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.