Finding Perfect (Fool's Gold #3)(50)

“Why would you do that?”

“You look like you want to bolt. I get that.”

He walked around the car and stood in front of her. Despite her heels, the man still loomed over her. He was close enough that she had to tilt her head to meet his gaze.

“I’m not running,” he said. “But you’re right about one thing. I don’t want to be your pregnancy buddy anymore.”

She hoped her disappointment didn’t show. She refused to think about going through the pregnancy by herself. Once she got home, she would have a big hissy fit, followed by a breakdown. But for now, she would stay in control. “I understand.”

He took her hand again. He seemed to do that a lot. The problem was she liked it—too much. And now she was going to lose the hand-holding and pretty much everything else when it came to him.

“No,” he said. “You don’t. Pia, I want more. I want to marry you.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

RAOUL HADN’T PLANNED TO PROPOSE, but he wasn’t completely surprised by what he’d said. He’d been thinking about her a lot lately, about the babies she carried and their future. He admired her and respected her. Despite her fear and worry, she’d plowed ahead, taking each next logical step. His desire to help was something he’d learned from Hawk—to step in and make a difference.

He also hadn’t been able to get Keith out of his mind. The man had died fighting for his country. He would have assumed that Crystal would go ahead and have their children. He would have believed his family would go on. Thanks to Pia—it would. But it wasn’t right that she do all this alone.

Pia stared at him, her eyes wide, her mouth open. She tried to speak, swallowed, then said, “Excuse me? What?”

“I want to marry you.”

She shook her head slightly, as if not sure of her hearing. She looked stunned and a little dizzy. He wondered if he should get her into the car so she could sit. She solved the problem by opening the door herself and slumping into the seat.

He went around to the other side and got in, then he angled toward her.

“I mean it, Pia. Marry me.”

“Why?”

A reasonable question, he thought. “I admire what you’re doing. Most people would have run in the opposite direction, but you didn’t. And don’t say you had doubts and questions. If you didn’t you wouldn’t be competent to have the children.”

He leaned toward her. “I’ve seen a lot of different kind of people in my life. Those who give and those who take. Those who think about others and those who think about themselves. I’ve told you about my coach and how he changed everything for me. Nicole opened her home and her heart to me. They taught me what’s important. I want to do what they did—make a difference to someone.”

Her expression of shock changed to something that looked a lot like annoyance. “Thanks, but I’m not interested in being your charity case of the week.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

“It’s what you’re saying.”

He reached for her hands, but she snatched them back. “Don’t.”

She was pissed. Damn. He’d screwed up. “Pia, I’m saying this wrong. I want to take care of you. That’s all. I want to be there for you and the babies. I want to be a part of your lives.”

“If you’re so hell-bent on being a husband and father, go marry someone else and have your own kids.”

“I tried that,” he admitted. “And failed.”

“One divorce,” she muttered. “Big deal. It happens to more than half of marriages. So what? Try again.”

“That’s what I want to do. With you.”

They were words Pia had never thought she would hear. A proposal of marriage. Only everything about the situation was wrong. Okay—not the man. He was pretty amazing, but she didn’t want him proposing like this. Out of some weird sense of obligation to a former mentor. She wasn’t interested in being anyone’s merit-badge project.

“You can’t fix whatever’s wrong with you by marrying me,” she told him. “Go get therapy.”

She’d thought the words would annoy him, but he simply smiled at her.

“Do you really think that’s what I’m doing?”

“Yes. You don’t love me. We haven’t even dated.” There’d been that single, amazing night, but that wasn’t enough to build a relationship on.

She supposed on some level she should be flattered he was offering to help, but instead she felt cheated. Even though she’d never had a relationship get to the “I love you, please marry me” stage, she’d always dreamed one day it would happen. That the man of her dreams would propose.

But it was supposed to be a romantic event—a magical time. Not a mercy offer made in a medical parking lot.

“Pia, I like you a lot,” he said, sounding annoyingly earnest. “I respect and admire you. You’re smart, funny, charming and you lead with your heart. You’ve given up your life to have your friend’s children. How many people would do that?”

The switch in subject startled her. “Crystal left me her embryos. What was I supposed to do? Ignore them?”

“That’s my point. You couldn’t. You had to take care of your friend, even after she was gone. I might not have known Crystal, but I did know her husband. I can’t explain it, but I know that I owe him. These are his kids, too. I want to take care of you. Of them.”