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“Do it,” Toby said. “But I’m staying with him.”
“We’re staying with him,” Naomi said, gaze locked with his.
“Yeah. We.” Toby nodded, his throat too full to speak.
“Not a problem,” Scarlett said. “It won’t take long and he won’t suffer. I promise.”
Toby tuned his sister out. He didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t want to watch her end the old guy’s life, even though it was a blessing for Legend. Toby looked again into his horse’s eyes, and he could have sworn he read a silent thank-you there.
Legend’s breaths came slower, slower, then stopped, and the silence was almost unbearable. He was gone. A huge piece of Toby’s life had just ended, and he felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. Naomi took his hand and held on. Scarlett kissed him again and silently left them alone.
“I’m so sorry,” Naomi whispered, turning into him, wrapping her arms around him.
“I know,” he said and held on to her, burying his face in the curve of her neck.
He’d wanted her there, with him, when he realized that Legend was dying. Toby had needed Naomi, and she’d co
me. Just as she always had. Her hand in his, he felt her warmth pouring into him and clung to it.
After the trip to California, things had definitely changed between Naomi and him. Sure, the sex was great. Amazing, even, but out of bed, he felt the strain between them. They hadn’t talked again about the offer she’d had, and he had no clue what she was thinking. Planning. So he had to wonder what she was considering. Did she want that offer badly enough to leave Texas? Move to Hollywood? And if she did, what then? His life was here. In Royal. Living in California wasn’t part of his game plan, but was it in Naomi’s? That producer had offered a dream. Was she going to take it?
And if she wanted to, then maybe they shouldn’t get married, after all. Was it fair to her?
That’s bull, he told himself. All of it. He wasn’t thinking about what was best for Naomi. It was about him. What he was feeling. Every time they had sex, he felt himself sliding farther down a steep cliff. Pretty damn soon, he’d find himself loving a woman and risking everything he’d promised himself he never would again.
Straightening up, he looked into those whiskey-gold eyes and knew he was in trouble. He just didn’t know how to avoid getting in deeper. “Thanks, Naomi. For being here.”
“I’ll always be here, Toby.”
He hoped so, but there was some serious doubt. Toby caught her cheek in the palm of his hand and realized that Naomi was really the only woman outside his immediate family whom he trusted completely. Why, then, was he so cautious about letting his feelings for her grow? Was it himself he didn’t trust? Or was he just too damned cowardly to risk loving again?
Either way, he didn’t come off too well.
Standing up, he drew her to her feet and said, “Come on. I have to get out of here.”
“Okay.” She held his hand and followed him out of the stall, where they both stopped and looked down at Legend one more time.
Then, together, they left the stable, and the pain, behind.
Ten
Two days later, Naomi was furious.
The text she’d received an hour before ran through her mind again.
Naomi, we must speak. Come to Oaks Hotel in Houston as soon as you can. Gio
The fact that he’d practically ordered her to come irritated her only half as much as the fact that she was going to see him at all. Why had Gio come to Texas? Why had he texted her out of the blue after making it perfectly clear he wasn’t interested in her or her baby?
Temper spiked inside her. Naomi hadn’t told Toby about Gio’s text, because she knew he’d tell her not to go meet the man. But she had to, didn’t she? Had to find out what he was up to. Why he was here. Had to tell him to go away and never come back. Once she had it all settled, she’d tell Toby about it, of course. She wasn’t going to lie to him about this.
Over the past few weeks, Naomi had put Gio out of her mind completely. He had nothing to do with her or her baby. Toby was the man who would be her child’s father. Toby was the man she loved. The man she was about to marry. Gio had no place in their lives. And the only reason she was going to see him was so she could tell him that to his face.
It was time to banish her past so she could go forward with her future.
She parked her car on the street, fed the meter and then hurried toward Gio’s hotel. It was plush, of course, with a liveried doorman and a red carpet stretching from the sidewalk to the polished brass front door.
Naomi smoothed her palms over her cream-colored slacks, then tugged at the hem of her pale green blouse. The fabric was light but clung to the outline of her baby bump proudly. The doorman hurried to open the door for her, and she smiled at him as she stepped into the blessedly cool interior.
