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Practicing Parenthood
Cara Lockwood
When opposing counsels attractAssistant DA Collin Baptista has a rule: never sleep with the enemy. He broke it once—with defense attorney Madison Reddy. Now Madison’s pregnant and Collin heads to her North Captiva retreat with a ring, prepared to do the right thing. What he’s not prepared for is her flat-out rejection.Madison may not think he’s ready to be a father, but Collin’s sure he can convince her otherwise. And when the couple find a lost goldendoodle puppy, they get plenty of opportunity to practice being a family. Maybe a secluded Florida island and a stray puppy can teach these two rivals to be a couple—and parents!
When opposing counsels attract!
Assistant DA Collin Baptista has a rule: never sleep with the enemy. He broke it once—with defense attorney Madison Reddy. Now Madison’s pregnant and Collin heads to her North Captiva retreat with a ring, prepared to do the right thing. What he’s not prepared for is her flat-out rejection.
Madison may not think he’s ready to be a father, but Collin’s sure he can convince her otherwise. And when the couple find a lost goldendoodle puppy, they get plenty of opportunity to practice being a family. Maybe a secluded Florida island and a stray puppy can teach these two rivals to be a couple—and parents!
CARA LOCKWOOD is the USA TODAY bestselling author of more than seventeen books, including I Do (But I Don’t), which was made into a Lifetime Original movie. She’s written the Bard Academy series for young adults and has had her work translated into several languages around the world. Born and raised in Dallas, Cara now lives near Chicago with her two wonderful daughters. Find out more about her at caralockwood.com (http://www.caralockwood.com), friend her on Facebook, Facebook.com/authorcaralockwood (https://Facebook.com/authorcaralockwood), or follow her on Twitter, @caralockwood (https://twitter.com/caralockwood).
Also By Cara Lockwood (#ud00a440a-1043-50bb-b65d-bf9de3e14c2d)
Island of Second Chances
Shelter in the Tropics
The Big Break
Her Hawaiian Homecoming
Boys and Toys
Texting Under the Influence
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Practicing Parenthood
Cara Lockwood
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-08290-7
PRACTICING PARENTHOOD
© 2018 Cara Lockwood
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
“So? It’s mine, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Madison sighed. She braced herself for the lecture.
“That’s what I thought,” Collin said, looking eager...and even...excited? That took her by surprise. She hadn’t expected him to want the baby. He’d been all hands and mouth that one night they spent together, but then the next day, it was as if she didn’t exist. Now he liked the idea of her carrying his baby? Maybe she’d been wrong about him. Maybe he wasn’t the hard-nosed prosecutor without a heart.
He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. He put down his backpack on the terra-cotta stone tiles of the foyer, and then turned to her.
“If it’s mine, then we need to do this.” He flipped open the black box lid, revealing a brilliant solitaire diamond that caught the sunlight and sparkled like fire. Suddenly, all coherent thought fled her mind.
Collin Baptista was asking her to marry him.
Dear Reader (#ud00a440a-1043-50bb-b65d-bf9de3e14c2d),
I’m excited to share with you my new book, Practicing Parenthood, a story about how sometimes the best way to learn how to love is to dive in, headfirst.
After Collin Baptista has a night of fiery passion with opposing counsel Madison Reddy, neither believe it’s a relationship with legs. But then Madison discovers she’s pregnant, and Collin surprises her by proposing. Madison, however, has no intention of getting married just to get married. Instead, she heads to her uncle’s beach house on beautiful North Captiva, Florida.
Collin follows and he and Madison find a stray puppy on the island and adopt him, and in the process discover they have a long way to go to learn to be parents.
I recently adopted a goldendoodle (half poodle, half golden retriever) myself that my daughters named Teddy as well (since he, too, looks like a teddy bear), and so I knew firsthand the difficulties of having a puppy, and it reminded me of how similar puppies and babies can be. You can’t turn your back on either one for a minute!
I loved the idea of a couple at odds coming together and learning to be parents while fostering a puppy and realizing that they are stronger together as a team. Sometimes, the biggest obstacles to love are the ones we put in our own path.
Because this is my last Harlequin Superromance title, I also wanted to thank you, the reader. It’s been an honor and a privilege to write for you. I hope you enjoy Practicing Parenthood as much as I enjoyed writing it.
All my best,
Cara
For Hana, Miya, Sophia, Pete and Sarina, the true joys in my life who let me practice parenthood every day.
Contents
Cover (#u9d4d297d-5246-5686-8b17-8c41dee2d762)
Back Cover Text (#u33ad072e-b290-5f2c-b0a4-0b1a0f6ac11b)
About the Author (#u3a49a4fa-78fb-558f-b422-f78370eafa39)
Booklist (#u2908d0b5-f253-5b8b-8881-3aa5d64bd95a)
Title Page (#uade3aabc-cc39-5a40-9b0a-02d4f380d352)
Copyright (#u51713e0f-90a0-5948-ac6e-0ccfc38148a6)
Introduction (#u9f960c4e-e0c2-529c-8ca5-9acf8c6b0381)
Dear Reader (#uae267036-7b50-5b5b-b6b0-b9d11970212a)
Dedication (#u32f17b1a-e807-5c73-9520-0c0fb04f3494)
PROLOGUE (#u8211cb0d-87c8-56f3-82aa-87b293ced122)
CHAPTER ONE (#u17a25248-da0a-54a8-bdcf-5179c325e697)
CHAPTER TWO (#u76ead913-92b9-5284-ae4b-e4cbc9cad071)
CHAPTER THREE (#uc585b412-b368-5eef-8f6f-6c368c7439e7)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u020874d1-a3cf-562e-9498-f3a9715fd648)
CHAPTER FIVE (#ufdd7f463-d1ba-5bb7-90b0-9992388f9715)
CHAPTER SIX (#u2fba143a-9346-5f7d-a788-896d9cdfa9b6)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#ud00a440a-1043-50bb-b65d-bf9de3e14c2d)
COLLIN BAPTISTA SLID through the metal detectors at the Lee County courthouse, grateful for the cool air-conditioning that fought off the humid air of southwest Florida. He grabbed his keys and wallet from the conveyor belt and nodded at Joyce, the armed guard who wore her hair in tight braids. She was a regular, like all the staff he saw almost daily at the courthouse.
“Looking good today,” she told him, her eyes sliding down the length of the new dark suit that fit him like a glove, a splurge he’d allowed himself after winning that high-profile murder trial last month. He patted the top of his thick black hair, courtesy of his Filipino mother, a contrast to his green eyes and the lopsided, roguish smile from his Irish dad. Collin was anything but boy-next-door, but he could command a courtroom with persuasive arguments alone, one of the many reasons he hadn’t lost a case in two years working as a prosecutor for the state attorney’s office.
Still, he felt nerves dance in the pit of his stomach, but they had nothing to do with the hearing this morning, which was a routine case—a drunk driver who’d smashed his car into a tree but thankfully hadn’t hurt anyone. Yet. Collin planned to take the driver’s license to teach him a lesson. That was an open-and-shut case, something he could do with his eyes closed. The man’s blood alcohol had been three times the legal limit. No, what made him anxious was the thought of seeing Madison Reddy again.
Madison. Her dark thick hair, her light brown nearly hazel eyes... The curves that simply didn’t quit. Her father’s family had immigrated from India, her mother’s side was from Scotland. She was biracial like he was, and the only woman he knew of who could make an off-the-rack gray suit and sturdy heels look almost pornographic. He’d been haunted by her eyes for a year, and even more so now since they’d fallen into her bed two months ago after happy hour gone wrong.
Or, he thought, very, very right.
Collin walked through the courtroom and found he was early; no one sat at the defense table. He felt a tug of disappointment. He’d wanted every extra minute before or after the hearing to see her. That she wasn’t waiting for him left him feeling a little empty.
You were the one who didn’t call her, a voice nagged inside his brain. You were the one who deliberately avoided her these past couple of months.
He’d told himself he hadn’t called because he was worried about violating the state attorney’s policy of not sleeping with the opposing counsel. He could’ve gotten around that, he supposed. But he knew the real reason ran deeper than that. He liked Madison. He liked her too much. He had career plans that didn’t include staying in Fort Myers, and if he started a serious relationship with her, he’d be tempted to toss those ideas out the window.
He only had three rules in life: 1) Don’t lose; 2) Bad guys deserve more than the book thrown at them; and 3) Never sleep with the enemy (in other words, defense attorneys). He’d broken one of his three cardinal rules for Madison. That was how amazing the woman was.
In his opinion, most defense attorneys were liars or exaggerators, relying on smoke and mirrors rather than facts. Every prosecutor felt that way. He’d vowed never to go to bed with one of them. Yet, Madison had somehow managed to sneak past all his defenses. She stood by her own set of principles and wasn’t afraid to give him a piece of her mind.
Instantly, afterward, he realized how reckless he’d been. If word got out that he’d slept with opposing counsel, it would tarnish his career and hers.
They’d faced off on a number of different cases, including one that involved a fairly high-profile white supremacist who’d tried to murder a black man but had ended up shooting a twelve-year-old girl by mistake. After their one night together, he’d avoided her steadfastly for a couple of months. Yet, as much as he tried to forget her, he kept thinking about her smooth legs, soft stomach, her light brown eyes alight with mirth. It was only his career that kept him from picking up the phone and calling her.
But none of that mattered now. He wasn’t going to be her opposing counsel for much longer.
He sat at the prosecutor’s table and opened his briefcase, checking out the letter one last time. He’d accepted a job at the US attorney’s office in Miami, a huge promotion, beginning in four months. Not bad for a kid whose father went to prison for drugs when Collin was just two and died there when Collin was ten. He was proud of being a success despite the odds—son of a single mom and raised in the poorest of poor neighborhoods. Sure, he was a hard-nosed, hard-charging prosecutor, but life had never given him any real breaks. He’d had plenty of temptation to run drugs, to steal, to cut corners—but he’d never done any of it. He’d worked the worst jobs on janitorial staffs at two in the morning to put himself through college and law school, and eventually he wanted to be the highest prosecutor in the land, the attorney general. But for now, he’d accept a position as a federal prosecutor in Miami.
Collin planned to take some time off before then. This was his last case before he took an extended sabbatical. And the months he wasn’t working as a prosecutor, he wanted to spend with Madison, getting to know those curves he fought to remember through the fuzz of alcohol he’d consumed that night. He glanced at the defense table. Where was she?
Then attorneys from her firm, Reddy, Chester and Todd, arrived. Collin recognized one of them, Matt Todd, a guy he’d gone to law school with. Collin momentarily felt disoriented. Where was Madison? Surely, she hadn’t left the firm. Her uncle was a partner and there were rumors he’d make her a partner one day, too.
“Matt? I thought Madison was on this case,” Collin said, getting up to shake Matt’s hand.
“Not anymore,” Matt answered, trying to balance a briefcase and a large Starbucks cup while clasping Collin’s hand. “You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“She’s on sabbatical.” Matt placed his briefcase and coffee on the defense table. “Rumor has it she’s in the family way.” Matt lowered his voice as if this were the antebellum South when polite company refused to talk about pregnancy.
“Pregnant?” Collin felt like he’d been slapped. “How far along?”
