Page 29 of The Billionaire and I

“Me too.” I got up, made her a coffee, and slid it across the island. She grabbed it gratefully and smiled at me.

I smiled at her. And then I just…stood there. I didn’t know what to do. I was suddenly feeling… What the hell was I feeling?Shy?

“Would you like some cream?” I sounded like a server waiting on their first-ever table, petrified and wooden. I’d never actually had a woman in my penthouse for breakfast.Shit!I didn’t know what to do!

“Yeah, sure. Hey, are those waffles?” Jenny perked up at the sight of food. “Those look awesome!”

She maneuvered around me, grabbing the plates and popping them in the microwave. Then she rummaged around in my refrigerator for syrup. “This is the biggest frickin’ fridge I’ve ever seen. You could get lost in here!” She finally pulled out the syrup, triumphant. “Aha!”

Jenny grabbed the plates, clanged through some drawers until she found napkins and silverware, and then set everything on the island. “You want some orange juice?”

“Sure. I’d love some.” I watched, fascinated, as she bustled around the kitchen some more. She added cream to her coffee. She poured us each a glass of orange juice. She even found some powdered sugar and set it next to the maple syrup. What was I worried about? Jenny made everything easy.

But maybe that, in and of itself, was something to worry about. I decided not to think about it. Instead, I sat down next to her, put my hand on her bare thigh, ate my waffles, and drank my orange juice.

“Mmm, this is so good. Who made this? Shirley?” Jenny asked. “’Cause I know you didn’t!”

“My chef made it,” I admitted. “But how did you know it wasn’t me?”

She snorted. “There isn’t a crumbanywherein this place. You probably don’t even make yourself toast!”

We both eyed the toaster oven, which was brand-new, gleaming, and unused.

Jenny turned to me, eyebrow raised. “Need I say more?”

“Ha. No, you don’t.” I kept my hand on her thigh and finished my waffle. “What would you like to do today, Jenny?”

She shrugged. “I dunno. What do rich people do on a nice day like this?”

“I usually work,” I said, “but I’m off.” I’d just decided that. We didn’t have that much time together, and I intended to enjoy myself.

“Yay!” She grinned at me. “So, what should we do?”

I grabbed her hands. “I think we should go shopping. I want to get you some more dresses if that’s okay. I just found out we’re invited to the rehearsal dinner tonight at Il Pastorne, which is pretty formal.”

Jenny’s eyes widened. “You already spent so much on that other dress. You don’t have to do that, Cole?—”

“Iwantto do that. If it’s okay with you.”

She smiled. “Okay,” she said, giving in. “That’s real nice of you.”

“It’s my pleasure. Is there anything else you’d like to do?” I asked.

Jenny appeared to take my question seriously. Her pretty face screwed up into a grimace as she went quiet for a minute, considering her choices. “I’d like to go see the seals if that’s okay.”

I blinked at her. “I’m sorry?”

“Theseals. You know, the sea animals that are kind of round and look like torpedoes. They have whiskers.” She mimed hair coming out of her face.

“I know what a seal is,” I assured her, laughing. “I just don’t know where we can go see them.”

“At the aquarium, silly!” She hopped up and started gathering the dishes. “They have them in a big tank out front. It’sfree. You can just go there and watch them. I do it all the time.”

“You go see the seals all the time…?” This girl was full of surprises.

“Yeah,” she said. “They’re cute, you know? And I love animals. So sometimes I go stand there and watch them swim.”

“That sounds great, Jenny.” I hopped up and helped her with the dishes, even though I never picked up after myself. I literally had a “picker-upper,” a woman who worked for the managementcompany. She came to the penthouse every day and cleaned up after me when I left for work.

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