“What?”“Marry me!” Justin groaned. Not sure if he said it loudly.“What did you say?” Allena stepped back and pulled her hand free, staring at him, thinking she had just misheard... or that he had suddenly lost his mind.“Marry me,” he said again.It was official. He was insane.Jesus! What the hell is he doing? She thought to herself.“That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever—”“It’s not crazy,” he said quickly, cutting off her protest. “Think about it. It makes perfect sense. The kids—”“It’s not about the kids,” she said, mortified by the mixture of feelings surging through her blood, like disbelief and shock and something else—something she wasn’t prepared to admit.“They love you,” he said flatly. “And they need you.”“They love me,” she shot back. “Exactly. But you don’t,” she said and couldn’t bear how much saying the words hurt her. “And I don’t—”“I know that we don’t care about one another in that way, Allena,” he said and sighed heavily. “But sometimes, marriages start out for

Justin met her gaze and saw the awareness in her expression. There was no denying it, no hiding it, and no way, he suspected, of trying to diffuse it. He couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been there between them—if it had been there all along and was just waiting to be fanned into life. “I should go.”She nodded, stepping back. “Did you want to see me about something? I know I’m officially still on duty, but Cassie wanted to help Leah and Mittie with the baking, and Jayden was with you, so I—”“I don’t watch your clock-in and clock-out times, Allena,” Justin said, dumping the shoeboxes on the bed. “I thought you might want to spend some time with the kids tonight, that’s all. Maybe watch a movie.”“I should keep packing," she said, her words trailing off.Justin saw the boxes scattered around the room. It added another layer of finality to the situation. The mood between them was tense and uncomfortable, and his foolish proposal was an elephant in the room. And they both knew i

Justin headed into town and found a parking space near the hotel entrance. It was just before sixthirty when he spotted Allena standing in the hotel foyer, looking so beautiful in a mid-length black dress and heeled black boots that he almost buckled at the knees. Her hair was down and fell across her shoulders. She half smiled when she saw him and walked across the foyer, her hips swaying.“You look lovely,” he said, and touched her elbow, frazzled by the shot of electricity that raced uphis arm when his skin connected with hers. “Nice dress.”“Thank you. Where are we going?”“The honky-tonk place just out of town. Unless you’d prefer to stay here?”“No,” she replied. “I’ve never been there and I hear they do barbecue ribs to die for.”Justin grinned. “I’ve heard the same thing.”She looked at him curiously. “You’ve never been there, either?”Justin’s gaze lingered on her. “Nope.”She waited until their eyes met before replying. “I thought you might have taken hat’s-her-name.”Just

Justin looked down into her lovely face, noticing every line and every sweet angle. There was something so incredibly sexy about her, and as he took her mouth in a searing kiss, the sensation almost buckled him at the knees. She was pressed against him, her lovely curves soft against the hard angles of his chest. He deepened the kiss and gently anchored her head with one hand. Leaning closer, he ran one hand down her side, lingered at the underside of her breast, and felt her ribcage through the fabric of her dress.“Allena,” he whispered against her mouth. “Tell me to stop.”“I can’t,” she said and gripped harder, digging her fingers into his shoulders. “I don’t want you to stop.”Justin pressed closer until they were leaning against the car, angling her head so their kiss could have the deepest contact. It had been a long time since he’d been intimate with anyone, but he knew that the feeling of having Allena in his arms was unlike anything he’d experienced before. She was soft and

Justin was neck deep in work on Tuesday morning when he received a frantic call from Leah, saying that Igor, his stepfather had collapsed. He was in an ambulance and on his way to the community hospital. It took Justin just seconds to shut down his computer and then head out to meet his sister in the emergency room as the EMTs were wheeling his stepdad into triage.“I stopped by his house this morning,” she explained, distraught and tearful, and he hugged her close. “I found him on the floor in the kitchen. I don’t know what happened or how long he’d been there. I spoke to him yesterday, and he said he still wasn’t feeling well.” She shuddered. “I should have checked on him again last night.”“You couldn’t know,” Justin said soothingly, trying to hide the panic in his heart.“I called the medic as soon as I got there and saw him,” she cried. “God, I hope I wasn’t too late.”“Did the EMTs give you any indication of what could be wrong?” Justin asked and led Leah towards a chair in the