her heart nearly leapt out of her chest.
She had no idea how long she stood there, wondering what to say, what to do.
“Are you there?” he asked.
Well, there was no getting around it, she supposed. So she took a deep breath, then slowly blew it out before unlocking the deadbolt and opening the door to see what he wanted.
Tonight, standing under the porch light and wearing a pair of worn denim jeans and a black T-shirt, he didn’t appear anywhere near as conservative as he had earlier. In fact, he reminded her of the rebellious teen she’d once known.
His hair was still damp, as though he, too, had just stepped out of the shower.
“I hope it’s not too late.” His gaze moved from her eyes, to her lips, to her throat and lower, before making its way back to her face.
She’d been so caught up in the way he filled out his T-shirt, in the realization that he still resembled a rebel, either with or without a cause, that she’d forgotten the fact that she was only wearing a flimsy, lightweight robe over a thin cotton gown.
“I...uh...” She fiddled with the lapel, tugging at it, hoping her nipples didn’t show through the soft and comfy but well-worn fabric.
“There are a few things I wanted to talk to you about,” he said. “I think it’ll make running into each other a little easier from now on.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Yes, I know. And you’re probably right. But now really isn’t a good time.”
“Why?”
There were plenty of reasons. For one thing, she’d been harboring the pain of their breakup for years and had put it behind her. Why stir things up now?
And if that wasn’t enough, Lucas was upstairs, although he’d been so quiet that he might have fallen asleep.
But mostly she didn’t want to enter any kind of discussion with Rick Martinez while she was dressed in her nightgown, especially since he’d always made her a little uneasy.
He’d also had a way of exciting her, too, and apparently none of that had changed.
Everything else in her life had, though. She’d kicked the dangerous Rick Martinez addiction years ago.
She had a new man in her life now, a stockbroker who cared enough about her to ask his investment firm to transfer him to their Wexler office so they could be together.
Brian Winslow didn’t stir her blood the way Rick once had, but they were mature adults. They were also better suited to each other, with common interests and goals—things that made for an enduring relationship.
Rick’s gaze swept over her again, sending her already thumping heart topsy-turvy. She tried to ignore the power he still held over her, hoping that once he’d said what he came to say that it would all go away. That he’d go away.
But she wasn’t dressed for company, and even if she was, did she want to invite him in and make things more awkward between them than she had to?
She’d never expected Rick to stay in Brighton Valley, especially since she’d known how humiliated he’d been when his uncle had been arrested and convicted for assault after beating his aunt unconscious.
She knew, once he’d turned eighteen, Rick had only stuck around because of her. At least, that’s what he’d told her back then.
“I...uh... It’s not a good time,” she said, using the door as a shield, “but if you’d like to come back tomorrow, that would be okay.”
He didn’t make a move toward leaving, and that same awkward silence stretched before them again.
For a moment, the memories came rolling back, along with the sexual awareness that swarmed around them like lightning bugs in a Mason jar.
What she needed was a diversion.
But the one she got wasn’t the one she wanted.
“Hey, Mom,” Lucas called from the upstairs landing. “Where did you put my Star Wars Lego set? Is it still in one of the boxes? Or did we forget to bring it when we moved?”
His footsteps sounded as he padded downstairs, and her heart belly flopped into the pit of her stomach. Her whole world was going to blow sky high the moment Rick spotted Lucas.
After all, he’d have to be blind not to see what she saw each time she looked at the boy.
Lucas was the spitting image of Rick Martinez.
Chapter Two
The moment Rick heard Mallory’s son call out from the top landing, reality slammed into him like a horse hoof to the chest.
He’d wanted to shove open the door and push past her, but he didn’t need to. The boy had enough curiosity for the two of them. Within several pounding heartbeats, he joined his mother at the door.
There stood Lucas, the kid Rick had met earlier, the boy with blue eyes and a cowlick like Rick’s.
Of course, Rick might be connecting imaginary genetic dots, but how likely was that?
“Hey! Dr. Martinez. Where’s Buddy?”
Rick’s first instinct was to launch into an interrogation of Mallory, but he needed to control his gut reaction. Why take out his anger and frustration on the poor kid?
“I’m afraid I left Buddy at home this evening,” he said.
Mallory, her eyes wary, her cheeks flushed, looked as if she’d just picked up the wrong end of a hot branding iron. She glanced at Rick, then at the boy. Her son. “I didn’t realize you two had met.”
Apparently not. Would she have mentioned anything about even having a son if the boy hadn’t come downstairs?
“We met today,” Lucas said. “While I was at Mrs. Reilly’s house.”
Mallory took a deep breath, then slowly let it out, clearly at a loss and probably trying to buy time in order to gather her thoughts—or maybe to fabricate a lie.
How about that? If there was one thing he could say about Mallory Dickinson, at least the Mallory he’d once known, it was that she was as honest as the day was long.
But it didn’t take a brain surgeon to see the writing on the wall. She’d kept the baby she was supposed to have given up for adoption, and she’d let more than nine years go by without telling him.
Betrayal gnawed at his gut, and anger flared in a swirl of ugly colors. He ought to challenge her right here and now, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it in front of the boy. Apparently, she no longer saw a reason to bar him from entering the house because she stepped away from the door and allowed him in.
“Lucas called you a doctor,” she said, arching a delicate brow.
The fact that she found it surprising that Rick had actually made good
