Free Riley’s Billionaire by Sunny Cole Page A

lost, that she was not only comfortable but confident in her surroundings.
    Jack sat straddling the bench, facing her. ‘I was worried.’
    ‘You shouldn’t have been. I’ve been taking care of myself for over twenty years.’
    ‘You haven’t done that here.’ He indicated her drink. ‘Okay if I have a sip?’
    She handed him the bottle. Her gaze seemed to follow the path of a trickle of water that escaped his lips and slid from mouth to chin to throat. ‘About last night, Jack...’
    Jack shook his head. ‘I’m sorry.’
    ‘No, let me finish. I’m the one who is sorry. Well, you’re right. You should be sorry. I’m not normally that selfish, but I sort of lost track of time, and before I could do anything, you finished and jumped out of bed like you didn’t want anything more to do with me.’
    He craned his neck. What? ‘Riley, that wasn’t it at all.’
    She wasn’t having any excuses. ‘I realise I should’ve been more responsive or something, should have reciprocated, but damn, man. Give a girl a chance. Don’t just leave her there with egg on her face.’
    ‘You said you didn’t want to get pregnant.’
    She fired back by imitating his posture on the bench, swung one of her legs over, nearly kicking him in the face, and leaned forward herself. ‘There are such things as prophylactics, aren’t there?’ As if he didn’t understand her, she continued. ‘Condoms?’
    While he processed what she’d said, she kept ranting. ‘I thought you didn’t want me, that you’d only serviced me or something to keep me from feeling like I was alone in bed. I swear to God, if you keep making me feel like a filly in a race and treating me like I’m an animal with no feelings — they do have them, you know? Animals. They’re more empathetic than we are.’ She brushed a strand of hair from her face. ‘If you weren’t that into it, you shouldn’t have started it. If you didn’t want me, all you had to do was say so!’
    Jack knew his next move probably conveyed teasing, which was the worst thing he could do when a woman was tearing him a new arsehole. He laughed — but he couldn’t help it. And the angrier Riley became, the more ridiculous her notion that he wasn’t attracted to her.
    Was there no end to the surprises this woman contained?
    Jack set her water bottle at his feet, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her gently. ‘Riley, you are impossible.’ He kissed her full on the mouth. Hard. ‘Not want you? Seriously?’
    She pushed against his chest. ‘Let me go. I’m humiliated enough without your attempts to make me feel better.’
    ‘But you’re wrong!’
    She gave a saccharine smile. ‘About you? I don’t think so. You spelled out the terms of our arrangement clearly. I just didn’t pay attention. You want a wife and maybe a child, but you don’t want a marriage unless it’s convenient for you, which this one is.’
    ‘And you want a vineyard.’
    She bristled. ‘Like that’s a comparison?’
    He thought she would cry, but instead she shook her head and tried ending the subject. She flattened her palms as if pushing air away from her,or shoving him aside, and continued with her tirade.
    ‘I’m sorry that for a few moments last night I forgot about our bargain. I let down my guard, and you rejected me. That’s how I see it. But it’s done, and if it’s okay with you — and even if it’s not — I’d like to get back to where we were.
    This misguided little witch certainly knew how to jerk the wind from his sails. Never would he have believed that’s how she took his absence last night, and he had only himself to blame.
    Jack took a deep breath and thought. He could persuade her. He knew he could. But later she’d discover why he’d married her in the first place. He’d told her it was to secure his position, but he hadn’t told her she might be a Fitzgerald. Once that came to light, Riley would never believe he was attracted to her, not her inheritance and how