Authors: Francis Ray
“Dr. Richard,” Kayla greeted, reaching up for him to pick her up.
“Hey, pumpkin.” He scooped her up with one arm. “Hi, Fallon,” Richard said, but he was looking at Naomi. The look so warm that she felt her cheeks heat.
“Richard,” Fallon greeted with a grin and closed the door.
Richard crossed to Naomi and held out a small bouquet of yellow roses. “These are for you.”
Her hands shook at they closed around the plastic wrapping of the roses, the scent wafting up to her. “Thank you.” Her voice quivered. She wanted to hug the flowers to her, bury her nose in them. She’d commented months ago that she liked yellow roses. He’d remembered.
Her first flowers, and she had almost missed them. She’d almost missed the man watching her so tenderly by being afraid. “They’re beautiful.”
“Just like you,” Richard said.
Naomi knew her blush deepened.
His attention shifted to Kayla. “Save me any food?”
“Uh-huh. I wanted to wait and eat with you, but Mama said we could eat dessert together.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“I’ll go put these in water and fix you a plate.” Naomi hurried to the kitchen.
“Good to see persistence pays off.” Fallon grinned at him.
He smiled. “Should I tell Lance what you said?”
Her smile cooled. “I’d tell you what I thought if we were alone.”
Richard sat Kayla down. “You mother said you had something for me.”
“I’ll get it.” She took off running.
Richard knew he didn’t have much time. Lance deserved a break. “He’s the best there is. Life hasn’t always been kind to him.”
Fallon folded her arms. “So now he takes pleasure in shafting others?”
A shadow cross Richard’s face. “He’s as honest as they come. He used to be trusting as well. I bet so were you. He’s had to learn to move past his anger. I don’t think you have.”
“You don’t know me,” she said tightly.
“You’re honest, intelligent, hardworking, loyal,” he said. “So is Lance. You two might have more in common than you think. My guess is there is another reason that you’re so hard on him.”
“Here it is.” Kayla handed him her art book.
Richard hunkered down and stared at the pencil drawing of the man and the little girl. “You did a good job.”
“That’s you and me.” She placed her arm around his neck. “I bet if I got lost and the guardian wasn’t around, you and Mama would find me.”
Richard felt his throat tighten. He hugged Kayla to him. Her trust and love were priceless. “We certainly would.”
Kayla leaned her head against his. “You can have it if you want. Mr. Rodgers already gave me a grade. I asked if you could take it out and he said it would be all right.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll take it to a shop to have it framed, and then I can put it up in my office,” he told her.
“For real?” The little girl’s eyes rounded.
“For real,” he said. “I’ll always tell you the truth. Remember that.”
“I do. It’s just sometimes…” Her voice trailed off.
He hugged her. Adults didn’t always keep promises. She’d learned that lesson much too soon. “I know, pumpkin. I know.”
Naomi heard her daughter, and some of her happiness faded. Kayla didn’t trust because, in her life, people didn’t always keep their word. Her mother was at the top of that list.
Naomi’s old habit would have been to drop her head, berate herself. This time she accepted that life hadn’t always given her a choice. Correction, she hadn’t always made the right choice. Her gaze went to Richard, saw his unshakable faith in her that had never wavered. There was nothing she could do about the past. She just had to make the best of the future.
Her head up, she walked farther into the living room. “Your food is ready.”
Richard came to his feet. “I’m starved.”
Kayla grabbed his hand. “I’ll show you. I helped Mama put a place mat and everything on the table for you.”
“I’ll let you eat and get out of here.” Fallon headed for the door. “Thanks for the meal. Good night, everyone.”
“Kayla, please show Richard where to sit.” Naomi hurried after Fallon to remind her about staying or no more meals; then she saw her friend’s unhappy expression. “What’s the matter?”
Fallon shook her dark head of hair, then looked at Richard and Kayla heading for the kitchen. “Richard doesn’t pull his punches.”
“I think I wore out his quota of patience for the next ten years,” Naomi said with feeling. “But he likes you.”
Fallon wrinkled her nose. “He thinks I’m too hard on his cousin.”
“Are you?” Naomi asked, then shook her head. “You don’t have to answer that. I’m the last person to try to analyze another person’s feelings when I’m having trouble with my own. I just know that I want to … live, for want of a better word.”
Fallon finally smiled. “You certainly picked the right man.”
Naomi grinned back. “I think so, too.”
Fallon hugged her. “Then get back to him. Good night.”
“Good night.” Naomi closed and locked the door, then started for the kitchen. She’d been looking inward so much that she never realized that women like Catherine or Fallon, who appeared to have it all together, might have problems of their own. But they never let this deter them from what they wanted.
Entering the kitchen, she saw Richard eating and Kayla talking nonstop about her day at school. Naomi smiled. She was taking this chance.
* * *
They cleaned up the kitchen together. Richard insisted on helping, and because Kayla, who didn’t like washing dishes, wanted to be with him, she’d helped. Both of them stared at Richard as he swept the floor.
He smiled at them. “After cleaning kennels, this is a walk in the park.”
Naomi’s lips twitched. “I bet.”
Chuckling, he put the broom and dustpan away, then went to the sink to wash his hands. “Ladies, you want to go for a drive?”
“Mama got us a movie to watch.” Kayla took his hand again. “It’s about secret-agent dogs saving the world against some bad cats. Crystal, in my class, said it was funny. She likes dogs, too.”
“How can it miss?” Richard held out his hand for Naomi. “Coming?”
She reached out her hand to his, then clenched it.
He frowned, disappointment clear in his eyes.
“I forgot to lotion them,” she explained, then quickly went to the bottle by the sink, a gift from Fallon, another person who disliked washing dishes. After rubbing the lavender scent into her skin, she reached for his hand.
He gently squeezed. “Lead on, Kayla.”
In less than a minute, Kayla had the movie in the DVD player, the control in her hands, and was scooted back on the living room sofa with Richard next to her. As movie trailers started to play, Naomi felt herself in a quandary. Usually she sat on the other side of Kayla as she did at the movies. She didn’t want to sit there tonight.
Richard patted the space beside him. “I saved you a spot.”
Naomi’s gaze went to Kayla. She didn’t like variations in their routine. And Naomi wasn’t sure how to explain the shift in her and Richard’s relationship.
“Better come on before the movie starts,” Richard urged. “I don’t want to miss any of the action of the dogs taking down those nasty cats. Although I wouldn’t say it in front of my cat owners.”
Naomi sat next to Richard, leaving a good two feet between them. The look he tossed her said it wasn’t close enough. She inched over a bit farther. He reached out and tugged her arm, bringing her closer still, until only a scant space separated them.
Kayla snuggled against Richard, the control still in her hands because she enjoyed rewinding scenes she liked. “I’m glad you’re here.”
He leaned his head briefly against hers, then curved his arm around Naomi’s shoulders. “So am I, Kayla. So am I.”
So was she, Naomi thought, and gave in to the urge to take a cue from her daughter and lean into the warmth and strength of Richard’s body. She barely caught back a sigh at how good it felt just to relax and not to be afraid. Then her mind went in an entirely different and new direction. Once Kayla was in bed, Richard would kiss her. She thought of the pleasure of the kiss in his office and snuggled closer.
* * *
“I can’t wait another second.” Richard pulled Naomi into his arms the moment she entered the living room, his mouth finding hers. He wanted the kiss to be warm and tender, the passion to slowly grow. It took all of his willpower for that to happen when she melted against him, a little whimper slipping past her lips.
The woman packed a wallop and had no idea how she got to him, how much he wanted her naked and willing in a big bed. Lifting his head, his breathing off kilter, he reached for control.
“I—no—I didn’t know a kiss could be like this,” she whispered, her splayed hands trembling on his chest.
“With the right person, a kiss can take you under faster than a riptide.” He lifted his head, palmed her face, and stared down at her. “You make me ache.”
Her eyes widened in wonder. “Me? I do?”
He would have laughed at the pleasure pushing its way through the wonder if need hadn’t been clawing though him. “You do.” He kissed her on the lips, then took her hand and sat on the sofa, pulling her back into his arms. “This is nice.”
“Everything with you is nice.”
She tucked her head. His finger lifted his chin. “Never hide from me. Promise me.”
“I don’t want to disappoint you, say the wrong thing,” she confessed.
“I didn’t want to disappoint
you
, say the wrong thing either,” he confessed. “It made me second-guess myself. It wasn’t a good place. Let’s make a pact tonight that we do what comes naturally.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” She shrugged. “I don’t think I’m very good at this.”
“Any better, and I’d be chewing nails.” He stared into her eyes. “Another pact. No comparison and no looking back at the past.”
“I want that more than you know,” she said. “Moving forward is the only way I’ll ever be happy. I finally realized that.”
“And that’s just what you’re doing.”
“With you.”
He smiled. “And the house. What did Sierra say about it?”
Naomi looked a bit embarrassed. “I was thinking about something else when she called so I didn’t ask any questions, but apparently a house just came on the market that she thought would be perfect for us. I called her while I was waiting for the food order and told her that I thought you’d come with us—if you could make it.”
“You told her right.” He came to his feet pulling her with him. “Sleep in. We’ll go eat breakfast after we see the house, then go find the frame shop to have my drawing framed.”
Naomi’s smile trembled. “You’re a good man.”
He wasn’t sure he liked being called good. “What time should I pick you up?”
“Eight forty-five, and thank you.”
“Thank you for trusting me.” He gave her a quick kiss on the mouth to reward her and because he couldn’t help himself.
She twisted her head to one side to study him. “I’m not sure you gave me a choice.”
“Desperate times.” His arms circled her waist. He liked that she was expressing her feelings more and more. “And I was past desperate.” His mouth found hers again, taking and giving pleasure. “Dream of me.” Turning, Richard left the apartment aware exactly of what he was going to dream about.
Chapter 11
“We’re coming up on the house address,” Richard said, slowing down.
Naomi leaned forward in her seat, reading the house numbers. The houses were all well kept, single-level adobe and wood with manicured lawns and rear-entry garages. They passed a man in a straw hat cutting his yard. A few houses farther, a woman worked in her flower bed. A couple of children raced down the street on their bikes.
“Looks like a good neighborhood,” Richard said.
“And out of my price range.” Naomi nibbled on her lower lip. “Sierra must have made a mistake.”
“Not a Grayson failing. Sierra knows her business. That sharp brain of hers as a Realtor is what got her and Blade together,” Richard reminded her. “Let’s wait and see. Should be the next house.”
Naomi’s gaze had already moved ahead. She straightened on seeing the overgrown yard. Sierra’s SUV was already there. Richard pulled to a stop in front of the walk.
“It’s on a corner lot,” Richard said encouragingly.
“I’ve never seen a garden like that,” Kayla said.
Because it isn’t one,
Naomi thought as she unbuckled her seat belt and slowly got out. Through the tall grass to the left and right of the house were wooden arches. The white paint on each was chipped and faded, but what made Naomi not lose hope were the unruly yellow roses climbing up the structure.
Sierra, in a slim-fitting black skirt and a ruffled white blouse with black piping, got out of the SUV, her high heels clicking on the pavement as she came to meet them on the sidewalk. Her long black hair hung down her slim back. Aaron and Paul were behind her.
“Good morning, everyone,” Sierra greeted cheerfully.
“Good moring,” Naomi said, but she couldn’t keep the frown from her face.
“Hi, Mrs. Sierra.”
“’Morning, Sierra,” Richard said from beside Naomi.
“Naomi, please keep an open mind. It’s thirty thousand off the listed price because of the outward appearance, but it has great bones and loads of potential. It’s sixteen hundred square feet with an updated kitchen, and the backyard has a sturdy eight-foot fence.”
The thirty thousand off eased a bit of Naomi’s worry about the cost, and she had said to look for a house that needed a little work. The fenced backyard was good. Sierra understood Naomi was on a budget, wanted safety for Kayla
and
what she needed in a house. “All right.”
“Excellent. Shall we?”
“What about the previous owners?” Naomi asked as she followed Sierra up the sidewalk. At least there were no cracks in this one.
“Martha and Greg Allen moved to Denver almost a year ago to live with their son when she became ill. They thought they’d move back, but now realize that that’s not going to happen,” Sierra explained, continuing up the walk.
“Wait,” Richard said from behind them.
Sierra looked back with a frown. “Yes?”
“Has Aaron already been inside?” Richard asked, holding Kayla’s hand. “Sometimes transients move into abandoned houses.”