Daddy by December (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) by Judy Angelo Read Free Book Online Page B

It’s not like I can just pick one up off the supermarket shelf
simply because my daughter wants one.  A man is not a toy.”
    “True," Drake said,
as he tented his fingers and stared across at her.  “What if I told you I have
the perfect solution to your problem?”
    Her brows furrowed and
she looked at him with suspicion.  “Which is?”
    “Marry me and give
Jessie the daddy she wants.”
    Meg jerked forward, her
body spasming in a fit of coughs.  She’d half expected a surprise but certainly
not anything like this.  The man must have gone totally insane.  She took the
glass he held out to her and took several quick sips of water.  “What are you
saying?”  she finally squeaked.
    “I’m saying, I want you
to marry me.”
    Now he was making her
mad.  “Drake, we only just met.  What’s it been?  Three weeks?”
    “I’ve known you for
over ten years, Meg.  I know you well enough to say without any doubt that I
want you back in my life.”
    “Listen, Drake, you’ve
taken this joke far enough.”  She picked up her napkin from her lap and dropped
it on the table.  “Either you drop this line of conversation or you take me
home right now.”
    “Meg, please.”  He held
a hand up.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to upset you.  I just…” he shook his
head and heaved a sigh, “...I just hoped I could make things right, get back to
the place and time when you willingly gave me your all.”
    Now why did he have to
go and bring that up? He was digging up memories that were best forgotten.  “I
was young and stupid,” she said through clenched teeth.  “I’m a mature woman
now and I know better.”
    “But a mature woman who
still needs a man in her life.”
    Exasperated, Meg
slapped her hands down on top of the linen-covered table.  She glared at
Drake.  “Aren’t you forgetting something?”  Her voice rose to a slightly higher
pitch as the anger climbed inside her.  "You dumped me after taking my 'all',
as you so elegantly put it."  She drew in a shaky breath then looked around. 
Thank God nobody seemed to have heard that.  Now she could truly appreciate the
table that had been chosen for them – away from the others, secluded and out of
earshot.  Thank heavens for that.
    “Drake Duncan, I’ve
been waiting to say this for ten years.”  Meg leaned forward and spoke in a
whisper that vibrated with her rage.  “You used me and you left me and I’ll
never forgive you.”
    There, she’d said it. 
All these years she’d wanted to get that off her chest and she’d finally gotten
the chance.  Now it was Drake Duncan’s turn to explain himself.  Not that it
mattered anymore.  There was nothing he could say that would erase her utter
devastation at his callous rejection nor the years of hurt that followed.  It
was only when she met Greg – God rest his soul – so understanding, so patient
and so different from Drake that she’d begun to heal.
    Now, with those
difficult years behind her, she could face Drake Duncan.  She tilted her chin
up and stared him straight in the eyes, expecting him to drop his gaze and duck
his head in shame.
    But he did not. 
Instead, on Drake’s face was a look of confusion that she couldn’t fathom.  “What
the devil are you talking about?  You were the one who disappeared on me.”
    Meg gasped.  The nerve
of him, to lie right to her face.  “I did not.  I sat there in my dorm room
your entire graduation night and you didn’t even have the decency to come by
and tell me you didn’t want to be with me.  You didn’t come and you didn’t
call.  And even when I was leaving to catch my train the next morning there was
no sign of you.”  She gave an angry snort.  “Now I know why they call some men
dogs.  You represented that pack very well.”
    Drake put his hand up
and raked his fingers through his hair.  When he looked at her again it was
with a pained expression.  “Meg, I have an explanation and an