Eve Langlais (3 page)

“Are you sure? Some of them are kind of heavy.”

He just lifted an eyebrow at her, and with a grin, grabbed two boxes.

Suzie laughed and shook her head. “Okay, smart ass. Those two go into the kitchen.”

With a strut that had her lower parts tingling again, he took off with the boxes. Under her direction, even with the children underfoot trying to be too helpful, they soon had the boxes divvied up into the rooms they belonged to.

The house had three bedrooms, but the children would be sharing one for now so she could have her own workspace. As a web programmer and graphic design artist, she had the luxury of working from home. Great for her because it meant no daycare expenses, but it sucked at the same time because she could only work early mornings when the kids were sleeping, or at night after they went to bed. But it paid the bills, and best of all, she could work in her jammies.

By the time five o’clock hit, the house had begun looking like a home. Most of the twins’ toys and books had been unpacked. Jessica had her doll and Jared, all of his various must have toys.

“Mommy, I hungie,” said Jared, her bottomless pit.

“Me too,” piped in Jessica.

“I’ll take my leave that you may have your dinner,” said Hunter, who stood leaning on the kitchen counter.

Suzie felt an irrational urge for him to stay. “Listen, why don’t you stay for dinner? It’s not much—

Kraft Dinner and hot dogs—but you’re more than welcome to some.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Pwease stay,” begged Jessica with her big, pleading eyes. “You can haff my pwincess bowl.”

“Well, how can I say no to an offer like that? If it’s not too much trouble,” he said with a look at Suzie.

“No problem. Come on, kids. You set the table while I get the water boiling.”

A half hour later, with only a few minor skirmishes as they decided where Hunter would sit—

between the twins—they all sat down for dinner, or so thought Suzie with a smirk. An educational experience for Hunter who obviously hadn’t spent much time eating with children. No food ever looks the same after you’ve seen it being spit out, partially chewed so that they can have a drink of juice, then—gross—stuffed back in their mouth.

For dessert they made super-duper sundaes—ice cream with bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate sauce. Hunter looked at his portion dubiously, but after a few bites, wolfed it down as quickly as the kids.

“That was delicious,” he said, leaning back and patting his tummy. The kids giggled and leaned back, aping him.

Suzie laughed. “I discovered that magical combo when I was pregnant with these two. When you’re pregnant, eating takes on a whole new dimension, as did my hips,” she said ruefully, eyeing her rounded figure.

8

“I say your hips look great,” drawled Hunter. “Skinny women are way overrated.”

Suzie hadn’t been fishing for a compliment, but his remark and his admiring gaze made her blush.

“Oh, thank you,” she said, flustered. She busied herself clearing the table and carried the mess to the sink. Turning around to grab the last of the dishes, she hit a brick wall. Hunter had already grabbed the rest of the dishes and stood right behind her. She bumped into his solid chest and stumbled back. She felt his large, firm hand grasp her around the waist to steady her, and she gasped as a sensual heat flowed through her body. She looked up at him to say sorry, but the words got caught in her throat at the smoky look directed at her. His body, so close to hers, radiated heat, and she felt a matching warmth spreading through her own body.

They stood there, staring at each other, frozen, waiting for the other to move. A thump from the table broke the trance, and he moved back.

Suzie looked over at the kids. Jessica had slumped onto the table, half asleep. Jared drooped, not far behind. Their long day had finally caught up to them. Hunter, seeing their drowsy state, picked up Jessica in one arm and then scooped Jared up in the other.
Wow, those muscles sure are useful
, Suzie thought as she led him upstairs to the kids’ bedroom.

Suzie stripped Jessica and dressed her in her nightie, then sent her to the bathroom and did the same to Jared. Hunter, who had disappeared, came back with two small cups of water, which he put on each child’s night stand.

“How—” said Suzie.

“The children told me quite a bit about themselves today, including the fact that they need a nightlight and a drink of water for bedtime. And also that Mommy,” he said, grinning as he called her that, “gets scared during thunderstorms so they need to crawl into her bed to make sure she’s all right.”

“What else did they tell you?” she asked.
Oh God, exactly how many secrets had the children revealed?

“I also know you’re scared of spiders, that Jessica hates carrots, and Jared wants to be a cowboy and an astronaut.”

“I wanna be a priv gator,” said Jared sleepily as he shuffled back into the room.

“Me too,” said Jessica, right behind him.

“Well, for now, you both need your sleep,” said Suzie, kissing and tucking them each into their own bed.

Jessica held up her arms and puckered her lips. “Wanna kiss, Hunta.”

Hunter, with a look at Suzie to see if it was all right, knelt down and gave Jessica a wet, smacking kiss that had her giggling. Jared, being a boy, didn’t want a kiss, but beamed at the manly handshake Hunter gave him. Suzie, watching all this, felt a pang. If only their father hadn’t been such a lying, uncaring bastard. Her children deserved—no, correct that—needed a father. Even just one day spent with Hunter, their first real masculine influence, seemed evidence of that. Perhaps she should revise her no man policy. For the children, of course.

Closing the door three quarters of the way and blowing kisses through the crack, she and Hunter headed back to the living room.

Okay, now what?
Without the children to buffer them, Suzie hesitated, at a loss as to what to say to Hunter. Had she become so socially inept in the three years since the kids had been born? Sure, she could hold her own in a discussion of
Max & Ruby
versus the
Backyardigans
, but she didn’t see her hot neighbor being that interested in kids’ shows.

“Um, would you like a drink or something?” she offered lamely.

“No, I’m fine, thank you. Do you need help with anything else?”

“Oh no. You’ve done enough today. I can’t thank you enough. If there’s any way I can repay you,”

she said with an inquiring look. Oh yes, she could think of many ways to repay him. Unfortunately, all of them involved him naked. She really needed to get some sleep.

9

“My pleasure,” he said, his deep, baritone sending a shiver through her body. His eyes looked smoky again in the dim living room, and Suzie felt herself leaning toward him, like a plant seeking the light.

He cleared his throat, and the moment passed. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to enjoy your evening. If you need anything, just knock. I work odd hours, but leave me a note if you need any help.”

Oh nice, Suzie, scare the nice man off,
she chastised herself.
He probably thinks I’m some sex-crazed single mom.

“Yes, well, thanks again,” said Suzie, walking him to the door, the front door this time. He waved as he strode across the front lawn to his place, and watching him, Suzie had an irrational urge to chase him down and drag him back. She’d enjoyed his company today, something that hadn’t happened in a long time. He had an easygoing presence about him, and his patience with the children verged on the level of sainthood. But getting involved with a hunky neighbor. . .Suzie shook her head. Bad idea. She’d come here to escape from one man, and if she wanted to give the children a stable home life, she should restrict her dating—if she chose to date again—to men well outside the neighborhood where she wouldn’t have to run into them if things went wrong.

But still, it had been a long time since a man had made her feel so attractive, and on that thought, she went to work organizing the little knickknacks that still needed a home. Her thoughts filled with what if’s involving her hot new neighbor.

* * * *

As soon as Hunter got home, he jumped into a cold shower. He needed one after spending time with the sexy Suzie next door. He’d come so close to kissing her in the living room. She’d looked so perfect with her long brown hair wisping around her face as her pony tail came apart, and her full lips, sensual and inviting. He knew what he’d like those lips to be doing!

As they’d worked together, he’d found himself sneaking peeks at her bottom when she bent over, its round fullness begging for a playful slap. Her full breasts, stretching the cotton of her T-shirt, a tempting duo that would fit so nicely in his hands.

By the higher powers! Had he turned into a randy teenager again with a hard-on every time a woman smiled at him?

Come on, think of something different.
How about her children? Cute and precocious, he’d quite enjoyed interacting with them. He’d never really been around kids before, and he had to say that the experience with the twins had made the idea of settling down eventually not as scary as he’d once thought it.

Something that would please his mother to no end. She’d been subtly hinting for years that he should settle down.

As he imagined his own little troop of children running and playing while he and their mother—who looked an awful lot like Suzie—lounged, he fell asleep.

* * * *

A few kilometers away, while the city slept, a man in a dark cloak pushed through a thin spot in the boundary and emerged in an alleyway, not too far from the burger place Hunter had staked out the night before.

Sniffing the air, he smiled. A cold, calculating smile. The kind of smile that said bad things were about to happen.

Finally, I am free again. Free to finish what I started several years ago. Free to make pay those who had dared thwart
me. Free to fulfill my destiny.

Soon now
, the man thought as his predatory eyes took in everything around. He would take back what had been stolen from him. And when he did, the whole world would pay.

10

The next morning, after Suzie had cleared the dishes from breakfast, she heard a knock at the door.

Braless, in a T-shirt, and barefoot with tousled bed head, Suzie answered the door and felt her jaw drop. Her gorgeous neighbor had returned.

Unable to speak—somehow
Hubba Hubba
didn’t seem appropriate—she just gaped at him till he lifted a tool box up in front of him and shook it.

“Hey, I figured you’d probably be awake, what with the children and all. I noticed yesterday that you had some things that still needed putting together and a couple of things in the house that needed tending. So I thought I’d come over and give you a hand.”

He did, did he?
Suzie, still speechless, just stepped aside and let him saunter in.

The twins on the floor in the living room turned to look and dropped their blocks to dive on Hunter.

“Hunta! You back!”

Suzie left them talking to Hunter at a mile a minute and went to get another cup of coffee. Maybe a jolt of caffeine would give her back the ability to speak. To say he’d surprised her showing up like he had was an understatement. If someone would have told her that her hunky neighbor would be back to play Mr. Fix It, she’d have peed her pants laughing. Didn’t he have anything better to do? Or did he have some ulterior motive? Maybe he had designs on her body.
Ha!
Nope, there had to be a better reason than that. Could she have found the rarest of specimens? A nice and helpful man? Suzie envied his girlfriend—a guy like him had to have one, maybe even two.

Hunter walked into the kitchen like he owned the place and set his toolbox on the counter.

“I’ll get to work on the stuff I noticed yesterday. If you make a list of things you’ve seen, then I can repair them for you while you do other stuff.”

What, did he think her incapable? Just because she didn’t know one end of a hammer from the other didn’t mean she couldn’t do it. She wanted to be pissed at his high-handed manner, but instead, she leaned back, sipping her coffee, and watched as he turned off the water to her sink and unscrewed the tap to fix the leaky cold water.

Why protest? He seemed determined, and truth was, it would cost her more than she could afford to hire a handyman to fix all the little things that needed looking at. If he wanted to waste his day helping out, why not? So long as he didn’t think he’d be getting anything out of it, because she definitely had no intention of getting involved with any man, no matter how attractive he looked or how much she craved to touch him.

Once he fixed the tap, he re-attached some loose trim and assembled her desk, all while keeping up a running commentary with the kids.

“What dith?” asked Jared, holding up a wrench he’d pilfered from the tool box.

“A wrench, it’s for tightening things.”

“What dith?” Jared asked, holding up something Suzie had never seen.

“A level for making sure things aren’t at a tilt.”

And on it went. He even let the kids help him tighten bolts, guiding their hands to turn the screwdriver, and getting them to hand him tools as he worked. The kids had taken to him like a fish to water, and Suzie watched, amazed. They didn’t even squabble once! A miracle on its own.

Suzie knew she should be getting more done, but found herself mesmerized into watching him, instead. Like a new breed of animal she’d never seen, she studied him, trying to understand what made him tick. But she watched him all morning, and came no closer to understanding him.

When lunch came, he cheerfully chomped down on grilled cheese sandwiches with the kids and made them laugh at his milk mustache. Still observing him surreptitiously, Suzie wondered if maybe he was a touch unbalanced. She’d never seen someone have so much fun eating such a simple meal.

11

She couldn’t deny his good work ethics. Like a busy little ant, he went through the house diligently.

Suzie made him the list he’d asked for, and by the end of the afternoon, he’d tackled it all and even fixed some things she hadn’t even noticed. Like the handle on her dresser drawer—it had to be her underwear one, of course. He’d just casually dumped it on the bed, her waist high, granny panties, all in the exciting color of white, pouring out. Okay, so she shopped for comfort instead of sexy. It wasn’t like anyone usually saw them. But talk about embarrassing. After he’d fixed the drawer, she dove onto the bed to put them back, herself, the thought of him handling her underwear somehow too intimate for her to handle.