Page 70 of The Billionaire's Promise

Well, not entirely for free. She'd strong-armed Vance into making another donation to the foundation as her fee. Abigail was born to extort money out of wealthy people in the name of a good cause. Her first benefit for the Winters Foundation had been a raging success, and the next one would be even better. She'd beamed when we'd decided to ask for donations to the food bank in lieu of gifts.

She was such a sweetheart, I felt terrible that I'd been dodging her calls. Only for one day. I needed a break from the wedding. I looked up to see Vance loping across the lawn, a roguish grin on his handsome face. He reached the edge of the quilt and scooped up Rosie, who had rolled in his direction the second she'd seen movement.

Scout, who had been supervising the construction work with Vance, came around the quilt to collapse beside me, leaning his short, long body into mine. I rubbed his ears and lost myself in watching Vance swing Rosie in the air. She loved it, babbling with glee and reaching for the sun. He wassucha good dad.

When Rosie was done, Vance dropped down to join Scout and me on the quilt, setting Rosie between us. She promptly rolled toward Scout and reached out to play with his paw. Scout gave a harrumph and settled his head on his other paw, content to let Rosie play as long as he knew she was safe.

"She's rolling everywhere," Vance said, looking down at Rosie's drooping eyelids. She was napping less and sleeping longer at night, but she was also more active. It was a good thing we were getting more sleep. We needed the energy to keep up with her.

"I know. She almost rolled herself to the top of the stairs this morning," I said.

"Do we need to get a gate already?" Vance asked, his eyebrows drawing together in concern.

"Probably. She'll be crawling in another month or two."

Vance rolled to his back and let out a groan. "I'm not ready for crawling. She's already a terror and she's only rolling.”

"I know," I agreed. "But I don't think we get a say."

"Nope." Vance turned back to his side and looked at me from beneath his thick eyelashes. I knew that glint in his eye. I wasn't surprised when he said, "When do you think she'll fall asleep?”

Taking in Rosie's soft touch on Scout's paw and her glazed eyes, I said, "Not long. Why? Do you want to go try to get some work done?"

"Definitely. If byworkyou mean stripping off your clothes and making you come."

"Hmm. I could make room in my schedule for that," I said.

"I was thinking we should move Rosie from the sitting room to the other master bedroom. The one I was using. That way, she'll be close, but we'll have a little space."

It was a good idea. The day before, I'd put Rosie down for her nap, and then Vance had tucked me in. Naked. It would have been heaven, but I'd ended up screaming his name and I'd woken Rosie. I'd learned the hard way that a wailing baby is a complete orgasm killer.

It wasn't my fault. Really. I'd never been a screamer during sex before. I tried to be quiet with Vance. Sometimes, I even managed it. But other times, I lost all control. He really was that good. Remembering, I shifted to lie on my front before I gave in to the urge to peel off my clothes right there.

All I had to do was think about sex with Vance and my body came to life. Think about sex, see Vance with his shirt off, catch that glint in his eyes . . . it didn't take much.

"Let's take her up now," I said. "You can move her crib, and we'll put her down for her nap." I eyed Rosie's slow blink. A few more of those, and her lids would stay closed. "I don't want her to fall asleep out here. She might wake up when we bring her in."

Vance scooped Rosie up and nudged Scout off the quilt while I grabbed our things. Rosie snuggled her head into his shoulder and let out a huff of air. She'd worn herself out with all that rolling. Maybe she'd take a nice long nap. I could only hope.

We were headed to the kitchen door when my phone rang. Charlotte. "Hey, Charlie, what's up?"

"Are you guys busy?"

"Just putting Rosie down for a nap, why?"

"What about after?"

"We don't have anything planned," I said, curious. Charlie wasn't usually this cagey. "What's going on?"

Vance caught my question and looked at me, his eyebrows raised. I shrugged.

"Can you meet me somewhere after Rosie wakes up?"

"Sure, where?" I asked.

"I'll tell you later. I don't want to talk to Vance about it over the phone. Just call me when you're ready."

"Okay, later." I hung up and shoved the phone in my pocket, wondering. What didn't she want to talk to Vance about?