He took a long breath himself before quipping, “Plus, that couch qualifies as torture equipment.”
“Well it isn’t built to sleep on,” she admitted, “especially for someone as tall as you.”
“That’s for sure.” He lifted Sam off the table, gave the baby boy a kiss, then set him on the floor with his brother and sister. “So. Kids are changed, dressed and ready for the day. How about we feed them and then we have that talk?”
“I need coffee.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he said, scooping up two of the babies and leaving Sam for Dina to get. Then he walked past her, heading for the kitchen.
The room was bright with sunshine and ringing with the happy chatter of three babies. Despite being tired, Connor and Dina worked together to prepare milk, oatmeal and bananas. While they fed the triplets, Connor glanced at her and said, “Last night brought home to me that things have got to change.”
“What things?”
He would have heard the wariness in her tone even if he hadn’t spotted it on her features. “Everything about this whole situation. You. Me. The triplets. As it stands now, none of it is working for me.”
She sighed and shook her head. “It’s been, like, four days. You could be more patient.”
“Not in my nature.”
“I’m getting that,” she murmured.
“Anyway, it’s been long enough to make some decisions,” he countered and scooped more oatmeal onto a spoon before offering it to Sadie, who opened her mouth eagerly, like a baby bird. “For instance. Your catering business—why catering?”
“What? Oh. Uh. I used to have a food truck and it did really well.” She smiled, remembering. “So well, in fact, that I sold the truck to my cousin Raul. I went into catering thinking I could use that as a stepping-stone to my real goal—opening my own restaurant.”
“A good goal, but hard to meet when your catering business is sinking.”
“Excuse me?” She stopped moving with a spoonful of cereal halfway to Sage’s mouth. The little boy howled and slapped both hands impatiently on his tray table. “Sorry, sorry, baby,” she murmured and fed him before turning back to Connor. “How would you know anything about my business?”
He couldn’t blame her for being mad, but he wouldn’t apologize for doing what he had to do to look out for his kids. If that made the relationship between him and Dina tougher for a while, he could deal with that. Connor had the taste of her inside him now and he wouldn’t stop pushing until he got more. Eventually he knew he’d have his kids and Dina, too.
But for now he said only, “First, my lawyers have a private investigator on retainer—”
“You had me investigated?”
He nodded, ignoring the shocked expression on her face because it was just going to get worse in another minute or so. “And for another, I looked through your bills last night.”
“You did what?” Her voice dropped to a new level of cold that sliced at him like shards of ice. She shot a glance at her laptop, lying innocently on the counter, then looked back at him. “You went through my records?”
“I did, and if you’re waiting for an apology, don’t hold your breath.” His gaze speared hers and he didn’t flinch away from the pure rage spitting back at him. Those dark brown eyes of hers flashed with heat in spite of the cold in her voice. “You’re taking care of my kids and I needed to be sure you can do that properly. As it turns out, you can’t.”
“Is that right? Well, I’ve been managing all right so far. The babies are fine and you know it. They’re fed, they’re happy, they’re loved.” She stiffened, squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “The four of us are getting along great. You want to pay child support, I’m happy to take it for them. But I don’t need your help to run my business or our lives.”
Connor could admire her pride even as he dismissed it. Being proud was one thing. Being too stubborn to see the truth was another. “Of course you do, and you know it. That’s why you contacted me in the first place. It’s not just the money and you know it, Dina. You’re running yourself into the ground trying to do everything by yourself. You’re behind on your bills, and you haven’t had a good paying job since before the triplets arrived.”
She flushed and again, it wasn’t embarrassment but anger that flooded her cheeks with color. “I admit, my business suffered some when the babies first came to me. I had to back out of jobs and spend most of my time with them. They were traumatized—not that you’d know anything about that since you weren’t here—because they’d lost their parents and their home. It took weeks to get them settled into a routine. Make them feel safe.”
She glared at him and those eyes of hers were damned captivating.
“I was the one who held things together. And they were my priority. I’m so very sorry if you think my business isn’t doing too well.” She took a breath. “Now that the kids are settled in, I’m bidding on jobs again and—”
“Birthday and anniversary parties,” he finished for her. “Not exactly big-paying jobs.”
Dropping her gaze, she scooped up more oatmeal and spooned it into Sage’s waiting mouth. “No job too small,” she said tightly. “Besides, one job leads to another. Catering is a lot about word of mouth and—”
“Admit it, Dina. You’re in the water, holding onto a lead ball and trying to kick your way to the surface.”
“Could you please stop interrupting me?”
“Admit it,” he urged again. “At this rate, you will never reach your goal of opening a restaurant. Hell, you’ll be lucky if you can keep the catering going through the rest of the year. And once it fails completely? Then what? What’s your backup plan? Or do you even have one?”
Con watched her and saw in her eyes that she couldn’t argue with him, but that she was going to give it a try anyway.
“These children will never suffer.” She swore it, meeting his eyes, willing him to believe her. “It doesn’t matter what I have to do, they will never go without.”
“I know they won’t,” he said quietly and set small plastic bowls of sliced bananas onto the triplets’ food trays. Connor waited until she turned to face him. When he had her complete attention, he said, “I’ll give you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to sign over custody of the kids to me. Right now. Today.”
He saw confusion obliterated by fury in her dark eyes an instant before she exploded in a wild burst of rage. “You would dare to offer me money? You think you can buy me? That I would sell my family?”
She stood up slowly, as if every bone ached. The babies watched her with curiosity. They didn’t cry, because even in her anger, Dina kept her voice a hushed whisper that somehow made her temper sound even more volatile than if she’d been shouting.
“Do it and open that restaurant you want so badly. Build your dreams. I’m offering you a way out of the financial hole you’re sliding into.”
“Build my dreams by selling the babies? Do you really think so little of me?”
“Not at all,” he countered smoothly, refusing to match her temper. “I think you’re smart, clever and wise enough to recognize a real opportunity when it presents itself.”
She choked out a laugh. “You think I want your money?”
He shrugged. “You’re the one who sued me for child support.”
“For them,” she snapped. “Not for me. My God, you’re incredible. Because I asked for child support you believe that means I’d be willing to be bought off?”
He shrugged, not letting her see that he was pleased at her reaction, if surprised. Not many people would have turned down a quarter of a million dollars without at least thinking about it first.
“You rich guys are all alike. The world runs on money. Well, maybe in your universe, but not here in reality. I want nothing from you. I make my own way and I always h
ave. My business is exactly that—my business.”
“Your business,” he argued as he slowly pushed himself to his feet to face her across the kitchen table, “became mine when you became the guardian of my children.”
He’d let her rant and rage, but she was going to understand this if he had to repeat himself ten times a day. “Those kids are what concern me. My children. Not yours.”
She snorted. “You were the sperm donor. You’re not a father.”
Everything in him went still. Her words, practically spat at him, hung in the air between them like an ugly smear. “You don’t get to say that to me,” he said, his voice low and hard. “You know what Jackie and your sister did to me. You know the truth.”
She gritted her teeth, pulling in a breath with a soft hiss. “Fine. You’re right. About that. I shouldn’t have said it. But you’re not right about everything else. I don’t want anything from you, Connor.”
“Then you’re the first woman I’ve ever met who didn’t have an agenda. What’re the odds on that?”
“What are you talking about?” Anger shifted to confusion.
“Every woman I’ve ever known has tried to use me—my name, my money, my family.” His ego took a slight beating at the admission, but he was going to let her know from the jump just who was in charge here. “You think you’ve got issues with rich guys? Well, how would you like it if everyone you’ve ever known approached you with their hand out at one point or another? Jackie,” he continued, “was the only woman who didn’t try to use me in some way.” A hard lump settled in his throat as he admitted tightly, “And in the end, she—and your sister—used me, too.”
He hadn’t meant to go that deeply into his own life. This was about Dina, the failing business she depended on and the welfare of the triplets.
It was a second or two before she spoke again. “Well, I’m not them.”
“Yeah, you turned down the money. That’s something. But,” he added, tipping his head to one side as he studied her, “maybe you’re just holding out for more.” He didn’t really believe that, but he felt a small slice of satisfaction when her eyes narrowed.
“I think you should go.”
“Not gonna happen,” Con told her. He glanced at the babies, who were now staring at the two of them with tiny worried frowns creasing each of their faces. Deliberately, Connor dialed back on the anger churning inside him. He wasn’t going to traumatize his kids. “I’ll tell you what is going to happen, though. You and the triplets are moving to my house. Starting today.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Nope. Dead serious.” He planted both hands on the table and leaned toward her. “I’m not going to disappear from my kids’ lives. I’m not going to be the last one you think of when you need backup to take care of them. And most importantly, I’m not going to try to sleep on that torture rack you call a couch again.”
“You can’t just decide something like this and expect me to go along—”
“Did you or did you not just say that the babies would always be taken care of no matter what you had to do?”
“Yes,” she snapped. “But I didn’t mean this.”
He held up one hand for silence, and damned if he didn’t get it. Con figured she was too surprised to argue. “Your house is too small for all of us and you know it.”
“You weren’t invited to stay,” she pointed out.
“I’m their father. They stay with me.”
“I’m their guardian. They stay with me.”
“There you go,” he said. “Neither one of us is going to give on this, so my solution works best.”
“Because you say so.”
“Because your whole house is the size of my closet.” He pushed off the table and folded his arms across his chest. “You won’t be bought off—which I admire, by the way.”
“Wow.” She tipped her head to one side and gave him a look that should have set fire to his hair. “Thanks.”
He ignored the sarcasm. “You want the kids. So do I. The answer is, we both stay with them. We can’t do that here, so my house is the logical move.”
“Logical. That’s all this is about?”
“What else?”
“And this new living situation,” she said. “How would it affect us?”
“You’re talking about the kiss last night?”
“No, I’m talking about what you might expect after the kiss last night.”
A little insulted at the notion that he would maneuver her and the kids to his house as a way of forcing her into his bed, Connor frowned at her. “Relax. You’ll have your own suite. I don’t need to trick women into my bed. Or force them. They come willingly enough.”
If she gritted her teeth any harder, her jaw might snap.
“I won’t,” she finally said and those two words, along with the situation, tugged a smile at the corner of his mouth.
“Yeah, I seem to remember you kissing me back last night.”
“A minor bump in the road.”
“Yeah we’ll see about that.”
“Trust me on this,” she said, eyes flashing. “I won’t be one of the legions of women who have rolled out of your bed.”
“Don’t paint yourself into a corner,” Connor said. “Or make vows you’ll just have to take back later.”
“That won’t happen.”
“But the move will,” he told her flatly and waited for her response.
She looked at the kids, each of them with banana smooshed across their tiny features. He could see her heart in her eyes as she looked at those children, and he knew the moment she made the decision to go along with his plan.
“Fine,” she said tightly. “We’ll come. Temporarily.”
“What’s your definition of temporary?”
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”
One eyebrow lifted. Once those triplets were in his house, they wouldn’t be leaving again. Whether or not Dina stayed with them would be up to her. But one thing Con was sure of, in spite of her denials, was that before whatever this was between them ended, he would have her in his bed.
Six
“This is a mistake.”
Dina’s grandmother looked up from packing the babies’ clothes and clucked her tongue. “That is not the right attitude to take.”
“What other one is there?” Dina’s insides were churning and she had a pounding headache. No doubt caused by last night’s sleeplessness, the argument with Connor and now this hurried move that she was sure was going to turn into a disaster. “Living with Connor King? Even temporarily? Bad move. I can feel it.”
Actually, what she felt was worry. Ever since he’d kissed her, she’d felt herself teetering on a shaky ledge. Moving into his house, onto his turf, sleeping in a room close to his...no way was this going to end well. Especially because as infuriating as the man was, as frustrating to deal with, he was also way too tempting.
And that wasn’t even taking the triplets into consideration. He was getting the babies into—for lack of a better phrase—his possession. Surely that was going to mean something if he really did sue for custody. Any judge in the world would leave the babies in a palatial home cared for by a billionaire who could afford an army of nannies rather than with a nearly broke caterer living in a rented bungalow that was too small for one, let alone four, people.
“Oh, God.”
Her grandmother did the tongue clucking thing again and Dina winced. “This is an opportunity for you to get to know the father of the children you love,” the older woman said. “Use it. Learn what you can.”
“You mean to use against him later?” She tapped her finger against her chin as she considered it. Dina couldn’t risk Connor taking too much of the upper hand. As it was, she’d be living at his house
, sharing the kids with him and reluctantly giving him a greater standing in the custody issue. She had to go into this ready to defend herself if need be.
“No,” her grandmother said with a sigh. “I mean, get to know him. The two of you are now linked through these children. You will be a part of each other’s lives always. Isn’t it smart to know the person rather than to assume the worst and act on it?”
Dina groaned and plopped onto the bed, hands in her lap. “I hate it when you’re rational.”
The older woman chuckled and went back to folding tiny T-shirts and pants. “You don’t want to admit he’s right, either, do you?”
“He’s not right. About what?”
“About this house. It is much too small for you and three growing babies. You know this, Dina. You just don’t want it thrown in your face.”
True. The bungalow felt stifling most of the time. She had rented it three years ago for herself as a stepping-stone. A way to save money—since the rent then was reasonable—so she could save to buy her own place. With her business doing well, it wouldn’t have taken her long to afford a nice condo somewhere. She’d built up a savings account, opened the catering company and was sure that all of her plans were going to sail on nicely.
But then the babies came, the rent went up, her business went down and she’d been pretty much stuck here. When Connor had said that her business was sinking and taking her dreams of a restaurant along with it, he’d really hit the nail on the head.
Maybe her grandmother was right. She would still have to pay rent on this house while living with Connor, just to keep her own place to run to when his plan was shot out of the sky. But everything else could work in her favor. Bills for diapers, food, babysitting wouldn’t mount because she would be at his place. Maybe she could start saving again and begin to rebuild her nearly empty savings account.
“Fine. We’ll go. We’ll stay. For a while.”
“Good. And you’ll do this with a positive attitude.”
Triple the Fun Page 7