Page 2 of The Billionaire Benefactor

Chapter 2

Jenny stared through the blinds at Roman, trying to make sure she didn’t jostle them. She didn’t want him to know she was watching. What was he doing out there? He had talked to the photographer for a minute and then given him some jerseys from the back of the car. Was this just some photo op for him?

Her cheeks were still flushed. Why had he come here? Jenny’s mother had the kids for the morning so she could work some on the house. She hadn’t been expecting company—definitely not Houston’s most eligible bachelor four years running. If she had, she would have put on something other than a too-big shirt and yoga pants. Maybe some makeup. Or at least showered.

No—her husband had just died. It was too soon to be worrying about makeup. Still, she knew she looked horrible. It was embarrassing enough to see the way her mom looked her up and down when she had picked up Matt and Lucy earlier that morning. Her mom’s eyes had gazed over her not with judgment, just concern. If her mom thought she looked terrible, Jenny couldn’t imagine what Roman must have thought.

Roman Bennett: her secret celebrity crush. Jenny had just met him and slammed the door on him—twice. She laughed, the sound echoing through the empty house and making her feel crazy. Tiny whimpered at her and nudged her hand, obviously concerned.

Jenny admired Roman’s face every night when tucked Matt into bed. He had two posters of Roman above his bed. One as he was about to make a tackle, his body in the air, powerful biceps reaching. The other featured him in the black and silver uniform and full gear, but holding his helmet. She wouldn’t admit that she added the second poster because she liked looking up at his face.

It was harmless—everyone had a celebrity crush. Roman was the center of thousands or hundreds of thousands of crushes. He was the son of a wealthy oil tycoon who was known for charitable giving. Roman followed in his footsteps, continuing even after he went pro. He played for the Roughnecks, Houston’s newest football franchise. The last pro team’s owner moved after several losing seasons, but no one in Houston minded after the Roughnecks turned the losing streak around. Roman was undeniably handsome: piercing gray-blue eyes, a full mouth and wide smile, strong jaw and the kind of body you’d expect of a pro football player. His muscles had muscles.

Jenny couldn’t believe it when she saw him on her front porch. Real-life Roman was even more handsome than the poster. Which led to her slamming the door on him the first time.

Her first thought was that she was suffering from some sort of grief-and-stress-induced delusion. When she looked through the peephole and saw that Roman Bennett was indeed standing on the porch, she had to face him. Then Tiny had climbed all over him and peed on him…

Humiliating. Horrifying.

The only thing that made it better was the anger when she realized that Roman was trying to give her money. If she focused on her anger, maybe she could forget about the humiliation.

Roman was known for his charity. His father had been incredibly wealthy and had died earlier this year or last—Jenny didn’t really keep up with that kind of news. It was all she could do the past year to try to hold together her marriage and shelter Matt and Lucy from knowing how bad things had gotten. Then Hank died. Now Jenny was trying to deal with her own complicated feelings of grief while navigating them through losing their daddy. All while trying to handle the unexpected expenses and plan for a new future.

Jenny knew she should feel lucky to be included on whatever list sent Roman to her door, but surely there were people who needed help more than she did. Yes, she could use the money. But admitting she needed help had never been her strong suit. Even now, she struggled to even let the church put her on the meals list. Having to see people’s faces, read the pity there as she accepted a covered casserole killed her. She’d rather go hungry or feed them all another boxed mac ‘n cheese.

Now what was he doing? Jenny watched as Roman folded the giant cardboard check and stuffed it into her trash can. Her cheeks flamed again as she watched him dragging her trash can up to the street. She’d forgotten that it was Friday. Again. Hank had been the one who always took care of that kind of thing, though more and more this year he’d been letting things go. After all, he’d hardly been here. Essentially, he’d moved out, showing up just often enough that the kids hadn’t noticed.

She was embarrassed that Roman was seeing their house in such a state. He probably never had to take a trash can to a curb in his life.

His face looked tight and angry. Good. He needed to know that he couldn’t just show up on strange women’s doorsteps and drop off his money.

Though cash would really help keep them afloat until she could sell the house and get more freelance writing jobs lined up. Jenny sighed. No—she wasn’t going to take charity. There was some life insurance that could help her while she got the house ready to sell. Her parents had offered to help however she needed.

Hopefully the market was okay right now and she could get a decent price for the house and find something a little smaller for her and the kids. Mom and Dad kept urging her to think about moving in with them, just for a transition time. Her mom planned to be around a lot for Matt, who would be in third grade, and Lucy, who would start Kindergarten in a few months.

Living with her parents would help, just like it would have helped to take Roman’s stupid check, but Jenny was determined to do it on her own. She was on her own now, after all, so she needed to get used to carrying the weight of their finances, their home stuff, and the kids. She was strong. She was fine.

Lord, help me believe that. Let me rely on you. Please, let us be fine.

As Roman drove away, Jenny felt a flurry of regret. Yeah, it was presumptuous of him to show up waving a giant check. But he didn’t need to come at all. He was wealthy, famous, and way more handsome in person than he was in photos. Just the sight of him had gotten her heart thumping and her forehead sweating.

What was her problem?

She could have politely declined and thanked him for his time. Maybe just asked for a signed jersey for Matt or something. She could have been normal.

Jenny sank down to the floor. Normal was hard to figure out these days. Tiny ambled over and lay down with his big head in her lap. She rubbed his floppy ears and he sighed. It wasn’t much, but the big dog offered some comfort. The loneliness and grief had been eating at her for almost a year, long before Hank died. Her marriage, though still in existence on paper, had been over some time ago thanks to Hank’s affair. Or affairs? She only knew about the one, but that didn’t mean it was the only one.

His death had been a sort of final note to what she already felt in her heart: alone.

The hardest part was that only her best friend Denise knew the truth. He moved in with his mistress almost six months ago. They’d been on the cusp of filing for divorce when he died.

This wasn’t the kind of thing you spring on people after someone dies. Jenny had tried thinking through the conversations she might have, and there wasn’t one that worked.

“I’m so sorry about your husband!”

“That’s okay! He was cheating and we were about to get divorced.”

She couldn’t say these things and didn’t want the kids to know, so she kept this close and it added another layer to her grief. The idea that her husband left her for another woman was humiliating. It also filled her with doubt. How had she missed this? When did Hank change?

They had met when they were just sophomores in college, got married the next year, and had a baby the year after. He had graduated on time while she took care of Matt, going through online courses until she got her college degree a few years later. People had warned them they were getting married young, but was that it? Had Hank changed? Had she? Jenny hated trying to mentally pick through the wreckage of their marriage and she didn’t want anyone else to do it either.

Pride kept her from telling people and that same pride made her long to prove that she could do it on her own. Even though she felt like a daily and constant failure. Secretly, Jenny really wanted someone to take care of her. Not just financially. It felt cheesy, but she wanted someone to care for her heart. To sweep her up in a hug, to tell her she was cared for, treasured, and most of all, not all alone. It had been so long since she felt any of those things.

She didn’t want to admit it, but long after Roman left, she kept thinking of being wrapped up in his big, strong arms.

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