password just to piss him off. He thinks he’s big time because he’s caused some crashes that have made the news.” He rolled his eyes. “He’s an idiot.”
All this from a man who looked like he’d dressed himself in a dark closet back in the 1950s. Jake had been around long enough to understand that appearances did not equate to performance. Some of the best code writers on his team looked like they hadn’t seen the light of day in years and to say that their social skills were quirky would have been kind.
Jake said, “You’ve just changed the outcome of the game. Trust me, you’ll be well compensated for whatever information you can give us.”
“I don’t want your money,” Jeremy said.
“What do you want?”
Jeremy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’m a smart guy. I may not have your level of wealth, but I’ve made enough selling apps and codes that I’m comfortable. There is one area that I seem to require some assistance in, however.”
“Name it.”
“You need to make me into a man that Alethea would want to date.”
From what Jake had heard about Lil’s friend, this guy was dreaming way out of his league. Alethea would eat him alive. She was a shark and he was a sheep, albeit very intelligent one.
Jake sought help from Victor Andrade. “Are they spiking the drinks with crazy at the party?”
Victor put a supportive hand on Jake’s shoulder and said, “Son, the only one who is crazy is you if you let Lil get away. When you find a woman who is willing to risk everything for family and then for you-you marry that woman. Go tell her that you love her before it’s too late.”
“But I don’t…”
The truth hit him in the stomach like a sledgehammer.
Memories of their time together flooded his mind. Lil studying at her kitchen table. Lil naked beneath him. Lil beaming with pride as she held up her daughter’s artwork.
His stomach twisted painfully.
Lil at the top of the stairs, easily the most beautiful woman in the room, and yet still anxiously scanning the room as if she weren’t sure she belonged. And, finally, Lil’s smile when she saw him waiting for her at the bottom of the steps. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with that smile, that woman.
Victor tightened his hand on his shoulder. “None of this is worth a damn thing if you have no one to share it with. Go find her, Jake. When you do, don’t let your pride speak for you. Pride knows nothing about love. Tell her you love her. Tell her you need her. Don’t leave until she believes you.”
Jake turned to leave and paused. He looked back at his parents. He wasn’t even sure what he wanted to say to them, but it was difficult not to be moved by the tears he saw well in his mother’s eyes. She said, “Go on, Jake. We’ll be here when you get back.”
He nodded.
Jeremy said, “Hey, what about me?”
Without hesitation, Jake threw his best friend under the bus. “Dominic is much better at that kind of thing than I am. Tell him that I said he owes you a favor-a huge personal favor. Then tell him what you need.”
Just before exiting the door, Jake stopped and added, “You might not want to mention the part about accessing our mainframe. I’ll explain it to him later.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lil fought to hold back the tears that were surging within her. It wasn’t like Jake had ever lied to her. He’d clearly said that he didn’t love her. Why do women try to read emotion into everything a man says when really the translation was much less impressive?
“I want you,” simply meant “I want to have sex with you.”
“Live with me,” meant “I want to have sex with you on a regular basis.”
“Marry me,” meant “I’m willing to share my stuff to have sex with you.”
“Lil?” Her sister met her in the hallway, blocking her escape up the stairs.
Even worse, Dominic appeared behind Abby.
Lil spoke to their shoes. “I won’t ruin your big night. I just need a few minutes to freshen up.”
Abby took her by the hand and simply held on until she looked up and met her eyes. “Lil, I don’t care about any of this if you’re not happy. What happened? I saw you and Jake earlier and you both looked like you were having a great time.”
Lil sobbed her confession into one hand. “I fell in love with him, but he doesn’t feel the same.”
Dominic crossed his arms. “This is why he has to marry her.”
Abby shook her head. “Not now, Dom.”
“You like seeing your sister like this?”
“No, but you can’t make people work out their issues.” Abby’s reasonable tone was not mirrored by her fiance.
“Watch me.”
Lil sniffed and saw the love behind the tornado. She’d misjudged Dominic. He wasn’t a fantasy and he did love her sister. That his love for Abby extended to her family was humbling. Lil impatiently wiped away a tear and said, “Dominic, it will be a proud day for me when you marry my sister and I get to call you my brother.”
Dominic puffed up with pride. He smiled down at his fiance. “See, Lil agrees with me.”
Abby shook her head and hugged her sister. “What are you going to do, Lil?”
Lil lifted her chin up and said, “I’m going to compose myself and then I am going to go back into the party and enjoy hearing you formally announce your engagement.”
Abby pulled back a bit and looked her sister in the eye. “And?”
Lil nodded as she made her inner resolution. “And then I’m going to return to Boston and look for a job.”
Dominic said, “I own several companies in Boston. Name a job and you’ll have it.”
Lil smiled at her new protector, grateful for the millionth time recently that her sister had found happiness. Maybe one day she would find the same for herself. Rebellion was replaced by self-awareness. Her words were simply said and held no anger. “I don’t want your charity, Dominic.”
“There is no such thing as charity when it comes to family,” Dominic countered.
“I don’t even know what I want to do, Dom. I might take an office job for now and sign up for some art classes. I have so much I need to figure out.”
“How about an entry level position in a graphic design department? I’ll tell people I don’t even like you. You could sink or swim on your own,” Dominic said.
“You would do that?” Lil asked, grateful that he understood.
Abby wrapped an arm around her future husband’s waist and laughed up at him. “You are so full of it, Dom. I bet you couldn’t go a week without calling her department head and threatening to fire him if he wasn’t nice to her.”
“Woman, you sorely underestimate me.”
Watching the banter between the two of them removed the last of Lil’s resistance. People found jobs every day
