Slow Burn (Dynasties Seven Sins #7) - Janice Maynard Page 0,6

left his seat and crouched beside Nikki’s daughter. “Hi, Emma. I’m Jake...a friend of your mother’s.”

Emma stared at him solemnly, her gaze filled with suspicion. “Then why did she tell you to leave?”

The irony didn’t escape Jake. Were all four-year-old kids this aware of social cues? He cleared his throat. “We were having an argu—”

Nikki stood abruptly, halting his explanation with a chopping motion of her hand. She ruffled her daughter’s hair. “Em, would you like to watch a Peppa Pig episode on my phone?” Nikki gave him an exasperated look. “I don’t allow her much screen time, but it would give us a chance to finish this conversation.”

Emma’s face lit up. She smiled at Jake, distracted by the promised treat. “They’re called ‘Peppasodes.’ Get it?”

Jake grinned for the first time, his mood lifting despite the situation. The child’s charm and obvious intelligence delighted him. “I get it, munchkin.”

He stood and gave Nikki a measured glance, trying not to notice the way her soft, fuzzy sweater delineated her breasts. He wanted to hold her, to relearn the contours of her body. The sexual awareness threatened his focus. “I have another idea. If you can get a babysitter on such short notice, I’ll take you to dinner.”

Now Nikki’s face showed no emotion at all. Her gaze was level, and her arms wrapped around her waist in a defensive posture. After a couple of heartbeats, she took her phone from her pocket, tapped a few icons and handed it to Emma. “You may take it to your room, sweetheart. Fifteen minutes. No more. I set the timer.”

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