A couple of tense seconds ticked past as the twins glared at each other. But eventually Connor shrugged, shook his head and said in disgust, “It’s amazing you can grow hair on that rock you call a head.”
Colt snorted. “This head is identical to yours so choose your insults more wisely.”
Connor’s lips twitched. “Fine. So let’s talk about Sicily instead. You want me to get somebody else to check out Mount Etna for us?”
He’d considered it. There were a couple of experienced climbers they’d used before to scope out new spots when Colt was too busy to do it. But he wasn’t ready for that yet. “No,” he said, shaking his head firmly. “I’ll do it. Might take a week or so until Penny’s feeling better, but I’ll get to it.”
“Your call,” Con said, then asked, “So if I’m quiet, can I look at your kids while they sleep?”
Colt gave his brother a quick grin. “Sure. But if you wake ’em up, you’ll be here until you put ’em back to sleep.”
* * *
The rest of the afternoon passed on a tide of diapers, baby food, Cheerios and crazed babies crawling all over the house—usually in two separate directions. Colt was too busy to do a lot of thinking. But he still managed to have an idea that kept swimming through his mind, refusing to be ignored. He played with possibilities as he bathed the twins and then wrestled them into pajamas. Not easy since Reid refused to lie still and Riley insisted on tearing her diaper off the minute Colt got it on her.
How in the hell had his life changed so completely, so quickly?
Colt was getting into a routine and the fact that he could actually think that word and not run screaming for the closest exit was almost scary. But routines were meant to be broken. This wasn’t forever.
But as he looked at the babies now settling into their cribs for the night, he realized that knowing this time was going to end didn’t make him as happy as it should have. He scrubbed one hand across the back of his neck and tried to sort through the splintered thoughts and emotions raging inside him.
The twins had laid siege to his heart, there was no denying it. What he felt when he looked at them, when they smiled up at him or threw their little arms around his neck, was indescribable. Sure, he’d been around his cousins and heard them all talking about how their children had affected them. But he guessed you couldn’t really understand until you’d experienced it for yourself.
Two tiny children—not even talking yet—and they’d changed everything for him. He just didn’t know what to do to protect them, other than to keep his distance.
Problem was, he wasn’t ready to leave just yet.
“Enjoying your special time with the twins?”
The voice from the doorway behind him didn’t surprise him. In spite of the turmoil in his mind, Colt had felt Penny there watching him long before she spoke.
Glancing over his shoulder at her he said, “I don’t know how you take care of them so well on your own.”
She looked surprised by the compliment and a quick stab of guilt hit him. Colt realized that in the last few days he had never acknowledged just what she’d accomplished in this tiny house. She’d been on her own from the jump, yet she’d managed to care for the twins and this house and try to build a business.
Exhausted him just thinking about what her life must have been like for the last eight months.
“Well, thanks.” She stiffened a little as if she’d been unprepared for flattery—and didn’t quite know how to take it. She fidgeted with the short, pale blue robe she was wearing, tugging the terry cloth lapels tighter across her chest. “It isn’t always easy, but—”
“Oh, I get that.” He stared down at his daughter, lying in her crib. In her favorite position, with her behind pointed at the sky, the tiny girl smiled as she drifted off to sleep. Shaking his head in amazement, Colt looked over at Reid, who was already sleeping, sprawled across the mattress as if trying to claim every inch of the space as his own.
Twins, but so different. Yet both of them had carved their essences into his heart in a matter of days. It was damn humbling for a man who was used to running the world around him to admit, even to himself, that two tiny babies could bring him to his knees.
Walking to the doorway, Colt turned out the light and watched as the night-light tossed softly glowing stars onto the ceiling. Then he and Penny stepped into the hallway and he pulled the door closed behind them.
In the sudden silence, he stared down at her and lost himself for a second in the deep green of her eyes. The whole world was quiet and the tension between them flashed hot as she gathered the neck of her robe in one fist. His body went to stone when he realized she was na**d under that robe.
And in a heartbeat, his memory provided him with a very clear image of her na**d body. The curves he’d spent hours exploring. The smooth slide of his hand across her skin. The fullness of her br**sts, the slick heat of her body surrounding his.
His eyes narrowed on the top of her robe, as if just by concentrating, he could make her release that death grip and give him a peek at what lay beneath. Damn, the woman was going to kill him.
“I’m, uh, going to take a shower,” she said and took a step back from him.
Colt’s eyes narrowed on her. “Are you steady enough to do it on your own?”
Her eyes went wide at the implication that if she wasn’t, he was going to help.
“I’m fine,” she insisted, taking another step backward. He could have told her that a few feet of distance wouldn’t be enough to put out the flames snapping between them.
Then she was talking again, her words coming quickly, almost breathlessly, as she tried to make her escape. “I’m tired of washing up. And they said I could take a shower sooner than this, I was just nervous about it. So now I’m not and I really want a shower.”
Hot water, sluicing across her body, cascading over smooth skin, soap bubbles sliding down the length of her amazing legs. Colt cursed silently. If he kept up this train of thought, he wouldn’t be able to walk. He wanted her badly, but he was also worried. What if she got into the shower and needed help?
His inner cynic snorted at that one. He wanted to be in that shower with her, but it wasn’t help he wanted to give her.
“It’s not safe for you to be in there on your own,” he said, a part of him actually believing the statement. “I’ll help you.”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head hard enough for her long, dark red hair to swing out from her shoulders. “Not gonna happen.”