Fortune's Christmas Baby (Fortunes of Texas)

“Maybe. I need to get back inside.” She took a small step back.

He had no more reason to stay then. Not a legitimate one. Wanting to give her a hug definitely wasn’t one. Nor was he ready to just say goodbye. He was in town for a bit longer. They had a little time. With a last long look, he kept his hands in his pockets and headed back the way he’d come, wondering how long he’d wait for her to show up at the club before he’d break down and visit her again.

Chapter Four

After she slid back into her apartment, Lizzie bolted the door as though she could keep outside all of the feelings that seeing Nolan had brought back. Keep them in a pool out there. One she could avoid stepping into as she came and went from her home.

And after double-checking that the door was locked, she took her scouring pad back into her en-suite bathroom and sat on the side of the tub.

Just sat.

He’d looked so incredibly good. So good. So incredibly, bone-weakening, blood-heating good. If she was still alone and single, without responsibility, would she have asked him in?

Would she have regretted doing so?

What if he’d come when Stella had been home?

Oh. That was why Carmela had asked to take the baby on her errands that morning. Because it was something she did often enough that Lizzie wouldn’t be curious. And it would also give Lizzie time alone with Nolan.

Her best friend and roommate hadn’t told him about Stella.

She’d wanted Lizzie to do that. Had orchestrated the moment.

She’d overstepped. Lizzie was going to tell her so the second she got home.

In the meantime she recalled the warmth in that man’s eyes. For a second there, it had been like the year before, like she could see clear to his soul. She’d never met a man who she felt such an instant connection to. Like she could trust him forever.

Ha.

The man who’d given her a bogus number. And obviously a fake name, too.

If she really wanted to know who he was she could go to the club. Get the skinny from any of his bandmates.

If she were really ballsy she could ask Nolan to see his driver’s license.

Truth was, she no longer wanted the truth.

She wanted him gone.

* * *

He made it around the block. Twice. Two blocks over. Stopping for coffee Nolan sat himself down and looked around the shop at all of the people—mostly students and some professors who must live in the area, he presumed. A guy with glasses and longish, unkempt hair sat in a hoodie, hunched over a laptop that was plugged into the wall behind him.

A couple of girls leaned into each other across a table as they talked, one of them referring repeatedly to something on her phone.

He tried to imagine what it might be they were so engrossed in. A picture of a guy. A boyfriend. Maybe she’d caught him with another girl. Maybe they were looking at clothes. On their way to go shopping. Buying for themselves rather than picking up gifts for others.

Maybe he had to quit watching everyone else live their lives and live his own. He had to get back over to Lizzie’s and tell her the truth about himself. He’d known, deep down, the second he’d seen her that he owed her that much.

Because of what they’d been to each other for the short holiday time.

He sat upright and noticed the clock up on the wall. He still had fifteen minutes, at the very least, before the hour was up that Carmela had assured him Lizzie would be home.

Alone. She’d said Lizzie would be home alone.

Which meant she hadn’t had a guy in there, right?

He had to complete the unfinished business between them.