Twins for the Billionaire

by Sarah M. Anderson

  And Sofia couldn’t even say she was moving through life in a fog—certainly not like she’d been after David died. She was tired, of course. It’d been a rough week. But sorrow wasn’t the overarching emotion that kept her awake at night.

  No, it was anger. Clear, bright anger that burned without flickering.

  How dare Eric propose marriage just like that? What gave him the right to talk about love and marriage and condos, as if he could wave a magic wand and make everything perfect? Why couldn’t he see that she didn’t belong with him? All this talk of love was great but she wasn’t a girl anymore. There was no avoiding the realities of her life. What would happen if she said yes? If she let herself get swept away? She’d spend the rest of her life trying to prove she belonged with him. Had she thought that dinner with the lieutenant governor or the cocktail party was draining? Ha! She’d have to achieve that level of acting every second of every day just to keep people like Dr. Robert Wyatt from sneering at her. And honestly, even if she did everything right and was the model wife—which wasn’t going to happen in this life or the next—they’d still sneer.

  The only person who didn’t seem to realize this was Eric. Idiot man.

  She got mad all over again every time she walked past the bouquet of flowers in the middle of the dining room table. Because those flowers were hard to miss. Two dozen of the biggest, reddest roses she’d ever seen—the house smelled like a florist’s shop. It was ridiculous.

  The anger burned for days.

  She tried to forget it, though. Addy and Eddy were okay. Better than okay. They spent long afternoons at the park, the twins toddling all over. They didn’t understand that the reason they got all this extra Mom time was that Sofia couldn’t bring herself to go back to work. How was she supposed to face Eric?

  When they made it home for lunch and then naptime, Sofia collapsed on the couch. She couldn’t continue to ignore Eric in the hopes that he’d go away. The roses screamed loud and clear that they weren’t done.

  Five long days had passed since she’d brought Eddy home from the hospital and told Eric to leave. Five days since he’d told her he loved her and she’d—what? Told him it wouldn’t work?

  She was right. She lived in a cramped three-bedroom house with her parents. She was sitting on the same sofa she’d sat on her entire life. She didn’t fit with him. In all honesty, she’d barely fit with David.

  David hadn’t died on purpose. Just like Miss Rita hadn’t gotten the kids sick on purpose. Bad things happened.

  She just wanted bad things to stop happening to her.

  She dropped her head into her hands. Eric had been a good thing. A wonderful, amazing, fun thing. He’d made her feel safe and happy and...

  And loved.

  He’d made love to her and protected her and she...

  God, she’d fallen completely in love with him. She’d always cared for him—but the dratted man was right. They weren’t kids anymore and what she felt for him wasn’t anything so simple as friendship.

  And he’d said he loved her, too. He loved her and she loved him and he wanted to marry her and she’d—what? Said no?

  That was the whole problem, wasn’t it?

  There was a quiet knock on the front door, which made Sofia startle. She threw herself off the couch before the visitor could ring the doorbell and wake up the twins.

  She gasped when she looked through the glass, because there was Eric. Her first thought was, Shouldn’t he be on the water? It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, after all.

  She opened the door cautiously. “Eric? What are you doing here?”

  The look of relief on his face when he saw her almost took her breath away. “Sofia,” he said and just the sound of her name on his lips was almost enough to undo her. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Why?”

  He gave her a look, one so familiar and comfortable that she smiled in spite of herself. “You know, when we were kids and we’d have a fight, your mom always had us apologize and make up.”

  “True.” They hadn’t argued much, but all children bickered. “But we’re not kids anymore.”

  “No, we’re not.”

  “Is that Eric?” Mom appeared behind Sofia, all but shoving her out of the house. “I’ll keep an eye on the kids. Go on, now.” The way she said it made Sofia instantly suspicious.

  “What’s going on?” But that was as far as she got before Mom shoved Sofia’s purse into her hands and closed the door behind her. Sofia turned to glare at Eric, who didn’t even have the decency to look guilty. “What did you do?”

  “Your mom wants us to make up,” he said, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm and leading her down the steps. His car was waiting. “You know, it’s true—the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

  She came to a stop. “Eric...”

  “I hope you’ve gotten some rest,” he went on, as if small talk was why he was here when they both knew it wasn’t. “I’ve been worried sick about you.”

  “You can’t say things like that,” she scolded gently. But even as she said it, her heart felt like it was going to break again.

  He’d been worried about her. He’d done everything in his power to take care of her babies. He’d said he loved her.

  And, fool that she was, she loved him back. Hopelessly.

  “Listen, you stubborn woman,” he began, but he was smiling as he said it.

  “Great start, that,” she muttered.

  He cut her a look and she closed her mouth. “I don’t think we can be friends anymore.”

  Her breath froze in her lungs, despite the summer heat. “What?” Because of all the things she’d thought he might say right then, that hadn’t even made the list.

  “Because I wasn’t a very good friend,” he went on. “I guess I was an out-of-sight, out-of-mind person. I left home and grew up and wasn’t there for you, good times or bad.”

  She suddenly had to swallow several times. “Don’t do this, Eric. It won’t end well.”

  “Don’t do what? Tell you I love you? Ask you to marry me again? Try to do it better than I did last time, when we were both exhausted and frantic?”

  “You can’t be with me,” she reminded him.

  “I’m Eric Jenner,” he said, sounding cocky and imperious. “I can do whatever the hell I want because who’s going to stop me? If I want to spend every afternoon aboard my boat, who’ll say no? If I want to build luxury condos on the moon, all I have to do is snap my fingers and the best, brightest minds will make it happen. If I want to walk around in a duck outfit—”

  “A duck outfit?” she gasped.

  “I’d set off a new feathered fashion craze,” he went on, ignoring her. “And if I want to fall in love with my office manager and her twin babies, who’d dare tell me it’s a bad idea? You? I hope not, Sofia. Because you’re smarter than that.”

  Oh, Lord. He wasn’t really going to do this on the sidewalk, was he? “But others will.”

  He had the nerve to look dangerous. And dang it all if it didn’t send a thrill down her spine. “I can’t stop them,” he said, his voice low. Another part of her heart broke. “But if anyone dares insult you? How can you think that I’d care what people like Wyatt would say? How could you think that I’d care what anyone but you and I think?”

  “But our lives are so different...” But even to her own ears, that sounded weak.

  “Do you know why we were friends?” Oh, he looked so dangerous right now. “Because you treated me like any other kid. And I hope I did the same to you. You were never just the maid’s daughter to me, babe. You were always Sofia. And I hope I was never just a rich boy to you. I...” He swallowed, looking suddenly nervous. “I was Eric to you. Wasn’t I?”

  “Of course you were—are,” she sobbed. “But I can’t as
k this of you, Eric. My kids and I are not your responsibility.”

  “You’re not asking—I am.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and despite everything, she felt it all the way down to her toes. “Aren’t you listening? I never do anything I don’t want to. I’m here with you, babe. I was here last week and I’ll be here next week. You mean too much to me for one bad moment to make me walk away from you.”

  He was making too much sense. Way, way too much sense. There were objections, she knew there were. But darned if she could remember them right now. “But...”

  “And I’m not trying to replace David,” he said. “He’ll always be a part of you and he’ll always be a part of the twins. But you didn’t die with him, Sofia. And I believe, deep in my heart, that he wouldn’t want you to face raising those children by yourself.” Her mouth opened to reply, but he cut her off. “Nothing against your parents, babe. They love you and the twins and they’re wonderful people. But they can’t be a father to your children.” His voice dropped and he took a step closer to her. “They can’t be a husband to you.”

  “That was low,” she choked out, losing the battle to her tears. She didn’t want to cry because if she started, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop. Because the infuriating man was right. David wouldn’t have wanted Sofia to feel like she was completely alone right now.

  He would have wanted her to smile again.

  Eric pulled her into his arms and it was as if a weight was lifted off her chest. For the first time in days, she could breathe again. “Then quit making me fight dirty and just accept that I’m not going anywhere.” He stroked her hair as he said it and damn it, she was comforted. “I missed you,” he said into her hair. “You didn’t come to work this week.”

  “I needed a few days,” she admitted. “So much happened so quickly and I just...” She hadn’t been able to deal with it.

  “I know. And I made it worse, didn’t I? I sprung the idea of the condo and living together on you and you...”

  She choked out a little laugh. “And I felt horribly guilty. I still do.”

  That got him to lean back. “Guilty? Why?”

  “My babies were sick and I wasn’t there for them. I was with...” She swallowed hard. “I was with you.”

  He stared down at her in surprise. “But they were with your parents. It’s not like you left them all alone.”

  She had no idea how she was even supposed to explain mommy guilt to him. “But I have to focus on them. I...I love you, too. But I have to put them first, don’t you see?”

  Hope flared in his eyes but it quickly turned into something fiercer. “So you’re going to what—martyr yourself for them?”

  “No, of course not.” But even as she said it, she wondered if maybe there wasn’t a little truth to that. “But they need me. They’re only babies, Eric. I’m all they’ve got.”

  He took a step away from her and then spun to fix her with a glare. “Get in the car.”

  “What?”

  “I have to tell you something and I’d rather not do it in public.” He opened the car door and motioned. “In, Sofia.”

  Feeling nervous, she climbed in. He slid in after her and slammed the door. For a tense moment, they sat there. Then he pressed a button and said, “Drive.”

  Instantly, the car began to move. “Eric?”

  “My fiancée was three months pregnant with another man’s baby,” he blurted out. “When she stood me up. We hadn’t had sex in six months because she said it would make our wedding night more ‘special’ and you know what? I didn’t fight for her. I let her slip away.”

  Sofia gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. “And the baby...”

  “Paternity tests confirmed it—not mine. Do you want to know what’s funny, Sofia? I don’t miss Prudence at all. Not the sex, not the silence that always existed between us, not her. But when I found out about the baby...”

  He stared out the window. “I was ready and willing to fight for that baby. But he wasn’t mine and Prudence married his father less than two weeks after she left me.”

  “Eric, I had no idea.”

  “No one does, outside of Prudence’s family and the private investigators. So far, I’ve kept it quiet.”

  She reached over and wrapped her fingers around his. “I’m sorry.”

  “I only tell you this now because I want you to understand—when I say I love your kids, I don’t just mean in that generic, all-babies-are-cute kind of way.” He took a deep breath and turned wet eyes in her direction. “I can buy anything, do anything I want.”

  “You mentioned a duck costume,” she murmured.

  “Anything,” he repeated with more force. “Except I can’t buy the love of a good woman and a family. I didn’t mourn losing Prudence because she was never mine to lose. But I mourned that little boy. I had no idea how much I wanted to be a father until I thought I might be one. That was taken away from me, too. Then you showed up, an old friend who was much too easy to love, with a pair of toddlers who needed a father and...”

  He blinked hard and Sofia’s eyes watered. “I’m not trying to replace David, Sofia. But you’re more than I’d ever thought I’d find because I don’t just love you. You’re my friend. You’re my everything.”

  Oh, hell. How was she supposed to argue with that? “You’ve given me a reason to smile again,” she told him through her tears. “I didn’t know I could still smile for myself. But I didn’t want you to think that the only reason I took the job or the clothes or the weekend together was because I was trying to snag you. I didn’t want you to think I was like that.”

  He laughed. “The more things change, Sofia, the more they stay the same and you were never like that. You’ve always fit with me. It never mattered who you were when we were kids—you were just my friend. It’s the same now, except that I love you. None of the other stuff matters except for this.” He took both of her hands in his. “Marry me, babe. Let me be your family. And when you stumble, let me be there to make sure you don’t fall again.”

  “You’re sure it can work?” But even as she asked the question, she knew she was being ridiculous.

  “I’m Eric Jenner,” he reminded her, as if she could forget. “I can make anything work. Even twin toddlers.”

  She laughed and threw her arms around him. “Yes. You make me happy. You make me smile,” she told him. And she’d missed smiling.

  “Babe, I’m going to make you smile every day for the rest of our lives.”

  “Promise?”

  He lowered his mouth to hers. “Oh, yeah—that’s a promise I’m looking forward to keeping.”

  Epilogue

  “On three,” Eric said, treading water. The lake was cool and crisp—which, given that the temperature was close to one hundred, was a welcome relief.

  “One,” Eddy Jenner said in a very serious tone. Eric couldn’t fight the smile as he held up his fingers to count off. “Two...three!” And then the boy launched himself into the air.

  Eric hurriedly paddled backward, barely getting his arms up in time to catch Eddy before they both plunged under the surface of the lake. When they resurfaced seconds later, Eddy was squealing with delight and Eric was laughing.

  “My turn, Daddy—my turn!” Addy insisted, stamping her little foot on the deck of his boat. Both of the kids wore wet suits with built-in floaties and what wasn’t covered by fabric was slathered with the highest SPF known to womankind.

  Sofia insisted and who was Eric to say no to his wife? Besides, it was no hardship to have her rub sunscreen all over his back. And chest. And arms. Lord knew he enjoyed returning the favor. Sun protection was sexy.

  Eric pushed Eddy back toward the boat and swam alongside him to make sure that the three-year-old wasn’t struggling, but he didn’t need to worry. The kids took to water like duck
s. When they were in the pool at his parents’ house, Eric didn’t even put them in floaties. He just made sure they stayed in the shallow end, where he could get to them at all times.

  Sofia was waiting for Eddy by the ladder. “You’re going to be doing this all day long, you know that?” she asked Eric with that smile he loved.

  “If you want a turn, I’ll catch you, babe,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at her.

  She laughed and then leaned forward suggestively, her breasts practically spilling out of the bikini top. “You can catch me later.”

  Eric flopped back in the water, pretending to faint. She killed him every single day. It was a crime, how good his wife looked in that bikini. Especially now that she was four months pregnant. While she always looked good in a bikini—red, forever red—the way her body had changed so far was nothing short of a revelation. And it went far beyond her stunning breasts. He found the gentle swell of her stomach to be unbelievably erotic. After a rough three months, Sofia had promised him that the second trimester was the fun one and they were just getting started.

  She was a wonder, his Sofia.

  “Daddy!” Addy said, scolding his lack of attention. Sofia winked at him as Addy said, “Catch me!”

  “Count to three,” he told his daughter.

  She pushed her hair out of her face and counted very solemnly before screaming her way out onto the water. Eric caught her and they laughed as they bobbed together.

  As he helped Addy back to the ladder, Eric looked up at his wife and smiled again. This was his life now. He loved his wife. What he and Sofia had was a bright, passionate love that got stronger over time, not weaker. It was no joke to say that she was his best friend and every day, he worked hard making sure he was her best friend, too.

  In another hour, the twins would be worn out from all of this jumping. He and Sofia would put them down for a nap in their room in the yacht and then he and his wife would steal half an hour to themselves in their own cabin. Warm from the sun and relaxed by the water, Eric was never happier than when he was making love to his wife on this boat. Then, she would rest while he piloted them back to the pier. Tonight, they’d have dinner at his parents’ house. Sofia’s parents were coming, too—one big happy family.