Read Online Heart of the Raven by Susan Crosby - Free Book Online

“How did you support yourself through college?”
    â€œJobs. Lots of jobs.”
    He thought about his own college life. He’d gotten a full scholarship, only having to work for spending money.
    She said nothing for a few seconds then angled toward him. “Danny’s sound asleep. I think we should getsome sleep ourselves while we can. You never know how long the quiet will last.”
    He didn’t feel tired at all. He wanted to hear about her life, and how she’d carved out her own future. His path had been so much easier, with hardly a bump in any road. Except for Kyle—
    â€œYou’re right.” He stood. “Let’s hope he lasts longer than a half hour this time.”
    He felt Cassie walking behind him to the nursery. He put Danny carefully into the bassinet, which was in the crib. Danny barely moved.
    â€œNext time you can hold him. Even if I’m up,” Heath said.
    â€œYou figure we’re going to come to fists over him?” she whispered, a smile in her voice, as they both leaned over the crib.
    Heath turned his head toward her. She was barely a foot away. A sliver of light from the hall illuminated her face enough that she was all intriguing shadows. She went as still as a statue. He inched closer. Her gaze dropped to his mouth and lingered. She smelled of soap and toothpaste. He wanted to put his palms along her face, bring her close, touch his lips to hers. Slip his hands under her pajama top, feel her skin—
    She straightened abruptly. “I don’t— I mean…”
    He pulled back. “Right. Yes. Of course.” What the hell was he doing? Wasn’t that how he got into this predicament in the first place? Well, not exactly, but giving his long-starved libido free rein had something to do with it. He couldn’t kiss her, couldn’t make that mistake.
    â€œI’ll see you later,” she said then hurried off ahead of him.
    He waited a minute, following more slowly, letting her go ahead without the potentially awkward moment of them standing outside their rooms.
    An hour later Danny woke up. Heath let Cassie take over. The next time, two hours later, she slept—or pretended to sleep—while he fed and changed Danny.
    As he walked Danny to sleep he glanced toward the stairs, wondering if she was awake and thinking about the kiss that had almost happened, that would have happened had she not stepped back, showing much more self-control than he had.
    He really needed to get out of the house, he decided with a laugh at himself.
    When he went to bed a few minutes later, he noticed her bedroom light was still on. He stood outside his bedroom for a few seconds, in case she called out to him.
    She didn’t, and he went into his increasingly lonely bedroom, wondering at all the changes in his life and what would come next. He was ready for the adventure.

Seven
    C assie didn’t usually have leisurely Sundays, so the idea of having nothing to do but cook, eat and play with Danny seemed like a vacation. She hadn’t taken one of those in a long time, either, although Quinn informed her she would be required to take three weeks a year, no argument, no postponing.
    She hummed to herself as she flipped pancakes on the griddle to add to those already staying warm in the oven. She’d heard the shower running upstairs, so she figured Heath would make his way downstairs soon.
    She needed to calm herself down before he got there. She’d almost kissed him last night. Almost shouldn’t count, maybe normally it didn’t. But last night it counted. She had a job to do. He was the client.
    And yet earlier she had seen his gaze drift down hera few times, not blatantly, but enough to feel his interest and to figure he knew she wasn’t wearing a bra under her pajamas. Of course, she’d checked him out, too, and looked him over pretty thoroughly.
    So she was nervous this morning. So what?
    She drew a settling