Finding Perfect (Fool's Gold #3)(26)

The door to her office pushed open. Pia glanced up and was surprised when Raoul strolled in.

He looked good, she thought, telling herself to make sure she looked cool and sophisticated. Barring that, she should try to avoid appearing desperate or needy.

“Hi,” she said, going for cheerful. “I haven’t had an emotional crisis today so we can’t possibly have an appointment.”

Instead of seeming impressed by her sparkling wit, he stared at her with an intensity that made her wonder if she’d dropped a bit of breakfast on the front of her shirt. As casually as she could, she glanced down. All seemed well.

“Pia,” he said, moving toward her. “We have to talk.”

Not exactly words one expected to hear from a macho guy. “Okay,” she said slowly. “What about?”

Maybe he’d been as rocked by the kiss as she had been. Maybe he wanted to kiss her again and make her his love monkey. A week or two of intense male attention would probably cure her allergies.

“I’ve been doing research on in vitro fertilization,” he said.

She plopped down on her chair and held in a sigh. So much for the love monkey invitation. “That’s more than I’ve done,” she admitted. “Is that what we’re going to talk about? Because if it’s anything gross, I don’t want to know. I have a weak stomach.”

He moved toward her desk. “It won’t be bad. You take some basic tests, then your body is prepared to receive the embryos.”

She hadn’t liked the sound of that when she’d read the brochures the lab guy had given her, and she didn’t like it now. “Prepared, how?” She quickly raised a hand. “Never mind. Are you going to sit?”

He placed his hands on her desk and leaned toward her. Apparently sitting wasn’t on the schedule, either.

“Pia,” he said, his dark gaze intense. “You can’t go through this alone. You need someone to take care of you, and I want to be that person.”

CHAPTER SIX

THE WORDS SWIRLED AROUND in Pia’s head. This was even crazier than the kiss.

“I haven’t decided I’m going to have the babies,” she whispered.

“Sure you have. Are you going to walk away from them?”

“No, but…”

If she hadn’t been sitting, she would have collapsed. Was Raoul right? Had she already made her choice?

She closed her eyes. There was no way she couldn’t have them, she thought with some finality. Whether or not she was the best person, she was the one Crystal had picked. It was crazy and scary and life-changing, but it had to be done. Her friend was depending on her.

She opened her eyes. “Oh, God. I’m going to get pregnant.” She sprang to her feet, as her chest tightened and her heart rate zoomed into triple digits. “I can’t breathe.”

He came around the desk, took her hands in his and held on tight. “I’ll help.”

“This has nothing to do with you.”

“I want to help. Be your…” He seemed to be searching for a description of what he was offering. “Pregnancy buddy. I’ll drive you to the doctor, go get you pickles, whatever you need.”

“I don’t need pickles,” she told him, ignoring the warm feeling of his skin against hers. This was not the time to indulge in weakness. “I don’t really like them. Not enough to binge on them.” A pregnancy buddy? “Maybe you took too many hits to the head when you were playing football.”

Despite her tugging on her hands, he didn’t release them.

“Pia, I’m serious. You don’t have any family here. You have friends, but they all have lives. You need someone to depend on for the next nine months. I’m offering to be that guy.”

Did kissing come with the offer, she wondered, before pushing the thought away.

She managed to free her hands and take a step back. “You can’t know what you’re saying. Why would you give up nine months of your life to help me?”

“Why would you offer to have Crystal’s babies?”

“That’s different. She was my friend.”

“Fair enough. I didn’t know her, but I did know Keith. These are his kids, too. The man died in my arms, Pia. I was there. I owe him. Helping bring his children into the world seems like the least I can do.”

That almost made sense, she thought. Given that everything about their conversation was beyond believable.

“Okay, maybe,” she conceded, “but maybe you could just donate something to charity instead. You’re a rich, famous guy. You have a life. Probably a girlfriend.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend. I wouldn’t have kissed you if I did.”

Which begged the question of why he had, but she would deal with one weird incident at a time. “Raoul, you’re really sweet, but no.”

“Why? Don’t you trust me?”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m not going to offer this, then change my mind. I’m not going to leave.”

She did her best not to wince at his words. He knew enough about her past to guess that being left was one of her issues. Slowly, she returned to her chair and sank down. After drawing in a breath, she looked at him, as if she could find the answer in his handsome features.