Baby Love: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance by Vesper Vaughn Page A

over to the stove and leaning up against the countertop. He was shirtless and in his boxers.
    I looked away quickly. “Did Callie send you?”
    He furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head furiously. “No, no. Just me. I was curious. Callie came home late and went right to sleep. I’d rather hear it from you anyway.”
    I slathered butter on the bread and laid it face-down on the hot pan, layering the cheese carefully. I topped it off with another slice. “Do you want one?” I asked.
    “You always did know the way to my heart,” he whispered, grinning. “Callie never lets me eat shit like this.”
    I prepped a second sandwich, ignoring the slight toward Callie. “We made a deal with the lawyer. Signed almost everything.” I flipped the first sandwich, the butter sizzling as it hit the hot metal.
    “Almost?”
    “Yeah, Zane had another condition he wanted to add. But he asked me to meet him one-on-one.”
    Patrick looked at me knowingly. “Ah. So without your sister present. Mm. Bet she loved that.”
    I laughed. “You know her well. That’s why I stayed out so late.” I slid his sandwich onto a plate and handed it to him. He took it gratefully.
    “So what does he want that couldn’t be said in front of your lawyer and his?” Patrick asked, his mouth full of bread and cheese.
    I placed my sandwich in the pan and pressed down on the bread with a spatula. “I don’t really want to say,” I demurred.
    Patrick stood upright and set down the sandwich. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked at me, his green eyes staring into mine. “Did he hurt you? I swear to God, if he did something, anything, I’ll-“
    I took his hands off my shoulders. “No, Patrick. He didn’t hurt me. I just don’t feel like sharing.”
    Patrick was put off by my removing his hands from my body. He went back to his sandwich. “But whatever it is, you don’t want to do it.”
    “It’s actually not that,” I explained. “I think I do want it; well, part of it. I just feel like I’ll be selling out in some way if I do it.” I slipped my sandwich onto a plate of my own.
    Patrick tilted his head toward the den. “If we don’t leave any crumbs I think we’re safe to eat on the sofa.” He grabbed a handful of napkins. “But I don’t want to be too reckless.”
    I smiled. “Good idea.” A few minutes later we were cozily ensconced on the same sofa together, a single golden light glowing in the corner. A car drove past outside, either a late-night reveler or a commuter returning from late office hours.
    “You’re afraid you’ll be selling out. Like, business-wise?”
    I shook my head. “Woman-wise, actually. But if I get any more specific I might as well just tell you what it is.”
    Patrick chewed contemplatively. “If you don’t take the whole deal, he’s out?”
    “That’s right.”
    “I think what you’re doing with this business is incredible, Rachel. Honestly.”
    I nodded my head. “I know. You wouldn’t have put in this much work for me if you didn’t think that. And I appreciate it more than I can possibly say.” He had consulted with me for several hundred hours over the last year, building my business plan with me, making connections. I placed my hand on his. “Thank you, by the way. I feel like I haven’t said that enough to you at all. I could honestly never repay you.”
    Patrick stared down at my hand in silence for an awkward moment. “Okay, well I can’t adequately advise you if you can’t tell me what it is that he wants out of you exactly. All I can say is this. Short of death or torture, the ends justify whatever means you must take to get there. This concept and business is just too fucking important to be any other way. You gotta take the deal. Especially if you said you wanted it anyway.”
    I nodded and pulled my hand away. I dove into my grilled cheese. “Jesus this is good,” I sighed.
    Patrick laughed and finished off his own. “You remember that night we made these in the