He pulled back, framing her face with his hands. “You’ve got to say it.”
She opened her eyes as his thumbs brushed the tears away. “I’ll dance,” she breathed more than said.
He smiled. “Close enough.”
Epilogue
“Daddy, wake up,” the familiar voice said. Tossing to his side, David knew he was dreaming. It had been so long since he’d had the nightmare, he’d almost forgotten about it. Almost.
Just walk around to the other side of the bed and get in.
“Daddy!”
Walk around, he told himself again. But something was different. He couldn’t see Lance; the room was too dark.
“Daddy!”
The dream would go on forever if he didn’t get in the bed. If he couldn’t see, he’d feel his way in. He stuck out his arms, reaching for the edge of the bed. His fingers touched warm skin, and his eyes shot open.
Tyler. He wasn’t dreaming.
“I went potty all by myself. You have to tuck me in.”
His hands cupped the little face in awe, focusing on the pale blue eyes. Sophie’s eyes. He pulled his son as close as he could, breathing the boy’s scent into his lungs until he thought they would burst.
“Daddy, no. Not with you. In my bed. Mommy said you would.”
Mommy. Where was Sophie? Without putting the boy down, David checked the bed. “Where’s Mommy?”
“Feeding Bella. She said you would tuck me in.”
He breathed in the smell that was Tyler—soap, grass, and peanut butter. The boy loved to eat.
Finally, David set him on the ground and let himself be led through the home they’d built together over a decade ago. Sophie hummed softly in the nursery. Isabel was almost one. Sophie should really let her cry it out the way the books said to. Like that’s going to happen.
Tyler pulled him past Natalie and Phoebe’s room with the matching canopy beds, to the last room at the end of the hall. Tyler’s eyes closed as soon as he was tucked beneath the tattered red afghan on his race-car bed. David stepped across the room and kissed Dustin’s smooth cheek. Shampoo, grass, and grape jelly.
When they were sleeping, only Sophie could tell them apart. Everyone thought they were identical twins, but doctors claimed they were fraternal. Their eyes were the only tell. Tyler was the only one of the kids to get Sophie’s eyes. So far.
Closing the door softly behind him, he spied her coming out of the nursery. She must have caught the look in his eye, because she darted into their bedroom. By the time he locked the door, she had rounded the bed.
“Isabel’s asleep?”
Her eyes narrowed as he approached the bed. “David, I told you earlier. Not tonight, I’m ovulating.”
He smiled wide. “I know what you said. You said six.” And he wanted to give her everything she’d ever wanted. And more.
She fought a smile. “I’m the one home with five kids under the age of ten.”
“Tyler’s the only one with blue eyes. I need another shot at it.”
“That’s your argument?” Her quiet laugh was as sexy as ever.
He shrugged. “It worked last time.” He put a knee on the bed, but she backed to the far end of the room.
“It was a weak moment. You were wearing a tux. It short-circuited my brain.”
“I could change.”
“No. If you take off your clothes, I doubt I’ll let you put any back on.”
Thank goodness, she was considering it. He rounded the bed to her side, but she scampered over the top. Standing on the covers, she was taller than him. Barely. “Two more days, then we’re in the clear again.”
Sophie and her rhythm-method birth control. That’s how they’d gotten the twins. He hooked his hands behind her knees and pulled her legs out from under her. She landed on her back, and he climbed on the bed and kept her there. He bent his head, tasting the skin just beneath her ear.
“Diversion. I taught you that.” Sophie giggled, turning her head to grant him better access.
“What have I taught you?” he whispered, finding the place on her neck where he could taste her pulse as it beat faster.
“You want to play show”—she slid her hand beneath the waistband of the pajama pants he’d started wearing when Natalie learned to walk—“or tell?”
Did you love this Entangled Select Contemporary? Check out more of our titles here!
Don’t miss Jenna Bayley-Burke’s next book! Sign up for our newsletter here.
About the Author
Jenna Bayley-Burke is known for her fun, sexy romance novels, baking banana bread, and over-volunteering. She thinks she has the best jobs in the world—mother, wife, and author. When she’s not lost in her latest story, she can be found pursuing whatever hobby her characters are enamored with—photography, yoga, shoes, gardening, crafts, and cooking up a storm. Keep up with Jenna online at:
Newsletter : Website : Facebook : Twitter : Pinterest : Blog:
Discover more Entangled Select Contemporary titles…
Three Simple Words
a Kingston Ale House novel by A. J. Pine
Blogger and bookstore owner Annie Denning believes in happily ever after. She just finds it in romance novels rather than in real life. When best-selling author Wes Hartley, whose female readers find him as hot as his hero, offers to do a signing at her bookstore, she’s ecstatic—even if she hated his book. But Wes has been struggling with words that just won’t come, and as the deadline for book two rapidly approaches, he fears he may be a one-book wonder. Until he connects with Annie and discovers his muse; but Annie wants her own happily ever after, and Wes just doesn’t believe those exist.
Stolen Away
a Hearts of Montana novel by Jennie Marts
Cash Walker is a tough-as-nails cowboy, except when it comes to the shy woman who shows up at his farm with a goat riding shotgun in her passenger seat. Recently divorced from an abusive husband, Emma Frank has come home to Broken Falls, Montana where she strikes up a friendship with a handsome cowboy who helps her find her own courage. There’s a darkness in Cash’s past that’s kept him from ever letting anyone get too close, but he can’t seem to stay away from Emma.
12 Steps to Mr. Right
a novel by Cindi Madsen
Savannah Gamble might be a dating coach, but that doesn’t mean she’s got her own love life figured out. When her former best friend, Lincoln Wells—the same guy who broke her heart after an unforgettable one-night stand—reenters her life, all her rules point to the fact he’s not her Mr. Right and she should stay far, far away. But rules can’t always compete with chemistry.
Bound to the Bounty Hunter
a Bound novel by Hayson Manning
Harlan Franco lives by his own rules: be in control, be detached, and never mix business with pleasure. These rules are tested when he’s being paid to secretly guard the sexy, unpredictable, pain in the butt, Sophie Callaghan—a woman determined to stay away from him. Sophie is on a mission. What she doesn’t need is hot, broody, and controlling Harlan barging into her life. After a night where both live out their darkest desires, Sophie tries to fight the explosive chemistry between them. But the ties that bind her heart to this bounty hunter are tight and tangled.
Compromising Positions (Invested in Love) Page 26