Special Forces Father

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 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.

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.

He took a breath that expanded his impressive chest and sighed it out. “Guess I’ll start the great climb then,” he said as if he was at the foot of Mount Everest.

“You can use the elevator,” she goaded.

“I’ll pass. I’ve never been in a house with its own elevator either. Seems weird.”

Dani nodded.

“I’ll see you tomorrow and try to loosen up,” he pledged.

She nodded again.

“And by the way,” he said with a beautifully devilish smile, “your hair looks better today.”

Dani laughed, glad to finally have her weird hairstyle of the previous evening acknowledged.

“Thanks. I did it today instead of Evie.”

“I don’t think the kid has a future ahead of her as a stylist.”

Dani laughed yet again. “I don’t think so either.”

Then she watched Liam Madison walk out of the kitchen, hoping that tomorrow he might show the twins more of the human side he’d finally shown her tonight.

And enjoying the sight of tight buns in khakis as a secret reward to herself for a day that hadn’t been any fun until just now.

Chapter Three

“Bryan! Did you see our socks?” Evie asked by way of greeting Dani’s best friend as the twins rushed him Tuesday morning when Dani let him in.

“Let me see ’em,” Bryan Dreeson instructed, peering down at their feet. “Oh, my gosh! Those socks are great! Red Minnie and Mickey? Why don’t they make them in my size?” he lamented.

“Let’s see yours,” Grady said as he bent over and pulled up one leg of the attorney’s suit pants to reveal snazzy argyles. A love of flashy socks united Dani’s friend with her charges.

“Pretty,” Evie judged with awe.

“And he brought you one of his special quiches for breakfast, too—”

The twins cheered and jumped around like crazy people, laughing at themselves as they did.

“Okay, okay,” Dani said to contain them as she closed the front door behind her friend. “I want you to go down and finish getting dressed while I talk to Bryan, and then you can have breakfast.”

Bryan’s family had lived in the house next door to her grandparents. Being the same age, Dani and Bryan had grown up together and been best friends since soon after Dani had gone to live with Nell and Nick Marconi.

Bryan had called the night before and told her that he would stop by on his way to his office this morning to bring her papers. He was an estate lawyer and had handled the trust Dani’s grandmother had left.

“Mmm...fresh tomatoes, spinach and cheese,” Dani said as she carried the quiche to the kitchen. “The kids love this. And so do I.”

“Because it’s delicious,” Bryan said with no humility whatsoever.

“Are you eating with us or have you already had breakfast?” she asked as they got to the kitchen and she set the quiche on the island.

“I waited so we could eat together. And I’m desperate for a cup of coffee!” he said dramatically, going to the cupboard to get a mug—a familiarity that had developed since he became a frequent visitor after Dani had taken up residence here and left the apartment they shared.

“I have to warn you—I didn’t make the coffee and it’s really strong. Gramma would have called it battery acid.”

“The marine made it?” Bryan asked. They talked almost every day and there was nothing in Dani’s life that Bryan didn’t know about, including every detail of the situation with the twins, her efforts to contact Liam, his arrival and request to move in and that Monday had been designated as the day for that.

“The marine or elves. It was here when I got up,” she said.

“Am I gonna get a look at him?” her impeccably dressed blond friend whispered over his shoulder as he poured the dark brew.

“I haven’t even seen him this morning—he’s an up-before-dawn guy. He says he likes to run at sunrise. Then he had an appointment with a lawyer to deal with paternity if the DNA proves he’s the father,” she said just as softly so the kids didn’t overhear anything.

“Too bad. I wanted to see if he lives up to your description.”

“If he lives up to my description? How did I describe him?” She’d thought she’d described him as average. Even though he was actually far, far above average.

“You made him sound so hot that steam was coming out of my phone,” Bryan claimed.

“I did not,” Dani denied as she got out four plates, silverware and a knife to cut the quiche.

“You sooo did,” Bryan countered. “Down to every tiny little freckle—”

“He doesn’t have freckles.”

“And you should know because you didn’t miss a thing. You had me drooling and hoping he plays for my team.”

“Evie and Grady are probably his so I don’t think he plays for your team,” she whispered again.

“And wouldn’t you be crushed if he did,” Bryan teased.

“No,” she said. Maybe a little too emphatically because it made Bryan laugh.

It also provoked him to give her his fashion once-over. “Your hair is down. Instead of yoga pants or rolling-around-on-the-floor-with-kids jeans you have on a nice pair, and that come-hither pink sweater set? You are dressed for more than work,” he deduced before adding, “It’s all right if you kind of like this guy, you know? This has been a rough few months. You’re due for a little good.”

“Well, it isn’t going to come out of this,” she responded confidently without denying that, like yesterday, she’d primped more for work than usual. But she’d told herself that she had a busy day ahead and that that was the reason. Not Liam Madison.

“Then I’ll keep hoping that he’s gay,” Bryan challenged.

“And I’ll tell Adam on you,” she countered, referring to Bryan’s longtime boyfriend.

The exchange made them both laugh. It was the kind of back and forth they’d shared since childhood.

As Dani cut slices of Bryan’s homemade quiche he took papers out of his briefcase and slid them across the counter to her. “Gramma’s trust,” he said. He’d always called her grandmother Gramma the same way Dani had even though there was no relation. “Since you’re the only beneficiary all ownership has been transferred to you.”

That sobered her. “Already.”

“It’s been six weeks since she passed. We did the trust instead of a will because it would be quicker and easier at the end and wouldn’t have to go into probate like a will. And there’s the proof—no court, no court costs, over and done. You’re now the sole owner of the house and Marconi’s Italian Restaurant.”

Essentially that had been true ever since her grandmother had died, but still, the finality and reality of it, of the loss of her grandmother, landed heavily on Dani all over again.

Dealing with that made her go very quiet and when Evie came up the stairs with a request that she fasten the buttons in the back of her dress, Bryan intercepted her to do it while Dani got down glasses for the twins and poured milk.

Then Evie went downstairs with a promise to Bryan that he was going to love her shoes and Dani took a deep breath to fuel herself to go on.

“Your cousin wants to buy the house,” she said.

Bryan had several cousins. One of them was newly married and she and her husband had rented the house that Dani had grown up in. The house that had belonged to her grandparents and passed to her when her grandmother died.

“I know Shannon loves the house, but I told her not to pressure you about buying it,” Bryan said. “It could be a nice home for you, you know? When some time passes.”

“Or I could sell it and use the money to renovate the restaurant,” Dani said. “Or I could sell them both...” It was a conversation they’d been having since her eighty-year-old grandmother’s death.

So many changes were in the wind. Too many. All of them weighing on her.

And Bryan knew how overwhelmed she was, how torn she was about whether or not to let go of the house she’d grown up in. About whether or not to accept the end of her time with the twins as the end of her own career as a nanny so she could take over where her grandparents had left off with the restaurant. About whether or not to sell the business that had been the lifeblood of her family. The business that had kept her grandparents alive in some ways. The business that couldn’t go on as it had without Dani. About whether or not to genuinely close the door on the people and life she’d always known. And loved.

“Gramma would have been right about this coffee—battery acid!” Bryan said.

Dani knew he was attempting to distract her from her own thoughts and from drifting into the doldrums and grief that were just below the surface.

“Let’s try a little cream and sugar,” he suggested. “I can’t believe Hottie Marine actually drinks this black.”

“‘Hottie Marine’?” she echoed. “That’s the best you could come up with?”

“We haven’t even met,” Bryan defended himself. “Would you prefer Lovely Liam?”

“Oh, that is waaay worse.”

Bryan passed her on his way to the refrigerator for the cream and nudged her with his shoulder. “You okay?” he asked seriously, knowing her well enough to understand what she was feeling.

“Sure,” she answered.

“Lot of decisions on the table—go at them one at a time.”

“I will. But I’m not doing anything about my own future until I know the kids will be okay.”

He kissed her cheek. “That’s why I love you, lady.”

And that small comment brought tears to her eyes that she had to blink back.

“So tell me more about our marine,” he encouraged.

But the twins were finished dressing and both came into the kitchen. Grady was in red-and-white star leggings with a salmon-colored T-shirt—he called it his toucan shirt because of the long-beaked bird on it—and sparkling blue tennis shoes that lit up when he stomped his feet, which he demonstrated for Bryan. Evie wore her predominantly navy blue flowered knit dress with green striped leggings under it and her own light-up, sparkling pink running shoes.

“Wow! You guys are colorful!” Bryan said as if he was impressed.

“Dani let us pick out our own clothes because it’s our bacation and we don’t have to wear umiforms.”

“And what a great job you did,” Bryan commended. “Now come and eat my quiche and tell me how good it is,” he added.

The twins eagerly went to two of the bar stools to climb up and do as he’d instructed.

And Dani wished that Liam was there to watch her friend and maybe pick up a few tips on how to build rapport with the twins.

Although, for some strange reason, she’d been wishing that Liam was there since she got up this morning.

And it didn’t have anything to do with the kids.

* * *

“You say it pit-sails—not piz-els. And these are ours that get saved for us. They’re the broken ones Dani lets us have,” Grady informed Liam.

Liam had been alarmed that the kids had gone behind the bakery case at Marconi’s Italian Restaurant and begun to help themselves from a drawer below it. He’d warned Dani that they were getting into the Italian waffle cookies, pronouncing the name the way it was spelled on the sign where stacks of them were displayed for sale.

“It’s okay,” Dani assured him. Then to the twins she said, “But not too many. You can each have two broken pieces and put the rest in a bag to take home.” Then, using a tissue to take an unbroken one from a stack, she handed it to Liam. “They’re traditional Italian cookies—my grandmother’s recipe with anise oil and anise seed. It tastes like licorice and the cookie itself is buttery and crispy and light...if you’ve never had one.”

“I like licorice,” he said, accepting the pizzelle from her. After tasting it he inclined his head and gave his approval. “Good.”

“Really good,” Evie confirmed. “You can have some of ours.”

That was a positive sign.

It had been a full day.

Liam had arrived home just as Dani was telling the twins after lunch that they had to have a rest time even if they weren’t tired enough to take a nap and herded them to bed.

When naptime concluded they’d gone to the grocery store, where Liam had observed the process without really participating and with an expression of bewilderment when he’d realized that on every aisle the same exchange took place half a dozen times: the kids asked for everything that struck their fancy whether they knew what it was or not. Dani said, “Not today,” and they responded, “For our birthday can we have it?” To which Dani had said yes every time.

“Why not just say no?” he’d reasoned.

Rather than answering that, Dani had shown him why not. She’d said a flat no the next time, when they’d asked if they could have the Chinese noodles in the black-and-red package that had caught their eye.

“For our birthday?” Evie had asked on cue.

“No,” Dani had answered, earning a rash of begging and insistence that even though they didn’t know what the Chinese noodles actually were, they loved them and wanted them.

“Okay, maybe for your birthday,” she’d conceded, and they’d been appeased and agreeable enough to move on.

“That’s just weird,” Liam had commented.

And once more Dani had responded, “They’re four.”

After returning home to put groceries away they’d gone to the park. Although Liam had remained reserved at the grocery store, at the park he’d offered to push Evie and Grady on the swings.

Unfortunately the offer had still been so stiff and formal—similar to her former fiancé Garrett’s attempts—that they hadn’t been responsive and had insisted Dani alone do it.

But there was one thing they always wanted to do at the park that Dani wasn’t physically capable of, and it had occurred to her that tall Liam could do it—especially when she had factored in his expansive shoulders and the biceps that stretched his pale yellow polo shirt to the limits. And made her look at him more often than she’d wanted to.

She’d suggested that maybe Liam could take turns holding the twins up, one at a time, so that they could reach and cross the monkey bars.

She’d had to warn Liam not to let go of them once they were up there, to keep holding them as they reached from one bar to the next without actually bearing any of their own weight, but he’d done it—several times because the man seemed to have the stamina of an ox.

It hadn’t broken down any huge barriers between the three of them, but Dani thought it had at least made a dent.

Then they’d moved on to dinner. Tuesday night was fast-food night for the twins—the only time it was allowed, as she’d explained to Liam.

Tonight Dani had insisted on paying, and had told Liam that when the court had granted her guardianship of the twins, it had also allotted her funds from the estate for their care. Since Tuesday night chicken nuggets were part of the routine, she thought that qualified.

As they did every Tuesday night, the kids had wolfed down their food in order to get to the play area afterward. While they were gone Dani had explained to Liam that the next stop was the Italian restaurant that she was responsible for and needed to check in on.

Which was how they’d come to Marconi’s, using the employees’ entrance in back and prompting a return of the reserved Liam as he’d watched the kids charge in, greet and be greeted warmly by the kitchen staff, then proceed into the restaurant itself and to the bakery case to help themselves.

“They’re just at home here?” he asked Dani when he’d finished his pizzelle. He was observing Grady and Evie getting a brown paper sack from a shelf under the cash register and carefully emptying the container of broken pizzelles into the bag on their own.

“They’ve been here a lot. Especially lately,” she answered before introducing Liam and Griff, her manager, and then consulting with Griff before the day could come to a close.

Liam again seemed very ruminative on the short drive between Marconi’s and the Freelander house, saying only, “They can be kind of loud, can’t they?” when the kids began singing preschool ditties in the back seat.

“They can,” she agreed. “But it’s happy noise,” she added, worrying that he was going to be so stern or sound sensitive that he wanted to stop four-year-olds from singing.

On the alert for his response, she saw him glance in his rearview mirror at them and held her breath, hoping that he wouldn’t tell them to be quiet.