Page 43 of The Billionaire Benefactor

“Dad!”

“It’s okay,” Roman said. “I told Matt that I’d have to get him tickets for the upcoming season. I’ll make sure you’re included in that.”

“You know the way to a man’s heart,” Bob said. Liz and Jenny rolled their eyes.

“Mom, can you put the flowers in water? Once Lucy lets go of them, that is.”

Jenny giggled and Roman looked at Lucy, who was sitting on the couch with the flowers in her lap. They were almost the size of her. Lucy was adorable and melted his heart a little, but was he ready to take on the idea of her as his? Dating Jenny long term would mean that Roman would be a father soon. With no prep and with kids who already had a system in place. He felt his smile freeze into place. Sometimes he felt totally okay with all of it and other times the reality of it threatened to overwhelm him. He pushed away the thoughts.

“We should go,” he said. “Do you have everything?” He’d noticed that she didn’t have a purse.

Jenny slid her cell phone out of an invisible pocket in the skirt of the dress. “It has pockets,” she said, her eyes bright. “Mom, call me if you need anything. Especially if—”

“We’ve got this,” Liz said, waving a hand at Jenny.

“It was good to meet you,” Roman said. “See you around, Matt! Night, Lucy!”

Roman waited by the door while Jenny said longer goodbyes to Matt, who kept trying to shrug her off, and Lucy. He tried not to think about the time, but he knew his mother would be anxious if he wasn’t there soon. Roman knew the expectations too well: when to arrive, who the right people were, how to talk to the right people. He hoped that bringing Jenny would give him a little bit of an out so that he could actually spend time with her tonight, rather than just playing the part of Roman Bennett, pro football player and son of Madeline and Reggie Bennett.

As they walked down the sidewalk, Roman put his hand on the small of Jenny’s back. The dress was so low that his fingertips were on her skin. He resisted the urge to trace her backbone up to her neck.

The driver held the door open and Roman took Jenny’s hand as she climbed in, then jogged around to let himself in on the other side. He scooted to the middle seat to be closer to Jenny.

“You look beyond beautiful,” Roman said. “Did I already tell you that?”

“Maybe, but I’m going to say no, so you can say it again.”

“You look beautiful.”

She laughed. “I have you to thank for it. This dress is incredible. I can’t thank you enough, Roman.”

“I didn’t say the dress was beautiful. But it’s definitely a nice compliment to the person in it. Eva said you only fought her a little bit on it,” he said.

“I liked Eva. I couldn’t fight too hard. I love the dress. It’s hard to accept this kind of gift, but I love that you would even think to do it.”

“Would it make you feel better if I tell you that this was a selfish gift? Because now I get to see you in this dress. It’s quite the view.”

Jenny poked him in the bicep. “Maybe you were just too used to me in yoga pants.”

“I like you in yoga pants too.” He laughed and put his arm around Jenny. The feel of her in his arms was addictive. Roman was tempted to tell the driver to get on the beltway and just circle the city, but he knew his mother was waiting, as was the press.

“Now the big question: Do you want to walk in with me?”

Jenny looked quizzically at him. “As opposed to…?”

“Well, it’s just that the press is there because it’s an event. There’s a red carpet and all that. I’ll be interviewed and photographed. They’ll ask questions about you and may want to interview you as well.”

“Oh,” she said. “I’ll do it if you don’t mind having me.”

Roman frowned. He hadn’t expected her to say yes. He was so used to the press and their questions and knew just how to handle them, but it still overwhelmed him at times. Jenny wouldn’t be ready for it. “I should have prepped you. I don’t mind having you, but I don’t know if you want to come under the magnifying glass yet. Your picture will be online and in the paper. They’ll ask questions about you and they’ll for sure learn about Hank.”

She looked down at her hands in her lap. He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “I’ve thought about this before—the whole idea of your fame and all that. I just hadn’t thought about the specifics of it really.”

“I’m sorry. It’s a lot to think about. We could always sneak you through a side door so you can avoid all the public. For now.”

Jenny pulled the phone out of the hidden dress pocket and spun it in her hands, flicking it on and off as she did. “What do you think is best, Roman?”

He considered this. He would love to show Jenny off. But for her sake, he hated the idea of the press latching onto her. They’d dig and find things quickly: her husband had been buried just over a month ago. She had kids. Roman had been single for years, never married, no kids, was younger. Anytime he’d been spotted with anyone, the gossip sites went crazy and some of his fans became overly critical, even so far as to look up and harass women on social media. He was afraid that the public outcry would fall hard on her and she wasn’t prepared. He didn’t want her to have to suffer through the Twitter attacks and the blog and news articles that cropped up every time he was seen with a woman.

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