CHAPTER FOUR

Leilani parked hercar, then stared through the windshield toward her mother's home for a moment as she caught her breath. She always had to prepare herself to face the reality of what was inside the house.

Illness. Death. Loss.

She'd ended up having lunch with Missy again. It served as a distraction from the heat running through her veins, but more importantly, the heat at her core.

Talk about inappropriate.

There was one thing thinking your boss's brother was hot as hell, but literally soaking your panties right in front of both of them...God she'd been ashamed and aroused.

Then she'd returned to find a note on her desk.

It was folded.

She knew who it was from before opening it. Who else would write To My Hawaiian Princess on the front?

Jacob, of course.

Leilani pulled it out of her handbag and unfolded it for the four hundredth time today. Blake had caught her reading it twice. She was sure she'd blushed more times today than ever in her life.

Staring down at the words, she bit her lower lip.

What did it mean?

Yes, he was flirting, but...did he actually like her? Or was he just a professional flirt and being playful?

Did he want to do the dirty things she'd imagined way too many times? And can we take a moment to talk about using a vibrator when you live with your mom?

Not great.

Not great at all.

But she'd tried the manual way, and it was not as pleasurable and anyway, yes, she'd take him up on an offer in a second if she thought Jacob really wanted to sleep with her.

Damn the consequences.

Although that might be her hormones talking right now. Sex hormones to be clear.

Maybe I'll take Mr. Rabbit into the shower with me.

Her mom's face appeared in the window.

Shit.

Leilani glanced down at the note once more.

Run away with me and bring that lip gloss. I'll provide the sushi.

PS: If you don't know who this is from then I'll be highly offended.

She had giggled. It still made her smile. Of course, she knew who it was. But his flirtatious note had thrown her and created more questions than answers.

Is he inviting me out for lunch?

Or dinner.

Or sex...because clearly Jacob didn't like her lip gloss just because it suited her skin tone. She touched her fingers to her lips and then flinched when her mom waved from the window.

Leilani climbed out of the car and pocketed the note in her skirt, then headed inside.

"Hi, Mom."

"What were you doing out there, Lani?" she asked, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Thinking. Just work stuff," Leilani replied. "How are you feeling?"

Her father was where she got her Hawaiian blood and nice olive skin. Her mom, however, was a white woman. Actually, these days, because of her liver failing, she was more yellow.

It was horrible to watch someone slowly fade away from this disease, especially when it was preventable. Even now.

She was angry at her mom for choosing the alcohol and not finding a way to get over the loss of her husband, Leilani's dad, dying.

But what could she do? Tell a dying woman she was mad at her. Every single minute together counted at this point. And you can't make someone do something they don't want to do.

Clearly, staying alive to be with Leilani was not enough of a motivation.

Which hurt.

A lot.

She was scared. Soon she'd be alone in this world. Save for a scattering of friends.

"You have us," Amy had told her last week. "Just think, you could move closer and be a babysitter for our little one."

Great.

I'll be a spinster nanny.

"Don't think about work all your life. It's way too short. Young people make their careers way too important these days," her mom said, ignoring her question.

It wasn't the first time she'd said such a thing and wouldn't be the last. The irony of her lectures wasn't lost on Leilani.

Life was short if you were dying and counting your days at forty-five. Maybe if she gave up the bottle and got clean, she would qualify for the transplant.

All it would take was for her to abstain for three months.

But she wouldn't.

Her mom was hardly in a position to be telling Leilani how to live her life. Again, she zipped her lips and kept her thoughts to herself.

At any point now, her mom's liver could completely fail. The doctors had talked them through it all and told them what to expect.

Waiting for anyone to die was hard, but when was it your mom? Well, Leilani woke up nearly every day in tears. Then put on a brave face the moment she left her bedroom to start the day.

Her outside face, she called it.

"I wasn't really working. I just had to email myself a reminder. I wasn't out there long," Leilani replied defensively. "Let me go shower. Then I'll make us dinner."

Any excitement about Jacob had subsided the moment she saw the yellow tinge on her mom's cheeks. It certainly did put things into perspective.

––––––––

TWO HOURS LATER, Leilaniwas curled up on the sofa, her mom's legs across her lap as she rubbed her ankles.

An empty glass of wine hung from her mom's hand and her eyes were shut. Leilani reached for it and placed the glass on the table beside her. Then turned down the volume on the tv and pulled the note out of her pocket.

Run away with me and bring that lip gloss.

She couldn't stop thinking about Jacob's message. It was silly, just harmless flirting, referencing his earlier joke about running away to have lunch together.

He probably left notes like this for a whole range of unsuspecting women he flirted with.

A man like him with those wide shoulders and stunning blue eyes was hard to ignore. Toss in his smirk, a pair of dimples, and the fact he was a billionaire, well, very few women would say no.

She had a feeling Jacob was going to feature in her dreams tonight. Heck, the way his shirt had bunched around his biceps as he'd leaned over her desk had been impossible to ignore, and she also hadn't missed the fit of his pants around his well-rounded butt when she'd fled the office.

She'd spent the entire lunch with Missy wondering what his cock looked like.

Surely other girls did that.

Right?

She pulled out her phone to check the time and then began to flick through her social media. Her thumb scrolled over and over until she found an erotic image advertising a romance book.

God.

He looked so much like Jacob.

Closing her eyes, she imagined sitting on Jacob's lap, in the same position as the characters she'd just seen, and how he would lift her and slide her down his cock.

Her eyes blinked open, shocked by the visual.

Was he single?

She had to know.

Next minute she found herself on his Instagram page. @The_Real_Jacob_Dufort

Holy fuck, he was gorgeous.

Photo after photo looked like it was professionally taken. Some with his family, some at home by himself, at the gym, in Hawaii at a family wedding, and some with a group of fun, sexy women.

Women who were absolutely stunning.

Leilani tipped her head back onto the cushion and closed her eyes.

"God, I'm an idiot," she whispered into the quiet room. Jacob was just playing with her. Entertaining himself.

Even in her new navy and cream Banana Republic dress, she wasn't anywhere near as classy as the women he usually dated. Heck, she'd recently splurged and got a Kate Spade handbag, which he probably thought was cheap and nasty.

Jacob was a Dufort. Dufort—as in the billionaires.

Men like him weren't interested in women like her.

But that moment between us...

Just a game.

It was all just a game.

Fletcher Dufort had been very well known as the Playboy of Manhattan before marrying Olivia Dufort.

It ran in the family.

Blake had never been inappropriate with her or his employees, but before marrying Bella, he was regularly mentioned in the gossip section and photographed with multiple women.

When she thought about it, so had Jacob.

Women who were wealthy, were celebrities, and had trust funds. She was way out of his league.

Leilani gently moved out from under her mom's legs. There was no point trying to get her to bed. They'd been through this many times since she'd moved back home. So she dragged the blanket off the back of the sofa and covered her mom.

As she walked upstairs to her bedroom and began her nightly routine of preparing for bed, she made the decision not to think about Jacob anymore.

Climbing into bed, she reached for the white teddy bear she'd had as a child. Her mom had put it on her bed to welcome her home, and Leilani had left it there.

Mr. Wobbles was his name because his eyes wobbled. Not very creative, but she'd been a kid and her parents had let her name the bear.

"What I need is a nice man and some new friends, Mr. Wobbles," Leilani said, hugging him to her chest. "Soon it's just going to be you and me. Don't tell anyone, but I'm scared."

A tear slid down her face.

Turning off the light, she tucked under the covers, still hugging Mr. Wobbles.

What would Jacob think of her now?

Hardly a sexy, dynamic woman. Yup, he was way too successful, gorgeous, and worldly for her.

Leilani stared out into the dark of her bedroom and wondered if it was time to create an online dating profile. Who knows, she could meet someone quickly.

Despite what Amy and Vanessa had said. Love at first sight did still happen. She might end up in her own happily ever after.

It could happen.

Then she wouldn't be alone.