Page 67 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

God save me.

We said our goodbyes to my shellshocked parents—I think they were still trying to grasp that I could be seeing someone, since I’d been divorced for years with nary a date—and hit the road back to the cottage to pick up my briefcase for that afternoon’s workload.

Soon as Dex signed the papers, we needed to get going on a preliminary timeline of when we were going to start work on his home, which included lining up Designing Women’s different departments—well, our different women. We didn’t exactly have departments yet.

But we would, in time. We were still in the early years of growing our business.

Each woman had a specific area of expertise, and she picked subcontractors to execute her vision. Or in the case of TJ, who handled a lot of the hands-on carpentry work, she got down and dirty herself and just hired on extra manpower as needed, most often some of the members on John Gideon’s crew from Gideon Gets It Done.

Hopefully, my daughter would see my dedication to our women-owned business and maybe one day she would follow suit. Or maybe not. The world was her oyster and I wanted her to do whatever would make her happy. I just wanted her to see she had options.

She didn’t have to marry the first rich man who happened along and said he wanted to “take care of her”, so she didn’t have to work “menial” jobs all her life.

I’d learned quite well how that worked out.

Dex stopped at the ice cream stand. Berry got—what else—a berry and vanilla twist and a vanilla pup cup for Bob that even came with a little insulated bag to reduce melting. She seemed even more excited about the dog’s treat than her own.

I tried to beg off anything but Dex got a chocolate cone and foisted a chocolate-vanilla twist cone on me that I ended up eating before we even got to my place.

“Missed a spot,” he teased when I wiped off my cheek, waiting to kiss me until Berry raced inside to get some vitally important homework she’d forgotten.

It was remarkably hard to detangle myself from him to go in and get my paperwork—and not only because he tasted deliciously of chocolate.

Hadn’t I had enough of him last night and this morning? Survey said emphatically no.

I couldn’t even pretend not to be disappointed we couldn’t curl up on one of the many luxurious beds in his home for the afternoon and, well, not work. At all.

By the time I made it back to his car, briefcase bulging with even more work than last week, Berry was questioning Dex if I was going to tear down his house and build a new one. Where she’d gotten that idea, I had no clue.

I still needed to talk to her about her nightmare from the previous evening. I hadn’t wanted to discuss it in front of Dex, just in case she wasn’t comfortable with that. Now we were spending the afternoon at his place again, so I wasn’t sure when we’d get a chance to discuss it.

I really couldn’t keep spending my weekends with Dex. Even though I’d only done it twice so far, I was already setting a dangerous precedent.

We parked in his driveway beside a cute sky-blue coupe and walked in the house, laughing over Berry asking what neutering meant for Bob and too bad he couldn’t find a girlfriend to make puppies with. But as soon as Ms. Perky Tits met us at the door, all of that fell away.

To be fair, my own pair was still reasonably perky. I’d always judge them due to breastfeeding and yet more stretch marks, but all in all, they were in fine shape. Just Kate’s were about two inches below her neck, I was almost sure.

Even her name was perky.

“Oh, Mr. Shaw, there you are. Just ignore those voicemails I left. Everything is fine. I just wanted to make sure you were okay…” She trailed off, spotting me and Berry behind him. “Oh, hi! I’m Kate.” She held out a hand to me then to my daughter. “I didn’t know you were bringing over friends.”

I had to literally bite my tongue not to announce I wasn’t a friend, I was the woman who’d been in his bed this morning. The little girl hopping from foot to foot beside me in her impatience to see Bob put the kibosh on that.

As did my last shred of sense.

“Oh, these aren’t friends. Shelby is Berry’s mom. And Shelby and I are—”

“Dating,” I interjected with a vehemence I certainly hadn’t shown with my parents.

Berry nodded importantly. “Pretty sure they’re having the sex.”

Kate’s blue eyes widened to the size of half dollars as she glanced up at Dex. “Really?” The question came out as a squeak. “You didn’t tell me?”

“Why would he need to tell his pet-sitter?”

Her mouth rounded. “I didn’t think that was all I was.”

She ignored Dex’s attempts to get her attention as she rushed to grab her purse off the hall table and bulleted out the front door before her cute little coupe zipped down the drive.

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