Page 35 of The Billionaire Benefactor

Chapter 11

“Let me get this straight: you’re helping our little widow friend by paying off her dead husband’s mistress?” Blake smirked, but Tony looked dumbfounded.

Roman pulled a face. “It sounds terrible when you put it that way. But it’s accurate. Yes.”

The same afternoon that Roman saw Jenny, he called his lawyer and had him contact Amanda. Roman had been right—she didn’t have a leg to stand on legally, but the lawyer confirmed that she was getting nasty. They drew up a settlement and Roman wrote a check. As much as he hated to give money to anyone who would act that way, he kept picturing Jenny as she cried, not wanting her kids to find out about her husband’s unfaithfulness. As part of the contract, Amanda had to agree not to contact Jenny again.

She didn’t know that Roman was involved—the lawyer said he worked for Jenny. If Amanda knew about him, Roman suspected she would keep coming back for more money, knowing it was available. He made the settlement just enough to get her to stop, but not an unusually large amount. He hadn’t told Jenny that the lawyer took care of things and didn’t plan to tell her about the money, ever. They’d talked every night this week, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell her about the lawyer. He wasn’t good at lying, even over the phone. Maybe he could have the lawyer call Jenny. Or maybe she’d just forget when Amanda didn’t call again.

With her, for some reason, all his cool confidence dried up and he found himself nervous and unsure. They had shared an intimate moment when she wept and he held her. He even kissed her head—something he hadn’t meant to do. The urge to care for her was simply overwhelming. Then Charles showed up. Jenny said she wasn’t interested in him, but Charles hadn’t seemed to realize it. Was that how she saw Roman too and he wasn’t paying attention to the signs? They had talked about more surface things in their daily phone calls. Roman was afraid to push too far, he but wanted to have some sense of how she felt about him. Patience was not something he possessed.

L’Trel looked between Blake and Tony. “What’d I miss the other week? Is this chick super hot? Did she put a voodoo spell on our most eligible bachelor?”

“She is hot. And she can make a killer homemade pizza,” Tony said.

Blake snapped his fingers. “Which reminds me—did you get the recipe for me yet?”

“Nope. Dang. I guess I get to call her again.” Roman grinned. He didn’t tell them he had talked to her every day that week.

The guys laughed. They were at Roman’s house again and L’Trel had brought fajitas. With about a month left before they started training, it was like they were all trying to squeeze the most out of what free time they had.

“Call who?” Roman’s face shot to the doorway where his mother stood, her face serious. “Don’t tell me that you’ve met a girl and you haven’t told me.” Not one of the guys said anything. Not so much as a chuckle.

“Um,” Roman said.

His mom laughed. “Actually: do tell me you’ve met someone. Then tell me everything about her.”

As she crossed the kitchen to give Roman a hug, he shot warning glances at the guys. The last thing he wanted was to involve his mother. Not yet, anyway. Normally he did tell her everything, but this was too new and too unsure. He also suspected that she would have the same doubts he did about Jenny.

“It’s nothing,” Roman said.

“He just met the woman of his dreams, Mrs. B,” Blake said, obviously missing Roman’s silent signals.

“Roman! Stop holding out on your mother. Spill. Who is she? I know if you don’t tell me, your friends will.”

“Her name is Jenny,” Roman said, shooting Blake a death glare. All three guys seemed amused by this whole situation and settled down to watch Roman squirm.

“And? Where did you meet her? What’s she like? When can I meet her?”

“I haven’t actually asked her out yet, so you’ll have to wait on details. I’m not sure that she even wants to date me.”

His mother smacked him on the arm. “Who wouldn’t want to date you? You’re sweet, funny, handsome, and loaded.” She laughed and the guys did too. Roman just stood uncomfortably, hoping they could move on from this conversation.

“Not to mention he comes with the greatest friends ever,” Tony said.

“She’s very pretty,” Blake said.

“Wait—you’ve all met her?”

Roman tried to signal the guys to stop, but it was too late now.

“I haven’t,” L’Trel said, holding up his hands. “Don’t blame me.”

“Blake and I went with Roman to help her around the house. We put in sod and fixed her fence,” Tony said.

Blake jumped back in. “She’s an amazing cook. Super sweet. Plus, a great mom.”

No.Roman’s eyes widened and there was a sudden tension in the air. Blake seemed to realize right away and tried backpedaling. “She’ll be a great mom.”

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