by Rita Herron
His voice came out gritty, “But at the church you said…I thought—”
“I was scared,” Paige admitted in a low voice. “After what happened with Eric and Joey, I didn’t think I could bear to lose another family.”
“You loved him that much?”
Paige shook her head, biting down on her lip. “I love you that much.”
“You don’t have to be afraid,” Zeke said, his voice husky. He reached for her, brushing her cheek with his finger. “I love you, Paige, with all my heart. I’ll never hurt you, sweetheart, I promise.”
Tears filled Paige’s eyes. “I love you, too, Zeke, and I will never, ever leave you.” She covered his hand with her own. “Not as long as you want me.”
“We want to keep you foreber,” the girls chimed.
Paige laughed through her tears. Zeke took her hand in his trembling one and kissed her fingers, then swept her into his arms with a shout of joy. “Yeah, we want to keep you forever.” He dropped excited kisses on her face, then scalded her mouth with his lips. When they finally pulled away, he whispered breathlessly, “Will you marry us, Paige? I mean, me?”
Summer and August hissed out a tiny breath of anticipation.
“Of course, I’ll marry you.” Paige threw her arms around Zeke, then pulled the girls in between them, sandwiching them into their hug. “I’ll marry all of you. And I’ll try to be a good stepmom.”
The girls squealed and jumped up and down. Zeke covered her face with kisses, whispering words of love and longing. “You’ll make a wonderful wife and stepmom. We have to get married right away. I can’t stand being without you.” He threaded his hands through her hair, pulling her close to nuzzle her neck and nibble at the sensitive skin behind her ear.
“I can’t stand it either.” Paige melted against him.
“I joined the emergency service at work so I’ll be home more with the twins. And if you want us to hire a nanny so you can travel or a housekeeper to give us both more time or if you want to move to Paris to do that internship, we’ll go with you—”
Paige closed her lips over to his to quiet him, then she whispered so low he had to strain to hear it. “I want to design children’s clothes right here in Crabapple,” Paige said softly. “After all, there’s no place like home.”
Summer and August giggled but Zeke tightened his hold around her. “Are you sure? ’Cause we’ll do anything you want—”
“I want to marry you right away,” Paige said.
“Yippee! We got our birthday wish,” August yelled.
Zeke licked the tip of her ear, whispering against her neck, “You’ve given me, us, so much, Paige. I wish I could give you something in return.”
Paige pulled back and toyed with the hair at the nape of his neck. “Well, there is one thing you could give me that I don’t have,” she said slowly.
Zeke froze, inhaling her sweet scent and knowing he would promise her the moon if he could give it to her. “What, sweetheart?”
Paige ran a sexy finger down his arm. “A little boy.”
Now, that he could do. He nodded, cupping her face and angling it so he could kiss her deeply. “No problem. I think we should get started right away.”
“A baby?” Summer asked.
August clapped her hands. “You’re getting us a brother?”
Paige and Zeke traded secret looks, both grinning when the twins wrinkled their noses, perplexed.
“Not yet. But maybe some day,” Paige said softly.
“Daddy,” August asked. “Where do babies come from?”
Oh, boy. Zeke stared into Paige’s twinkling eyes. “I think I’ll let your new mom answer that question.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7871-8
HIS-AND-HERS TWINS
Copyright © 2000 by Rita B. Herron.
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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