Page 2 of The Billionaire's One-Night Baby

He was shocked when her lips brushed his, transferring lightning from her mouth to his. He tried to pull away, but she just followed, her hands stroking his chest, her tongue in his mouth. Suddenly it was too much, she was irresistible, and his arm banded around her and he tumbled into a world he didn’t know existed.

She tasted of mint and madness, grief and sadness. He knew this was the wrong time and place, that she was feeling overwhelmed and out of control, but he needed to learn her taste, have her scent lodged in his nose, feel her slim body pressed up against his. Her bottom was fuller than he’d expected, her hips curvier, and her breast filled his hand perfectly.

Jago pulled her dress up her slim thigh, sighing when she shivered, feeling more like a man than he ever had before. And yes, her skin did feel like warm silk, her hair smelled like sunshine and underneath his hand her heart, like his, triple-thumped.

He, suddenly and powerfully, longed to see her naked. He needed to know her, to count every freckle, to stroke every curve. He craved the feel of her long legs around his waist. It was vital to experience her feminine heat, to lodge himself inside her.

Forgetting where they were, who he was, Jago pulled her down to the bed, his hand encircling her thigh, his mouth fused to hers. Time stopped and the world stopped turning and there was only Dodi...

But Thadie, calling Dodi’s name, shattered the moment. Dodi reacted quicker than he did, bolting off the bed and running for the bedroom door. He was still trying to process why his arms were empty when Dodi stepped out of the bedroom to meet Thadie in the hallway, pulling the bedroom door shut behind her and keeping his presence a secret.

Jago sat on the end of the bed for a long, long time, his head in his hands, mentally whipping himself for his lack of self-control. Then he left the bedroom and walked out of her house and out of her life.

Dodi had made him lose control. That was unacceptable and so she must be avoided.

CHAPTER ONE

DODIDAVISSTOODjust inside the front door of Love & Enchantment, the bridal shop she had inherited from her grandmother, Lily, and tried to ignore the familiar burn somewhere around her heart.

Wasn’t it the law somewhere that the owner of a shop providing wedding dresses and accessories to excited brides be...well, excited?

Or, at the very least, believe in marriage and love and happy-ever-afters?

Dodi didn’t.

‘Dan didn’t work out, but when you find the right man you’ll feel differently, darling,’ Lily had said, sounding completely convinced days before she died five years ago. Dodi hadn’t wanted to argue with the woman who’d been her port in every storm, the one adult in her life who’d given her love and attention, who’d made her feel safe. A few weeks after her devastating diagnosis, they’d discussed her dying—her doctors had suggested she had just three months, if that—and what came next. It had been a horrible, awful, wretched conversation. Tears streaming, she couldn’t tell Lily that she’d seen the worst of love, that she didn’t believe in it and certainly didn’t want to spend her life promoting the scam.

Lily, ravaged by cancer, hadn’t needed the reminder that her son and daughter-in-law’s lives had been a roller coaster of never-ending drama.

Dodi’s parents had separated when she was three, divorced when she was four. Remarried when she was twelve and divorced when she was fourteen. In between their marriages and affairs, her dad had married once and her mother twice. Dodi vaguely remembered her one stepmother and two stepfathers but had lost count of the number of partners and lovers she’d met along the way.

Her parents liked variety and lots of it. To her parents love was possession and passion, and she was collateral damage—a human pass-the-parcel—lost and forgotten in their quest to chase down their next sexual or emotional high.

About a month before Lily’s death, Dodi had got a call that rocked her world, shattered her soul. The caller told her that she’d been having an affair with Dan—her first real friend, her first lover and the man she’d thought she’d be with for ever—and that she wasn’t the first lover he’d had...that year.

Dodi had immediately launched into a ‘stand by your man’ and ‘he wouldn’t do that’ series of protestations, but the caller had proof, photos and text messages, and credit card receipts for hotels and dinners for two at places she’d never visited.

Dan’s lover, sick of playing second fiddle, had also gleefully informed her that he’d played a series of mind games with her since the day they met and that his proclamations of love and forever were a lie. She’d had to face the hard truth that her best friend, the person she trusted and loved, second only to Lily, had cheated on her, more than once and with more than one woman.

Emotionally numb, she’d delayed confronting Dan until after Lily’s death, partly because she couldn’t deal with another emotional fallout as she watched Lily die, and partly because she hadn’t wanted to upset Lily, who’d adored Dan.

Lily had had a near-perfect marriage, cut short by her grandpa’s heart attack, and she’d loved love, loved her store and loved her only grandchild. So, to Lily, it made sense for Dodi to inherit Love & Enchantment, her renowned bridal boutique situated in Melville, an arty and bohemian suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic powerhouse.

She loved this city, built on gold and one of the biggest on the continent. She loved its vibrancy and its crazy drivers, its fast-paced hustle and its blend of communities and nationalities. She loved the vitality of Soweto, the messiness of Alex, the gentility of Rosebank. She adored its cold winter days and, when the wild storms pounded it during its hot summers, its unapologetic in-your-face energy.

Love & Enchantment contained the largest selection of sample wedding dresses and bridesmaid gowns in the country and showed off the skills, artistry and creativity of the most elite wedding dress designers in the world.

Dodi appreciated the product but wasn’t a fan of what the dresses, and all the other accessories—bridesmaid and flower girl dresses, veils, shoes and bling—represented. Standing in the empty salon, Dodi felt like a fraud, trapped and frustrated.

Just once, she wanted tochoosethe situation she found herself in...

She’d been bounced between her parents’ homes, and when she was sixteen she’d been, without discussion or warning, dumped with her grandmother, someone she’d never met. Dan’s cheating and gaslighting had devastated her and Love & Enchantment had been forced on her...

Okay, enough, stop! You sound like an ungrateful brat!

Her childhood wasover, Dodi told herself, and Dan was a mistake she’d never repeat as she was done with relationships. Moving in with Lily was thebestthing that had ever happened to her and howdaredshe complain about inheriting Lily’s considerable assets and fantastic business? If she hated the shop so much, then why hadn’t she sold it, moved away, done something different?

She’d studied design at university, then pursued an additional business degree, thinking she’d like to travel before joining an upmarket retailer as a trend-spotter or a buyer for retail fashion. She’d travel the world, wear designer threads, liaise with the top designers in the world...

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