Page 35 of Billion-Dollar Baby Bargain

The day ended all too soon.

After securing Dylan in the backseat, Connor held the Maserati’s passenger door open for Victoria. And found himself staring at her legs with all the frustrated hunger of a university student eager for his first lay.

They were nice legs. Encased in opaque winter stockings, they were shapely, too. So why the hell hadn’t he noticed them before?

Probably because he’d never seen them. She usually wore black trousers, or long skirts in neutral colors. Black, navy or gray. She never wore a denim skirt that rode up.

Like now.

But he shouldn’t feel this…desperate…about stroking them.

She cleared her throat. “You can shut the door.”

Caught.

“Sorry.” He shook his head sheepishly. “Don’t know what I was thinking.”

She gave him an old-fashioned look. He shrugged and decided to try for some damage control. He didn’t need her knowing how she’d tied him into damned Gordian knots. “So I’ve always been a bit of a leg man—blame a male’s basic instincts.”

“Control those instincts.” But she laughed, flushing a little. “You’ve spent too long around the animals today, I think.”

“Perhaps,” he conceded.

If she only knew how much testosterone her spontaneous smile and slender body had unleashed, she’d be running for the hills—with him in hot pursuit.

He closed the door with a snap and strode around to the driver’s side.

A stolen sideways glance revealed that despite Dylan’s inquisitive fingers her hair was still sleek. Yet sometime during the day she’d lost the faint tension that always seemed to cling to her. It must be the fact that a smile had never been far from her lips.

It wasn’t something she did often enough.

He fired up the Maserati and pulled out onto the road. “Tired?” he asked as he stopped for a red light.

“Exhausted.”

He pushed the gearshift into neutral and turned his head. “At least I’m not alone in that.”

The smile she gave him caused his groin to tighten.

“But it was worth it,” she said. “Thanks. It was a great idea.”

Connor told himself to keep it light. “Zoos were created for adults.”

She tilted her head. “Why do you say that?”

“Didn’t you notice the amount of newborns and young babies? All those parents have been waiting years to legitimately get back into a zoo, bitterly regretting the day they told their parents that thirteen made them too cool for kiddie outings.”

She laughed.

Then she ruined his pleasure by pointing out, “The lights have changed.”

“Thanks.” Connor put the car into gear and accelerated smoothly away.

“You could be right. I think most of the parents there today were having more fun than the kids.” She leaned her head back on the headrest. “Dylan certainly slept through a good part of the day.”

And it had been during those spells that he’d been tempted to give in to the devilish urge to kiss her. Hot memories of the last time he’d kissed her—when she’d almost ended up totally naked on his lap—had kept him awake more than one night since she’d moved in. But he’d resisted it, fearing he might destroy the delicate truce that had developed between them.

“I had fun,” he murmured finally.

“Me, too.”

Her voice was smiling. Connor wished he could take his eyes from the road to study her, to see if the corners of her mouth had tipped up into that irresistible curve.

Okay, he wanted her. There. He’d admitted it. He wanted to soak himself in the scent of her, wanted to sate himself in her body.

So where did that leave him?

Connor started through the options with relentless efficiency. He would have to invest time in this—Victoria wouldn’t accept anything less, he was certain of that.

Yet he couldn’t possibly have an affair with Dylan’s coguardian. Somewhere down the line it would all turn to custard, and Dylan would be the one to suffer.

He thought back to earlier in the afternoon when Jordan’s mother had mistaken them for a couple. And Dylan for his baby…

It didn’t mean a thing.

Because she’d also assumed Victoria was Dylan’s mother.

A glance in the rearview mirror showed Dylan snoozing in the backseat of the Maserati, his dark-gray eyes closed, his cheeks pink and his mouth open in an O.

Goldy-brown eyes. The woman was a kook.

Victoria bore no resemblance to Dylan at all. They weren’t even related. But they could be…if he married her.

Because then she’d be the wife of Dylan’s sperm-donor father.

He tightened his hands around the steering wheel. God, how had this gotten so complicated? It made his head go numb.

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