Judy Duarte - The Cowboy's Family Plan

They continued to drive in silence, and he wondered if they were both thinking the same thing. How had such a chance meeting turned into...well, whatever this was? A friendship, he supposed.

But just being with Selena this evening made him realize that he’d been living on the periphery of life ever since Mary’s death. And that maybe it was time to cross over to the real world again.

When they reached the turnoff to the wellness center, the sun had begun its slow rise. Alex followed the driveway into the parking lot, where Selena’s white Lexus was the only one left.

He pulled into the space next to hers, then shut off the ignition. It wasn’t necessary, he supposed, but he got out of the car anyway. He told himself it was to make sure that she got into her vehicle okay, that it started right up. That she wasn’t stranded in a parking lot while he was driving off to his ranch.

Who was he kidding? He wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye. At least, not from inside his truck.

“I see you’re chivalrous, too,” she said.

“Too?” Had she been keeping a list of his qualities?

She flushed, then glanced down. “I’m sorry. Just a little slip of the tongue.”

He knew she was talking about her choice of words, yet the thought of tongues slipping set his imagination soaring.

There he went again, veering dangerously off course.

“I guess the lack of sleep makes you say and think all kinds of things,” he said.

“You’ve got that right.” She reached into her purse, then pulled out a set of keys. “Oops. These are Shannon’s. I should have left them with Ruth.”

“Since her car is still parked in front of the hospital, we probably ought to give them to Shane Hollister,” Alex said.

“The sheriff?”

“Wouldn’t you hate to see Shannon get a parking ticket?”

Selena nodded. “Poor thing. She’s really got her hands full. That’s the last thing in the world she needs right now.”

Alex didn’t respond.

He didn’t move either. He just stood there, watching as Selena fumbled around in her purse again.

After a moment, she broke into a beautiful smile and removed her hand, dangling another set of keys. “Good news. I found mine.”

For the life of him, he couldn’t manage to agree. That it was good that she’d found her keys. That it was time to say goodbye.

How could he? He wasn’t quite ready to see her drive away and end a most unusual—and surreal—day.

So how in blazes did he go about prolonging it when they were both tired, when they both needed to go home and get ready to face a new day?

In spite of his better judgment, in spite of the fact that sleep deprivation led to accidents, he placed his hand on her cheek. “It was an interesting evening—and so much better than watching TV. I’m glad I spent it with you.”

Then he did something he’d probably live to regret—or, after getting some shuteye, he’d wake to regret.

He lowered his mouth, intending to brush a kiss on her cheek, yet finding her lips instead.

* * *

The last thing in the world Selena had expected from Alex had been a goodnight kiss, but she’d been too surprised by the move to stop it.

As his mouth met hers and she caught his musky scent, she held not only her breath, but every thought and whisper and dream she’d ever had.

Who was this man?

And what was he doing to her?

As the kiss deepened, as their lips parted and tongues touched, she thought she might swoon. So she gripped the fabric of his T-shirt and held on for dear life.

The kiss was amazing. What began soft and sweet evolved into the kind that could make a woman lose her head. Her mind spun out of control as she tried to make sense of it all—the allure of his kiss and the effect it had on her—but it was over before she knew it, leaving her stunned and speechless.

And yearning for more.

Alex straightened and blessed her with a boyish grin. “I meant to aim for your cheek.”

“You missed.”

“Yeah.” His grin deepened to a full-on smile. “Sorry about that.”

Was he? Because she darn sure wasn’t.

And shouldn’t she be?

“Drive carefully,” he said.

Yeah. Right. Her cue to leave and to segue from the awkward to the familiar. She needed to get into her car and drive away. Yet something held her here. Lack of sleep, she suspected. And maybe the easy camaraderie they’d shared on the trip back from Oakville. Yet there was something else going on, too.

Selena hadn’t been that unbalanced by a kiss in a long, long time—if ever. But she did her best to steady herself, to get back on track and pretend that they’d reached that level of friendship where an affectionate parting was the norm.

Eager to escape the confusion, she reached for the door handle, using the keyless entry, and slid behind the wheel. “Thanks for riding with me and helping with the kids.”

“My pleasure.”

“Have a good day,” she said as she reached to pull her door shut.

“You, too.”

She didn’t know about that. Her day was already off to a surreal start. How was she going to keep her mind on her work and on her patients when she’d be reliving that kiss for the rest of her waking hours?

Then there’d be those bedtime hours, when it was sure to come back and haunt her dreams.

After shutting the car door, she pressed the button to start the engine. Then she slowly backed out of the parking space, trying to put a little distance between her and the man who’d set her off course.

Once she reached the exit and prepared to pull out on to the street, she glanced in the rearview mirror and spotted Alex still standing by his truck.

But she feared that neither of them was in the same place they’d been before they’d started out last night.

That unexpected kiss had linked them in a way she hadn’t anticipated and set off a slew of romantic thoughts and yearnings, which was too bad.

The last thing in the world she needed to do was to imagine herself playing house with a handsome cowboy who was still in love with his late wife.

Chapter Four

After leaving the wellness center, Selena arrived at her new two-bedroom digs on Hawthorne Lane, one of the older neighborhoods in Brighton Valley. She checked her voice mail, took a quick shower and dressed for the day. While tempted to grab something she could eat on the run, she took time for a good breakfast—a veggie omelet, a fruit cup and a blueberry muffin—to fuel her body and keep her going until noon.

It was almost seven-thirty when she made the fifteen-minute drive to the medical center, which was just a few blocks down the street from her office.

Because she still had an hour before her first patient would arrive, she decided to swing by the hospital so she could check on Shannon and her baby.

Her first stop was at the neonatal intensive care unit, where little Michael slept in a heated isolette. He wasn’t the tiniest baby in the NICU, but at just over four pounds, he was still smaller than a full-term newborn.

Last night, while Shannon had been in labor, his heart rate had dropped, indicating he was in distress, so Dr. Chin had decided upon an immediate C-section. His initial Apgar score had been a little low, but Roger Parnell, the neonatologist at the delivery, hadn’t been too concerned. And thank goodness Michael’s subsequent scores had improved.

His color looked good today, Selena decided, as she studied the sleeping newborn. Her medical assessment soon took a maternal shift, and she found herself taking note of his little fingers and toes. He was a beautiful baby, with dark tufts of hair.... And look at that sweet little grimace on his face.

“Good morning, Dr. Ramirez.”

Tearing her gaze from the newborn, Selena turned to Margie Kaufman, the charge nurse, and offered her a smile. “Good morning, Margie. I stopped by to check on Baby Bedford before visiting his mother. How’s he doing?”