Sara Orwig - The Wedding Wager - Dakota Daddy

“That was fantastic. The water is perfect. I may have to think about some kind of place like this for myself. It would be good for Ethan because he’s not much of a swimmer, but he likes the water.”

Jared stood and extended his hand. “If you’re ready to go in, we’ll dress and I’ll tell Lupita to put on dinner.”

“Where is Lupita? I haven’t seen anyone since we first arrived.”

“The staff knows how to stay out of sight. She’ll get dinner on and then go for the night. They have homes in this compound, but beyond the security walls. There’s nothing inside the walls except my house, its outbuildings and us.”

At the veranda, he paused. “I’ll go find Lupita and meet you here in half an hour and we can have a drink before dinner.”

She nodded and headed for her room.

Finally clad in a black knit shirt and black slacks, Jared looked dark, handsome and dangerous. He was a threat to her future and he wasn’t going to go away and let her live her life the way she had before.

Jared crossed the veranda to take her hands while his gaze drifted lazily over her. “You look beautiful. Far more tempting than dinner.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Thank you, Jared.”

“What would you like to drink?”

“A piña colada, please, if that’s possible.”

“Quite possible,” Jared replied, moving around behind a bar to get bottles of light and dark rum that he poured into a blender, adding other ingredients and mixing them with crushed ice. He poured the drink into a hurricane glass and handed it to her, getting a cold beer for himself. Taking her chilled glass, she moved to a chair to sit and gaze at the ocean. The sun was a huge fiery ball, low on the horizon.

“Will you bring Ethan here?” she asked.

“I’ll take him everywhere,” Jared said. She felt the hurt again.

“I always thought about taking him places, but I thought I should wait until he’s older. I suppose I waited too long.”

“Nonsense. You can still go where you want with him,” Jared said. “You can come with us, if you want to,” he said.

She turned to him. “Jared, today was lust. It was sexual, meaningless, nothing more. It didn’t bind us together in any manner except physically. My feelings toward you haven’t changed. And your feelings are no kinder toward me than mine are toward you.”

He set his drink on a table. “That’s not so. I think there was more to this afternoon than you’ll admit or recognize because you’re still angry with me. We can both come here and bring Ethan with us and have a wonderful escape,” he said.

She shook her head. “No. That won’t work, Jared. Not really. Today was no indicator of the future.”

He looked annoyed, and then he seemed to visibly relax. “You’re cutting yourself out of some good moments,” Jared said.

“I’ll manage.”

“Dinner is served,” Lupita announced, her voice cutting through the tense moment.

“Thanks, Lupita,” Jared said, standing to take Megan’s arm to stroll to another section of the veranda where it curved around a wing of the house. Tall palms lined their patio, and potted palms and banana trees gave the appearance of being in a garden by the sea.

With candles burning despite the daylight, the glass-and-iron table set with colorful china and sparkling crystal was ready for a photo shoot. On the table was an appetizer of escargot, while steaming, covered dishes waited next to it. Jared held her chair, his hand drifting lightly to her nape and then he sat himself across from her, smiling at her.

“I don’t know how you ever leave this and go back to Texas.”

“It’s too quiet except for a few days at a time. I’m too active and like to work. I imagine you’d feel the same if you were here for weeks. The first visit, I stayed a month. I haven’t lasted that long since.”

She could well imagine that he always brought a woman with him. Just as he had with her. Trying to avoid the subject burning inside her, she chatted with him over dinner of jambalaya, fluffy golden asiago biscuits and melons, mango and kiwi with Gorgonzola cheese. Dessert was thin slices of cheesecake flown in from Miami. Pale slices were drizzled with chocolate and raspberry sauce. Dinner was delectable, their conversation innocuous, but his gaze clearly conveyed smoldering desire.

“Dinner is delicious. Are you trying to soften me up in all possible ways?”

“You’re soft and warm now, each luscious inch,” he said, smiling at her.

“I walked into that one. Thank you, Jared. Those compliments come so easily to you, you must not even think about what you’re saying.”

“Not so, Meg,” he said, caressing her hand. “Being together is good. I see great hope for the future.”

As the sun vanished and darkness enveloped them, lanterns and outdoor lighting automatically came on over the veranda and along the beach. The flickering light highlighted the planes of Jared’s face, his straight nose and prominent cheekbones.

“Let’s move where it’s comfortable,” he suggested, and she nodded.

While she chatted with Jared, Lupita and Adan cleared and said good night.

“It’s difficult to imagine that you require a bodyguard.”

“I think I should hire one for you, and I know Ethan is going to have to have one.” Jared leaned forward. “His life is going to change and you can’t stop it. There are things that go along with my wealth. Paparazzi, the possibility of kidnapping.”

She flinched and looked away, hating everything that was happening to her life and to Ethan’s. “If only I had sold the ranch to you. You would never have known about Ethan,” she said bitterly.

“It’s too late for that now.”

“Jared, try to understand. I’ve told you before and I’ll say it again—you have an extravagant lifestyle that doesn’t make you good daddy material.”

“I won’t be that way with Ethan. Give me some credit here,” he replied with a stubborn just of his chin.

“You do wild things like mountain climbing. I know you used to do bronc riding in rodeos,” she said, eliciting a brief smile from him.

“I haven’t ridden in years. I gave that up when I graduated from college. And I won’t take him mountain climbing.”

“I don’t want him jet-setting all over the world with you.”

“I’ll be reasonable about travel, too, but there are places I’ll want to take him, like where I’m taking you now.”

“Some places I can get used to,” she said, locking her fingers together. “Jared, I’ve been so close with Ethan. I guess I hover, and I may be overprotective, but I love him with all my heart. Except for my pottery, he’s my whole world. And he comes first. It just hurts to think I have to share him. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel I’m losing him.”

Jared nodded. “I understand, Megan. That’s why I’ve suggested things like the marriage of convenience. And remember, you willingly shared him with your aunt and uncle.”

“That’s part of the problem. I share him with them, and now I’ll have to divide my time with you. I’ll lose being with him a lot.”

“Yes, you will, but let’s try to find the most workable way—and I’m not averse to having you around when I’m with him.”

“It’s just incredibly difficult to give up my child,” she said.

“You won’t have to give him up if you’ll work with me. There are some things that come with the territory, though, and I know you want to keep him safe. How you’ve managed to hide his paternity from the world all these years, I’ll never know. Whose name is on the birth certificate? It can’t be that ex-husband of yours, because he never adopted Ethan.”

“It is Mike’s name. My dad paid to get that taken care of by some doctor in Chicago. It may be illegal, but I have a birth certificate claiming Mike as Ethan’s father.”