settled into the oversize club chair cattycorner from the couch, he asked, “What are you doing up so early?”
When he unconsciously rubbed a hand over his bare chest, her gaze followed the movement, continuing to his abdomen and lower, where his jeans were partially undone, serving to make him even more uncomfortable.
“What are you doing…up?” She jerked her gaze back to the television.
Rio almost laughed—a pain-filled, joyless laugh. Instead, he laced his hands behind his head and released a slow, even breath in an effort to conceal his uneasiness. “I haven’t been to bed yet. In fact, I just got home. Busy night so I’m still high on adrenaline.” High on her. High on the prospect of peeling her faded flannel nightshirt slowly off her body and making long, hard love to her in front of the fire. The flame had dwindled due to his halfhearted attempts, but the blaze burning below Rio’s belt generated enough heat to fuel the entire city.
Joanna stretched and yawned. “I couldn’t sleep any longer. Too much on my mind, I guess.”
She sounded slightly distressed, and Rio’s concern for Joanna helped to pacify his cravings somewhat. “Is work not going well?”
She shook her head. “Work is fine. I got a letter from my mom and Joseph yesterday.”
His concern increased. “Something wrong?”
“Not really. Joseph is doing well in school, making A’s although he’s had a little trouble with talking in class.” She smiled. “He gets that from his father.”
Rio dropped his feet from the table and leaned forward, arms draped on his thighs. “You’re missing your son,” he said in a simple statement of fact.
“I miss him every night, every day, especially when it’s cold. It reminds me of when he was born, in November. The day I took him home, it was around thirty degrees, crisp and clear outside. I spent that first day holding him. He was so tiny and I was so scared. Just the thought of molding someone’s life is overwhelming. But I like to think about that particular day when it was just us, getting to know each other.”
“What about your husband?”
Joanna hugged her knees to her chest, her feet balanced on the edge of the chair as she turned her attention to the smoldering logs. “Oh, he was out celebrating the fact that he had a son. He started celebrating the day I went into labor and didn’t quit for about a week.”
“But he was with you during the birth.”
“Well, no. Adam wasn’t very good at that sort of thing. But I was lucky, only four hours of labor.”
“You were lucky where the labor was concerned. I can’t say the same for your choice in husbands.”
Joanna nailed him with blue eyes that looked almost translucent in the muted light. “He was very charming, a big talker.” She nodded toward the TV and the hyperactive host extolling the virtues of the cleaner in a booming voice. “Just like that guy. The pitch sounds great and then you soon discover you’ve purchased a faulty product. I’ve learned that when it sounds too good to be true, most likely it is.”
God, Rio despised her ex more and more with each revelation and he didn’t even know the guy. But he did know that Joanna had told the truth, and that was enough justification for his hatred. “Did the bastard ever give you what you needed?”
Her gaze snapped to his. “He gave me Joseph.”
“He should be supporting you financially.”
“With what? His looks?” Her tone bore the anger of a woman scorned, and rightfully so. “He couldn’t keep a job while I was in school. I doubt he has one now.”
“You were in school when the baby was born?”
“Medical school. Second year. That’s how we ended up in San Antonio.”
The disclosure threw Rio mentally off-kilter. “Medical school?”
She tucked her legs beneath her and folded her arms across her breasts. “Yeah. I didn’t exactly plan to have a baby then. I wanted to wait until I finished but…” Her gaze faltered. “I foolishly thought that having a child might settle Adam down. Obviously I was mistaken.”
“Obviously. But you don’t regret having Joseph.”
“No. He’s my whole life.”
Rio saw undeniable love reflecting from her beautiful blue eyes. A mother’s love. And he realized now, more than ever, she did merit a man who could love her the way she deserved to be loved.
“I had no idea you planned to be a doctor,” he said, ill at ease over his sudden feelings of inadequacy where Joanna was concerned, with how little emotionally he had to offer.
“There are quite a few things you don’t know about me.”
He knew that he respected her, that he admired her selfless love for her child. That he hated what her husband had done to her. That he wished he had more to give. “I’d like to know more about you, Joanna,” he found himself saying with sincerity. He did want to know her, and he was only beginning to scratch the surface.
A reluctant grin curled the corners of her full lips. “I think we’ve skipped a few important steps, considering you now know what I look like naked.”
She could have gone all day without saying that. His uncooperative body could have gone all year without hearing it.
Shifting from the building tension in his groin, he opted to revisit something they’d discussed the day she’d moved into his house in an attempt to quell the urge to carry her to his bed. “The offer still stands about having Joseph come to live here. Then he could be with you every day.”
She sighed. “I really appreciate it, but as I’ve said before, he needs to stay in school throughout the remainder of the year now that he’s settled.”
“Okay, but if you change your mind, you know he’s welcome.”
To his surprise, she scooted out of the chair, walked to the sofa and hovered above him. “Are you planning to go to bed any time soon?”
He wanted to go to bed with her, but not unless she extended the invitation. “In a while.”
She looked at him expectantly before her gaze traveled to his mouth. “Guess you’re really tired, huh?”
Not so tired that if she asked, he’d make love to her until the sun rose in a couple of hours. But only if she asked. “Is there something you need from me?”
A long silence ensued as she stood there opening and closing her fists and biting her lower lip. It took a major effort on Rio’s part not to take her hands, pull her into his lap—straddling his lap—so he could feel her against him, let her know that he needed to be inside her more than he needed sleep. For a brief moment he thought she might actually come to him and soothe the ache building to an unbearable intensity below his tattered jeans.
The moment ended when her gaze shifted away. “Actually, there’s something I need to tell you. In fact, I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now.”
Her serious tone indicated seduction was the last thing on her mind. Or maybe he’d only imagined the longing reflecting in her blue eyes. He patted the cushion next to him in hopes that she might reconsider. “Have a seat.”
She stared at the sofa as if it were covered in spikes, not leather. “It can wait. You need your rest.”
Aside from needing her in a very fundamental way, he needed to know what was bugging her. “A few more minutes aren’t going to matter.”
Finally, she claimed a seat on the far end of the couch as if he were contagious. “It’s about Allison Cartwright. I believe she’s decided to use the center for the birth.”
Rio wasn’t exactly surprised, nor was he exactly thrilled. Yet he had