Victoria Pade - Special Forces Father

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 personal 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.