Tailored for Trouble (Happy Pants #1) - Mimi Jean Pamfiloff Page 0,115
that Bennett was, he’d probably overseen every detail himself. Whatever. So the guy’s been reading a few baby books? Like that matters.
She silently followed him through the brightly lit, cheery, modern eat-in kitchen with its cute rustic table made of chunky wood. It was big enough to seat Holly, Sarah, her brothers and father, plus a few extras.
Okay. So the house is awesome.
Bennett made his way to a set of double French doors that led to a patio, with a beautiful outdoor kitchen and enough seating for at least twenty, looking out toward the shimmering lights of the San Francisco Bay. Beyond that, the city herself and all her gorgeous, awe-inspiring buildings stood like a living architectural sculpture.
“Eh-hem.” Bennett had pulled out a chair at the large wooden table, facing the five-million-dollar view.
“Oh. Sorry.” She knew she’d been caught gawking, and the look on his face was pure smugness and victory. “Okay, Bennett. It’s a wonderful view. What do you want me to say?”
She sat and he sat down next to her, resting his large hands on the table, his fingers laced. His arms looked larger than usual, like he’d been seriously working out lately. “I’d like you to say yes to giving me—giving us—another chance.”
She looked down at the table, knowing this was going to get painful. But she needed to make him see reason. He didn’t really want her. She wasn’t the one for him. If she had been, he would’ve forgiven her without knowing about the baby. “I said yes. Yes to a lot of things that weren’t the right things for you.” She looked at him holding her ground. “You’re not ready for a relationship or me. I’m not even sure you’re ready for her.” She looked down at her belly.
He jolted forward. “It’s a girl?”
“No. I mean, I don’t know. I think it’s a girl, though.”
“I’d love a girl. But I’d be happy with either. As long as it’s healthy.”
“Agreed.” She nodded pensively.
“But I am ready.”
She shook her head, wishing she could believe him. “It doesn’t matter. Because I am ready. And that’s all she’ll need.”
“Taylor,” he said, his voice shifting into that dominating “Mr. Wade” tone, “she—or he—needs me, too. So do you.”
“No, I don’t, Bennett. I wanted you. I loved you. Those are very different things from need.”
“I can’t figure you out, Taylor.” He leaned back and folded his arms. “You say you loved me, but the moment I let you in, you were gone faster than a bolt of lightning.”
Her jaw dropped. “I did not run—okay, I did. But I ran, as fast as I fucking could, to save your deal and to save you.”
He looked at her, apparently perplexed. “Save me from what?”
“From the load of crap you’d decided to commandeer from my laptop, crap that was there because I’d been too busy falling in love with you to remember to erase it.”
“But why, Taylor? Why do that in the first place?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess…I liked you, and when I found out I was nothing more than a bet, it hurt.”
He reached out and cupped his hand to her cheek. “Yes, you were a bet, Taylor. I went all in, hoping you’d help me finish this Bali project and put the past behind me, that you wouldn’t turn out to be just another gold digger after my money, and that you’d still want me even after you knew what I’d done. And I’ve bet it all again, everything I have on you.”
Uhhh….What did he mean by that? Had he purchased a racehorse and named it after her? “I don’t understand.”
He reached for her hand. “Lady Mary didn’t sell to me.”
“She didn’t?” After all that, she still said no?
Bennett shook his head. “No. She bought my company instead.”
Taylor took a moment to digest. “So, she—”
“She will absorb Wade Enterprises.”
“And those people in Bali?” Taylor asked.
“She will hire someone to build the factory and run the operation. She’ll buy all of her ingredients from them. Nothing changes, except those people’s lives.”
Taylor was stunned. “But why? Why work so hard just to sell and hand over the project?”
“So I could be with you. No more baggage. No more living in my father’s shadow or in the past. No more running myself into the ground. Just you.” He looked down at her stomach. “And that thing growing inside you.” He grinned.
She sat there staring out at the lights, unable to believe it. He’d given up his company and his project in Bali,