skimming his knuckles up and down her arm. “We may not have been dating, but I sure as hell always noticed you.”
His stroking hand moved slower, shifting from soothing to sensual, the heat of his skin searing through her sweater. She wanted him so damn much.
Too much.
She inched out of reach before she did something impulsive like draw him down to the floor with her. God, why hadn’t someone warned her about how out of control her hormones would be during pregnancy? Crying one minute and ready to jump Jason’s bones the next.
He rested his hand back on the table, giving her the space she needed. Okay, she would need a couple of states between them to disperse the tangy scent of his aftershave.
Lauren cleared her throat, settling on a subject sure to douse any passion. “How did you manage that whole scene with my mother so perfectly?”
His eyes smoked over her, assessing for three very loud beats of her heart before he relaxed in his chair again.
“A while back,” he said, apparently willing to concede her abrupt change of subject, “I landed an ad account for a new makeup line. The spokesmodel got pregnant. They still wanted her face on their product but not her stomach. We did some very inventive posing on that photo shoot.”
“Well, I appreciate your help all the same.” She toyed with a peppermill in the middle of the table. Maybe if she ground some flakes she could explain away the tears stinging behind her eyes. “I know I’m just delaying the inevitable.”
He tugged a linen napkin out of the basket and passed it to her. “Telling your mother about her first grandchild should be a happy event—at a time and place of your choosing.”
“Thank you for understanding.” Taking the napkin from him, she dabbed at her eyes, cursing the hormonal flood yet again. The weight of everything going on overwhelmed her—from saving her company to being pregnant on her own. It all felt like too much and Jason had offered her help. What did she have to lose by going to California with him, just for a couple of weeks to get her world in order and work out logistics for their life as parents? “Okay, Jason.”
“Okay what?”
She drew in a deep breath and crossed her fingers as the words bubbled out. “I’ll go to California with you for two weeks and pretend to be your fiancée.”
His eyes flashed with surprise briefly, then his face smoothed into his best calm-executive expression, which she’d seen him plaster in place often in the past. “Two weeks?”
So he’d caught that part. “I can’t leave my business indefinitely.” And she couldn’t let herself get caught up in playing house with Jason. “Look what happened when I was out of the office for a few weeks because of the morning sickness. My slimy accountant ran off with half a million dollars.”
“Valid point.” His features hardened, more angular with his negotiating face. “And you’re willing to accept my offer to infuse some cash into your business?”
“A loan. With interest and a payment plan.” Her pride would only let her go so far with this crazy idea. “I wouldn’t feel right otherwise, especially since I’m not agreeing to move to California permanently.”
“We could consider the money an investment for our child.”
“Jason, don’t push your luck. Even if half a million dollars isn’t much to you, it’s the principle here.”
“Fine,” he conceded. “I hear you.”
“I’ll accept a low interest rate.” She wouldn’t allow her pride to push her to the point of bankruptcy again.
“Good business decision. I’m obviously not going to argue, since I would have given you the money.”
“I’m going to be more careful this time in choosing who will watch over the business while I’m away. I considered hiring an office manager when the morning sickness first set in, but opted to cut corners to save money. That’s a mistake I won’t be repeating.”
She’d gotten a second chance, one she couldn’t afford to lose. Her baby deserved a strong, capable mother.
Lauren jabbed Jason in the chest with a finger. “But I really mean it when I say two weeks. I’m nervous enough being away from the office for that long.”
“You come back to New York in two weeks, but we leave the engagement on the books to quiet your mom and my client.” He clasped her finger and folded it against his chest, enfolding her in the warmth of his touch and chocolate-brown eyes.
“After a while, we can say time apart took its toll.”
“Hey, we just became engaged.” His thumb rasped along the inside of her wrist, her pulse leaping in response. “Do we have to plan the breakup already?”
“Quit trying to make me laugh.” And quit trying to turn me on.
He linked their fingers, holding her as firmly with his molten brown gaze. “But you have the most beautiful smile. Call me a selfish bastard, but I like to see it.”
The heat of his hand and his eyes stoked the barely banked fire inside her. She needed to hold strong.
Lauren eased her hand away. “I have one final condition.”
“Name it. I’ll make it happen.”
Lauren clasped the arms of her chair to keep her hands off him and her resolve in place. “Under no circumstances will we be sleeping together again.”
She’d agreed to go to California to give herself breathing room to regroup, to save her company and, yes, to help him secure his job. But she refused to let him blindside her a second time. She couldn’t risk the way sex with Jason stole her ability to think straight.
As she stared at his broad shoulders and steamy brown eyes, she wondered if she’d cut off her nose to spite her face.
Jason had known he would win in the end. Still, he was damn glad to be pulling up to his home in San Francisco’s Mission District with Lauren firmly planted in the seat next to him. Sure, she’d tossed that “no sex” clause into the agreement, a frustrating turn. Not unexpected, though. And not insurmountable. He’d seen the arousal in her eyes, the tightening of her nipples under her sweater.He had hope.
Their day traveling together had gone well in a chartered flight with a catered supper on Sunday night. He’d bided his time and kept things low-key. He had two weeks to win her over, and he wasn’t going to blow it on the first day by pushing too fast. Right now, he needed to focus on getting her settled into his restored Victorian house for the night as smoothly as possible.