His Ex's Well-Kept Secret(18)

Piper splashed some water on her face in an attempt to take her color  down, and when the water didn't help, she stuck out her tongue at her  reflection. When she stepped back into the bedroom, Jaeger was shoving  his feet into a pair of scuffed sneakers. Her skirt and shirt lay on the  rumpled bedding, and Piper murmured a quick thank-you to him for  retrieving the garments for her.

Jaeger seemed lost in thought, and his silence made Piper uncomfortable.  But really, what was there to say? "Thanks, that was great. I've got to  get home to your son?"

Earlier she'd thought that keeping Ty a secret was the right thing to  do, but now...she'd somehow crossed a line she hadn't intended to cross.  She felt downright guilty. Maybe Jaeger had a right to know he was a  father...

But she had the right-no, the duty-to protect Ty from anyone or anything  that would harm him, physically and emotionally. Even his own father.

Having a father who didn't want him would hurt Ty, just as it had hurt her as a girl, and she wasn't going to let that happen.

But if she continued sleeping with Jaeger and she kept the truth from  him, the guilt would devour her. And now that they'd become intimate  again, how would he react if he ever found out about Ty? Would he be  hurt, livid, disinterested?

God, she didn't know. Piper recalled Fuseli's eighteenth-century  painting and sympathized with Odysseus facing the sea monsters Scylla  and Charybdis. Like the Greek god, both options sucked, but which choice  would hurt the least?

Piper quickly dressed and finally felt a little more like herself, a lot  more in control. As they walked into his living area, her eyes were  again drawn to the horse sculpture. She walked over to it, her hands  running over the smooth metal shaping the horse's rump. "Oh my God, he's  fantastic."

"Yeah, I like him. My siblings bought him for me for my birthday,"  Jaeger said, picking up his phone and keys from the wide, shallow  pottery bowl on the granite island separating the kitchen from the  living area.

"Lucky you," Piper murmured, envious.

"Latimore's new exhibition is opening tomorrow night," Jaeger said, walking to the door and picking up her coat.

Piper got her laptop bag and sent the metal horse a final look. "I know. I plan to go in a couple of weeks."

"I've been invited to the opening. Do you want to go?" Jaeger opened the  coat for her, and Piper slid her arms into the sleeves. Jaeger lifted  her hair over her collar as she turned to face him, his eyes amused.

"Yes, I'd like to go! Are you kidding me? That would be awesome..."  Piper mentally flipped through her schedule and scrunched up her face,  disappointed. "I can't. Ceri has plans and Rainn has to study. I have no  one to look after Ty."

And really, by accepting Jaeger's offer, was she not adding another  layer of complication to the crazy? She and Jaeger weren't dating!

But it was Latimore, her inner art tart replied. Latimore!

Jaeger pulled her laptop bag off her shoulder and opened his front door,  standing back to let her pass. When he stepped into the private  elevator after her, she sighed heavily. "Damn, I would love to go with  you. Latimore is always innovative and controversial."

"Oh, I'm not going."

Piper raised her eyebrows. If he wasn't going, then why did he invite  her? Before she could ask for an explanation, he spoke again. "Linc  strong-armed me into babysitting my four-year-old nephew, Shaw, for the  evening. My brothers are going to see the Knicks game without me, the  bastards."                       
       
           



       

"You have tickets to that, too?"

Jaeger scowled. "Courtside tickets. I am not happy." The doors to the  elevator swished open, and Piper realized they were in the parking  garage. Except the garage only held Jaeger's luxury SUV and a  dangerous-looking superbike. "You have a private garage?"

Jaeger nodded as the lights on his vehicle flashed. He placed his hand  on Piper's back as she moved between him and the open passenger door of  his very expensive car. "Sage, my sister, is going. I think you'd like  her, and she'll definitely like you. I'll get the name on the invitation  changed to yours in case you manage to find someone to sit with Ty."

Jaeger slammed her door closed and walked around the hood of the car.  When he was behind the wheel, Piper turned in her seat. "I really  appreciate the offer, but-"

"Just think about it. I can see how much you want to go, so consider taking a couple of hours for yourself."

"Thanks, but I can't," Piper said, her decision made. She'd taken a  couple of hours for herself just now. She'd see the exhibition when the  rest of the art lovers of the city did. Her place was at home, with Ty.

She had decisions to make, a path through the sea monsters of guilt and  duty to navigate. In one night he'd advanced her three million  dollars-gulp!-rocked her sexual world and offered her an opportunity to  see her favorite artist's new show. She had to find a way to simplify  this complicated and convoluted situation.

Keeping her distance and not getting naked with Jaeger again would be a very good place to start.

* * *

The next evening, Piper sent an anxious look toward her phone and  wondered, for the hundredth time, whether she'd imagined the  conversation with Jaeger about the advance. He hadn't mentioned it again  when he dropped her off last night, and he hadn't contacted her today.

She needed to make a firm offer for the house, but she didn't want to  call Simms until she spoke to Jaeger. She didn't think he'd go back on  his word, but until she had something tangible-money in her bank account  would work-her hands were tied.

Could she call Jaeger and ask him? Piper rested her forehead against the  cool door of her fridge and wished she hadn't slept with him. Sleeping  together made the conversation about money so awkward...

"Thanks for the Big O's, but can we talk money?"

"It was a fantastic night, but can you transfer the cash?"

Man, being with Jaeger spun her world off its axis. Being in his arms,  being kissed and touched by him, changed her internal universe. Nothing  mattered but being naked with Ballantyne. Hell, being with Ballantyne,  naked or not, terminated all rational thought.

Not clever when she was risking Ty's emotional well-being and her battered heart.

Piper banged her head on the door and closed her eyes. And that was why  sex and business shouldn't mix. If she hadn't heard from him by early  Monday morning, she would have to initiate another conversation about  the sapphires. For now she had a baby to feed and laundry to do. Reports  to write. Friday night excitement, she wryly thought.

As she tossed vegetables and chicken into the blender for Ty's supper,  she thought about Jaeger's invitation to Latimore's exhibition. If their  affair in Milan had ended differently, she'd be in her bedroom now,  pulling on her sexiest thong, her strapless bra. She would feel Jaeger's  hot eyes on her as he watched her dress. When she sat down in front of  her dressing table in her lingerie to put on her makeup, she'd watch him  button his shirt behind her.

She could see him in gray suit pants, a light gray shirt with his  sleeves rolled up and a gray vest. Black tie. She would pull on her  stretchy LBD with its skinny spaghetti straps, liking the way the darted  triangle bodice showed off her boobs. She'd slowly, oh so slowly, bend  over to put on her sexy silver sandals, and Jaeger would run his hands  between her thighs. His finger would sneak under her thong and he'd be  touching her and, damn, she could feel the heat spearing into her  stomach...

The doorbell interrupted her very far-fetched X-rated fantasy, and she  jumped, inadvertently flipping the switch to the lidless blender.  Vegetables volcanoed across the kitchen, splattering her white T-shirt,  the counter and the floor.                       
       
           



       

Puree dripped off her chin, so she grabbed a kitchen towel. She shook  her head at the mess. Behind her in his playpen, Ty was chattering to  his soft toys, incomprehensible baby talk.

She looked at the screen and saw Jaeger standing at her front door,  hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, looking hot enough to melt  glass. She, on the other hand, looked like hell.

Yes, she needed to speak to Jaeger, but not when she was looking like a refugee from the Baby Feeding Wars.

The doorbell chimed again, and Piper hit the button to unlock the main  door. She wanted to clean up the mess and change her shirt, but before  she had time to do either, Piper heard a knock on the apartment door.

She reluctantly opened it. "Hi. I wasn't expecting to see you tonight."

Jaeger looked at the streaks on her shirt and lifted a curl from her  right breast, the ends coated in splatters of chicken and carrots. "Hi.  You look like you had a food fight with Ty and you lost."