CHAPTER ONE
Sondra dressed with care, knowing Jake planned to take her to a fancy restaurant this evening. It was their fourth date in the two weeks since she had discovered her pregnancy, and he had made his insane suggestion they get married.
She still couldn’t help snorting aloud every time she remembered that. Getting married for the sake of a baby in this day and age? To a man she hardly knew? It had been preposterous, and she hadn’t budged on her determination to avoid that outcome. Sometimes, she couldn’t believe she had actually agreed to date him as a compromise.
Dating Jake was a diverse experience. Their first three outings had all been different—a movie and fast food; an afternoon at Coney Island; and a day out on his yacht, sailing the harbor as they talked and ate pasta he’d cooked himself.
Tonight was daunting, and she didn’t know which bothered her more. Was it the idea of going to the opera and an elegant restaurant that cost more than her share of the rent each month, or simply seeing Jake again in any circumstance? It was getting harder to remind herself she wasn’t going to go back to bed with him again. It was the sensible thing to do, because passion clouded her judgment when it came to Wallace Whitcomb Jacobi, but it was difficult to remember that when she was too close to him.
Sondra was honestly surprised that Jake had been such a gentleman on their previous three dates. She had braced herself to fight him—and herself—every seductive step of the way, but the most he’d done was hold her hand. It was a relief, but also disappointing.
As she stared at herself in the mirror, certain she wasn’t imagining the slight swelling to her tummy in the midnight-blue dress, she accepted he had probably stopped finding her attractive. Being pregnant had changed everything. It was good that he viewed her as the mother of his future child, not a one-night stand. Right?
Right. That didn’t mean it couldn’t sting a bit that he had moved on so quickly. Sondra rolled her eyes at herself in the mirror, annoyed by the self-pitying thoughts crowding her mind. If Jake had lost interest, she should be doing handstands of joy while she was still flexible enough to do so. It would make her goal of having a friendly, amicable, and non-romantic relationship with him—the best possible outcome to facilitate raising a child together as partners—that much easier to attain.
Had she been a little tempted by his proposal? Sondra paused in the act of applying a coat of red lipstick to her full lips, meeting her dark brown eyes and refusing to look away. Yes, she had been tempted. Who wouldn’t? The idea of being Jake’s wife, the center of his universe, and his cherished companion? What woman wouldn’t go for that?
That was precisely why she had said no, aside from the more practical reason that they hardly knew each other. It would have all been an illusion. She was sure Jake meant well with his offer, and he considered it the honorable thing to do, but he didn’t love her. In her heart, she knew he would treat her well, but any love would be an illusion. They both deserved better than a marriage built upon providing stability for a baby brought about by shared irresponsibility.
Dating had seemed more logical. It gave them a chance to get acquainted and build a friendship. She knew Jake was expecting their relationship to be more than friendly, but she was reluctant to give in to that impulse. Sex would only complicate things, and when the liaison failed, hurt feelings on both sides would only make co-parenting more difficult.
Her doorbell ringing interrupted her reverie, and Sondra cursed quietly as she swiped on a layer of mascara, miraculously not making any mistakes, and grabbed her purse and wrap on her way to the door. She threw it open in a rush. “Sorry, I was finishing…”
Sondra trailed off as the sight of Jake in a tuxedo burned into her retinas. Oh, god, he was just too much for her wildly fluctuating hormones, and her body was suddenly urgently demanding to feel his against it. Somehow, she closed her mouth, managed a feeble smile, and slipped out into the hallway. He closed the door behind them, and she engaged the deadbolts before they headed down the stairs.
“This neighborhood might not be the safest place for you, Sondra.” Jake put his hand on her lower back as he directed her toward a long limousine taking up a third of the street and parked blatantly in a no-parking zone.
She frowned. “It’s as safe as anywhere in the area. It’s not a hovel.” A shiver ran down her spine as she remembered the places she had lived with her mother after her father’s death. When her mother had been flush with support by a wealthy male admirer, the surroundings could be nice, but they had just as often been in a filthy, dangerous apartment, sometimes squeezed in with several others.
“I didn’t say it was. I’m just worried about you. The location isn’t central to your doctor, you have to climb three flights of stairs with no elevator, and there’s no real security. The buzzer on the intercom doesn’t even work.”
She couldn’t argue with that. It was all true, but it still felt like a putdown. “I’ve worked hard to afford this place, Jake. There are no better apartments in my price range, and I couldn’t leave my roommates like that. They depend on my share of the rent.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I get it, which is why…” Trailing off, he assisted her into the limousine before sliding in beside her. It wasn’t until the driver closed the door that he spoke again. “I bought you an apartment in my building.”
Her eyes widened. “You did what?”
Jake sighed. “Please hear me out before you get too worked up.”
With a glare, she crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips, making a point of not speaking. He couldn’t stop her from thinking though, and her thoughts were churning with annoyance at his high-handed tactics.
“You don’t want to rush into marriage, which I understand.” Jake ran a hand through his hair, disheveling the artful style. “We’re getting acquainted, and we’re having a child together. I would appreciate you accepting my offer to allow me to be closer to the baby when he’s born and to facilitate our relationship.”
She had to bite hard on her tongue to snap they didn’t have a relationship. Could she really make that claim? They were dating, and they had slept together. They were having a child, which would ensure they would always be connected on some level, since Jake wanted to be in the baby’s life. It was naïve to say they weren’t having some kind of relationship. “It’s a nice thought, but out of my price range.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do you really think I’m charging your rent, Sondra?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I
’d prefer if you did actually. Besides, my roommates—”
“Are welcome to move in with you. The apartment has three bedrooms, and there is a huge walk-in dressing room off the master bedroom that would convert nicely to a nursery. You can charge them rent or let them live there for free. It doesn’t matter to me, because the apartment would be in your name and all yours.”
It was too generous. She couldn’t possibly accept. Could she? Moistening her lips, she summoned a shred of courage to make a personal revelation. That was something she typically avoided like the plague when it related to her mother. “I haven’t told you anything about my mother yet.”
He nodded, looking a little confused, but not interrupting.
“She was a scam artist and a professional mistress. My dad was one of her targets, and she deliberately got pregnant with me to trap him into marriage.” Sondra smiled softly, having heard the full story years later from her older sister and admiring her father as always. “Instead, he sued her for custody and raised me until I was twelve. She had no interest in me during that time, and I never saw her until Daddy died.”
He frowned. “I’m sorry.”
She nodded and pressed on. “She slithered out of the woodwork after his passing and claimed me. I suspect it had more to do with my trust fund. Not that Daddy was wealthy, but he was comfortable enough to have left me provided for nicely—until she got hold of it.” Sondra sighed heavily, trying to fight the surge of bitterness that came every time she thought about Amanda stealing the money her father had left her to secure a bright future.
“It was gone within a year, and she was back to her old tricks. My mother slept with men to get things from them. Other times, she participated in con jobs. I know she’d been in prison off and on. In fact, the last I’d heard she is serving time for her part in a bank robbery.”
He took her hand. “I don’t care about what your mother did. It doesn’t affect how I feel about you.”
Sondra quickly steered the conversation back to the direction she had intended, wanting to avoid all talk of emotions. “I hope that’s true, but that wasn’t why I told you. I am not my mother, and I did nothing of which to be ashamed. However, after seeing the way she scammed people, the idea of just taking an apartment from you makes me feel like I’m following the same path.”
He scowled. “You didn’t get pregnant deliberately.”
He spoke with such certainty that she couldn’t help feeling touched by it. Sondra nodded to confirm, though it wasn’t necessary.
“You aren’t out to get everything you can, or you wouldn’t have fought me so hard on accepting my marriage proposal.”
“Which I turned down.”
“For now.” His lips tightened, betraying he was still annoyed by her failure to agree.
The way he spoke with such resolve also sent a jolt through her, though she couldn’t identify it as anticipation or panic.
“My point is we both want to do the best thing for the baby, and having you in a safe, close location would be ideal for me. I have a limited amount of time, and I don’t want to waste almost an hour traveling to your apartment to see you or him.”
It made sense, and rather than reject the idea outright, she gave a grudging, “I’ll think about it and let you know soon.” Another compromise, but what else could she do? Just telling him no didn’t feel right when she viewed it from his perspective. It was a reasonable request, and he could afford it.
But did it have to be in his fancy building? She cringed at the thought of how much an apartment there would cost. Sondra wouldn’t have been enthusiastic about the idea of allowing him to buy her an apartment anywhere, but his upscale neighborhood made it a thousand times worse.
Their arrival at the opera interrupted her reverie, and she allowed Jake to help her from the car. When he tucked her hand onto his arm, she didn’t protest or pull away. It felt nice actually, especially when she eyed the others around her. The women all wore expensive dresses, often ball gown style, and dripped with diamonds and pearls.
She was underdressed and out of her element. Sondra didn’t try to pretend it wasn’t for a measure of security that she moved closer to Jake as he led her through the crowded foyer. The place was packed, and she felt a bit lightheaded as they negotiated the crowd. It was a relief to sit down in his private box and breathe deeply.
After regaining her composure, she looked down and marveled at the rows of seats below her, along with the sharp view of the stage. She wasn’t so gauche as to have never been to the Met before, but it had been a rare privilege, and certainly never in a private box.
“What do you think?”
“Amazing.” She smiled at him before turning back to watch the rows fill with ants below.
“How is your job search going?”
Sondra managed not to grin at the disgruntled tone he used. When his persuasive arguments to convince her to return to WWJ had failed, and she had soundly rejected his offer of financial support until the baby’s arrival, he had instead offered to locate her a new job with one of his contacts. She had politely declined again, pointing out she preferred to find employment on her own merits. He hadn’t been gracious about it, but he’d stopped arguing. For the moment.
“It’s okay. I’ve been doing some online temp work from home. It’s not my dream job, but it pays well enough, has benefits, and it will be easy to take leave after the baby is born.”
“I have a friend who needs a temporary executive—”
Sondra shot him a warning look when she cut him off. “No, thanks, Jake.”
As the lights flickered to let people know the performance would soon begin, an elegant woman entered their box. She paused at the sight of Sondra, her expression revealing confusion and distaste.
That immediately put her on the defensive, and Sondra braced herself. She was probably too old to be a former girlfriend of Jake’s. And she couldn’t be the date he’d blown off Nagato for two weeks ago, because he had sheepishly confided during their first date that he’d been taking his niece out while she was in the city for a visit, so it wasn’t a total shock to discover she was Whitney Jacobi, his mother. After all, they shared some features, and she probably had the same darker shade of hair hidden under the skillfully highlighted ash-blonde strands pinned up so elegantly.
Sondra extended her hand, waiting for the other woman to take it. After a hesitation that Jake seemed oblivious to, but she wasn’t, Whitney gave her a quick, limp shake before immediately letting go. She was half-surprised when the other woman didn’t wipe her palm on her expensive dove-gray evening gown.
“How do you know each other, Wallace?” Her gaze flicked briefly to Sondra before focusing back on Jake.
She might as well not exist. It was tempting to blow that haughty expression off the other woman’s face by saying something like, “We had a one-night stand, and now I’m having your grandchild. Congratulations.” Somehow, she stifled the impulse, and the urge to giggle, keeping her expression neutral.
“Sondra used to work for me,” said Jake.
“Oh, how interesting.” Her tone indicated it was anything but. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, my date is waiting for me.”
“Of course, Mother. Enjoy the show.”
Sondra exhaled with relief when his mother left without any suggestions on either side for dinner after the performance. It was obvious Mother Jacobi didn’t approve of her. That could be problematic as her pregnancy developed, but she decided not to think about the older woman to any further extent tonight.
Instead, she focused her attention on the opera, though even the beautiful performance couldn’t distract her from the feel of his hand holding hers, or the way her leg jumped every time he casually caressed his fingers up and down her thigh. The touches were brief, almost casual, but they wreaked havoc on her hormones and her equanimity. It was almost a relief to be able to escape the confines of the box and the darkened theater when the show finally ended a couple of hours later.
> CHAPTER TWO
Dinner must have been delicious, since they were at a five-star restaurant owned by the current “in” chef, but Sondra didn’t actually taste much of it. She was too busy talking to Jake, laughing, and stealing sidelong glances at her dining companion.
During appetizers, he regaled her with stories of attending an all-boys’ preparatory academy in rural Massachusetts, and she was pleased by his firm, “Absolutely not, because our child stays with us,” when she asked if he wanted to send their baby away to school.
Dinner was spent getting better acquainted, and she was surprised to find herself talking more about the turbulent years of living with her mother. As they finished their entrees, she said, “I’d had enough, so I just slipped away when I was seventeen. I doubt 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.”