Page 20 of The Billionaire's One-Night Baby

For being so cool, so unaffected...for transporting her back to her childhood when nothing she said or did resonated with her parents. She’d brought home brilliant report cards. They didn’t care. She was hauled into the principal’s office—not her fault!—and they’d never bothered to respond to her request for a meeting. They’d shipped her off to live with a stranger...

If she hadn’t gone to live with Lily, she might’ve grown up thinking that her life with her parents was normal, that all mums and dads were uninterested and that kids were supposed to raise themselves. But Lily’s deep interest in every facet of her life—her achievements but also her feelings—only highlighted what dreadful parents they were, how much love she’d missed out on. Was it any wonder that she’d fallen into Dan’s arms? She’d been a needy, lonely schoolgirl, so empty of love. And he’d been so attentive.

Was she repeating her past mistakes?

Had she slept with Jago because she was lonely, looking for a connection, needing to feel as if she mattered to someone? Oh, of course she mattered to Thadie, but she was, naturally, low on her list of priorities right now. Thadie had the twins, Clyde, a wedding to plan, a new life to embrace. They’d always be friends but her boys, and Clyde, would always come first.

A small part of her, the piece that wasn’t cynical and untrusting, wanted to be someone’s beginning and end, have their complete attention, be the focus of their interest. Dodi sighed, reluctantly admitting that she’d had that with Jago. For one night she’d been the object of Jago’s intense focus, and she’d loved it. But one night had led to enormous consequences...

But not all consequences were terrible. Okay, she was super-angry that she hadn’tchosento fall pregnant, but, on the other hand, this baby would be the one person who’d be fully hers, someone who couldn’t leave or be taken away, someone she could safely love with all her heart.

She and The Speck would be a team...

And she didn’t need Mr ‘Nothing Rocks My Boat’ Le Roux.

As a single parent, she could control her world, her Speck’s world and keep them safe, emotionally as well as physically. By calling the shots, she would always know the ground beneath her was stable, that she wouldn’t be forced, manoeuvred, or negotiated into a situation she didn’t choose or feel comfortable in. She could work with that...

Dodi heard the chime of her gate’s intercom and cocked her head, frowning. She looked at her watch. It was past ten—who on earth would be visiting her?

Jago.It had to be. He was the only person arrogant enough to ring her doorbell nearly half a day after being a cool, dismissive arse.

Picking up her white T-shirt, she walked into the passage, pulled it on and stopped by the stairs to look at the security screen attached to the wall. Yep, that was his swanky car parked in front of their communal boom gate. She swiped the screen to give her a view of the camera pointed at the driver’s seat and could see his tense, scowling face.

Dodi watched as he ran a hand across his eyes, pushed it through his short hair. He looked as shattered as she felt...

His hand came out of the car to push the button again and Dodi jumped. He looked directly into the camera, somehow sensing she was watching him.

Dodi picked up the receiver. ‘That was a long meeting, Le Roux,’ she told him, not bothering with a greeting.

‘Let me in, Elodie Kate.’

When hell froze over. ‘It’s late. Go away.’

He didn’t drop his gaze from the camera, and even though the feed was black and white she caught the irritation in his eyes. ‘I can sit here all night with my finger on this buzzer. We can do it now or at four in the morning, your choice, but I’m not leaving until we talk.’

Dodi didn’t doubt his words. She knew how determined the man could be. He never gave up and he never backed down so, yeah, he’d stay there until she either called the police or her neighbours did, or she let him in.

She cursed and spoke again. ‘I’m number ten in the complex. Go right, right again, and left. I’m at the top of the hill.’ She slammed the phone down, hit the button to raise the barrier and rested her forehead against the cool wall at the top of the stairs.

The man was infuriating. Sexy as hell but simply exasperating. And, dammit, irresistible.

There was something magical about a single woman’s house, Jago decided as he stepped into Dodi’s small hallway. That element of enchantment had something to do with the feminine scents that hit his nose, a combination of her perfume, laundry softener and handpicked roses in a fat glass jar.

Removing his phone from the pocket of his trousers, he placed it, and his car keys, on the small table in the hall and followed Dodi into a vibrantly colourful room. The walls were a rouge pink, the L-shaped sofas a bold blue, and mismatched prints of flowers and figures covered the main wall. Six, no, seven clay-fired pots held luscious plants and the room led into a small conservatory holding a small wooden desk and sixties-style chair. Nothing matched, everything clashed, but it worked. It shouldn’t but it did.

‘Let’s sit outside,’ Dodi said, leading him through her conservatory and onto a small outside deck. She gestured to a small wrought-iron table painted in a bold shade of tangerine and rocked on her feet, obviously uncomfortable. Or annoyed. Or a combination of both.

Frankly, he didn’t blame her. He’d reacted badly earlier, and he’d barged in here tonight.

‘Got anything to drink?’ he asked, keeping his tone mild. ‘I think this conversation calls for alcohol.’

Politeness warred with fury, but she eventually wrinkled her nose. ‘White wine? A light beer?’

‘Wine will work.’

Dodi nodded and spun around on her pretty bare feet to walk back into her house. He watched her slim form until she disappeared into the house, thinking that she had the perfect figure to wear tight leggings. Rounded hips and butt, flat stomach, long, long legs. Then he recalled those legs wrapping around his hips, and her breathy moans and how she had dug her nails into the base of his spine.

But their mutual delight and pleasure—he was in no doubt that she’d enjoyed their time in bed as much as he had—resulted in her falling pregnant, and that was what he had to focus his attention on. Not her lovely breasts under that tight white cropped T-shirt, or his quest to discover where else she had delightful freckles...

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