The Baby Contract

Author:Barbara Dunlop
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

Eight

Mila had been smarter this time. She’d packed a change of clothes and another pair of boots in a duffel bag, knowing what she’d look like at the end of the obstacle course.

She stepped into her jeans and tugged a rust-colored T-shirt over her head. Her leather ankle boots were scuffed and worn, but they fit her like a glove and were both sturdy and comfortable. They gave her confidence.

She tied her wet clothes into a plastic bag and stuffed them into the duffel. Her hair was still wet, but she’d combed it out. She slung the bulky black bag over her shoulder, jazzed at the prospect of seeing Troy, even knowing her buzz of arousal was a seriously dangerous state.

She exited through the open doorway, finding Vegas standing guard.

“I hope that wasn’t too inconvenient,” she said as they walked side by side down the hall.

“I didn’t mind,” he answered.

He looked as though he didn’t. And it helped. Vegas seemed both immensely capable and down-to-earth.

“I meant for everyone else,” she told him. “It’s hard to be one of the guys when you have to lock them out of their own showers.”

“I doubt anyone had a shower emergency in the past fifteen minutes.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do,” he said.

He pressed the button to call the elevator.

“You did good out there,” he told her.

“I failed miserably.” She hadn’t expected to magically pass, but she had hoped to improve her result more than she’d managed.

“You’ve got grit, Mila. They’ll be impressed by that.”

“Troy?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“Troy doesn’t want to be impressed. He’s looking for reasons not to be impressed. But you already know that.”

“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted. “It’s...” She wanted to say complicated. She wanted to say impossible. But she didn’t want to admit the depths of her discouragement to Troy’s partner, of all people. “I really don’t know what to do.”

“If you sleep with him, you’ll never be one of the guys.”

Mila gaped at Vegas’s blunt words.

The elevator door slid open, but she didn’t move.

He touched her arm and guided her inside, coming with her. “If you don’t sleep with him, both of you will go stark raving mad.”

She felt her face heat with embarrassment. “What did he tell you?”

“Nothing. I have eyes. And I’m paid to be observant. And I saw the expression on your face that day at the shooting range. You turned away from Troy, but you were looking at the camera.”

She could only imagine what she had revealed to a man like Vegas. “Are people gossiping?”

The elevator rose.

“Maybe,” said Vegas. “Though not to me. They’re more interested in seeing if you wimp out. And they want to see if Troy cracks on his no-women rule.”

“I guess they all know about that?”

“They all know about that.”

The number panel flashed past floor five.

“What about a different job?” Vegas asked. “Somewhere other than Pinion.”

“Settle for second best?” She shook her head. “That’s not in my makeup.” And it wasn’t in her family’s makeup.

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