His Ex's Well-Kept Secret(7)

The decision was taken from her when the front door opened behind them  and Piper turned to see Ceri and Rainn standing there, each with a hand  on Ty's stroller. Piper immediately dropped to her haunches and kissed  her son's cheek. "Hey, there's my favorite guy."

Ty wasn't as excited to see her as usual, but he did pat her face before  pushing her away so he could look around to see who was out and about.

Piper stood up, glanced at Jaeger and saw nothing but mild interest on  his face when he looked at Ty. Her heart slowed down when she realized  he didn't see what she did; he didn't see anything of himself in Ty.  Thank you, God.

"We all needed some air, so we're going to take a walk," Ceri said,  worried. Her eyes bounced off Piper's face, onto Jaeger's and her mouth  fell open. "Wow, you're-"

"Jaeger Ballantyne." Jaeger smiled at Ceri, his eyes crinkled and  Piper's stomach flipped over once, twice. She'd forgotten how sexy his  smile was, how it transformed his face from hard-ass to gorgeous. Jaeger  shook hands with Rainn after the twins carried Ty's stroller down the  steps.

"I'm Ceri Brown, and that's Rainn. And the cutie is Ty."

Piper started to explain that Ceri was her nanny, that Rainn was her  twin and that they lived in the apartment below hers, but she stopped.  She didn't owe him explanations of any kind!

Ceri managed to pull her admiring gaze off Jaeger to look at Piper. "Do  you want to join us? We'll be back in about a half hour."

Piper bit her lip and shook her head. "I think I'll skip. Jaeger needs to have a word."

Ceri tipped her head to the side, curious. "How do you two know each other?"

"That's a long and complicated story," Piper replied. So long and so complicated. "I'll see you in a bit, okay?"

Piper and Jaeger stood on the top step and watched Rainn tip the  stroller back on two wheels. Ty's belly laugh drifted over to her; it  was another of his favorite games. There went her heart, she thought.  Her kid and the two people as close to her as siblings.

"Cute family," Jaeger said. "They are young to have a kid."

Piper started to tell him Ty was hers, not theirs, but she just managed  to catch the words. She darted a look at him, her interest caught by the  emotion in his eyes. Longing, sadness, pain? Why would Jaeger  Ballantyne-who'd routinely told the world he would follow in his uncle  Connor's footsteps and remain resolutely single-look envious of what he  erroneously assumed was a young family on their way to a park? She had  to be misinterpreting his look and his emotions, Piper decided. This was  Jaeger Ballantyne, after all, who thought the world was overpopulated.                       
       
           



       

Who'd refused her calls and pretended not to know who she was.

He didn't deserve her explanations.

At the corner, Ceri waved at them, and Piper rolled her shoulders.

"Are you here to make an offer for my stones?" Piper asked, wincing at  the eagerness in her voice. Maybe this ordeal would be done sooner than  she'd expected.

"I'm no closer to offering you a deal than I was earlier," Jaeger replied.

Damn.

"Invite me in, Piper." Jaeger reached past her to push open her front  door. "We both know that we have a lot more than sapphires to talk  about."

Now he wanted to talk about what happened in Milan? And really, after  all her unanswered phone calls, what was there to discuss? Apparently  everything they'd needed to say had been captured in the last kiss  they'd shared outside the hotel entrance. It had been tender and sweet,  regretful and poignant but very, very final.

Thank you and goodbye, think of me occasionally, remember this time we spent together with a smile. Have a wonderful life.

A silent but powerful acknowledgment that when they met again, they would not pick up where they left off...

They hadn't agreed to treat each other like strangers...but maybe it was  better if they did. Jaeger still had the ability to keep her off  balance.

"You're giving me the silent treatment again. I can't decide if it's  because your mind is revving or because you are being stubborn." Jaeger  bent his knees so their eyes were level. "Either way, we are doing this.  We can talk either here or over a cup of coffee or, if the gods are  smiling on me, a glass of whiskey. But we are going to have a  conversation, Ms. Mills."

Yeah, they were. Piper saw the determination in his eyes, saw the  hard-ass negotiator who bought and sold valuable gemstones on six  continents. Jaeger wasn't going anywhere until he'd said whatever was on  his mind. She had to be very careful to keep control of this  conversation; they had to stay on topic. She wanted to know why he'd  blocked her from contacting him after Milan, but Ty was firmly  off-limits. As was the fact that she wanted him naked and panting.

Why did she keep thinking that?

She felt like she was standing in a field planted with land mines and she needed to carefully pick a path to safety.

"I would give a rare red diamond to know what you are thinking," Jaeger said, breaking into her thoughts.

Piper blinked and refocused. She pushed her hair back and briefly closed her eyes.

"I'll make us coffee," Piper capitulated, resigned.

Jaeger put a hand on her lower back and pushed her toward the stairs  leading up to her living quarters. "Sounds good. It would sound better  if you offered a shot of whiskey with it. I've had a rough day, too."





Three

Piper took her cup of coffee into her den-slash-office and found Jaeger  standing in front of the fireplace, admiring a series of ink and pencil  drawings hanging on the wall, a tumbler of whiskey in his hand.

Piper hesitated in the doorway, taking a moment to catch her breath.  Every inch of Jaeger's six-foot-something frame reflected his  masculinity; his legs were long and muscled, his hands were broad and  his fingers blunt-tipped, his chest wide. He made her feel smaller,  feminine and sexier.

Smoking hot she could deal with, sort of, but he looked so at ease in  her messy space-and it felt so right for him be here, with her... The  thought liquefied her knees.

"These are fantastic. Who is the artist?"

"She's Danish. I bought those from a gallery in Copenhagen, and I've  never found any more of her work. Pity, because she's fabulous." Wanting  to delay the subject of Milan and her unanswered calls, she gestured to  an oil seascape on the opposite wall. "That's Joonie Paul, also  unknown, equally fabulous."

Jaeger, tall and broad and a work of art she could look at all day long,  turned so those fabulous eyes met hers. "You obviously love art," he  stated.

"I'm an art appraiser. It comes with the job."

Jaeger sat down on the ottoman, rested his forearms on his thighs, the  glass almost disappearing in his big hand. He stared at the multicolored  Persian carpet between his feet before raising his face. Under his  gaze, Piper felt like a deer caught in the headlights, his eyes pinning  her to her spot on the couch.                       
       
           



       

"Let's talk about Milan."

Okay, here we go. She was finally going to get an explanation about why  he'd acted like a hemorrhoid. And his explanation had better be good...

"Apparently we met in Milan, at Ballantyne's, in late April?"

Met? Is that what the most elusive, popular bachelors in Manhattan were  calling three fun, fabulous dates and a night of off-the-charts sex?  Geez, things were different across the Brooklyn Bridge. Piper nodded.  What else could she do? It was the truth, after all.

"I presume we discussed your sapphires in Milan, and that's why you left so many messages for me in the fall of last year?"

Yeah, that's what happened. It took all of her willpower not to roll her  eyes. Piper watched as Jaeger shot to his feet and swiftly walked over  to the window, pushing the heavy drape away to look outside. His big  shoulders were up around his ears and tension radiated from him. Okay,  what was happening here?

"Why are you asking me these questions? You were there."

Jaeger turned and pushed the ball of his shoulder into the wall,  crossing his foot over his ankle in an attempt to look relaxed. The  expression on his masculine face was inscrutable, but she saw the  emotion churning in his eyes, the tension in his sexy mouth. His clever  lips were thin and tight. Jaeger looked confused and unsettled.

Why? Why would he...?

"You don't remember?" she asked. It was the only plausible scenario she could think of.

Jaeger pointed his index finger at her in a you've-nailed-it gesture.  Piper sucked in a long breath. Jaeger, tall, ripped and oh-so-sexy,  genuinely didn't remember her, Milan, their dates, the stones. Or that  they slept together. God, Italy was so fantastic, and he didn't  remember? Piper's mind raced. Was that a curse or a blessing?