“Wait.”
At the breathless sound of her voice, Rodrigo looked down at her questioningly.
“Like I said. I realized you’re right. Jett needs a stable home, and a father to raise him. We should marry. Even though we don’t love each other.” Her voice trembled a little. “It’s best for Jett.” She paused. “But—”
“But?” His voice was low and dangerous.
She lifted her gaze. “I just want to make sure we understand each other. This marriage is for duty. For convenience.”
“Convenience?” he repeated.
How could he not know what she meant?
“In...in name only,” she whispered, her teeth suddenly chattering.
He gave a low, hard laugh, his dark eyes glittering in the morning light. “Is that what you think?”
“I mean it, Rodrigo—”
“No.” He cupped her cheek. “You don’t.”
His eyes burned through her, and he slowly lowered his head toward hers.
She sucked in her breath as, against her will, a fire of desire swept through her body that she was helpless to deny. Her toes curled in anticipation, and she closed her eyes, holding her breath, waiting for him to kiss her.
At the last moment before his lips would have touched hers, he stopped. Confused, she opened her eyes.
His face was cruel as he looked down at her with a cold, mocking smile. “In name only, querida?”
Her cheeks suddenly burned. “You arrogant bastard—”
“Come
. We have a busy day planned.”
His eyes softened as they rested on the dark-haired baby against her hip. He caressed the baby tenderly on the head. “We will be a family soon, pequeño.” Then he gave Lola a smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “No more talk of convenient marriages. You will be conveniently in my bed. And soon.”
“In your dreams,” she retorted. For answer, he gave her a sensual smile.
“Yes. I have dreamed of it, Lola,” he said huskily. “And soon those dreams will be reality.”
Her eyes widened at his admission, and her mouth snapped shut as she recalled all the hot nights when she, too, had dreamed of him. Fuming, she followed him out of the apartment.
When they reached the street, she saw one of his men placing the suitcases in the back of the black SUV, as the other put the stroller in the back of Rodrigo’s sleek luxury sedan.
Lola frowned. “Where are we going?”
Rodrigo opened the sedan door. “A few places.”
Seeing a brand-new baby seat latched securely into the sedan’s back seat, she wondered if his longtime executive assistant, Marnie, had arranged it. She’d always hated that smug busybody, now more than ever. “Where?”
“You’ll see.”
As the SUV turned south, Rodrigo drove Lola and the baby north, to a cutting-edge private clinic on the Upper East Side. As far as she could tell, it had opened up on Sunday, bringing in a full staff, just for their paternity test. Within two hours, they had the results. Jett was Rodrigo’s son.
“I knew it,” Rodrigo said quietly when he got the results.
Lola looked at him irritably. “Then why did you insist on a test?”