walked into the nursery she had begun to decorate and took a deep calming breath. She’d given the walls a fresh coat of paint and hung a puffy Noah’s Ark wall hanging with removable animals. The crib was solid maple, and she’d already attached a mobile with friendly colorful butterflies and birds. With her next paycheck, she planned to buy soft crib sheets and blankets in blue for her little guy.
Pressing her hand to her belly again, she thought of Max De Luca. She’d never met a man like him. Arrogant, insulting, charm-free. At least to her. She couldn’t deny, though, that in different circumstances he would have fascinated her. But lions had always fascinated her, too, and she knew better than to get into a den with one of them.
“That went well,” Jim said in a wry voice as Max led the way to the black Ferrari.
Loosening his tie a fraction of an inch, Max unlocked the car and slid behind the steering wheel. Max preferred being in the driver’s seat. It gave him the illusion of control. He slid into the leather seat. “Damn Tony for this,” he said, even though his grief was still fresh. “He was going to be a father, for God’s sake. You would think he could have at least provided for his child.”
“You’ve been cleaning up his messes a long time,” Jim said as Max sped out of the apartment complex. “Just curious. Did you have to be a total ass to her?”
Max had known Jim since he was a child and that was the only reason he allowed the older man to talk to him so bluntly. “She surprised me,” he said, shifting into fourth as he turned onto the interstate. “I was expecting one of those showgirls he went through like cheap wine.”
“I told you she’s a pediatric dental hygienist.”
“I figured that was her day job. She had to have another angle.” He shook his head. “She looked almost wholesome. I mean, aside from the bump, she had a nice body as far as I could tell. Did you notice she was wearing bunny slippers?”
Jim laughed. “Hard to miss them.”
“She wasn’t wearing a speck of makeup. Her hair color didn’t look like it came out of a bottle. She looked soft,” he said, still trying to come to grips with his impression of Lilli McCall. “Real. Not Tony’s type at all.”
“She must have been his type for a while.”
Max felt his chest tighten in a strange way. How had Tony lucked into her? A woman like that shouldn’t have been abandoned. Not if his first instincts about her were correct. “Yeah. He got lucky.”
Lilli was that irresistible combination of soft and sexy that every man craved. It was all too easy to wonder how that mouth of hers would feel all over a man’s body.
He felt himself grow warm at the thought and shook his head. He’d never been attracted to one of his brother’s women. Turning the AC on high, he directed the vent at his face.
“I really ticked her off with my offer,” he said, his lips twitching in amusement. She’d looked as if she would have gladly ripped out his vocal cords. He’d found her reaction surprising and oddly attractive.
That didn’t change the fact that everyone had their price. Even a blond woman with pink cheeks, bee-stung lips and blue eyes that lit up like sparklers when she was angry. “She’ll take the money,” he said to Jim, shifting gear. “They all eventually do.”
Max would clean up this mess. He had a lot of practice. Left to deal with his father’s disastrous personal and financial choices, Max had worked nonstop during the past ten years to rebuild the family name and wealth.
His investments had delivered triple returns. The merger of Megalos Resorts with De Luca Inc. to form Megalos-De Luca Enterprises had sent the shares of his stock in the company skyrocketing. Determined to keep talent in the merged company, the new board paid the top performers eight-figure salaries.
Max’s father may have been kicked off the board of the family company, but Max was determined that the next CEO would be a De Luca. Nothing would stop him. Especially not a feisty little blonde who happened to be carrying a De Luca baby in her belly.
The following evening, as she left the dental practice where she worked, Lilli winced as she flexed her fingers. Three-year-old Timmy Johnson just couldn’t resist chewing on her index finger. Although she wore rubber gloves, they didn’t always protect her from a chewing child.
She worked late three nights a week for two reasons. One, she earned a little more money working after five and two, she didn’t really have anything else to do in the evenings. It wasn’t as if she were a party animal. She’d left that brief period of her life way in the past.
Pulling her keys from her purse, she walked toward her trusty four-year-old blue Toyota Corolla. Just as she neared her car, two men stepped in front of her. They both appeared to be in their twenties and they looked so much alike they could have been brothers.
“Lilli McCall?” one of them said.
The one man looked vaguely familiar, although she couldn’t recall his name. One of Tony’s friends? She tensed. “Why do you ask?” She backed away.
Both men took a step toward her. “We’re hoping you can help us.”
She bit her lip and took another step back. “I—uh.” She cleared her throat. “How could I possibly help you?”
“We’re here about Tony,” one of the men said with a shrug. “He left some unpaid debts. We knew you two were close and we were hoping you could help us.”
She shook her head. “I broke up with Tony a long time ago.”
“Not before he knocked you up,” the other guy cracked. “That baby’s gotta be worth something to the De Luca family. Tony must have left you something.”
“He didn’t,” she said, even though her throat was squeezing tight with fear. “Look at my car. It’s four years old. I’m working as a dental hygienist. Do I look like someone who is loaded?”
The men frowned.
“Maybe you’re hiding it.”
Frustrated and afraid, she shook her head. “I’m not. Just leave me alone.”
“It would be a lot easier to leave you alone if we got our money.” One of the men pulled a card out of his pocket and walked toward her.
She wanted to run, but her feet seemed to grow roots into the pavement. The man pressed his card into her hand. “Call me if you find something. We’ll check back in case you forget.”
Her heart racing, she watched the two men leave and felt sick to her stomach. How much longer would they harass her? And how many more of Tony’s so-called business acquaintances were going to show up at her door?
Taking a deep breath, she walked quickly to her car and got inside. Maybe she should move out of town. That could be expensive, though, and she’d like to keep the few friends she’d made over the last couple of months. The idea of being surrounded by strangers after she had her baby unsettled her.
She mulled over a dozen different options as she drove through a fast-food restaurant and ordered a milk shake. After she got home, she sipped on it and changed into a tank top that covered her pregnant belly and a pair of terry cloth shorts. Then
