Like choosing to drive.

Had he demanded the wheel, he wouldn’t have been able to study Lil’s profile.

He would have missed the curve of her breast that the seatbelt revealed as it pulled back one side of her jacket and pushed the material of her blouse aside in the most tantalizing way. She really was stunning.

Too bad she was completely unsuitable for him. He preferred a woman with a certain level of sophistication; one who understood that relationships worked best if emotional extremes were avoided. Pleasant, predictable conversation with someone who seamlessly blended with diplomats and was also good in bed was enough to keep him satisfied.

So why was he ogling her chest while imagining what it would be like to slip a hand beneath the hem of her skirt and beg her to pull the car over on a side road so he could touch her, taste her, fill her?

Because his mind and his body were definitely at odds regarding Lil.

Colby made a sound in the backseat, reminding him of the reality of the situation. Leering felt wrong with a child present and represented another reason his attraction to Lil made no sense.

He didn’t get involved with women who had children.

Not that he and Lil were involved.

Damn.

I should have followed my instincts and stayed the hell in New York.

He shifted uncomfortably and turned to look out the passenger window.

Get a grip, Jake.

If all went according to his plan, and things usually did, tonight would see Lil tucked away in her new penthouse in Boston, the interview nothing more than a quickly forgotten blip, and him back in New York.

There was no way he was going to stick around to bring Lil to New York for the weekend. Dominic could come and get her himself if he wanted her there so badly.

“Your shirt is open,” he said gruffly without looking away from the lane of traffic outside the window.

“Oh, my God, it is,” Lil said, swerving the car a bit as she adjusted it.

He caught himself smiling in the reflection of the window, and then frowned. Just because she amused him, didn’t change the facts.

He was not there to indulge himself. This was business.

Well, business related.

“Sorry-” she started to say and then stopped abruptly. When she continued, her tone implied that she’d had a thought that quite amused her. “Was it bothering you?”

He whipped around to look at her. “No,” he said. “No,” he said again. And then because he had a mastery of the spoken language that had impressed many a politician, he added, “No,” one last time.

She tried, but failed to contain her amusement.

“It’s okay if it was,” she said impishly and patted his leg in a pretense of support, outright mocking him, right down to the tone he’d used earlier. “You have no reason to be embarrassed around me.”

His body leapt in response to her challenge even as his mind fought for control. He growled, “You simply shouldn’t walk around with your shirt hanging open.”

“So it was a public service announcement?”

“Yes, unless that’s how you planned to compensate your lawyer.”

Her hand flew off his lap and she muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “Jackass” under her breath.

Jake turned to look out the window again, hopefully before his face had revealed how much he wanted to kiss that profanity off her sweet lips.

Chapter Three

“I thought we were going to see your lawyer.” Jake said as Lil parked her car in front of the Lawson’s home in a typical, working class neighborhood with manicured lawns and children riding their bikes on the sidewalks.

“We are,” she answered simply, opening the car door instead of providing further explanation. Her friend might not have a fancy city office, but he was brilliant and Lil trusted him.

“He lives here?” Jake asked, perhaps noting the swing that hung from the porch and the flower pots that lined the stairs.

“Yes,” Lil said in a clipped tone, slamming the car door behind her after freeing Colby from her car seat and collecting her diaper bag. She turned and faced him. “If you have any smart remarks to share, say them here. These people are like family to me.”

He looked instantly taken aback. “I would never.”

He probably wouldn’t.

A man like him would have impeccable manners.

He didn’t have to try to make most people feel inferior; it was a natural byproduct of being near someone who had been born with too much of…well, everything.

“Just try to look a little less- pompous.”

One eyebrow rose.

Before moving forward, Lil added, “Aaron isn’t like you. He’s…” she hesitated.

“Don’t stop there; I’m dying to know what he is that I’m not.”

“Sensitive.” Aaron would cringe if he heard her describe him that way, and perhaps the years had toughened his exterior, but to her he would always be the sixth grade boy whose pride had often been crushed when he’d been the last child chosen for a recess kickball team.

Just as he’d never let her live down how she’d once socked a boy in the nose for teasing him about not being athletic. Or how, despite Aaron trying to soften her position, she’d remained unrepentant even when brought before the Principal. Lil had always believed that bullies should get what they deserved- thus perpetuating what Abby called her inability to respect authority figures.

She did respect them; she just didn’t feel that they were infallible.

Sometimes requesting assistance from those in charge simply moved the abuse to somewhere more private. Some things were better addressed head on and handled yourself. That philosophy had gotten her suspended from school more than once and cost her several jobs.

It had also been why she’d been dubbed the “geek squad’s mascot” in the public high school she’d attended. She never understood why academic excellence had equated to social suicide in the very place where education should have been valued the most. Young men and women who would likely one day run their own companies had hidden in bathrooms instead of risking public degradation at the hands of those who worshipped good looks and huge biceps.

That’s how it had been until Lil’s freshman year when she’d had gone nose to nose with a beefed up hockey player over something he’d said about the Math Team winning a regional competition. Lil might not have intervened had the offender not accentuated his comment with a wet napkin assault to the other boy’s head as he passed his table.

When Lil suggested that he stop, he’d asked her why she cared and if she were sleeping with one of those man-girls.

And she’d slapped him clean across the face.

He’d leaned down and growled, “You’re lucky you’re a girl.”

She’d growled right back, “So are you.”

If only her moment of valor hadn’t been witnessed by two supervising teachers who’d cared only that she’d “laid her hands” on another student. The full story had also failed to impress either the Principal or Abby.

It had, however, inspired “the geek squad.”

If Lil could survive an altercation with the ruling Neanderthal, they could at least claim one table as their own in the cafeteria and hold that ground. And they had.

Abby remembered those years as Lil’s most difficult times.

Lil considered them a victorious battleground on which many lifelong friendships had been forged. With age, she’d learned to use her wit rather than her hands, but she’d never quite mastered keeping her opinion to herself, an affliction that she now saw came at a cost. She hadn’t been accepted to any of the art schools she’d applied to. Apparently, her noble intentions didn’t excuse repeated suspensions. She could have gone to a community college, but she’d been too proud.

Pride also came with a cost. It had left her in a frustrating limbo-neither working toward her dreams nor choosing new ones. A situation she’d accepted when it had been only her, but Colby deserved better. Luckily the administrative school she was now close to graduating from had decided to give her a chance to prove that she had changed.

“I have no intention of offending your friend.” Jake’s words jolted Lil back to the present. In truth, Jake had neither said nor done anything that suggested that he would.

Old protective habits die hard.

“Good, because he’s extremely intelligent and will make a fantastic lawyer when he finally gets a chance. His mom thinks this will help him.”

“He lives with his-”

Lil bristled and spat, “See, he doesn’t need that. Not everyone was born into money like you were. He had to work to pay his way through college. He has helped his mother pay the mortgage since his father passed away a few years ago. He’s been offered jobs that he hasn’t accepted because he doesn’t think she’ll be able to keep this house up on her own. He has nothing to be ashamed of.”

Jake inclined his head in concession to her point.

The door swung open and Mrs. Lawson came out onto the porch. She removed the apron from around her waist and laid it across the railing of the porch before reaching out to hug Lil. “Lil!” She swept Colby out of Lil’s arms even as she asked, “May I?”

Lil smiled. “That’s why I took her out of her seat. I knew you’d want to hold her.” Thankfully, some things hadn’t changed. Mrs. Lawson still dressed like a TV sitcom mother from the fifties. Her gray hair was perfectly styled in a loose bun and her makeup had been carefully applied even though she likely had nowhere to go that day.

She held Colby up to her face, made her laugh by making a few silly noises and announced, “She’s beautiful, Lil. I can’t believe how big she has gotten.” Then, not relinquishing the baby yet, she turned to Jake and offered her hand in greeting. Jake shook her hand and she said, “Hello, handsome, my name is Ester.” Then she smiled at Lil. “So, this is the reason you won’t marry my son? Can’t say I blame you.”