You want to take a shower with me?”
****
Zoe had killed him then raised him from the dead. Alex rolled to his side and pulled Zoe along, only to have her struggle to sit up. “Let’s just take a minute. Okay.” She unwound his arm from around her waist and sat up. “I need a shower not an after sex cuddle.” Her finger pointed at the clock. “Besides, I don’t want the girls to show up early and have to explain why Mr. King is naked in my bed.”
That stung. Hard. But she was right. “Okay, a shower it is.”
Zoe bounced out of the bed and headed for her 118
A Perfect Bride for Christmas bathroom. He followed.
The old-fashioned bathroom’s white and black tile floor chilled his feet. The fixtures were updated versions of antiques. A claw foot tub took center stage with a circular shower curtain of bright yellow adorned with blue butterflies.
He couldn’t tell if she’d had an interior designer, but he liked the homey feel of her house—the rich, bright colors mixed with comfort. He could live here and never get the feeling he was either in a museum of modern chrome and plastic or a bordello.
She turned on the taps. “It takes a few seconds for the hot water to get this far. It’s an old house.”
Before he could make a comment, she’d flitted away to remake the bed.
The pipes groaned and complained, but soon the hot water rained from the showerhead. He held his hand under the water to check and adjust the temperature. “Water’s hot,” he called out as he got into the tub and pulled the curtain closed just far enough for his head to stick out.
Zoe bounced into the room as carefree and chirpy as a bird. “Great.” She got in beside him and picked up a shampoo bottle from a small shelf beside the tub.
Alex took the bottle from her, palmed a few squirts of shampoo as he gritted his teeth against the ache hammering away at his chest. Zoe should be soft and loving, not this person who acted as if the most significant thing in the world had happened, and she didn’t give two shits.
He pulled Zoe around to face him, sputtering and still covered in suds. “We have to talk about what just happened.”
“Not if you’re going to drown me,” she spluttered and wiped the water from her eyes. “What do you want me to say—I love you? Hmmm?”
Zoe rinsed the shampoo from her hair and 119
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reached outside the tub for a towel. She grabbed a bright blue towel to wrap around her body sarong style and handed him one in yellow. “Been there, done that. Remember? Besides, you’ve just broken up with Sydney.”
“Yes, but…”
She tossed another towel, this time hitting him square in the face. “Time’s up. Get dressed.”
Alex stepped out of the tub, lifting one foot to the edge to dry his legs. He curled his toes into the warmth of the blue bath mat to maintain his balance as he shot a look over his shoulder at Zoe. He caught her gaze in the vanity mirror. For a brief instant, he saw the uncertainty in her eyes. As an attorney, he had to learn to read people, to know when they were lying through their teeth or telling the truth. Her lashes fluttered down to hide her eyes.
Her eyes might as well have been lie detectors.
She wasn’t as unaffected as she claimed to be. A kernel of hope planted itself in his heart. He frowned. What was he going to do about that? Alex decided his first order of business would be repairing their friendship. Once he finished drying his hair, he wrapped the towel around his waist and finger-combed his hair as he made his way back to the bedroom. Zoe sat on the bed pulling on a frilly pair of panties. The peach-colored lace worked well with her pale skin. Sydney wore expensive lingerie, but nothing she wore sent his blood racing like that little bit of peach lace covering Zoe’s body from his gaze.
Zoe picked up a matching bra, leaned forward to adjust her breasts into the cups.
He wished he could follow his first instinct—to throw her on the bed, to claim her as his. His dick rose to the occasion, but his brain put a halt to the wild need growing by the second. Alex picked up his boxers. He didn’t bother to hide the effect she had on him but dressed in silence.
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“Are we going to talk or not?” He jerked the laces on his running shoes with more force than he intended, nearly cutting off the blood supply to his foot. He eased up and tied his running shoe.
Zoe pulled on another pair of gray wool socks and patted down the legs of her jeans. A soft pink, long-sleeved, t-shirt hugged the curves of her body.
“I thought the woman always wanted to dissect ‘the morning after’.”
“It’s one-thirty in the afternoon.” He crossed his hands over his chest and gave her his best driving the witness against the wall stare.
“Whatever.” She gave a dismissive shrug.
His blood pressure skyrocketed. “Don’t whatever me, Zoe Bennett. We were fucking our brains out less than fifteen minutes ago, and you act like nothing happened.”
“That’s right, fucking.” She got off the bed to stand with her hands on her hips. “I consider it closure.”
“Closure?”
“Yes.” She went to the door and held it open for him. “I wanted to hammer the nail into the coffin of our past. It’s a done deal. I’m going downstairs. Why don’t we discuss what we’re going to do about the girls over a cup of coffee? There’s a couple of double chocolate chip cookies down there with my name on them.”
****
Zoe felt Alex’s eyes bore into her as she went about brewing the coffee and filling a couple of small plates with gourmet cookies. The kitchen seemed to shrink in size as the seconds ticked by. He leaned against the counter with his hands across his chest and watched her every move. She’d seen that particular look more than once. She’d just never thought she’d be on the receiving end. It didn’t matter if Sydney had called off the wedding, Zoe 121
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refused to be his rebound. She couldn’t let her heart get involved, even if she knew she still loved Alex.
“Let’s get the first thing out of the way. The girls are mine, correct?”
She nodded. No game playing, just the honest truth,
“We need to tell them. How do you propose we do that?”
Zoe filled the mugs, black for Alex and light for her. She handed Alex his. “Sit down. First, we need to figure out how you’re going to fit into their lives.”
Alex pulled out the old, pressed back, wooden chair from the table and sat. He picked up one of the cookies on the plate in front of his and held it up, examining it like he’d never seen a chocolate chip cookie in his life. “How do you think people come up with something that looks so plain and lumpy but tastes like heaven?” Alex peered at her over the cookie. Heat radiated from his blue eyes, lust blossomed as he bit in.
Zoe squirmed in her chair. “Alex, this isn’t the time to discuss recipes.”
“I merely made an observation.” He took a slow sip of his coffee. “Life doesn’t always give us what we want, but sometimes it’s better than what we ever expected. I want to get to know my children. And there’s the process of getting the birth certificates changed.”
His words sliced through Zoe’s heart. Removing James’ name from their birth certificates hurt. It made him seem non-existent, irrelevant in her children’s lives.
“He was their father,” she protested. Part of her wanted to run away from this discussion, but it had to be done. So much for Alex’s chocolate chip cookie theory.
“I am their father.”
“You’re right.” She got up from the table and 122
A Perfect Bride for Christmas dumped her still hot coffee down the drain. “It just seems wrong after all this time.” She leaned against the edge of the counter so she could get the tears burning her eyes under control. It seemed the only things she could do today were either make love, correction—have sex, or cry.
She felt Alex’s body heat,
the proximity of him, before he touched her. He rested his hands against her shoulders for a second before he turned her around with a gentle pull. “It’s time to let the girls know I’m their father.”
Zoe nodded. “Let me tell them.”
“I want to be there when you do. Maybe I need to answer some of their questions.”
“Macy will be the one to convince. She’s my skeptic and the klutz of the three. If you notice, she has a scar in her right eyebrow. The other two follow her lead, although Michaela will stand between you and the other two if there’s trouble. Mia will keep a lot inside. She’s my sensitive one, my princess.”
“They sound like great kids.”
Alex pulled her into his arms, his hand cradling her head against his chest. His heart beat fast against her cheek. She savored the moment. It might be the last physical contact she’d ever have with the man she couldn’t get out of her heart and mind.
“Zoe,” his arms tightened, “Is there any chance in the world that we can be friends again?” He pulled back to peer down into her eyes. “I’ve missed you so much. Not defending you was the biggest mistake of my life. I—”
She put her fingers over his mouth, cutting off his words. “That’s in the past. Done. Gone. We can try to be friends. After this afternoon it might be hard.”
“Oh,” he pulled her close until she could feel the evidence of his arousal. “It is.”
Zoe smiled and gave him a soft push. “That’s 123
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exactly why it will be difficult. I don’t want to be friends with benefits. “
He embraced her again, his words soft as his warm breath tickling her ear. “I’ll take what I can get. I don’t deserve this much, what you’ve given me.” The sound of the front door opening made her pull away from heaven.
“We’re home,” three voices chimed in unison from the front hall.
“Hey, you three hooligans, take off your boots and coats,” Cherri commanded. “Coats on the rack, boots on the mat. You know the drill.”
Alex’s face turned white and tight. “I’ve faced down murderers in prison, but I think I’m close to wetting myself here.”
Zoe couldn’t hold back a soft giggle. “You’ll do fine. They don’t bite, but they can be brutally honest.” She took his hand. “Time to face the fire.”
The girls chattered away while divesting themselves of their winter gear with Cherri’s help until Macy saw them come from the kitchen. Like an episode of Twilight Zone, all three children stopped to stare. Alex gripped her hand tighter.
“Cherri, I need to talk to the girls in private.”
Zoe made a motion with her head in the direction of the stairs. “Do you mind?”
Cherri shook her head, her eyes wide with surprise and understanding. “No problem. There’s a book I need to finish anyway.” She gave Zoe a wink before she went up the stairs.
“Come on girls, let’s go into the living room.” Zoe gathered them in her arms to give them a big mutual hug, then guided them to the big couch. She watched them clamber up, dressed in blue jeans, white socks and matching white sweaters with Blue’s Clues appliqués. Three pairs of blue eyes stared at her and Alex, one questioning, one 124
A Perfect Bride for Christmas suspicious, and the other worried.
“Do you remember Mr. King?”
They nodded at the same time.
“We have something to tell you, and we wanted to do it together.” She sat in a deep blue chair and motioned Alex to take the butter yellow one patterned with small blue diamonds.
Michaela reached out for Macy and Mia’s hands.
“Have we been bad?” She prepared to wage war. Her face took on the look Alex got before a trial, hot and fierce.
“No. Nothing like that.”
Mia raised her head. Her lashes fluttered, and she piped up, “He’s our hop-on daddy.”
Zoe choked back a bubble of laughter at the horrified look on Alex’s face.
“Hop-on daddy?” He glanced at Zoe for an explanation, but Macy didn’t give her time.
“He doesn’t watch Animal Planet.” Macy’s snort of disapproval said it all. It was clear she considered him a loser. “You hopped on Mommy and gave her babies.”
If Alex had been pale before, he was waxen now.
“No!” His eyes, panicked, begged Zoe for help. “I mean, yes.” He shook his head. “It’s not like it is on television.” Alex pointed to the television’s darkened screen. “Well, kind of. Geez.” He scrubbed his hands over his face and peeked over his fingertips at her.
“If you’re our daddy, why did we have another daddy?” Michaela frowned at both of them. “Are we illigimanate?”
This time, Zoe felt like squirming.
“Illegitimate.” Alex clasped his hands together.
“And, no, you’re not.”
“Alex is your real father. We were married when, well when we got you. But don’t worry, your daddy was your real daddy as well. Does that make sense?” Zoe hoped they understood. Four-year-olds 125
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didn’t appreciate semantics. They dealt in reality, hard reality at that, mixed with a good dose of fantasy. It was difficult for them to separate the two.
“Alex, that is Mr. King, and I were very good friends. We were married but realized we weren’t right for each other. We got into a big fight—”
“Like me and Bryan?” Macy interrupted. “He wouldn’t give me back the ball, and I smacked him.”
“We talked about that, Macy.” Zoe gave her a frown.
“Something like that,” Alex interjected. A slow smile spread across his face, and he rubbed his nose.
“Very much like that. She got so mad, she told me to go away and never talk to her again. I felt really bad about hurting her feelings. I did what she asked.
That’s why I never knew about you. Don’t blame your mother—I wasn’t very nice to her back then.
She had every right to tell me to go away.”
“Are you nice now?” Mia cut to the chase in her quiet, clear voice.
“I hope so.”
Zoe watched the muscles in his jaw bunch. A suspicious sheen glittered in his eyes.
“I want to get to know you. We…” He swallowed hard.
Mia got up from the couch, followed by the other two. “Baby Jesus said we have to love each other, to hug and kiss, not hurt, push or smack.” She shot a look at Macy. She laid her hand on Alex’s knee. “You can be our daddy if you want.”
Alex squeezed his eyes shut. His breath clogged in his lungs as he held out his arms.
They girls went to him one by one, Mia first, then the other two.
“Does this mean we can’t love our other daddy?”
Michaela asked.
“No.” Alex held them tighter. “Never. He was a good man to love you so much. Don’t ever forget 126
A Perfect Bride for Christmas that.”
Zoe felt the tears slide down her cheeks. She’d expected more of a fight from her children. Maybe they were hungry for another man in their lives.
Now they had one.
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Chapter Fourteen
So many emotions zoomed through Alex he didn’t know which one to process first. For the second time today, he’d wanted to blubber like a baby. Not very manly, but he didn’t care.
Mia stole his heart with her gentle words. The feel of Michaela and Macy’s arms around his neck was indescribable. And the weight of responsibility that came with being a father bound him tighter than the little arms.
“Girls, let’s give Alex a chance to breathe.” Zoe’s gentle command had an immediate effect. They stood around him, three pairs of blue eyes filled with questions he didn’t know if he could answer.
“Do we call him Alex or Daddy?”
“Daddy was Daddy.” Michaela stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her lower lip sticking out in defiance. It might have seemed rude if Alex ha
dn’t seen the slight tremble. He would have to walk carefully with his warrior. That made him smile. His warrior.
“What would you like to call me?”
Michaela let out a heavy sigh and dropped her arms to her side. “I don’t know.”
“Then think about it, and we can decide later, okay?”
“I want to call you Daddy because that’s what you are.” Mia wrapped her hand in his. It felt so small and warm, full of life.
Macy gave him the hairy eyeball for a few seconds and nodded. “Me, too.”
128
A Perfect Bride for Christmas He turned to Michaela. “Whatever you decide is fine.”
Alex glanced up to see Zoe standing there, hand over her mouth, face glowing with pride. She’d never looked so beautiful. Her eyes glittered green, gold, and amber behind the shimmer of tears.
Lust prowled through his body, begging for release. Zoe was the only one who could assuage this particular beast. What occurred upstairs would never happen again. She’d made that clear. Misery gave his heart a nasty twist.
Zoe came to stand behind her children. Their children. “We will work out how to be a family, but it won’t be like the one we had. Alex won’t be living with us.”
“Why?” Macy shot him a dirty look.
“Because.” Zoe pulled the girls closer and peered over their heads at Alex. Her expression told him to let her take this one and butt out. “We’re just a different kind of family. Alex is my friend—just a friend. We,” she pointed at Alex and back to herself,
“we would have to be married.”
Mia peeked up at Zoe with a frown on her face.
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