Page 47 of The Billionaire Benefactor

Jenny looked down where Caro still squeezed her hand. Her tongue felt stuck in her mouth. She had no response, only the sprout of new worries in her mind. Everything that Caro said rang true, at least a little. Her concerns echoed Jenny’s own.

She didn’t know how Roman felt because this was so new. Yet he’d met her children and her parents. This was moving too quickly. How did Roman really feel? How did she feel? Was she ready to move on, even to dating? A knot of worry formed in her stomach.

“Thank you for your honesty and your concern,” Jenny said, finally. “I have concerns as well. It’s hard to know exactly what to do in my situation. Roman is a wonderful man. I don’t want him confused about his feelings and getting…trapped into something without realizing what he’s getting into.”

Caro surprised Jenny by grabbing her in a hug. “Thank you so much for understanding. I can see why he likes you.”

But you just said he didn’t!Jenny wanted to jerk away, but she waited for Caro to pull away. “I better get back to Roman,” Jenny said. “It was great to meet you.”

“Likewise, Jenny. Best of luck to you with everything. Maybe I’ll see you again one day.”

Caro spoke like it had already been decided—Roman and Jenny shouldn’t date. She made her way across to Roman, trying to bite back the tears that she felt just on the verge. She had been looking forward to this night, but it had become way too intense. From feeling left out of the red-carpet event to the tension between Blake and Roman to the confusing talk with Roman’s mother, Jenny felt completely overwhelmed.

Before she reached him, Jenny realized that she couldn’t talk to him yet. Her thoughts were too loud and heavy. She slipped through double doors that led to a hallway with a few couches and the restrooms nearby. Jenny stood by the wall, out of sight of the doorway in case Roman had seen her leaving the room.

She had expected a nice night to dress up and dance with Roman, to see where things might go. An evening where they could see if they enjoyed each other without the pressure of figuring out every detail. Just a date.

Instead, she felt like the idea of a relationship with him had died before it ever began. His mother made it sound like Roman did this often, falling for women he tried to help. Whether or not that was true, the other things she said echoed the fears and reservations that Jenny had. Roman was so public. That would draw her into the public and her family as well. If things didn’t work, how would Matt and Lucy feel? They clearly already adored him. They’d lost their father—how would they feel if she got closer to Roman and then it didn’t last?

These were the kinds of thoughts she didn’t want to deal with tonight. She had pushed them all aside when Roman asked her out, telling herself she would figure it out later so she could enjoy a date. But now she realized how unwise that was. The worries made her hands tremble and again she slipped them into the pockets of the dress.

Maybe instead of a dance with him, she needed to ask him to take her home. If this wasn’t going to work, she’d rather end it now before her feelings developed any more for him. They were already way too strong. If his mother was correct, this would be better for Roman as well. She leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes.

“Jenny? Sweetheart?”

Her eyes snapped open at the sound of Roman’s voice. He stood in front of her, a few paces away, as though he had been hesitant to approach her. The term of endearment had her heart fluttering and she willed it to still. She couldn’t let herself fall. Too much was at stake.

“Everything okay?”

Jenny nodded but didn’t speak. His expression darkened. “Did my mother—”

“She was fine, Roman. I’m okay.”

His face relaxed as he glanced up and down at her dress, then back up to her face. The gaze had her cheeks heating up again. “Care to join me for a dance? We haven’t had one yet. I’ve hardly seen you. I hope this isn’t the worst date ever.”

When he smiled, she felt her heart breaking just a little bit. Not that she loved him—it was far too soon for that—but she felt like she could. He was the kind of man she might fall for under different circumstances. She worked to smile back, trying to banish the sadness she felt hung around her eyes. He held out an arm and she stepped forward and took it.

“I’d love to dance with you. I’ll warn you—I’m a little rusty. But I can follow.”

“Excellent,” he said. “I’ll do my best not to step on your tiny toes.”

Despite the heavy cloud of thoughts, Jenny giggled. “My toes aren’t tiny. They’re normal-sized.”

“Nope. You’re my tiny pixie.”

Jenny couldn’t help but smile at being called a pixie. It was too easy to let his words and his touch melt away the worries and concerns.

“Maybe I’m not a pixie. Maybe you’re a giant. Ever think of that?”

“I don’t know…the giant never gets the girl in the stories. And there are no giant-pixie love stories that I know of.”

“Maybe we…” Jenny stopped herself. She was going to say Maybe we could write our own. But she couldn’t. As much as Roman made it easy to forget the doubts, they were still there.

“What?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Roman pulled her into the center of the dance floor where other couples were already dancing as an orchestra played classical-style renditions of pop songs. He put a hand on her waist and took her other hand in his and led her in a basic box step around the floor. She hadn’t expected him to be graceful. For his size, he almost seemed to float on his feet, making it easy for her to follow.

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