“That’s enough,” Lewis said.
No it wasn’t, not until Scarlet heard her answer. “What did you tell him?”
Jessie rested her back against the door and clasped her fingers together over her belly. “Before my mom died, we spent a lot of time talking. She said she had to cram years of motherly wisdom and advice into a few short weeks so I’d better be prepared to listen.” Jessie’s lips curved into a small smile at the memory. “I am totally covered on it,” she locked eyes with Scarlet, “dating and safe sex. So neither of you need to worry.”
Yeah right.
“She also told me that she’d always be my mom and no one could replace her in my heart. But that didn’t mean I shouldn’t make room in my heart for another mom someday, because there was plenty of room in there, and she didn’t mind sharing.”
Tears welled in Scarlet’s eyes. “I think I would have liked your mom.”
“I know she would have liked you,” Jessie said with tears in her eyes, too.
“We talked about this, honey,” Lewis said to Jess. “Scarlet and I dating does not mean we’re going to get married.”
Of course it didn’t, because to men like Lewis, dating equaled sex and marriage didn’t fit into the equation.
“I know that,” Jessie said, wiping at the corner of her eye. “Mom dated lots of guys. To be honest,” she looked up at Lewis, “I kind of wondered if you even liked women anymore since you haven’t gone on a date for the whole nine months I’ve been living here.”
Scarlet had to laugh at the horrified expression on Lewis’s face.
Jessie turned back to Scarlet. “He admitted he did something stupid and hurt your feelings. He’s not sure if he asks you out if you’d even say yes. He says he’s waiting for the right moment, but waiting is making him cranky. So would you go out with him?”
“Don’t answer that,” Lewis said to Scarlet. Then he turned to Jessie, “That’s a conversation Scarlet and I will have in private.”
“I guess that’s my cue to leave. But before I go, just so we’re clear,” Jessie said. “Not to put pressure on the two of you or anything, but having Scarlet as my next mom would be totally awesome.” She walked over to give Scarlet a hug. “If I had a say,” she whispered. “You’d be my choice.”
“I love you, Jess,” Scarlet said, squeezing her tight. “No matter what happens between me and your dad, that will never change.”
“I’m glad,” Jess said. “Now,” she stepped out of Scarlet’s embrace. “I am going to disappear into my very own bedroom—which I love, love, love, by the way, and thank you thank you thank you for my purple wall—to let you adults talk.” She walked toward her bedroom.
When she was out of sight Lewis said, “I screwed up.”
Jessie called out, “He screws up a lot. But—”
“I don’t need any more help,” Lewis yelled to her.
“Shutting up now,” Jessie called back, her words followed by the slam of her door.
“I think that’s her favorite part of having a door,” Lewis said.
Scarlet smiled.
After an awkward pause they both said, “I’m sorry,” at the exact same time.
“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Lewis quickly added.
“I was awful to you last Monday. I dumped the brunt of my anger on you and you didn’t deserve it.” Doing so had made her feel even worse after he’d left. And she’d spent a good part of her week trying to figure out how to apologize.
He looked at her with such concern, such caring. “You had every right to be upset. After what I did, seeing my face made you feel worse. I understand.”
“But I appreciate the gesture. I really do.” It’d just taken a few days.
“Come sit down.” He put his hand at her low back to guide her to his black leather sofa, and Scarlet’s body came alive on contact, like it always did when he touched her. She sat and he sat beside her, taking her hand in his and resting both on his thigh. “I want to tell you what I should have said Sunday morning.”
“It’s okay. It’s over. I’d prefer to move on and not re-visit it.” Since she’d finally come to terms with the fact there couldn’t be more than friendship between them.
“You scare me,” he said.
She looked up at him. “How nice of you to share.” Since she was still a little shaky on the emotional stability front, she directed the conversation to a more neutral topic, “So did Jessie have fun in Lake George?”
Apparently Lewis would not be sidetracked. “You make me feel things and want things I’ve never felt or wanted before, things that before meeting you I was convinced I’d never feel or want.”
Could he be any vaguer? “What kind of things?” she asked.
He stared into her eyes. “Long term things.”
Scarlet wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“But I’d grown to care for you so much, so deeply in such a short amount of time. I didn’t believe it was real. How could it be? We’ve only known each other for a few weeks. It’s not normal to think about spending the rest of your life with someone after only a few weeks. Heck, for someone like me it’s unprecedented.”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.
“Yet there I was,” he continued. “Lying in bed with you, picturing a long happy life of waking up with you by my side. But the longer I lay there, the more it seemed too good to be true, the more I convinced myself it had to be the circumstances that’d brought us together. I was grateful, and dare I admit maybe a little dependent on you for your help with Jessie. And it’d been so long since I’d been intimate with a woman.”
“I’m not sure I like where this is headed,” Scarlet admitted.
“My thoughts were all jumbled. Then you woke up and startled me and I have no idea why ‘It’s over. This can’t happen again,’ were the first words to fly out of my mouth but they did. Once they were out I couldn’t take them back because I wasn’t ready to commit to what asking you to stay would have meant.”
“Then I got mad and stormed off.”
“You had every right to. If I were you I’d have hit me.”
Scarlet smiled. “I’ll remember that for next time.”
“There won’t be a next time.” He brought her hand up and pressed it to his heart. “What I should have told you when you woke up in my arms last Sunday morning is I see how smart and special you are. I appreciate all of your wonderful, caring qualities and I value you and your friendship more than any other woman out there.”
The fact that he’d remembered her speech to sooth a broken-hearted Jessie almost word for word touched Scarlet.
“You’re important to me,” he said. “I want to find a way to make us work, I want us to be together, but I need time,” he said. “I should have told you all that, but I didn’t. So now I’m asking for another chance. If we can take it slow, I promise to do my best to piss you off as little as possible, as long as you’re willing to cut me some slack here and there. I’m entering into new territory here.”
“New territory?”
“Exclusivity, a committed relationship, with you.”
Scarlet sat there, unsure what to say in response to his sincere words.
Lewis picked up on her uncertainty. “Unless that’s not what you want…” He released her hand.
“I care about you, I really do.” But she’d spent a lot of time thinking about her future lately, and she’d decided not to give up on her desire to have a baby either naturally or via adoption or IVF. “I don’t think we’re looking for the same things in a relationship. If I’m going to date a man exclusively, at this stage in my life, it’ll be with the intention of getting married and having babies and a house with a yard where I can plant flowers. I want a big family filled with love.” It’s what she’d dreamed of for so long and time was running out. “If those things aren’t part of your plans for the future,” and she was pretty sure they weren’t, “I think we’re better off as friends.”
For the first time since losing Joey, Scarlet felt a return of hope for a happy future. “I’d like that.”
“Regardless of what happens, as of today you and Jessie and I are family. When you’re alone in your apartment, you’ll never be completely alone because we’re only a phone call away. You need company, you come here, it’s getting late, you sleepover.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Not with Jessie around.
“In the loft,” he said. “After you help me pick out a big comfortable futon to put up there.”
So sweet. “Thank you.”
He leaned in and whispered, “But after Jessie goes to bed we can…” he wiggled his eyebrows.
“I’d like that, too,” she whispered back.
“So where do you want to go on our first official date as a couple?” he asked. “To seal the deal, so to speak.”
Scarlet thought for a moment. “How about we take Jessie to see her first Broadway play?”
He sat back and looked at her. “You want to include Jessie on our date?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “We’re a family.” She loved the way that sounded, the way it felt. To be part of a family. Her family. She smiled and moved in close. “But afterwards I want you all to myself.”
Lewis pulled her onto his lap. “And you can have me all night long.” He kissed her.
Jessie picked that moment to call out. “Are you guys almost done? Can I come out now?”
Scarlet jumped to her own spot on the couch and dried her lips on her wrist. Lewis adjusted his pants and crossed one leg over the other. “Yes,” they both answered together.
“Good,” Jessie said, coming back into the living room. “Because I just remembered I have a question.” She walked over to the coat closet, opened the door, and pointed at the coats piled on the sleeping bag on the floor topped off by the broken metal rod. “What the heck happened in there?”
Lewis leaned in, put his hand up to shield his mouth from Jessie, and whispered, “Dating with a teenager in residence is not going to be easy.”
To which Scarlet whispered back, “When something’s important you find a way to make it work. And you, Lewis Jackson, are very important, to me, too.”
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
First published in Great Britain 2013
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise
Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Harlequin Books S.A. 2013
Special thanks and acknowledgement are given to Wendy S. Marcus for her contribution to the NYC Angels series
eISBN: 978-1-472-00306-5
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Copyright
NYC Angels: Tempting Nurse Scarlet Page 15
