LITMIR.BIZ

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the other arm of the sofa, the worn width between them.

      “Probably because they know how stubborn we are.” He watched her face, trying to read the truth in the delicate lines, but he saw only exhaustion and dark circles. “Would you have ever told me about the baby?”

      “You’ve asked me that already and I’ve answered. Of course I would have told you—” she shrugged “―eventually.”

      Finally he asked the question that had been plaguing him most. “How can I be sure?”

      Shaking her head, she shrugged again. “You can’t. You’ll just have to trust me.”

      A wry smile tugged the corner of his mouth. “Trust has never been easy for either of us.” But now that he was here and saw the truth, his decision was simple. “I want you and Eli to come with me, just for a few weeks while we make plans for the future.”

      “No.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

      “Ah, come on, Lucy Ann. Think about my request before you react.”

      “Okay. Thinking...” She tapped her temple, tapping, tapping. Her hand fell to her lap. “Still no.”

      God, her humor and spunk had lifted him out of hell so many times. He’d missed her since she’d stormed out of his life....

      But he’d also missed out on a lot more in not knowing about his son.

      “I can never regain those first two months of Eli’s life.” A bitter pill he wasn’t sure how to swallow down. “I need a chance to make up for that.”

      She shook her head slowly. “You can’t be serious about taking a baby on the road.”

      “I’m dead serious.” He wasn’t leaving here without them. He couldn’t just toss money down and go.

      “Let me spell it out for you then. Elliot, this is the middle of your racing season.” She spoke slowly, as she’d done when they were kids and she’d tutored him in multiplication tables. “You’ll be traveling, working, running with a party crowd. I’ve seen it year after year, enough to know that’s no environment for a baby.”

      And damn it, she was every bit as astute now as she’d been then. He lined up an argument, a way to bypass her concerns. “You saw my life when there wasn’t a baby around—no kids around, actually. It can be different. I can be different, like other guys who bring their families on the circuit with them.” He shifted to sit beside her. “I have a damn compelling reason to make changes in my life. This is the chance to show you that.”

      Twisting the skirt of her dress in nervous fingers, she studied him with her golden-brown gaze for so long he thought he’d won.

      Then resolve hardened her eyes again. “Expecting someone to change only sets us both up for disappointment.”

      “Then you’ll get to say ‘I told you so.’ You told me often enough in the past.” He rested a hand on top of hers to still the nervous fidgeting, squeezing lightly. “The best that happens is I’m right and this works. We find a plan to be good parents to Eli even when we’re jet-setting around the world. Remember how much fun we used to have together? I miss you, Lucy Ann.”

      He thumbed the inside of her wrist, measuring the speed of her pulse, the softness of her skin. He’d done everything he could to put her out of his mind, but with no luck. He’d been unfair to Gianna, leading her to think he was free. So many regrets. He was tired of them. “Lucy Ann...”

      She yanked her hand free. “Stop it, Elliot. I’ve watched you seduce a lot of women over the years. Your games don’t work with me. So don’t even try the slick moves.”

      “You wound me.” He clamped a hand over his heart in an attempt at melodrama to cover his disappointment.

      She snorted. “Hardly. You don’t fool me with the pained look. It’s eleven months too late to be genuine.”

      “You would be wrong about that.”

      “No games.” She shot to her feet. “We both need time to regroup and think. We need to continue this conversation later.”

      “Fair enough then.” He sat on the sofa, stretching both arms out along the back.

      She stomped her foot. “What are you doing?”

      He picked up the remote from the coffee table and leaned back again into the deepest, saggiest part. “Making myself comfortable.”

      “For what?”

      He thumbed on the television. “If I’m going to stick around until you’re ready to talk, I might as well scout the good stations. Any beer in the fridge? Although wait, it’s too early for that. How about coffee?”

      “No.” She snatched the remote control from his hand. “And stop it. I don’t know what game you’re playing but you can quit and go. In case that wasn’t clear enough, leave and come back later. You can take my car.”

      He took the remote right back and channel surfed without looking away from the flat screen. “Thanks for the generous offer of transportation, but you said we can’t take Eli on the road and I only just met my son. I’m not leaving him now. How about the coffee?”

      “Like hell.”

      “I don’t need cream. Black will do just fine.”

      “Argh!” She slumped against the archway between the living room and kitchen. “Quit being ridiculous about the coffee. You know you’re not staying here.”

      He set aside the remote, smiling as some morning talk show droned in the background. “So you’ll come with me after all. Good.”

      “You’re crazy. You know that, right?”

      “No newsflash there, sweetheart. A few too many concussions.” He stood. “Forget the suitcase.”

      “Run that by me again?”

      “Don’t bother with packing. I’ll buy everything you need, everything new. Let’s just grab a couple of diapers for the rug rat and go.”

      Her acceptance was becoming more and more important by the second. He needed her with him. He had to figure out a way to tie their lives together again so his son would know a father, a mother and a normal life.

      “Stop! Stop trying to control my life.” She stared at him sadly. “Elliot, I appreciate all you did for me in the past, but I don’t need rescuing anymore.”

      “Last time I checked, I wasn’t offering a rescue. Just a partnership.”

      If humor and pigheadedness didn’t work, time to go back to other tactics. No great hardship really, since the attraction crackled between them every bit as tangibly now as it had the night they’d impulsively landed in bed together after a successful win. He sauntered closer. “As I recall, last time we were together, we shared control quite...nicely. And now that I think of it, we really don’t need those clothes after all.”

      * * *

      The rough upholstery of the sofa rasped against the backs of Lucy Ann’s legs, her skin oversensitive, tingling to life after just a few words from Elliot. Damn it, she refused to be seduced by him again. The way her body betrayed her infuriated her down to her toes, which curled in her sandals.

      Sure, he was beach-boy handsome, mesmerizingly sexy and blindingly charming. Women around the world could attest to his allure. However, in spite of her one unforgettable moment of weakness, she refused to be one of those fawning females throwing themselves at his feet.

      No matter how deeply her body betrayed her every time he walked in the room.

      She shot from the sofa, pacing restlessly since she couldn’t bring herself to leave her son alone, even though he slept. Damn Elliot and the draw of attraction that had plagued her since the day they’d gone skinny-dipping at fourteen and she realized they weren’t

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