His Ex's Well-Kept Secret(16)

Fair enough. Jaeger picked up her glass of whiskey, drained it and  stared across to New Jersey, his mind tumbling. Essentially, he needed  those sapphs; Piper needed the money. He wasn't prepared for Ballantyne  and Company to take the risk, but he could.

Along with this property, Connor had also made him-and his siblings-a  beneficiary on a multimillion-dollar insurance policy. Adding up the  money he'd received from the policy, his personal savings and the money  he'd inherited as his share of his parent's estate, he had a heap of  cash sitting in the bank, doing nothing.

He could offer Piper a loan against the future sale of the sapphires  provided she sold the sapphires to Ballantyne and Company. If she  reneged on the agreement, which he doubted she would, he could afford to  lose the three million. Hell, he could afford to lose a lot more.

His offer would secure the sapphires, and it would get Piper out of a  hole. It was one risk he felt reasonably comfortable taking. This way,  he and Piper could keep looking for provenance, which would ensure a  bigger profit for all of them.

And it would keep Piper from walking out of his life...

It was a no-brainer.

Jaeger calmly made the offer and watched the emotions dance through Piper's eyes. He saw relief and temptation and suspicion.

"You're offering to buy the stones? Yourself?"

"I am offering you an advance against the sale of the sapphires," Jaeger  replied, trying not to use the word loan. He thought the word would  make Piper twitchy.

He was right. "It's a loan, Jaeger."

"It's a temporary advance, Piper." Jaeger pushed his hand through his  hair. "Once the gemology report comes back, Ballantyne will offer you a  lot more for those stones, and you will repay me the money. It's not  rocket science."

Piper opened her mouth to argue, shut it again and repeated the action.  He lifted his eyebrows and waited another thirty seconds before speaking  again. "Okay, that's settled. I'll get the money to you, maybe by the  end of day tomorrow, but definitely by Monday."

That sexy mouth opened again, and Jaeger thought she was the most  gorgeous goldfish he'd ever seen. Deciding it was past time to change  the subject, he leaned back against the couch and folded his arms.  "You're looking very businesslike, Miss Mills. How's Ty feeling?"

"He's fine, back to normal. I haven't seen him today and when I get home he'll be asleep."

Piper fingered the hem of her skirt. "I was in Washington earlier and on  my way home when I got a call from the lawyers telling me about the  house." She licked her top lip, and Jaeger nearly offered to do it for  her. "Um, thank you. For the advance. I promise I'll pay you back."

"I know you will," Jaeger replied. "That's a given." If she kept looking  at him like that, all soft and grateful, then he wouldn't be able to  stop himself from taking her in his arms and seeing exactly how she  looked wearing just boots and glasses and crazy curls. "Tell me about  the art you saw today."

Piper looked at him. "Why are you doing this? You don't even know me."

Jaeger stood up and walked around the couch to the window, resting his  forearm on the glass and his head on his arm. He felt the air behind him  move, inhaled Piper's perfume as she joined him. She placed her hand on  the center of his back. He felt connected, for the first time in a long  time, to something bigger and deeper than himself. It scared the crap  out of him.

He swallowed, thinking he could tell her he didn't want the gems to go  to Moreau's, that securing the sapphires was all he cared about. The  sapphs were important-of course they were-but he didn't want her to lose  her house, lose her connection to her mother. He suspected emotional  connections were vitally important to Piper. It wasn't necessary for her  to be this stressed, this worried. This was a solution he could well  afford. But his impulse to offer the money went deeper than business; he  was trying to protect her. Seeing her so frazzled caused his intestines  to knot.                       
       
           



       

That sixty-foot wave was swelling to eighty feet. Why was he on this  crazy ride with her? His gut wasn't screaming that the risk was too  great. What if this wasn't just about getting her into bed? What if he  wanted more? God, he was risking emotional annihilation if he couldn't  master this ride, but he still didn't pull the offer, didn't back away.

He couldn't.

He forced the words out. "It's just money, Piper."

It could only be about money; he couldn't afford anything else-like his future or his heart-to be at stake.

Piper rested her forehead on his biceps, and he looked down at her  bright hair. He wanted her, and his raging desire had nothing to do with  gemstones or money or houses in Brooklyn.

He just flat-out wanted her under him, naked and panting. He had since she'd walked into his life a little less than a week ago.

Jaeger dropped his arm, turned to face her and waited for her to meet  his eyes. She would; he knew she would. She couldn't resist temptation  any more than he could. That he wasn't alone in this madness made him  feel, strangely, a little less like he was surfing that wave.

"Don't take this the wrong way," he said, his voice gruff, "but I want you."

Piper lifted her hand to touch his chest, and he felt her warmth through  the thin layer of his cotton T-shirt. "Don't take this the wrong way,  but I want you back."

He knew that. He was old enough to recognize mutual attraction when it  was standing between them, doing the tango. Sex was just sex, a good way  to blow off steam. They weren't kids, and he was sure Piper wouldn't  think this could be the start of something that went deeper than mutual  pleasure. He didn't want her getting the wrong idea. Hell, he didn't  want either of them getting swept up in the moment and thinking this was  more than it could be.

"Sex is all that's on the table, Piper." Jaeger jammed his hands in the  pockets of his jeans so he didn't reach for that big button that held  her wraparound skirt together.

"I never thought anything else was on offer," Piper replied, her eyes  steady on his. "Apart from the fact that we've known each other for a  week, I'm a single mother who has got more than enough to deal with  without the complication of a relationship. I'd like to be with you, for  an hour or two, so I can step out of my crazy life.

"I want to do nothing but touch you and have you touch me, think of  nothing more than how much pleasure you are going to give me. I need to  escape and I think I could, with you. A lover is what I need tonight."  Piper looked at her watch and grimaced. "Well, for the next hour or so."

Jaeger felt the air leave his body, and he lifted his hands so he could  frame her face. His fingers speared into her curls and she gripped his  wrists, looking up at him with big eyes. He couldn't wait to touch her,  to kiss her, but first things first.

He moved his hand to the back of her head and found the pins restraining  her curls. He pulled them out one by one and tossed them to the floor,  allowing her hair to fall over his hands and wrists. "That's better. Now  let's get rid of the skirt and shirt."

Piper started to remove her glasses, but Jaeger captured her hand and  pulled it back to her side. "Nope, the boots and glasses stay on..."

* * *

This was what she needed, Piper thought as Jaeger pulled her turtleneck  over her head, being careful not to dislodge her glasses, and dropped  the garment to the couch.

Jaeger ran his finger over the edges of her pale green lacy bra, from  one side to the other and back again. It felt like he was running a  gentle firecracker over her skin. Every cell in her body woke up and did  a hello-there-darling stretch.

Yeah, Jaeger touching her was exactly what she needed, what she wanted.  For eighteen months she'd thought of little more than Ty and his  needs-whether he was thriving, growing, happy. She hadn't had a date, or  sex, in far too long, and she'd forgotten how amazing it felt to be the  object of a man's attention-a very sexy man's attention.

It was a fantastically bad idea. That was indubitable. But she wanted him. So-what the hell?-she was going for it.                       
       
           



       

Jaeger undid the button on her skirt, and the length of fabric dropped  to the floor. She stood before him dressed in her lingerie, glasses and  boots. She thought she'd feel ridiculous, self-conscious, but Jaeger's  frank appreciation chased embarrassment away. The open admiration on his  face, and the massive rod in his pants, told her he really, really  liked what he was seeing. Feeling more confident now and a little  naughty, Piper slowly spun around, showing off her teeny tiny thong.