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not broken, angel?”
    Her eyes pleading with him, she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “I want to be more than your girlfriend. Don’t you think it’s time to talk about the future? Our future?”
    “Are you so sure you want to change this, baby?” The Miller men weren’t cut out to be husbands. Rand leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to the back of her hand. He kept his gaze locked on hers as he trailed kisses from the inside of her wrist to her elbow.
    Lucy shuddered and tried to pull her hand away, but he was quicker, stronger. He held her firm and cupped the back of her head with his palm. “Why chance ruining a good thing?” He pulled her forward and pressed his lips to hers, relishing the way her breath hitched. Her mouth opened, inviting him in. He took the advantage and allowed his tongue to duel with hers. He coasted his palm down her back before slipping around the front to cup one firm breast through her blouse. Without warning she jerked backwards, her eyes narrowing.
    “Damn it, Rand, you do this every single time!” He stood, his own anger pushing to the surface. “What the hell are you talking about? Do what?”
    “Try to wiggle out of talking about marriage. Don’t deny it. You always get around me with sex. Well, not this time. I won’t let you seduce me into forgetting about our future.”
    “We have a good thing. What the hell is wrong with letting things go on as they are?”
    She shook her head and looked down at the floor, her body slumping as if in defeat. “I think I need to move out.” His entire body went rigid. He couldn’t have heard her right.
    “What did you say?”

    She finally lifted her head, her soft eyes full of tears. “I think it’s time we call it quits.”
    His life was suddenly spiraling out of control, and he had no idea why. His temper flared. “What the fuck for?” Lucy flinched and stayed silent.
    He went to her, unable to stand the distance another second.
    He crouched in front of her and placed his hand on her knee. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you. But you can’t mean that.
    You’re angry.”
    “Rand, please understand. You really are wonderful, but I need more than a boyfriend. I want a husband.”
    “Can you honestly tell me you’re ready to walk away from what we have, Lucy?”
    “I-I want to get married. I want to have babies some day. I need to be more than a cover model. I’m twenty-six years old. It’s time I started thinking about the future.”
    He got to his feet and stepped backwards. Marriage and babies.
    There it was, the warped image of his own childhood. As if it were yesterday, he could see his mother’s crazed eyes as she shouted at his father. Every time she came down off a high, Rand’s life would turn to shit. She’d lash out at anything and anyone as she suffered through the withdrawal. He’d often gotten in the way of her fly-ing fists when he was too small to defend himself. Later, as his body matured, she’d use words to hurt him, knowing she was no longer strong enough to confront him physically. What the hell did he know about family? He hadn’t seen his mother since he turned eighteen and left home. His father had deserted them long before that.
    He went to the window and stared down at the street. He saw a few teenagers standing around, chatting and texting on cell phones.
    A woman pushing a stroller walked by and Rand’s gut clenched.
    Lucy wanted babies. He could already see her pregnant. She’d be a wonderful mother. But she couldn’t possibly want him as the father. He was a piece of dirt from the streets of Brooklyn. Maybe she had someone else in mind already. Did she have someone willing to fill in as husband and daddy once he was out of the picture?
    “When did you decide all this?” he asked as he continued to watch the woman until she rounded a corner and went out of sight.
    He didn’t trust himself to turn and face Lucy. He wasn’t ready to see the knowledge in her eyes that he