The caveman in him wanted to get her answer, marry her, and get her pregnant before she had a chance to reconsider.

“So you’re blackmailing me?” Raina said. She didn’t sound angry as much as confused. As if she couldn’t understand why he’d want to do it.

“No. I’m not holding anything over your head. I’m not going to go running to the press with this story if you say no. I would never hurt you like that. I’m just telling you my conditions for helping you. You want something from me. Something huge. But you have to give me something I want just as much.”

“Me,” she whispered. “That’s really all you want?”

“Yes.” Talk about the understatement of the century. His obsession with her was on the verge of taking over his life. He had to have her. It didn’t even matter if she didn’t love him. If you only knew, pretty girl. I’ll take you any way I can get you.

“What happens when you wake up and realize the infatuation is over? Aren’t you going to feel trapped?”

“What was it you said earlier? Oh yes, marriages built on commonalities have a higher success rate than ones based on emotions. Let’s look at our common traits. We’re both intelligent, hardworking, driven, and value family. If you know nothing else about me, you know how much family means to me. I had the best possible role models for a successful marriage. My parents have always been a team. I think we could have that kind of partnership, too. Like I said, this is a little earlier than I’d planned, but I knew I’d want kids eventually. If we start now, our kids won’t be too much younger than their cousins.”

He pulled her to the chair he’d been sitting in and knelt at her feet, his eyes holding hers. Her hand covered her mouth.

“This is all just crazy. I don’t know what to say.”

“At the core of all this, what do you want most? A baby?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let me make that happen for you.”

Raina looked into his eyes and he let her, hoping she could see his certainty, his absolute determination to give her what she wanted. It wasn’t just that he wanted her more than his next breath. It wasn’t just that this was the only woman he’d ever wanted to give his last name to.

It was the fact that he could give her the thing she wanted most.

“Come on.” He tugged her up and before she could protest, picked her up, and cradled her against his chest.

“Where are we going?” Raina squirmed in his arms.

He didn’t answer, just walked down the hallway leading toward his bedroom. He set Raina carefully on her feet and turned on the small lamp on his bedside table.

She stood still, looking as vulnerable as a child as he stripped her tiny excuse for a dress from her body. He gritted his teeth as every inch of her honey-colored skin was revealed. Finally she stood before him in nothing more than a heart-attack-inducing black lace bra and panty set. He didn’t even want to contemplate if the panties had a thong back.

“Jesus. We have to find something for you to wear.” His goal was for her to rest, which wouldn’t be happening if he had to look at her in those scraps of black lace much longer. He turned blindly to his closet and yanked the first shirt his fingers touched off the hanger.

“Here, put your arms in this.” He helped her slide her arms into the sleeves of one of his dress shirts. Once she was mainly covered up, he picked her up again and carried her into the bathroom.

“Nick, I can walk,” she complained.

“Humor me, please. I’m very much enjoying the opportunity to carry you.” He set her on the counter and took a clean washcloth from beneath the sink. He wet it and dabbed at the mascara trails on her cheeks.

“Pervert,” she replied, but she was smiling as she said it.

“I have never pretended to be anything else.”

After her face was clean, he left the bathroom briefly to go get her a new toothbrush. When he returned, he stopped at the sight of Raina with her hair loose around her shoulders and her skin shiny and clean. A bunch of black pins sat on the counter in a neat pile.

He couldn’t say why the sight pleased him so much.

“Thanks,” she said as he handed over the new toothbrush. He couldn’t stop staring at her as she wet the brush, squeezed on a glob of toothpaste, and leaned closer to the mirror to inspect her teeth as she brushed.

“What,” she mumbled around her mouthful of soap. “Why are you staring?”

Nick chuckled. “Sorry. It’s just not every day that I get to see you like this.”

She spit in the sink and cupped her hand under the faucet to rinse her mouth. “Like what? A hot mess?”

He shook his head. “Normal. Human. You look adorable.”

She wiped her face on his towel and then flicked the light off. “Now I know you’re lying. There’s nothing adorable about this.”

He pulled back the comforter and she slid beneath it, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she yawned. When he turned the light off, she sat up straight.

“Wait? Where are you going? You aren’t going to…”

Nick turned the light back on. “Raina Winters,” he said mockingly. “Did you think I was going to get you half-naked in my bed and then take advantage of you while you’re too weak to resist me?”

Raina stared at him for a minute before saying, “Well, yes.”

Nick leaned down and took her lips in a soft kiss. He swallowed her soft moan, teasing her lips with his until she opened for the first stroke of his tongue. Her hands tangled in the front of his shirt, pulling him closer as she kissed him back.