Instead she grabbed her purse and stood, then walked out of the stadium. She went directly to her car and drove away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
NICOLE RETURNED HOME from what felt like an endless day at the bakery only to find she could barely move inside her house. There were wall-to-wall football players. They were polite, eating enough for five times their number and oddly protective of her.
In the time it took her to cross from the back door to the doorway between the kitchen and the great room, she’d been relieved of the small bag she was carrying, asked how she was feeling twice and had an offer to go put gas in her car.
“I’m fine,” she told them all.
“Yes, ma’am. We know,” a boy named Kenny said. “We’ll be quiet. You won’t even know we’re here.”
There were at least ten of them. She was going to know.
“There are cookies in the pantry,” she said. “And a big box of frozen mini tacos that are pretty good in the microwave. Help yourself.”
Thank goodness for Costco, she thought as she made her way through the football players and climbed the stairs. Before Raoul had moved in, she’d never seen the point of buying for four hundred. Now she understood.
She closed the door of the bedroom and walked over to the bed. She knew why the guys were there. It was Wednesday and they’d been hanging out at her house every afternoon this week. They would leave when Raoul got home from working at the bakery. For some reason, he didn’t think she should be alone. It was sweet in a way. He was trying to take care of her.
He was going to be an extraordinary man, she told herself. One day he would find someone equally amazing and they would have a marriage that millions would envy. Including her. Because her love life was still floating in the toilet.
She loved Hawk enough to both be furious and feel bad for him. His move had been totally dumb. Why would she agree to marry him when they hadn’t even talked about the baby or how they felt about each other? His announcement that he loved her had been overshadowed by his bolt for freedom when she’d mentioned her pregnancy.
But she did feel bad that he’d been publicly humiliated. He was a guy with a big ego. Maybe too big. Maybe he couldn’t recover from what had happened.
Better to know now, she told herself. If he couldn’t handle the reality of a relationship, she needed to know that. But thinking the words didn’t erase the knot in her stomach.
She curled up on her side and pulled her knees to her chest. She kept waiting for him to show up and convince her he meant it. But he’d managed to keep his distance now for four days.
A couple of hours later, someone knocked on her bedroom door.
“I’m home,” Raoul called. “The guys are gone.”
She stood and crossed to let him in. “You can’t keep doing that. Your friends need to get their own lives. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
He ignored that and instead held out a large, thick envelope with the University of Washington logo in the corner. “They’re making a really good offer,” he said. “They’ll want me to live on campus the first year, but I’ll still be close and I can come back anytime you need me.”
He was only eighteen. This wasn’t his baby and she was only the person who’d given him a place to stay. But Raoul was loyal and responsible and he wanted to make sure she was taken care of.
“I don’t know if I should slap you or hug you,” she said, settling on putting her hands on her hips. “Either way, you are not putting your dreams on hold because I’m pregnant.”
“I’m still playing ball. They have a good team and they’re in a good conference. This is an offer I need to consider.”
“You are not picking a college based on the fact that I’m pregnant. I’m the grown-up here. I’ll be fine.”
“I want to be sure.”
Which was too sweet. “Raoul, I was born to take care of the world. I accept it. You need to consider all your offers and make your decision based on what is best for you. Pretend I don’t exist.”
“I can’t. You’ve been there for me.”
“We’ll talk about this later,” she said. “Okay?”
He nodded.
She was more touched than she could say and in more pain than she wanted him to know. While she knew he was speaking from the heart and she would always remember this moment, she also understood why he was worried. He didn’t think Hawk was going to come through. She had a bad feeling he was right.
CLAIRE’S STOMACH had grown since the last time Hawk had seen her at that dinner at her house. He hadn’t paid attention to the changes pregnant women went through since Serena had been carrying Brittany, and that was a long time ago. Now he found himself wanting to ask how Claire was feeling and when she was due. It just wasn’t natural.
But then nothing had been right for a while now. He missed Nicole more than he’d ever missed anyone. He was also angry and humiliated by the way she’d left him hanging out there.
It had taken him a couple of days to cool down and try to see things from her point of view. But the embarrassment still burned.
“I don’t know what to do,” he told Claire as she led him into her living room.
“Which is why I agreed to see you,” Nicole’s sister said. She motioned for him to sit on the sofa, while she took one of the chairs opposite. “I heard about what happened on Friday at the game. Did you really think it was a good idea?”
“Obviously or I wouldn’t have done it. I wanted her to know I was serious.”
Claire stared at him for a long time. He could see a lot of Nicole in her sister, although Nicole was much prettier.
“You took off like your butt was on fire when she told you she was pregnant,” Claire said. She didn’t sound amused.
Hawk resisted the need to squirm. “I wasn’t expecting it. I needed time to figure out what was going on.”
“Telling a woman you love her then running for the hills isn’t exactly the kind of demonstration we’re looking for.”
“It was a lot to take in. I didn’t have any warning.” He leaned forward and stared at Claire. “I didn’t expect to fall in love with her, okay? I loved Serena and when she died I figured I was done with love. I dated some, but I never seemed to get serious. I didn’t see the point. No one got to me the way Nicole does.”
He paused to remember their first meeting. “She’s so damn tough on the outside. Smart and mouthy. She’d rather eat glass than let anyone think she’s got a vulnerable side, but she also has the biggest heart I’ve ever seen. She’s kind and generous and she’ll get in my face when she thinks I’m wrong. God, I love her.”
He rested his forearms on his thighs. “But I don’t know how to tell her that. I don’t know how to make it right. I pulled what I thought was this big romantic gesture and it blew up in my face.”
Claire’s expression softened. “Hawk, I hate to break it to you, but nothing about what you did was romantic. It wasn’t about Nicole and her needs. It was about you and your ego. You didn’t just want to propose, you wanted to be the star. That’s not the way to win most women and it’s sure not the way to win Nicole.”
“I know that now,” he muttered. “What is the way?”
“Tell her what you told me. Tell her why you love her. Tell her that she’s special and you’ve never known anyone like her. Tell her you love her more than anyone in the world.”
He started to say he couldn’t love her that way. That Brittany would always have a special place in his heart. Only his feelings for his daughter had nothing to do with his feelings for Nicole. They were totally different relationships.
“I don’t want to lose her,” he said slowly. “I can’t.”
“You shouldn’t. I think she needs you as much as you need her. The trick is going to be getting her to admit
