Lone Star Holiday Proposal

“Mommy, up,” JJ interrupted, and he lifted his little arms in the air.

“Sure, sweetie,” she said, bending to lift him into her arms.

She wouldn’t be able to keep this up for too much longer. JJ was getting so big and most of the time she had trouble keeping up with her energetic wee man. The fact that he wanted her to carry him spoke volumes about how tired he was. She reminded herself to cherish these moments while they lasted.

They were halfway down the block when she had to readjust JJ’s weight in her arms.

“He looks heavy,” Nolan commented. “Can I carry him for you?”

“No, it’s fine, I can manage,” Raina insisted, even though her back was starting to ache a little.

“Man carry me, Mommy.”

JJ squirmed in her arms, almost sending her off balance.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” she asked Nolan.

In response, Nolan effortlessly hefted her son from her and propped JJ on one hip. “Of course not.”

At the car, Nolan waited on the sidewalk while she strapped JJ into his seat.

“Thank you for dinner, and for your help with JJ. You didn’t have to,” Raina said as she straightened from the car and held her hand out to Nolan.

He took it and again she was surprised by the sizzling jolt of sensation that struck her as his hand clasped hers.

“Honestly, the pleasure was all mine,” he replied, his eyes locked on hers.

She found herself strangely reluctant to let his hand go and Nolan seemed to feel the same way, but then a group of people coming along the sidewalk forced them apart. Thankful she could disengage before things got awkward, Raina gave him a small wave and settled herself in the car.

Her hand still tingled as she reached forward to put the key in the ignition. It had been a long time since she’d felt anything like this at a man’s touch. As she drove away, Raina made herself keep her eyes on the road in front of her. She wouldn’t look back. Looking back only invited trouble, she told herself, and she’d had bushels of that already in her life. No, she’d promised herself to keep moving forward the right way, and that didn’t involve complicating her life with a relationship or fling with someone who was passing through.

* * *

Nolan watched from the sidewalk until he couldn’t see Raina’s taillights any longer. Why had he done this to himself? he wondered as he hunched deeper into his jacket and began to walk back to his hotel. Carrying JJ had brought back a wealth of hurt and repressed memories of his own son, Bennett.

Holding another small body in his arms...it had been a more bitter than sweet experience. He reminded himself very firmly that using her for information about the Winslows was one thing, but he was in no way embarking on any kind of friendship with Raina. It would be too easy, he knew that. He was already attracted to her, already felt that surge of physical awareness every time she smiled or her gaze met his. From the moment he’d laid eyes on her he’d been drawn to her and he’d been unable to get her out of his thoughts.

Being there in the Royal Diner with Raina and JJ had felt too much like his old life. The life he’d vowed he would never turn back to. No, his home was Los Angeles now. Royal held no allure for him anymore even though everything here still felt so achingly familiar.

He acknowledged the doorman at the hotel with a smile and went straight to his room. It was early. Any other time he’d have stopped in the bar and had a drink. Maybe enjoyed a bit of casual female interest before heading to his room—or hers. The mobile nature of his role as Rafiq’s personal attorney gave him leeway in his life that he’d never allowed himself before and while casual hookups had never been his style, a man had needs—and clearly the women he’d met had needs, as well. But while those encounters may have left him physically sated, there always remained an emptiness deep inside him.

His thoughts flickered back to Raina Patterson. She was definitely not the type for a casual hookup. She exuded stability and comfort. A man could fool himself that he belonged in the softness of her arms, but only until he broke her heart by leaving again. Nolan promised himself he would not be that man.

He threw himself on the bed and reached for the TV remote. Maybe he’d be able to numb his mind and his awakened libido by watching some mindless sitcoms or movies until he was ready to sleep. But distraction was a long time coming that night, and he couldn’t stop his mind wandering back toward the woman who’d so captured him.

* * *

Raina was glad she’d taken the time to prepare the workroom before she’d left Priceless earlier that day. JJ had been surprisingly clingy when she’d left him at home with the sitter, making her wonder if their company over dinner had unsettled him. It had certainly unsettled her.