Page 54 of Billionaire's Secret Baby

She laughed in a dry, hollow sort of way. “You’re joking, right?”

“I mean it. For this to work, I need someone I completely trust. Someone who wouldn’t get nervous, or abuse the position they’re going to be in. As my legal spouse, you’d have more than a little control over my life if you wanted it.”

“What? So I could divorce you and take half your money if you pissed me off?”

“Yep,” I said, nodding. After all, it was true.

Lola looked at me.

“You’re really desperate, aren’t you?” she said.

“Really. I wouldn’t have asked you. Especially if I’d known it would upset you.”

“It’s not that you asked, Alex,” said Lola frustratedly, looking down at the green grass around her. Against the verdant scenery of Central Park, her hair stood out, streaked with the fading sunlight.

“Then what is it?” I said. And not for the first time since I’d met her again, that dark feeling of foreboding rose in the pit of my stomach. Was there something Lola wasn’t telling me? For some reason, I thought of that night in her apartment. The little girl with the striking blue eyes appearing at the door to the living room.

“I guess I’m still angry about you leaving me, all those years ago. When I needed you.”

“But why?” I said. “Why did you need my help?”

She looked at me, and for a moment, I thought she was about to say it, and somehow I already knew what it was even though she hadn’t told me.

But then, Lola looked away.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “It’s in the past.”

“Well,” I grunted. “Now’s the time for me to make it up to you?”

Lola turned her head, and for the first time since I’d sat down next to her, both of her green eyes were fixed on mine, and an electric thrill ran from the top of my neck down my spine, reaching into my chest, my groin.

I’d dated movie stars and models, but Lola was probably the most beautiful woman I’d ever met.

“What do you mean?” she said, curiously.

“I mean that, if you do this for me—” I said carefully, marking my words, “—then I’ll give you anything you want.”

“Anything?” said Lola, sarcastically.

“Anything,” I said. “You’d never have to work again if you want to. Or I could get you a house. Or a new car, or set you up in the stock market, or…anything.”

I held out both of my hands. I was offering her everything and anything I had in exchange for her help. But it was only as the words came tumbling out of my mouth, that I realized all I could offer this beautiful woman was money. And she had no use for it.

She had no use for me.

Lola shook her head. “I don’t want your money,” she said.

“Then what do you want?”

“Nothing,” said Lola.

“Then,” I said, trying to suppress my excitement, “you’ll do it?”

“Sure,” said Lola. “But not for anything. Because you’re my friend. And friends help each other when they need it.” She beamed at me, and for a moment, I thought about all the hard work it took for Lola to smile each day. Through all the frustrations of motherhood and working for me, and the mess we’d gotten into by getting so close to one another. And she was still smiling.

“Thank you,” I said.

“But, Alex,” said Lola. “There is something I need from you.”