Page 33 of The Billionaire's One-Night Baby

She sighed, reminding herself that she had a shop, one that she’d been given by a woman who loved her, who’d rescued her. Who’d expected her to carry on her legacy.

Dodi dropped her feet and faced him, placing one elbow on the table and resting her temple in the palm of her hand. She wanted to tell him, she realised. She wanted to unburden herself, to share the messy feelings of gratitude and resentment and discontent, hoping that he would understand.

‘You’re right, I have issues with the salon,’ she quietly told Jago and immediately wished she could pull the words back. Because she felt colder now, swamped with an icy blanket of guilt and ingratitude.

Jago didn’t look surprised. He slowly nodded. ‘I’ve known that for a while. At Thadie’s dress fitting, you were all business, totally in your head and on a mission to make sure the dresses were perfect. You seemed almost unmoved.’

Dodi grimaced. ‘Dammit, I hope Thadie didn’t realise that.’

‘Nah, it was because I was watching you so closely that I noticed.’

‘Why were you watching me so closely?’ Dodi asked, confused.

Jago sent her a soft, heat-filled smile. ‘Because I had brushed up against you earlier and I was transported back to that kiss. I was not only fighting my impulse to drag you into my arms but also trying to work out how my sister’s best friend morphed into an even more stunning woman than the one I kissed five years ago. And why you did strange things to my blood pressure.’

His voice was like hot chocolate after playing in the snow, tart lemonade after swimming in the sea. Soothing and rather wonderful. And he’d felt all of that? Really? ‘Ah... I don’t know what to say to that.’

But damn, I could kiss you. I could kiss you for the longest, longest time.

Jago cleared his throat, stood up and picked up his glass. He yanked the wine bottle out of the fridge and filled his glass before briefly resting the cold bottle against his forehead. He released a deep, loud sigh before replacing the bottle in the fridge. But instead of returning to his chair opposite her, he leaned against the island, crossing his ankles.

How she’d love to see him in jeans and a T-shirt, wearing board shorts...barefoot and bare-chested. He had a clotheshorse body and looked good in anything, even a pair of smart black trousers and a white shirt, but man, she’d love to see him in something different.

Naked. Naked would be good.

‘Why do you hate working at Love & Enchantment, Dodi?’

Damn, they were back to this. Dodi wanted to deflect the question, tried to think of a subject change but couldn’t raise the energy. And really, did it matter if Jago knew? He was the one person in the world who never blabbed—hell, he was so far from being a Chatty Kathy it wasn’t even funny, and she knew he’d never share her secret and her shame.

‘I feel like a fraud.’ There, she’d said it.

Jago frowned, instantly puzzled. ‘A fraud? Why?’

Dodi dragged her finger across the table, drawing imaginary pictures in her head. She couldn’t look at him. If she did, she’d never get the words out.

‘My grandparents had a fairy-tale relationship. By all accounts they were soul mates. My grandfather died when my father was young. Lily already had the bridal shop and she adored helping brides, loved hearing their ‘meet-cute’ stories and hearing about their fiancés and their weddings. She was so into love and weddings and happily-ever-afters. I used to tease her, tell her that she lived in a romance novel, that the real world didn’t work like that,’ Dodi said, smiling at the memories of her gran’s outrage. ‘She told me that one day I would fall in love, and I’d see what she was talking about.’

‘I take it that didn’t happen? Or maybe it did, and your relationship went sour?’

She wished she had such an easy explanation. ‘Not exactly.’ Dodi tapped her finger against the table, the sound of her nail hitting the wood filling the silence. ‘To explain, I need to tell you about my parents. My father was Lily’s only child, and he was...different. Difficult. Fantastically intelligent but impulsive and free-spirited and stubborn. He met my mum at university. Met? No, that’s too tame a word. I sensed that they collided, smashed into each other. Two wilful, spoiled, sexual creatures who wanted what they wanted when they wanted it.’

She stopped, feeling like a cork about to shoot out of its bottle. She’d never spoken to anyone about her parents and how she felt about them.

‘Get it out, Elodie Kate.’

‘I was an afterthought, something or someone they were burdened with. A drag.’ Dodi felt a cold hand clutch her heart, and she was a child again, feeling helplessness and bone-deep fear. ‘They hated being lumbered with me and didn’t bother to hide their frustration from me.

‘They wanted to be free, to circle each other, to move away, to come back, but I was the unwanted heirloom they didn’t want and couldn’t get rid of. Neither of them wanted me permanently. They took turns leaving, both married and divorced other people, remarried each other, divorced, and their biggest arguments were over me and who had custody of me. I was never sure where I would live, on whose doorstep I’d land, whether I’d like my new stepmother or stepfather.’

‘Jesus, Dodi.’

‘My father cut off all communication with my grandmother around the time my parents married, and Lily lost track of them. She wasn’t even aware she had a granddaughter until I landed on her doorstep.’

He frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

Why would he? ‘Shortly before my sixteenth birthday, my parents concocted a plan. They were done with me, that much they agreed on. My dad told me to pack a bag, that we were taking a trip. We landed at Lily’s, he told her I was his granddaughter and that he was going out for a while, to give us time to become acquainted. He didn’t return, didn’t answer our calls, and two days later the rest of my stuff arrived by courier.’

As she’d expected, Jago looked horrified. ‘That’s...diabolical,’ he stated, anger in his voice.

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