Babysitting a Billionaire #2 - Out of Control(18)

She wasn't going to think about it until after the wedding. Then she'd talk to Jess, who was in charge while Jake was away, and she'd tell her to go find someone else to babysit Jake's buddy.

Chapter Ten

"Ugh. You've got to be kidding-pink?" Dani held the dress up against her and scowled at herself in the mirror. "You know, I didn't sign up for any pink dresses."

Kim grinned. "It will suit you, and it's hardly pink-pink."

Dani supposed she was right; the dress was a dark dusky pink. But pink was pink.




 

 

"It was a sort of dare," Kim said. "I told Jake I'd wear the whole long white dress thing if he told the two of you that you were wearing pink dresses."

"I'm not sure he ever did tell me," Dani said. "I might have run in the other direction."

"You probably weren't paying attention. He told me," Jess said. "And I told him-do your worst. No pink dress is going to scare me."

But then Jess would no doubt look gorgeous in the dress. She looked gorgeous in anything, with her perfect oval face, tall slim body, and fall of almost white, platinum-blond hair. The perfection was only made more obvious by the scar that ran down her right cheek to the corner of her mouth.

Kim was also tall and slender and beautiful, her dark brown hair streaked with various shades of red. Her honey-colored eyes glowed with happiness. Sandwiched between the two of them, Dani felt like a midget.

She was glad for Kim, but it made her feel alone somehow. Kim hadn't believed in love, but obviously, Jake had convinced her. What would it be like to feel like that? To love someone and know he cared in return, to trust that he would always care. That he wouldn't one day turn his back on you, abandon you when you needed him most. Or die.

She shook her head. It had been so long since she'd allowed herself to think of her family, and she really didn't want to start now. This was Kim's day and she would put on a big smiley face for it.

"I would have been happy with a registry office wedding, but Jake's mother wanted to do this and " Kim gave a resigned shrug. "She's a nice lady."

"God knows where Jake got his personality from then. Because I don't think 'nice' comes into his makeup anywhere."

"Hey, he's " Kim trailed off. "Okay, maybe not 'nice,' but he has his moments."

"I bet he does," Jess said drily. "Do any of those moments take place on his desk? I still can't look at that desk and not see the two of you-"

"Shut up. More than shut up. Forget I ever told you that."

"Can't. I've tried but the image is indelibly imprinted on my mind."

Dani grinned as she let the conversation wash over her. These two were her friends. She'd known Jess since they joined up together ten years ago and she'd known Kim for five years, ever since Kim had come to work for Jake's security company as the receptionist. They were the closest she had to family now.

"Come on," Kim said. "Let's try this dress on and see if it fits."

Dani lay the dress down and started to unbutton her shirt. She shrugged out of it and then out of her dark suit pants to stand in her bra and panties. 

"The bra as well," Jess said. "You won't need it."

"I won't?" But she unhooked it and tossed it on top of her clothes.

"Let me see," Jess said, crouching down in front of her and examining the scar. "It looks a hundred times better than last time I saw it."

Dani glanced down. Her skin now had a golden tint from lying in the sun and the scar appeared far less livid, no longer angry and red, but darkened. "In fact, you look a whole lot better altogether. Spain obviously agrees with you. And you've put on weight."

She shifted under the intense scrutiny. "It's relaxing. The dogs pretty much look after themselves, and I swim and run and eat and sunbathe." She picked up the dress and pulled it on over her head, smoothing the material down over her hips.

Jess moved behind her. "Lift up your arms."

She did, and Jess pulled up the zipper at the side. "Breathe in," she muttered. "You've definitely put on weight."

"Is it going to fit?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, she might burst out of it if she eats too much at the reception, but we'll get her into it." She stood back. "Hey, you look pretty."

Dani sucked in her stomach and tried to draw breath into her squashed lungs. "I can't breathe."

"You don't need to breathe. Go look at yourself."

She forced herself to peer into the mirror, focusing on the dress. It was long, touching the ground, and the bodice had inbuilt support, giving her seriously impressive cleavage.

"I never noticed you had breasts before," Kim murmured.

"Of course I've got breasts." Beautiful breasts, Zach had told her.

She continued the inspection. Slender straps held up the dress over her shoulders and she had to admit that the color went very nicely with her tan. She wasn't so sure about the hair, though. It was so red. Jess came up behind her, pulled the curls onto the top of her head, and held them there. "Perfect."

She wasn't perfect and certainly not next to her friends, but she looked nice.

What would Zach think? Would he even notice her amongst all the other no-doubt-glamorous guests? She bit her lip. Maybe it would be better if he didn't notice her. If he found someone else.

She had a flashback to the feeling of his hand between her legs. And then a surge of anger as she thought of him doing the same with some other woman. Some tall, gorgeous, perfect woman.

"You look fierce," Jess said, meeting her gaze in the mirror.

"I am fierce."

"Of course you are." Jess unzipped the dress. Dani stepped out of it and quickly pulled on her clothes.

The wedding wasn't until three p.m. that afternoon and Kim seemed amazingly calm considering she was the centerpiece in this circus. It was taking place at a castle in Scotland situated between Rannoch Moor to the south and the Highlands to the North. Jake had apparently just purchased it and the place was fantastic. A wonderful blend of ancient and modern.

They were in the room she was sharing with Jess and she strolled across to stare out over the wildness of the moor. Where was Zach? Was he close? They hadn't had a moment alone since Gary had woken on the plane. Gary had left them at Edinburgh airport. He was taking a couple of days off to visit family and would see them back in Spain. Two more of Jake's operatives had met them at the airport and taken over babysitting duty, but she hadn't had a chance to talk to Zach.

What was there to say, anyway?

He was playing with her. And she was playing with him. It didn't mean anything. She was a novelty, but so was he. There was no need for this to matter. And the plan had been time out. Now they were back in the real world. Weren't they? Though fairy-tale castles and pink dresses hadn't played much part in her real world up to now.




 

 

"So how is the job going?" Kim asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Good. I told you-there's not a lot for me to do."

"And how's the asshole playboy?" Jess said, sinking down onto one of the big double beds beside Kim.

Her lips twitched. "He's an asshole."

"You're smiling." Jess studied her through narrowed eyes, then gave her a long, slow perusal from top to bottom.

Dani held herself still but could feel a tic starting in her cheek. Jess patted the bed between her and Kim. "Come and sit down, Danielle."

She didn't want to. Or maybe she did. Maybe she would feel better if she talked all this out. Then Kim and Jess could tell her it meant nothing and she could go back to normal and stop thinking about sex.

She crossed the room slowly and sank down between them.

"So ?" Jess considered her next words. "If he's not an asshole, what is he?"

"He writes wonderful books," she said.

"You've read them?" Kim asked with a frown-she knew about Dani's dyslexia.

"He gave me audio copies of them-I listened."

"You told him about your dyslexia?"

"It came up."

Jess studied her. "Hmmm. What else came up?"

She lifted one shoulder, then squirmed under the concentrated focus of two sets of eyes boring at her from either side.

"Jake's never introduced us, but I've seen pictures of him," Kim said. "He's seriously gorgeous, but I got the impression he's a worse commitment-phobe than Jake."

"But Jake's not a commitment-phobe," Jess pointed out.

"Anyway, there's nothing like that between us," Dani muttered.

"So what is there?"

"We had sex."

No response. They both appeared shell-shocked. Then Kim broke the silence with an excited squeal. "Tell all."

"That is all. It was just sex."

Jess patted her on the arm. "Dani, you are sorry, were a twenty-seven-year-old virgin. There is no such thing as just sex for you. Otherwise you would have done it a long time ago."

"It was just once and-"

"It was an anti-climax, and you hated it?" Jess asked. She'd never had a high opinion of men.

"No. But I promised Gary I wouldn't go near him again."

"Who's Gary-your dad?"

"No, but Zach is my boss-sort of. And then Gary told Jake and Jake told Zach to back off. And he did. And that's that." 

"I'm thinking maybe not," Jess said. "And why? Why this man when there's been no one else?"