Special Forces Father

by Victoria Pade

  Then they headed downstairs. But they were both eyeing the front door the whole way, not looking pleased with the addition that was about to be made to their household.

  Dani couldn’t blame them.

  It had been a long—and stilted—four hours since Liam had arrived that afternoon.

  The first stop had been the pediatrician’s office where—after a half-hour wait during which the twins had played with the office toys and Liam had sat silent and straight-backed in one of the waiting room’s chairs—Evie’s and Grady’s DNA had been taken.

  Unfortunately, between the time Dani had called and made the appointment—when the receptionist had said that yes, they would also take Liam’s DNA—the doctor had nixed that. Apparently the receptionist hadn’t been clear on just how strict the office policy was against addressing anything to do with an adult. Instead they’d been given an address for a lab they could go to for Liam’s swab.

  The lab had been a twenty-minute drive from the doctor’s office. A twenty-minute drive during which Liam had not made conversation beyond asking for Dani’s navigations.

  The lab had required another long wait in a small area with only three chairs and no office toys for the kids. Dani carried coloring and activity books in her purse but there also wasn’t a table the kids could use. So she’d set them up on the floor, out of the way of incoming and outgoing patients. Then she’d sat in one of the empty chairs but couldn’t persuade Liam to take one of the others.

  “The kids should sit in them,” he’d said, standing as if he was on lookout, and seemed embarrassed that the kids weren’t using the remaining chairs.

  After his test, Liam had suggested taking them all to dinner at a restaurant his brother had recommended. At the restaurant there had been another lengthy delay before a table opened up for them—during which the kids had again colored, this time using the seat of a chair as a desktop—something else that Liam eyed as if the irregularity made him uneasy. From his position again standing like a sentry.

  Once they were led to a booth Liam had sat at one end of the table while the twins had huddled on either side of Dani as far away from him as they could get.

  They’d agreed to grilled cheese sandwiches from the uninspired children’s menu and while they’d waited for their food, Grady had devolved into entertaining himself by tormenting his sister. That caused a small ruckus when Evie fought back, and while Dani managed them, Liam seemed not to know where to look, staring over their heads like a Buckingham Palace guard.

  By the time the food arrived the kids were just plain contrary and had taken one look at the grilled cheese sandwich and refused to eat it because the cheese was white instead of yellow. And even after Dani had persuaded them just to try it, Evie had gagged on her bite and Grady had let his roll back down his tongue and onto the plate, delivering the verdict that it was yucky.

  They did eat the french fries and fruit that came with the sandwich, so that was something, but through it all Liam Madison’s discomfort and embarrassment had been palpable.

  And the twins hadn’t been all that happy themselves when they’d learned during the meal that Liam was going to be coming to live with them.

  Dani had been grateful that they hadn’t said anything rude, saving their comments for Dani alone now that they were home and Liam was out of earshot. But the news had so sobered them that there was no mistaking they were not thrilled with the idea. From then on they’d become as quiet as Liam, so the car ride home had been stony all the way around.

  And that was how a weary Dani had left it. She’d exhausted every effort to engage Liam in things with the kids, she’d failed at getting the kids to interact with Liam, and for the time being she just gave up.

  But this needed to work, she told herself now that they were back at the Freelander house. If Liam was Grady and Evie’s biological father, she really needed him to save them from the system.

  Just then Liam came in the front door carrying a large duffel bag.

  Dani left the kitchen and went into the entry as he closed the door behind him, trying not to notice how good he looked in the khaki slacks and white shirt that had replaced the uniform of Sunday night.

  “Stairs or elevator?” she asked.

  “Your choice,” he said.

  “Usually I’d take the stairs—this is the first house I’ve ever been in that has an elevator—but let’s use it tonight. It’s quicker and I need to get back and fix the kids a snack. But maybe once you’ve settled in and they’re watching their shows we could talk a little?” she proposed.

  “Even in civvies they’re still scared of me, aren’t they?” he guessed.

  Dani almost laughed but she fought it. He was a massive wall of man, all granite-hard muscle held in an unyielding demeanor that made him seem totally unapproachable, and he thought it was his clothes that were off-putting to two little kids?

  “I don’t know that they’re scared exactly...” she hedged as she showed him to the elevator and they got into the small space.

  He not only looked great, he smelled great, too, and the clean scent wrapped around her in the confines of the elevator as she pushed the button to close the doors and send them up.

  But like looking good, smelling good was inconsequential, she reminded herself, instead addressing only the issue at hand. “I don’t know what your situation is—”

  “Unmarried. Uninvolved.”

  He thought she was asking him if he was single? Well, situation could be interpreted that way. And she had been wondering...

  “And childless, right?” she added. “Well, other than potentially the twins?”

  “Childless,” he said as succinctly as he’d said everything today.

  “And without much experience with kids, I’m kind of assuming...” she said to introduce the subject she was getting at as they arrived at the guest suite and the elevator doors opened directly into the room.

  “No experience. None,” he confirmed emphatically.

  “So I’m hoping maybe you wouldn’t mind a little advice,” she said diplomatically.

  “Advice...”

  There was the tiniest inflection to his voice that confused her. It could have been amusement that said he didn’t think he needed her advice. But it could also have been flirtatious. From underneath some heavy cover. Something that hinted he might have hoped for something better when she’d suggested they talk.

  But she couldn’t for a minute even entertain the idea that that’s what she’d heard, so instead she decided he’d found some humor in something and merely went on.

  “Advice, yes. Unless you don’t want it.”

  “I don’t think there’s any question that I need it, right?”

  “You do,” she said.

  He cracked the smallest of smiles, lending some credence to the thought that he’d found something funny in her offer. The smallest of smiles that crooked up only one side of his mouth and drew a sexy line around the corner.

  “Show me what I need to know up here,” he said as they stepped off the elevator, “and then I’ll come down and we can talk.”

  “Good,” Dani said, still not quite sure how receptive he was going to be.

  But she didn’t like being far from the kids for long so she quickly showed him around and instructed him in making the television rise out of a credenza at the foot of the bed and controlling the blackout draperies covering the three glass walls of the suite. She pointed out the control panel for the sauna before leaving him to go downstairs again.

  As she did it struck her for the first time that she and the oh-so-hunky Liam Madison were now going to be living together.

  Well, not living together, but sharing the place.

  And there was something about the thought that suddenly felt a little titillating.

  It shouldn’t have. Not only wasn’t there anything perso
nal about it at all, but she already shared an apartment with her friend Bryan so there was nothing really out of the ordinary about a living arrangement like this.

  Of course Bryan was her best friend and gay, but still, he was a guy and that’s all Liam Madison was. A guy.

  An incredibly hot, sexy guy...

  Who she couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of.

  Who would be undressing just upstairs.

  Showering just upstairs.

  Sleeping just upstairs...

  She actually had goose bumps, she realized as she reached the kitchen.

  That would not do!

  No thinking about him any differently than you think about Bryan! she directed herself firmly.

  But still, the thought of living even in these not-so-close-quarters with him made her slightly tingly.

  She just tried to ignore it.

  And hoped that it would pass when the novelty of this situation did.

  Please, please, make it pass...

  She’d just delivered the twins’ snack and turned on their wind-down shows when she and Liam arrived back in the kitchen at the same time.

  “Since we’re in show-you-around mode,” she said as she put things back in the refrigerator, “this is the fridge—feel free to help yourself to anything in it, of course. Plus we need to take a trip to the grocery store tomorrow so you can add whatever you like.”

  She went on to show him the walk-in pantry and the coffee machine that was housed in its own compartment near the sink, and where the utensils, cups, bowls and plates were. She demonstrated the toaster, blender and food processor that—like the television in the guest room—rose at the push of a button from separate compartments underneath the stainless steel countertop. Then she opened both the dishwasher and the trash compacter to unveil them since they were indistinguishable from the stainless steel cupboards.

  “This place is like a space station,” he observed when the tour of the kitchen was complete.

  “Owen was a sci-fi fanatic so he would have taken that as a compliment. But yeah, most of it is sort of out there. Except for downstairs. That’s the kids’ area and it’s just pretty normal, bedrooms and bathrooms, and that space you can see from here is where the kids can play or watch TV.”

  “Is there a workout room by any chance?”

  “Next to the ballet studio. Come on, I’ll show you. You can use it.” Because clearly he didn’t have that body without working out.

  When she’d shown him that, too, they again went into the kitchen, where Dani sat on a stool on the side of the island that allowed her to see into the lower level to keep an eye on the twins. Liam stood in the center of the room, still stiff and formal.

  “Okay, what am I doing wrong?” he asked.

  Dani did laugh that time. Just a little. “Audrey said you’re military through and through. But really, you have to loosen up. Like, for instance, you’re home now, not waiting for somebody to give you orders. Sit down and relax.” Relax—it was something she’d said far, far too many times to her former fiancé. Futilely.

  “Sorry. Force of habit. Especially when I’m out of my element. And believe me, this whole thing qualifies,” he said, glancing at his surroundings to include the house and then casting another, somewhat pained look down the four stairs where the kids were.

  Dani felt a little sympathy for the man who looked like he could handle anything thrown at him. Apparently looks were deceiving.

  But he did join her at the island, taking a seat on a bar stool around the corner and down three from her.

  “Better?” he asked.

  “Sure,” she said, although he still did not look as if he felt at home.

  “Have I blown it with the kids? Do they hate me?” he asked then.

  “I think that maybe they don’t know what to make of you,” she answered, soft-pedaling. Then, continuing to tread lightly, she said, “Grady says you’re like a robot.”

  “Is he a sci-fi fanatic, too, and that’s a compliment?”

  “Sorry, no,” Dani said, suppressing another laugh.

  “So, what do I do? I don’t know the first thing about kids.”

  “Well, you were one...weren’t you?” she joked, unsure how he would take it but trying anyway.

  “Once upon a time, yeah,” he answered, showing a hint of humor in the reappearance of that crooked smile.

  “So maybe you could just think back, put yourself in your own shoes when you were a kid, remember adults in your life that you related to and why for starters. Grady and Evie are kids, just like I’m sure you were. They like to play and they like it when you play with them—”

  “Or color with them like you tried to do at the restaurant?”

  Oh, he was dishing a little out by reminding her that that attempt had failed.

  Dani just laughed again. “Okay, they aren’t always receptive, especially when they’ve reached their limits. But—” she pointed a finger in the direction of the refrigerator where there were three crayon drawings displayed “—the middle one is mine from this morning when they wanted me to color with them,” she finished victoriously.

  Liam flashed her a full smile that seemed to say he liked that she could take a little ribbing. And that made him all the more attractive. And appealing. Damn him...

  “And you can talk to them,” she went on. “Directly to them. Today you just talked to them through me.”

  “But will they understand if I talk to them the way I would talk to anybody?”

  Dani tried not to reveal just how silly that sounded. “They will. They mispronounce some words themselves, but they have a better-than-average vocabulary for four-year-olds. And if they don’t understand a particular word or phrase, they’ll let you know. Then that gives you the opportunity to expand their vocabulary. But they’re not babies. Think of them as just small people. Today you didn’t say word one to either of them after you said hello.”

  “To be fair, they didn’t talk to me either.”

  “Uh-huh, but kids don’t talk to people who seem unfriendly.”

  “I seem unfriendly?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “I’m a nice guy,” he defended himself, seeming to really drop some of his guard in that defensiveness.

  Dani laughed once more. “Okay. But you have to come out from behind the military shield and show it because that isn’t what they’ve seen of you. You’re more like the secret service on duty with the president’s kids. Except that you aren’t completely hiding that it bothers you when they do what kids do—like running to catch up to the hostess seating us at the restaurant.”

  He made a face that acknowledged that he’d found that inappropriate. “And the stuff with the grilled cheese sandwiches...” he added, showing his disapproval.

  “I know. But like I said, they’re kids. You use moments like that to teach them that spitting out a bite of food is bad manners and what to do in polite society.”

  “That’s what you did.”

  “While you looked like you just wanted to crawl into a hole.”

  “Yeah, all right, I did,” he conceded. “So, where should I go from here? Shall I, like, ask them to throw a ball with me or something?”

  “Why don’t you just start by being yourself...well, the self you must be with your own family or your friends. Just let your hair down a little, speak to the kids to acknowledge them and kind of roll with things until you get a feel for them and what they respond to.”

  With the mention of hair his gorgeous blue eyes went to her hair for just a moment—the first time it seemed he’d noticed that it was different than it had been the night before.

  Then he redirected his gaze and in a tone that was slightly controlled again, he said, “Yeah, okay, I’ll give it a try.”

  “They like to have a book read to them before bed. I can
ask them if they’d let you do it and you could start with that...”

  “Tonight?” he said as if she’d suggested something terrifying.

  “You need to prepare yourself?” she teased him, dishing out a little of the goading he’d served her.

  “I do,” he confessed.

  She let him off the hook since the simple suggestion seemed to have rocked him all over again. “Okay. Sure.”

  The ending song for the show the twins were watching sounded faintly in the background and Grady called, “It’s over.”

  “Which is the cue for the bedtime book,” Dani said.

  “And you have to get back to them,” he finished for her. But this time his tone seemed to hold some disappointment. “I should probably go up and unpack anyway. Prepare myself for tomorrow—they’ll still be here tomorrow, right?” he joked.

  “They will be.”

  “I don’t know how early things start around here but I like to run at sunrise—”

  “Not that early.”

  “And then I have an appointment at eight in the morning with the attorney my brother hired. I haven’t met with him yet. How does that work with you and the kids?”

  “They’ll usually sleep until seven thirty or eight so why don’t you just do your run, then go to your appointment and we’ll see you after that.”

  She told him the code to the security system in order for him to leave without incident.

  “And what about breakfast?” she asked. “There’s bread for toast—”

  “I saw cereal in the pantry, milk in the fridge. That’ll do.”

  Dani nodded. “If you need anything or have any questions about things around here, just holler. Or text me. There’s an intercom all through the house but it’s kind of complicated. You have to know the place pretty well to know which button connects you to which room.”

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Unless I hit the wrong button up there and launch myself into orbit.”

  Another joke. She liked that he had a sense of humor. “You’re safe. I put duct tape over the launch button so you wouldn’t hit it accidentally,” she joked back.