Page 13 of The Billionaire Benefactor

“Lucy! Come here, sweetie.” Jenny waved her over and Lucy walked slowly, her eyes wide.

“Why are they so big?” she asked as Jenny picked her up and balanced her on her hip next to Roman. She looked up at him for a moment. Roman smiled. After looking at him with a very serious expression, she smiled back.

“They play football for the Roughnecks, Lu,” Matt said, rolling his eyes. He took another few pictures.

“That’s probably enough,” Jenny said. She turned with Lucy. “Lucy, this is Mr. Roman, Mr. Tony, and Mr. Blake.”

“Why do you have long hair?” she asked Blake.

“Lucy!” Jenny said.

“It’s okay,” Blake said. “I like long hair because it looks better in braids. Want to braid my hair?”

Lucy gave him a big smile. “I can’t braid. Mommy, can you braid his hair?”

Jenny looked at Blake, who took the ponytail holder out and shook his hair loose. “What do you think? One braid or two?”

“Uh,” Jenny just stared.

Lucy giggled and Roman again felt annoyed with Blake. But it wasn’t annoyance, was it? Jealousy. It was totally ridiculous and out of place. Roman might be the most eligible bachelor and have the bank account with the most money, but Blake was the one with all the charm. He shouldn’t be trying to charm her, though. Roman shot him a glare, but Blake ignored him.

“I actually need to go finish up dinner,” Jenny said.

“Oh, you’re cooking?” Blake’s eyes lit up.

“She doesn’t need to do that,” Roman said. “You don’t need to do that. We should go and get out of your way.”

Jenny’s face fell. “Oh, sure. That’s fine. I’m sure you’re very busy.”

“What were you making?” Blake asked.

“Blake,” Roman said.

“Homemade pizza,” Jenny said. “I’ve already made the dough. But I don’t want to keep you…”

“We’ll stay,” Tony said. “You said the magic word.”

“Pizza?” Jenny asked.

“Homemade,” Tony said.

“That would be amazing,” Blake said.

“You really don’t need to—” Roman started, but Tony elbowed him.

“We’d love to stay, Jenny,” Blake said. “And while you’re finishing up, I think we have a game of football to play.”

Matt’s face lit up. He handed Jenny her phone and ran to grab the ball he had brought out earlier.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Jenny said.

“And you don’t have to make us dinner,” Blake said. “We want to. It will be fun. Lucy, want to be on my team since we have the longest hair?”

She smiled. “Are you any good?”

Everyone laughed, but Matt rolled his eyes. Roman could tell he didn’t really want his sister playing. Jenny must have seen this too. “Hey, Lu, want to help me roll out pizza dough?”

“Yeah!”

Jenny carried her back inside as Tony tossed the ball to Matt. Before Jenny made it back into the house, Roman caught Jenny glancing back at him, tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

Thank you, she mouthed. Roman could only smile in return. Not the smile he gave to the photographers. A real one.

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