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“Guel, he isn’t always like that. He has these…these moments.” She sighed, her thoughts taking her back to that first morning in Las Vegas. “Sometimes, I catch him looking at me a certain way, like staring at me from his desk when he thought I was asleep on the couch in his office at the clinic. Then, if he never opened his mouth and said it, I would still know this man thinks I’m beautiful. And smart. And funny. I know I drive him crazy, but I can tell it doesn’t change the way he sees me.”
Miguel nudged her with his elbow. “Everything you just told me, have you ever tried telling the mad doctor any of that?”
She wrinkled her nose. “No.”
“Tell him everything you told me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it scares me.” There. She’d spoken the truth to at least one person. “I’ve never put myself in a position where someone I want, really want, can disapprove of me. I only dated men who couldn’t hurt me and never cared about learning who I was underneath all the glamour. But Lucas? He could break my heart.”
Regardless of what he’d said.
“No, Raina. I adore you.”
“Guel, what if he’s strong enough to undo all of the progress I’ve made? What if his…wantfor me is all an act, I fall for him, and then he changes? I’ve never been in love. Love can build you or break you, and the uncertainty of it? It makes me uncomfortable.”
Years ago, the fatigue of the modeling lifestyle started to set in. Still, she didn’t leave back then. Modeling was a form of desensitization; the industry repeatedly exposed her to the temptation to fall back into old habits, and each time she avoided doing so, she gained a bit of strength.
“I understand how you feel, Raina,” Miguel said. “But, at some point, youwillhave to be vulnerable. I nearly lost Delilah because of what someone else did to me. The love of my life, Raina. I nearly lost her because I was scared too.”
She blinked back tears.
When she’d learned all that he’d gone through, O.B. and Delilah had to step in to stop her from hunting down a woman—a term she used loosely—named Luz. If they hadn’t, she would have gone to jail, and her mugshot would have been Vanity Fair-worthy.
So, Miguel did understand how terrifying vulnerability could be, but sometimes, it wasn’t until a weakness was exposed that someone showed whether they were a friend or an enemy.
“I’m not saying your fear isn’t valid,” he added, and his advice alone told her his therapy was going well. “But it’s love, not cliff-diving. And if he’s not who he says he is, me, Carson, and O.B. will fuck him up for you. How’s that?”
She laughed. “It does help.”
The garage door opened.
Delilah reentered the house, and before Miguel could grab theFragilebox, Delilah took his wrist, mumbled something about a prior engagement, and then they both ran out like a tornado threatened to tear through the living room.
“I think they’re sick of us,” Lucas said.
Raina snorted. “Guess it’s a good thing you’re a doctor.”
He stared at her for a moment.
One ofthosemoments.
Then they separated.
“Hey, Saraci?” She tapped the box with the side of her foot. “Want me to take this upstairs? To your office?”
“No, I’ll take it.” He walked over, picked it up, and instead of heading upstairs, he headed toward the garage.
While he was gone, she grabbed the “precious clock” his mother clearly never gave him and hadn’t bought in Turkey and held it up near the fireplace.
An idea came to her—it would work well on a circular, wooden platform.
When Lucas returned, she’d just finished taking measurements. He stood next to where she was perched on her knees, but then she remembered his comment about how she would greet him and sat on the floor.
“Did you have breakfast this morning?” he asked.
