The Billionaire Op - Lori Ryan Page 0,6

into a new home in New Haven. Jennie knew they were both eager to have children and Jill had mentioned that they wanted to start trying for a baby right away. She was happy for the new couple.

Today’s party was Kelly and Jack’s last chance to host a get together before their first baby came. Kelly was due in just three weeks, and even though she looked exhausted as she sat with Jack’s arms around her, she looked happier than Jennie had ever seen her. And that made Jennie happy.

Roark Walker, Jack’s lawyer and longtime family friend, was trying to help Jack’s housekeeper, Mrs. Poole, carry leftovers into the house. She was shooing him away with a scowl. The two were always fussing at one another for some reason, but even that made Jennie smile. It was comfortable and familiar. Like family, in a way.

Her eyes found Chad, who stood on the opposite side of the pool, beer in hand as he talked to friends. She felt the familiar quickening of her breath that always happened when she looked at him. Her eyes roamed over his strong chest and muscled arms, the broad shoulders of his imposing frame.

His dark looks—even with the smattering of scars that etched his skin from his time serving in the military overseas— rivaled those of the biggest and brightest stars of Hollywood. In spite of that, there wasn’t an arrogant bone in Chad’s body. This, of course, made him all the more attractive.

The man was stunningly handsome, unquestionably kind and gentle, and he sent the bones in Jennie’s body into a puddle on the floor when he glanced her way.

She didn’t want to be attracted to him. But, she found she couldn’t ignore his effect on her no matter how she tried. And that, unfortunately, tore at her heart. Jennie wished with all her being that Chad Thompson didn’t have such a powerful effect on her.

When she had first met Chad, she tried to find his faults. If she could get herself to see him as an arrogant jerk, she might be able to ignore the physical attraction she felt for him. It would certainly make it easier to resist him, anyway.

Since Chad was born into the Sutton family, he could have sat back and reaped the benefits of the family business without actually doing any work. He only worked until three o’clock many days, making Jennie assume he was living off of trust fund money and not really contributing at all. That made it easier to resist the outward allure for a little while.

Sadly, her first impressions didn’t last and Jennie soon had to admit that Chad was just as attractive a person on the inside as he was on the outside. It turned out he left work early to volunteer at a nearby veteran’s hospital.

And the more Jennie got to know Chad, the more apparent it became that he was anything but a selfish, spoiled trust fund brat. That certainly didn’t make it easier for her to resist him. But, she knew in her heart, she didn’t want a relationship with him or anyone else. She didn’t want the chemistry between them to exist.

“Hey, sweetie,” Kelly said as she lowered herself into the chair next to Jennie. She wasn’t moving very gracefully. “I swear, this baby has an elbow in my lung right now. She somehow gets up under my ribs and digs in and won’t let go.”

Jennie grinned at Kelly. “I can’t wait for that baby to get here.”

Kelly snorted. “You and me both.”

Jennie nodded toward the other side of the pool where her coworker and friend, Samantha Page was talking to Kelly’s sister, Jesse. The two were opposites, physically. Samantha was tall with dark hair that hung down her back. Jesse was petite with honey blonde hair.

“I’m glad to see Sam,” Jennie said. “She looks like she’s doing a lot better.”

Samantha might work at Sutton Capital, but she was often included in lists of the country’s top hackers, sometimes even topping the list. She recently took time off to help the FBI track a group of women who had been sold into sexual slavery. It hit her hard and she’d had a rough time dealing with the emotional toll of the work. They were all worried about her.

Kelly nodded. “She is. She’s back at work and she’s been working on her game again.”

Jennie grinned. “She let me try a beta version of the game. It freaking rocks.”

Samantha had been working on