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When Emma was gone, Nikki sighed. “The truth is, Jake, I can’t afford a babysitter right now. The holidays are coming, and I’m saving every penny for Emma’s gifts from me and from Santa. Can’t we just wrap this up? I honestly have no clue what you’re talking about. I’ve never been in contact with your brother about anything.”
Jake pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. Earlier, Joshua had printed out one of the incriminating emails. “So you deny sending this?”
Their fingers brushed when Nikki took the note. She glanced down, read the contents and moaned. If she had been pale before, she was ashen now. “Oh, my God.”
Her obvious distress convinced Jake she was telling the truth. But that only deepened the mystery. “Let me pay for a sitter,” he said urgently. “We need to clear the air.” He pulled a business card from his wallet and gave it to her. “This is my cell number. I’ll grab coffee somewhere and return a few phone calls. Let me know when you work it out. I can pick you up at seven.”
She shook her head vehemently. “No. If we do this, I want to be back home to do the bed-and-bath routine with Emma. We would have to eat early. Five thirty.”
He blinked. “Ah. Okay. Call me.”
That beautiful bottom lip trembled again. “I’ll see what I can do,” she whispered.
He was incredulous to realize that he was aroused, hard and ready. It had been five years since he had made love to her, but it might as well have been yesterday. It was difficult to cast Nikki as the villain when he wanted her even now. Was he so besotted that he could ignore her lies?
Her anguish touched him despite the turmoil she had caused his family. He brushed her soft cheek with a single fingertip. “It’s not the end of the world, Nik. But I do want answers. Don’t try an end run. I’m not leaving town until you and I get a few things straight.”
Once Jake said goodbye, Nikki made the necessary phone call and fretted. She knew a threat when she heard one. Even if it was couched in seeming cordiality. Jake was not a man who bluffed.
She remembered watching him play poker with other guys in high school—after class mostly, but whenever they could elude faculty detection. All the parties involved had been highly privileged teenagers with virtually unlimited resources.
Jake had taken bragging rights as top dog, and he loved it. People thought he bluffed...and would bet against him time and again. But his lazy, chilled attitude concealed an amazing skill with numbers.
Was that why he had been in Atlantic City? To gamble? If so, he would have won. She knew that much.
But gambling had been the last thing on his mind the night the two of them had gone up to his hotel room. When a hot shiver worked its way down her spine, she knew she was in trouble.
Reluctantly, she dragged her attention back to the present. Emma was bouncing with glee that her favorite babysitter was coming over. Nella was a college-aged woman who lived just down the street. She had five brothers and sisters and was no stranger to caring for little ones. Nella adored Emma and the feeling was mutual, so Nikki was free to have dinner with Jake.
Despite the gravity of the situation, she couldn’t squelch a little flutter of anticipation. As she showered and changed, she vacillated between fear and excitement.
She had known this day would come eventually. But not like this.
Since giving birth four years ago, her social life had been mostly nonexistent. The only remotely suitable outfit she owned for having dinner with Jake Lowell was a sophisticated black pantsuit that she paired with an emerald silk chemise and spiky black heels. She left her hair down and added a spritz of her favorite perfume. She probably shouldn’t be dressing up at all, but maybe deep down inside she wanted Jake to see what he was missing.
The scent was for her benefit, not his. She needed a confidence boost.
He arrived at five thirty on the dot. Nikki didn’t give him a chance to come inside. She hurried out to the car, almost tripping on the sidewalk in her haste to keep him from seeing Emma again. She would protect her baby girl at all costs.
Jake hopped out and opened the passenger door of the sinfully luxurious roadster he was driving while in New Jersey. When he helped Nikki in with a hand under her elbow, she was wrapped in the smells of soft leather and warm male.
She was glad when Jake closed the door and went around to the driver’s side, though it wasn’t much of a reprieve. The car’s interior was intimate. With every breath, she inhaled him. Not that his aftershave was overpowering. In fact, she wasn’t sure he wore any. She might only be smelling soap on his skin.
Either way, she was susceptible to his considerable appeal.
“Why did you change clothes?” she asked. He now wore a conservative dark suit, though most restaurants seldom enforced any kind of dress code these days.
He shot her a cautious grin. “Because I knew you would look nice. You always did enjoy sprucing up for an evening out.”
What could she say? He was right about the old Nicole Reardon. That teenager had owned two closets full of designer clothes. Nikki had lived in a pampered world that seemed a lifetime away.
Intentionally, she drew his attention to the night that had gone so well and ended so badly. “Things are different now. In Atlantic City I was wearing a cocktail waitress uniform when I ran in to you. Not exactly haute couture.”
He shrugged, his sideways glance filled with dark male interest. “I can’t say that I noticed. I was more interested in getting you out of whatever you were wearing.”
That shut her up. He was right. They had both been intent on one thing. The results had been spectacular.
Tonight, Jake had made reservations at an upscale seafood restaurant with white linen tablecloths and plenty of candlelight. The ambiance made Nikki the slightest bit uncomfortable. She and Jake weren’t a typical couple. And they certainly weren’t celebrating anything.
