Winning Wyatt (The Billionaire Brotherhood Book 1) by Jacie Floyd Page B

Wyatt’s version of understated, but Kara
hesitated. “This is a little too grand for me. Why don’t I drive myself, and
you two can meet me at the gallery?”
    He
leaned against the car and shook his head. “You’re not getting away that
easily. We’ve needed to have an honest conversation for three years. I don’t
think it’s asking too much for me to keep you from escaping for the next ninety
minutes.”
    Grudgingly,
she got in and fastened the seat belt, waiting in silence as the driver rounded
the end of the car and got behind the wheel. After a few words with the driver,
Wyatt slid in beside her and raised the privacy glass. She expected him to
start right in about his own plans regarding custody, or with an angry diatribe
over her secrecy regarding Sean.
    “Maria
seems responsible,” Wyatt said, with the voice of a concerned parent. “But
isn’t she a little young to be a baby sitter? Does she come with good
recommendations?”
    “Yes,
very.” Kara stiffened with resentment and stared straight ahead, stung by the
idea that he questioned her judgment as well as Maria’s competence.
    “She
said other members of her family also sit for you.”
    “They
don't sit for me, they sit for Sean.”
    He
rolled his eyes. “Are the others older or younger than she is?”
    “One
of each.”
    “How
young is the youngest?”
    “What
is this?” Her head turned toward him with a snap. “Do you not trust me to hire
competent help?”
    “Should
I?”
    “I
think I know more about it than you do.”
    “That’s
why I’m asking you to explain the situation to me.”
    She
hated that he managed to sound so reasonable when irritation colored her logic.
She took a deep calming breath. “The Tagliattis are related to some good
friends of mine. There are six Tagliatti children and the oldest three are in
college. Marco is twenty-one and pre-med. Maria’s nineteen and studying early
childhood education. Angela, who’s eighteen, hasn’t committed to it, but she’s
thinking of becoming a nurse. Each of them works two days a week. We call them
the Tag-team, because of their last name and the way it gets to be like a relay
sometimes as we juggle schedules.”
    “Sean’s
obviously crazy about Maria. Does he like the others, too?”
    “Oh
sure, they’re all great kids and treat him like family.”
    The
car slowed to exit onto the parkway. Despite the beautiful fall colors and the
warmth of the sun streaming through the window, her dread of the possible
outcome of this conversation kept her on edge.
    She
forced herself to broach the subject of Wyatt’s intentions. “Have you decided
what you want to do now?”
    He
tapped his fingers against the seat between them and drew out the suspense until
she wanted to scream. “I want legal acknowledgment from you that Sean’s my
son.”
    “My
word or DNA testing?”
      “Your word will do for now. DNA for later.”
    “For
what purpose?”
    “Visitation
rights?” The words were more of a suggestion that a demand, but they detonated
through Kara's heart and mind like a bomb.
    “Oh,
yeah.” She hoped her derision disguised her fear. “I can see putting him on a
plane and sending him to California.”
    “Since
he would be travelling in a private jet with an accredited childcare professional,
I don’t see the objection.”
      “What do you know about children or
childcare?”
    “I
know I have a lot to learn, but I’m a quick study. I can read books, check with
a pediatrician and call my mother—All right, not my mother, but even you have
to admit that I could call Allison or Izzy for advice.”
    “Your
sister and your mother’s housekeeper would both be excellent resources. But
seeing as how my son doesn’t know either one of them, and neither one of them
live where you do, there is no way I’m allowing you to practice on-the-job
training with him.”
    “Don’t
all parents learn through on-the-job training?”
    “Some
more than others.” She ticked her own