The Billionaire Playboy (17 page)

Why did everyone
think he considered ordinary below him? “There's nothing ordinary about their
ice cream. They make it themselves.” He tried to keep the irritation from
creeping into his voice. Jake thought he'd accomplished this but Charlie's next
comment told him otherwise.

“I didn't mean
to insult you, Jake.”

She dropped a
feather-light kiss on his cheek and something in his chest tightened with
emotion.

“Forget I said
it, okay?”

“Said what?” he
asked as they reached a window to place their orders.

Chapter
8

The following
Wednesday night Jake called Charlie's cell while he relaxed in his
entertainment room. When she didn't answer he left a short message and then
checked his own three voice mails.
 
The
first was from his mother, the second from his sister Sara and the last one was
from an old college buddy. He didn't plan on calling any of them back tonight.
 
He already knew what his mother wanted. She
wanted once again to broach the subject of him running for the state Senate. She
saw it as a perfect place to launch his political career. A career he never
planned on having despite his parents' wishes. He guessed Sara had called to
just talk. She often did that, but he wasn't up for a long brother-sister
conversation tonight. As for the call from Christopher, Jake guessed the guy
was in town and wanted to get together. Normally when Christopher came to
Virginia they'd catch a ball game or hit a few nightclubs. Neither activity
held any interest to him tonight.

After grabbing
the remote for the TV he flipped through the stations searching for something
to distract him. The restlessness that plagued him when he wasn't in the field
had returned as soon as he entered his office Tuesday afternoon. So far that
week numerous pressing issues regarding the foundation had kept him busy but it
wasn't enough. As usual he longed to get back into the field. Being cooped up
in the office gave him too much time to dwell on his regrets; all the other
things he felt were better kept locked away.

Tossing the
remote onto the leather sofa, Jake abruptly came to his feet. The need to be
moving was suddenly too great to ignore. What he wouldn't give for an excuse to
get back into the field and to do some hands-on work. Or to see Charlie again. It'd
only been two days, yet it felt much longer. He missed her more than he ever
would've imagined considering the amount of time they'd known each other. He'd
been in relationships before and been forced to spend time apart but it hadn't
ever bothered him all that much. In the past he went on about his life, content
to see the girls he dated whenever it was convenient for both of them.

This time the
separation only added to his internal unease, an unease he hadn't felt in weeks.
In fact he hadn't felt it since he'd learned of the broken dam and the
destruction it caused in North Salem and headed to Massachusetts.

He'd expected it
to return the minute he saw his parents at his sister's wedding. Oddly though
it hadn't, at least not to the extent it usually did. Sure, he'd been
frustrated by his father's grilling and his mother's hounding him about
entering politics. Yet the normal feelings of regret and frustration at the
fact that they couldn't accept the decisions he made hadn't presented
themselves with Charlie around.

Leaving the
television on, he opened the sliding glass door and stepped outside onto the
deck. Splashes of pink and red painted the evening sky as the sun started to
set, and a warm breeze stirred the air. Only one thing kept the evening from
being perfect. He was alone. Not that he couldn't find someone to share it with
him if he so desired, but he didn't want just any woman. The one he wanted was
hundreds of miles away.
 

What was she
doing tonight? Had she gone out for an evening run? He knew that she liked
running at night. When he'd asked her about it, she told him it helped her to
relax after a stressful day. Had she decided to head out for a run tonight? Or
was she busy helping her mom in the kitchen? When he'd left there had been a
few displaced citizens still staying at the Victorian Rose. Either way he
couldn't do anything about it. Jake dropped down into a chair and stretched his
legs out in front of him. Then he forced his mind to focus on the meeting he
had first thing in the morning.

Jake remained
outside until the stars filled the sky. Inside he could hear a sportscaster
talking about the Orioles starting lineup for their game against the Rangers. He
pushed himself up from the chair intending to go in and do some more channel
surfing. He received every channel under the sun. There had to be something
worth watching on one of them. His ringing cell stopped him in his tracks. It
was Sara's ring tone. Since he knew she would only keep calling until she
finally got him, he pulled the phone from his pocket and answered.

“Have you seen
this week’s copy of Today magazine?” she asked after greeting him.

He'd been
expecting her to ask how he was, so when she asked her question he was
momentarily thrown.

Dread settled in
his chest making it feel as if an elephant had just sat on him.
 
He knew his lawyer had called Marcy Blake to
convince her to back off the story. She'd told him she would think about it. By
the sound of his sister's voice, the reporter had made her decision. Damn. He
couldn't wait for Blair to get the paternity test done so he could put this
emerging scandal behind him. But Blair and her lawyer were dragging their feet.

“No. It's not on
my reading list.” Jake rubbed at the tension building in his neck. “I'm
guessing you have, so tell me. How bad is it?” He tried to keep the aggravation
out of his voice. His sister hadn't caused the situation so there was no need
to take it out on her.

Sara didn't
reply right away, and he took that as a bad sign. “Out with it, Sara.”

“It says you
walked out on Blair Peters when you found out she was pregnant a few weeks ago.”

Anger and
frustration washed over him. Jake slammed his fist down on the deck railing but
he didn't get the satisfaction he desired. What he wanted was to physically
destroy something. His preferred object of choice was Marcy Blake's computer,
but at the moment just about anything would suffice.

“It also says
you’re already seeing a new woman.”

 
Had someone at the wedding decided to
capitalize on the fact he'd attended the wedding with a guest? Or was the
reporter once again making up stories? Jake walked back into the house. The
semi-tranquility he'd found outside had disappeared the minute Sara told him
about the magazine headline.

“I thought you
should know,” Sara said softly with real concern in her voice.

“Thanks. I have
an appointment with my lawyer again tomorrow. I guess we'll have to step up the
pressure to get the test done.” Jake clenched his fists as he fought to keep
his emotions wrapped up.

On the other end
of the line Sara cleared her throat. “Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe
if I talk to Blair I can...”

“Thanks for the
offer but I don't want you talking to her, Sara. For now I think the best thing
to do is let the lawyers handle things.” Knowing that Sara as well as Dylan and
Callie believed him about Blair helped alleviate the annoyance he felt toward
his parents who doubted him. However, he didn't see how Sara confronting Blair
would help the situation. In fact, it might only make it worse. Blair was after
revenge or money or maybe both and a little girl talk wasn't going to change
her mind.

“Okay, but if
you change your mind let me know.” Sara paused before continuing. “Are you
still seeing Charlie? Have you told her about this situation? She deserves to
know, if you haven't.”

Jake almost
dropped the phone. No he hadn't mentioned it to Charlie because he'd hoped his
lawyer would take care of the problem so he wouldn't have to. If it was on the
cover of Today magazine though, Charlie may have already learned about it.

“Damn!”

“I'll take that
as a no.”

“Sara, I've got
to go but if anyone asks you about this-”

Sara didn’t give
him a chance to finish his sentence. “I have no comment. Come on Jake I know
the drill.”

“I know you do. Listen,
thanks for the heads up.”

“Call me if you
need to talk or anything.”

Surprised by
Sara's comment, he didn't respond right away. Lately he was the one to offer
help not the other way around. “Okay.”

After ending the
call with his younger sister Jake dialed Charlie's cell again. If she hadn't
seen the magazine cover yet, he wanted to explain things to her before she did.
While he'd rather tell her in person, he also didn't want to wait till he saw
her Friday night. And if she had seen the article he needed to do some damage
control. Something that also couldn't wait till Friday.

Like before,
Charlie's phone rang several times before kicking over to her voice mail. Again
he left a short message only this time he told her he needed to talk to her
about something important. Then he hit end on his phone and sent it sailing
across the room in frustration. The brand new smart phone hit the wall and then
the hardwood floor with a thud.

***

The traffic
light turned red and Charlie brought the car to a stop. Grocery shopping was
not how she wanted to spend her evening.
 
Yet she'd promised she would do it while her
mom went to the doctor's office. Her mom had felt lousy all week, but that
afternoon she'd come down with a high fever. She'd only agreed to see the
doctor after Charlie promised to get the groceries.

When the light
turned green she turned left down Maple Street and noticed that things looked
even better today than they had the day before.
 
In fact it seemed like every day things in
town got a little closer to normal. Last week most of the town had still been
without electricity but today everyone had power. The majority of the fallen
trees and other random pieces of debris had been removed so that the streets
were again accessible. It seemed almost impossible that only weeks before a
hurricane had swept through knocking out the dam and turning the town upside
down. Sure, work still remained, especially on the dam and the homes that had
been flooded,
 
but for the most part
people were now able to go about their everyday lives again. Even the schools
were open again.

Most of it wouldn't have happened if
 
not for Jake and his foundation.
At the thought
of him her heart rate increased and her body quivered in anticipation. He was
due back in town on Friday and she couldn't wait to pick up right where they'd
left off Monday night. On his last night in town they'd stayed up late
exploring every inch of each other’s bodies before falling asleep wrapped
around each other. Not wanting her mother to know how she'd spent the evening,
she woke up before dawn on Tuesday morning and returned to her own bedroom. If
her mom or brother suspected anything sexual existed between them neither said
anything to her. The only indication her mom gave that she suspected something
was a brief questioning look when Charlie told her Jake was returning and would
need a room. She'd used the excuse that his return was to check on progress but
she didn't know if her mom believed her or not.

Not that it
mattered. She didn't have to explain her actions to her family. If she chose to
be involved with Jake it was her business and hers alone. It didn't concern
anyone. Besides, she didn't plan on marrying the guy. They were just having
some fun together. There wasn't anything wrong with that. They were both
consenting adults, free to be with whomever they wished. Even now he might be
with someone. The words “committed relationship” had never been spoken. Neither
of them had expressed the desire to be solely with each other.

Before she could
stop it from happening, a vision of Jake with his arms wrapped around another
woman popped into her head. Anger and jealousy doused the previous anticipation
she'd felt. Charlie gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white
and tried to purge the image from her mind, but it stubbornly stayed. The
traffic light ahead turned red and she brought the car to a stop.

Pull yourself together,
she thought. What
did it matter what he did on his own time? They weren't in an actual committed
relationship. There were no emotions involved. Theirs was a strictly physical
relationship.

“The type I
prefer,” Charlie said as a reminder to herself. Once you let emotions enter the
arena, relationships become too dangerous. They leave you exposed. Physical
ones are safer and easier to control.

When the light
turned green, she hit the accelerator while repeating her thoughts over in her
head. Yet the jealousy remained, churning in her stomach and making her wish
she'd skipped lunch.

Gradually her
jealousy dissipated and by the time she walked into the supermarket, she had
her emotions back under control. The green-eyed monster was defeated.