by Penny Reid
Tongue out, eyes narrowed, brows drawn together.
It was the most adorable thing.
“Dere,” she said, sitting back. “I did it.”
“Amazing job!” I squeezed her lightly. “Can I please have the screwdriver to check how tight it is?”
She nodded and handed it over to me.
I checked. She’d barely turned it at all, but she was having fun, so it was what it was. I tightened the screw the rest of the way and grabbed the next one. At least I was almost done.
“I do again?” Ellie asked hopefully.
“Sure.”
She wore the same expression as she turned it. The sticking out tongue was my favorite part of all of it.
“Ellie, you’re quiet. What are you—” Brantley stopped in the doorway, phone to his ear. “Oh. You’re here.”
Ellie turned to look at him. “Ewi fell asweep. Kawi said I could help.”
He looked at me for confirmation.
I motioned to the fact she was sitting on my lap.
His lips tugged up. “She’s not bothering you, is she?”
“No, she’s helping. Look. She’s doing the screws.” I pointed to where she was giving it a good try at tightening it. “It’s almost done. She’s enjoying herself.”
“Okay. If you’re sure?”
“She’s fine. If she stops being good, I’ll pick her up and hand deliver her to you in your office, okay?”
He laughed, holding up a hand. “Okay, okay, fine. I just thought… Crap. Hello?” He ducked away. “Yes, I’m still here.”
His voice trailed off as he went downstairs.
Ellie made a clicking noise with her tongue. “Daddy said a bad word.”
Ah. Crap.
“He did. Naughty Daddy. Can I try that screw now?”
She nodded and let me tighten it. We repeated this over and over until all the screws were in place and tight. She even held the lid in place for me while I attached the hinges.
When it was all said and done, Ellie gently closed down the lid and walked around the box. Then, she stopped in front of it, and with a huge, proud grin on her face, she met my eyes.
“It’s perfeck, huh?”
“It sure is,” I agreed. “You did a great job helping me. Thank you.”
Even if it had taken an extra half an hour.
She beamed. I’d never seen her so delighted about anything before. “Can I help you tomorrow, too?”
“You can help me do your bookshelf when you get back from Summer’s. Does that sound good?”
She nodded. “I’m hungry. Do you fink Daddy cooked me food yet?”
“I don’t know, but we can find out.” I glanced at the time. It was almost six p.m. No wonder she was hungry.
Ellie ran downstairs and into the kitchen. I took the time to pack up my tools before following her, but I left the box in her room.
I went down and found Eli awake, sitting on the sofa, and Ellie pouting in front of him.
Eli looked at me. “Daddy’s on the phone. He keeps shouting.”
I frowned and walked toward Brantley’s office. He sounded super frustrated, even though he wasn’t shouting, but there was something about the “damn intern” mentioned a few times.
I rejoined the twins in the living room. “Daddy’s working, isn’t he?”
They both nodded.
“He probably doesn’t know what the time is.” I paused. “Why don’t we go in the kitchen and I can get you some dinner?”
More nodding. They ran into the kitchen, and when I stepped into the room, Eli was already trying to give Ellie a leg-up onto the counter.
“Oookay!” I said, waving my hands. “Let’s not do that. I’ll look instead of you two trying to break a bone.”
“Oh,” Ellie said sadly. But, they both moved, climbing up onto the table via the chairs instead.
I stared at them.
Eh. I’d won one battle. Why start another?
I left them there and opened the cupboard. I had no idea what I was looking for. Pasta? Spaghetti? What did you feed the tiny humans?
The souls of the elderly or something?
My eyes fell on two cans of tomato soup.
Ah-ha.
“How about tomato soup and grilled cheese?” I asked.
“Yes!” they shouted, clapping.
“Okay.” Good. I could do that. “Sit on the chairs, grab a juice, and let me get to work.”
Miraculously, they did as they were told.
Well. I’ll be damned.
Chapter 25
“Again?” I questioned.
They both nodded. “Pwease?”
That simultaneous speak was starting to get a bit less weird. Maybe.
“One more time, then you have to go to bed.”
They both looked at me with wide eyes and nodded again.
“Okay, fine. You twisted my arm.” I’d just opened the front cover of the book to read it for a third time when Brantley’s shout of “Shit! Eli? Ellie?” sounded.
“In here,” they chorused.
I shuddered.
Maybe it wasn’t getting less weird.
He rushed into the front room, stopping dead when he saw us. His hair was a mess, and he had the look of someone who was both frustrated and confused.
“Hi,” I said brightly. “Welcome back.”
He blinked at me. “I’m so confused.” He scrubbed his hand through his hair. “I don’t even know what time it is. There’s no way I’ve been on the phone that long.”
The twins, bless them, nodded sagely. “Hours, Daddy,” Eli said dramatically.
“We omost starved!” Ellie added.
“Oh, stop it. No, you didn’t. We found food just in time, didn’t we?” I said to them.
“I don’t know,” Eli continued. “It was cwose.”
“Close! Close? Oh, yes. Look at you. You’re skin and bone.” I gently prodded his side and he dissolved into a fit of giggles.
Brantley blinked at us. “I don’t know what’s happening here.”
To be honest, he looked exhausted.
“Well,” I said, closing the book and putting it on the coffee table. “Me and Ellie finally got done with the coffee table around six. We came down and you were on the phone, so after some attempted Cirque De Soleil moves, we rustled up the delicacy that is soup and grilled cheese, drank some milk and found some pajamas, and read about a dinosaur who poops everything out. Twice. We were about to read it a third time when you graced us with your presence.”
“Wait. What is the time?”
“Seven-thirty.”
“Jesus.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize.”
“It’s okay. We’re all good, right?” I looked at both twins. “We had fun.”
They both nodded. “Bedtime now?” Ellie asked.
“Yes. For sure. Come on. I’ll take you up.” Brantley blew out a long breath. “Say goodnight to Kali.”
“Goodnight, Kawi!” they sang, scrambling up off the sofa. Then, they both stopped, turned, and jumped on me. I shrieked as I caught them, and they both planted a big kiss on my cheeks.
“Fank you,” Eli said.
“Goodnight,” Ellie echoed.
I squeezed them both with a laugh. “Night, guys.”
They grinned and got back up, running off to the stairs again. Brantley stared at me for a moment and held up a finger.
“Will you wait for me to come back before you leave?” he asked tentatively.
“Sure.” I smiled.
He looked as though he wanted to say something else, but changed his mind. He followed after the twins, and I looked at their piles of dirty clothes on the floor.
Brantley looked shattered, as if he could fall asleep standing up.
I got up and grabbed them, then ran them through the back to the utility area just off the kitchen. I put them in the dirty laundry, then returned to the front room and picked up the dinosaurs who had been attending
Barbie’s wedding to Batman.
Then, with my hand around the tail of a T-rex, I froze.
I stared down at the toy in my hand.
Who had I become?
Not long ago, the idea of children terrified me. They were tiny, loud hellions who shouted and screamed. They were gross and dirty and messy.
Now, here I was. I’d taken over seamlessly, feeding them and getting them ready for bed, and now, I was picking up toys. Putting their dirty clothing in the laundry basket.
The scariest part?
It felt completely natural.
Sure, the twins had been scarily well-behaved, but that wasn’t the point.
A part of me…A part of me felt like I belonged here.
I took a deep breath and dropped Mr. T-rex into the toybox. He roared as he collided with a dump truck, but I muffled that by slapping the lid on top of the box.
My mouth was dry. When had I changed from a kid-hater to playing…well, playing mom? When had it happened? Was there a point, or had something changed?
Was it acceptance of feelings for Brantley?
Was it his acknowledgment of feelings for me?
Or had I just fallen so irrevocably in love with two, three-feet-tall pre-schoolers? With tiny hands and sassy grins and dimpled cheeks?
I mean, I hadn’t even thought twice about getting them ready for bed tonight. I’d just done it, like I knew what I was doing, when I didn’t. Not at all. I didn’t know where their pajamas were. I didn’t know where to put that stupid pooping dinosaur book away.
I didn’t know anything.
Except for the fact I was screwed. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Between breaking hearts and healing them.
Maybe even breaking my own.
Shit.
I ran my fingers through my hair. The band from this morning’s braid was around my wrist, and I pulled my hair into a rough, loose twist on top of my head.
I needed a drink. My mouth was so dry I doubted I could speak.
I walked into the kitchen and got some water from the fridge. I drank and drank, stupidly hoping it would calm the rapid beats of my heart.
Kids.
I was in love with two kids who had stolen my heart.
And their dad was doing the same thing.
And now, after this evening, my question wasn’t “could I do it?”
It was, “Am I good enough for this family?”
I didn’t want to ask it. I didn’t want to know the answer.
“Kal—oh, there you are.”
I turned at the sound of his voice.
Regret settled over his expression, and he wiped his hand over his jaw. “I’m so fucking sorry, Kali. What was meant to be a simple phone call turned into an intern fucking up three accounts, and me having to call every man and his mother to get it sorted out again.”
“It’s fine,” I said. And I meant it. “They weren’t a problem at all. They were perfect for me.”
“That’s not the point. I’ve already asked so much of you—Jesus, I didn’t even know the time. I thought it’d been half an hour, not over two.” He leaned against the counter and rubbed his face. He was frustrated with himself, and it was plain to see he was trying to keep it together.
Nothing I said to him right now would change that.
So, I acted instead.
I put the bottle on the table and walked to him. He still had his face buried in his hands, so I gently reached up, clasped his wrists, and pulled his hands away.
Guilty eyes found mine.
I leaned in and kissed him.
A gentle touch, meant to do nothing more than take some of the frustration away from him.
He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into him, and softly kissed me back. I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing, especially after our conversation earlier, but it was all I wanted to do.
I wanted him to know that I didn’t care.
That I wasn’t angry or annoyed. That I didn’t blame him, because shit happened.
“Point taken,” he muttered when I pulled back slightly. He didn’t release me, though. “Were they really good?”
I nodded. “I came down and Eli was watching TV. Apart from him trying to give Ellie a leg-up into the cupboard and them watching me cook while sitting on the table…”
“All in all, it was a success.”
“Nobody got hurt, so yes.”
He half-smiled, and it actually reached his eyes. “You know, it’s funny. For someone who admits she doesn’t want kids, you’re amazing with them.”
I looked into his eyes. “Your kids make it easy to be.”
“Clearly, you’re forgetting that time when you bathed them.”
“No. I just learned the lesson not to bath them.”
He laughed, and I could see the tension leave his body. “Lucky you. I wish I had that option.”
I grinned. “You need to have something to eat.”
“Are you bossing me around now?”
Nodding, I flattened my hands against his chest. “Yes. You need to eat something.”
“Can’t I just have you instead?” He slid his hands down to cup my ass.
“Food and sleep would be more sensible,” I started, my breath hitching.
“I’m sensible all day. You make me want to be stupid.”
“Are you trying to say that being with me is stupid?”
Brantley paused. “See, I feel like no matter what I say here will be wrong. This is a trap, isn’t it?”
I raised my eyebrows. “I don’t know. Do you think it’s a trap?”
“That’s definitely a trap.”
I did my best not to laugh, but I’d never had a poker face, so that attempt lasted all of five seconds before it collapsed and I burst out laughing.
“I knew it,” he muttered. “I’m not hungry.”
“Lies. You have to be hungry.”
He shook his head. Then, with strength that shouldn’t have surprised me, he gripped my waist and pushed me back toward the table.
“What are you doing?”
“Ssssh,” he whispered, pushing me until my butt bumped the edge. He picked me up, sitting me on the edge, and stepped between my legs. “Shut up and let me kiss you.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I think I just squashed a bit of grilled cheese with my hand.”
He pulled back slightly. “That’s a turn-on if ever I heard one.”
“Squished grilled cheese,” I said, picking up my hand and confirming my thoughts. “Helping libidos everywhere.”
He removed the offending, half-eaten sandwich, and did a quick sweep of the table to make sure nothing else would get in the way of what was clearly about to become a make-out session.
I was okay with this. Especially when he got a cloth wet and wiped off my hand.
“There. Now, will you shut up and let me kiss you?”
“Are you going to do it anyway?”
“Yes. And I have half a mind to end with giving you an orgasm because you deserve it.”
I eyed him. “We’ll see.”
He grinned, then swooped. Lips on mine, hot as hell, and all too addictive. His hands massaged up my legs, over my hips. He flattened one on the table and pressed the other against my back to stop me falling backward.
His tongue flicked against my lips.
I bit his lower one.
He chuckled, making me grin. His hand crept up my back, and our bodies were pressed close together when he kissed me again. His tongue battled mine, and I felt this kiss all over. My nipples hardened and my clit ached, and I knew without a doubt that I needed him inside me again tonight.
I needed more.
I needed to make sure the way I felt was right—that I hadn’t been clouded by sex. Not that having more sex was the best idea to fix it, but still.
Then, I froze at a knock.
We stopped kissing, and at the same time, turned our heads so we were facing the doo
rway.
There, we found two pairs of eyes, fixed firmly on us.
And I had never seen such a look of disgust on tiny people in all my life.
“Ew,” Eli moaned. “That’s yucky.”
Brantley released me and cleared his throat. “Why are you out of bed?”
“There’s a spider in my woom,” Ellie announced.
“And a fwy in mine,” Eli said. “Can we swap the bugs?”
“No. We cannot swap the bugs.”
“Can I sweep in Ewwie’s woom, then?”
“Sure, but I bet Ellie wants the spider gone.”
She shook her head emphatically. “No. He’s called Bob.”
A spider named Bob.
How original.
“Right,” Brantley said slowly. “Eli, grab your stuff and get in the opposite end of her bed, okay? Feet to feet like you used to do.”
He nodded, and they both ran back up the stairs like a herd of baby elephants.
Brantley took a deep breath and looked at me. “It’s like they don’t want me to get laid.”
I laughed and jumped off the table. “So dramatic. You just went in too early. Rookie mistake. And now you have to answer all the kissing questions.”
He groaned. “The good news is that I finally have my bedroom to myself.”
He looked at me pointedly.
“Oh god, no. That’s a bad idea and you know it!”
“Stay.” He pulled me into him. “Please. Stay with me tonight.”
I wavered. On one hand, it was a terrible idea. On the other hand…
“Kali, please,” he said in a low, husky voice, sliding his hands down my back.
“Fine,” I whispered. “But you’re cooking me breakfast.”
He kissed me, smiling. “Done.”
Waking up to the feeling of a hard, hot body behind mine and a heavy arm over my waist was a new one. It’d been two or three years since I’d been in a relationship and spent the night with anyone.
I wasn’t sure what this was with Brantley, but as I slowly opened my eyes and wriggled, I liked it.
“Stop wriggling,” he murmured, slipping his arm beneath the covers and hooking it around my waist. He pulled me right back into him, tucking my butt against his groin and tangling our legs.
“I wanna see what time it is,” I whispered, leaning over and blindly patting my hand around the nightstand for my phone. My fingers connected with it. I almost knocked it off, but somehow managed to save it before it fell onto the floor.