“You really think this is going to work?” Sam asked Lulu at seven thirty that evening. He lounged against the bathroom wall, smelling like soap and man and brisk cologne. He also needed a shave. Although, truth be told, the rim of evening shadow on his jaw made him look rakishly sexy.
Trying not to think about how much she wanted to kiss him again, never mind how intimate and somehow right this all felt, Lulu squirted bubble bath soap into the big soaking tub in the master bathroom. As she turned on the warm water, she reflected how much better the triplets’ second day at the ranch had gone, compared to the first. It gave her hope the boys might settle in after all. That with a little time and a lot of love and effort, she and Sam could handle this.
And if they could handle the boys’ adjustment, what else might they be able to handle? she wondered. A real, enduring friendship? An affair? One thing was clear: the hot kiss they’d shared earlier was still resonating within her. And maybe him, too, if the veiled looks he’d been giving her were any indication.
With effort, she forced herself back to the matter at hand. “You heard what Kelly said at dinner. A familiar routine is crucial in helping kids to feel safe and happy.”
He cocked a brow, his gaze drifting over her lazily. In the same casual tone, he returned, “And the second thing is making kids want to do what they need to do.”
“Right.” Lulu smiled. Hence, the stop at the discount superstore on the way out of town to let Ethan, Andrew and Theo all pick out new bath toys. The boys had ridden back to the ranch with their treasures clutched in their little arms. And now that Sam had removed the packaging for them, it was time to play.
He walked back into the bedroom, where the triplets were enthusiastically climbing up onto the storage bench at the foot of his bed, and from there, onto the mattress. “Who wants to put their toys in the bubbles?” he asked.
“Me do!” Andrew said, hopping over to the edge and leaping unexpectedly into Sam’s arms.
“Me first!” Theo dropped down and scooted over to the edge of the bed, putting his feet over the side of the mattress and onto the wooden bench, then down onto the floor.
Ethan held out his arms joyously and waited to be scooped up. “Me, too!”
“Okay, fellas,” Sam said, once they’d all been ushered into the bathroom. “Let’s see which new toys like the bath the most.”
Andrew dropped his rubber whale and dolphins in. The creatures shimmied but remained upright. Theo added his waterwheel, sieve and cup. Ethan added his three boats. Sam nodded approvingly at them. “Looking good,” he said.
“Play?” Theo asked. He already had one leg up.
“Sure,” Lulu said matter-of-factly, “but you have to take your dirty clothes off first, before you get in.”
Immediately, all three boys began to undress. Lulu and Sam helped. A minute later, they were all in the tub, playing merrily. And were so entranced by their toys, they endured quick shampoos and rinses, too.
Eventually, they had to get out.
They did not want to do that.
Lulu said, “We have cookies and milk and bedtime stories for three little boys, as soon as they get their jammies on.”
They had to think about it. But eventually caved. And by eight thirty, the five of them were on Sam’s sofa again, enjoying what was to become their new bedtime routine. She and Sam alternated the reading of the stories, while the boys snuggled close, and cozy contentment flowed through them all.
Once again, the boys fell asleep sprawled together like a pile of puppies on the center of the sofa. Sam looked over at her. The tender regard he bestowed on the boys seemed to include her, too.
A shiver of awareness went through her.
“Move them now, or wait?” he inquired huskily.
It was a toss-up either way. Lulu studied their cherubic faces, then said, “Let’s give them a few minutes.” Aware her heartbeat had accelerated for no reason she could figure, she gathered up the basket of the boys’ laundry that she’d left at the foot of the staircase. “Okay if I use your machine?”
Sam eased away from the sleeping trio, while Beauty dozed nearby, watching over the triplets. “Sure. I’ll help.”
They went into the laundry room together. Began sorting. Light colors in one pile, darks in another. They added their clothes, too.
He stepped back while she put in the first load, added detergent, switched on the machine. In the small space, it was impossible not to notice the silky smooth skin of her legs beneath the hem of her shorts. He lifted his gaze, taking in the curve of her hips, her slender waist and full breasts, before returning to her face. “It was a much better day,” he remarked, aware he hadn’t felt this relaxed and happy in a long time.
She smiled back at him. “It was.”
As she started to move past him, he captured her in his arms. “On all scores,” he rasped, then lowered his head and kissed her tenderly.
She caught her breath, even as she softened against him. Splaying her hands across his hard chest, she submitted to another kiss and then surprised him with a passionate one of her own. “Are we really doing this?” Lulu whispered. “Flirting with romance again?”
They’d be doing more than just flirting if he had his way. Knowing, though, if they were to have any chance at success, they’d have to slow down a bit, Sam gave her waist a playful squeeze. “We really are,” he said.
Knowing they could have a rough night ahead, they both turned in shortly after that. Ten hours later, Sam woke slowly, feeling an incredible sense of well-being, a weight on his chest and each shoulder, and the soft press of a female body draped against his right flank. The fragrant scent of citrus and flowers teasing his nostrils, he turned his head slightly as he opened his eyes. Caught a glimpse of Lulu’s lustrous hair as the top of her head pressed against his cheek. She shifted slightly, sighing drowsily. Snuggled deeper into the crook of his shoulder. She had a little boy in her arms, too.
In a rush of memory, it all came flooding back to him.
They’d had another night of the kids waking after a few hours with night terrors, crying incessantly, refusing to be soothed. He and Lulu had paced the floor in tandem, toddlers in their arms. Until finally, exhausted, they all climbed into his big bed, and still holding on to each other, slipped one by one into an exhausted sleep.
Made easier by one thing, the fact they were all in this together.
Lulu sighed again and opened her eyes all the way. She appeared to struggle to orient herself, just as he had, then relaxed as the events of the night came flooding back. She turned to gaze into his eyes. “Morning,” she mouthed, as if leery of waking the little guy draped across her chest.
“Morning to you,” he mouthed back with a grin. There was at least one perk to another stressful, sleepless night. He had forgotten what it had been like to wake up with her beside him. Not that he’d enjoyed it too many times before Tennessee. But the week they’d spent together prior to their breakup, that had been something special.
And now, thanks to the arrival of the triplets, he and Lulu were back to spending lots of time together again.
Without warning, three little heads popped up, one by one. The boys studied Lulu and Sam. Grinned at each other and scrambled upright. “Hungry,” Ethan announced.
“Want ’cakes,” Andrew said.
Meaning pancakes, Sam thought, recalling how more had been squished between little fingers and smeared across plates than eaten the previous day.
“No. Eggs,” Theo declared.
“No, cereal!” Ethan disagreed.
“How about all three?” Lulu said.
Sam grinned. “Given how hungry I am, sounds good to me.”
They worked together, cooking and supervising. Of course it was a lot easier, now that they’d moved the boys’ toys to the adjacent family room.
“Well, that went better,” Sam said half an hour later.
“It did, didn’t it?” Lulu replied, pleased.
She looked gorgeous, lounging around his kitchen. He tore his gaze from the flattering fit of her pajamas and moved it to her tousled, honey-brown hair and pink cheeks. “So well,” he added expansively, “that if you’d like time off to go to the McCabe family potluck at your brother Jack’s house this afternoon, I think it would be okay.”
Lulu’s brow rose. “You know about that?”
Sam sipped his second mug of coffee. “Dan mentioned it last night at dinner, when he and I went up to the counter to collect our pizzas. He said we would all be welcome, of course, but that if the kids and I were to go with you, there might be...” He paused, unsure how to word it.
“Flack from my parents?” Lulu guessed. She reached for a bottle of spray cleaner and began wiping down the counters for the second time.
Sam concentrated on the smooth, purposeful movements of her hands. His mouth suddenly dry, he shrugged. “Anyway, I know that they both think I’m a fine enough person, apart from you.”
Lulu dropped the used paper towel into the trash. Straightened. “They haven’t exactly been your cheerleader, when it comes to me, anyway. Not since we broke up years ago,” she concluded.
That was putting it lightly, Sam thought. Maybe it was time they talked about this. “I think they blame me—and the animosity of our breakup—for the fact you’ve never married anyone else and have yet to get the family of your own that you want.” He knew the same could probably be said of him.
“And they’re probably right.” Lulu raked the edge of her teeth across the soft curve of her lower lip. “You are the reason I’ve never been serious about anyone else.”
She hadn’t meant to blurt that out. But now that she had...maybe, given the fact they were trying to get their relationship back on an amiable track...it was time the two of them were more forthright with each other than they had been. She closed the distance between them and slid her hands into his.
“No one has ever compared, in terms of the way you made me feel back then,” she confessed. Aware the past tense wasn’t entirely accurate, given the whirl her emotions were in.
“Same here,” he said gruffly, the expression on his face maddeningly inscrutable.
“But that doesn’t mean marriage isn’t in both our futures. Someday,” she continued hopefully. Even though the only person she could imagine tying the knot with was Sam.
An awkward silence fell.
Lulu reluctantly disengaged their palms and stepped away.
“Back to the potluck at Jack’s today,” Sam said finally.
She walked over to look out the window. Although rain was predicted for that evening, it was bright and sunny now. “I want you and the boys to go with me.”
“Sure?” His gaze roved over her.
Lulu turned back to face him, certain about this much. “If I’m going to be your nanny, my family needs to get used to seeing us together.”
The rest of the morning was spent supervising the kids, finishing the laundry they’d started the evening before and showering. They also dealt with their personal responsibilities.
Sam talked to his foreman about the work being done on his ranch.
Lulu called a couple of her beekeeping friends, explaining that in addition to the theft, she was now busy helping out a friend who was weathering a family crisis. She arranged for them to install a new queen and help her tend her remaining hive for the next two weeks.
And of course, they all had to get dressed for the potluck.
By the time they had everyone ready to go, it was nearly one in the afternoon, and the kids, who were sleep deprived, were getting cranky and yawning. Beauty, looking ready for peace and quiet, climbed onto her cushion in the corner of the kitchen.
Sam’s hand lightly touched Lulu’s waist as they moved through the doorway, then just as easily fell away.
Yet the moment of casual gallantry stayed with her a lot longer than it should have.
Doing her best to disguise the shiver of awareness sifting through her, she guided the boys into the back seat of Sam’s extended cab pickup. He went around to the other side and leaned in to help fasten the safety harnesses. “Think they’ll sleep on the way into town?” he asked.
Lulu climbed into the pickup, too, then handed the boys the bucket hats and sunglasses they wore in the car. “I hope they can power nap.” She smiled as they put them on, then glanced over at Sam, looking across the row of three car seats. “Or will at least behave long enough for me to dash into the market and pick up the loaves of bread I was requested to bring.”
Five minutes later, Sam said, “Luck is with us.”
Lulu followed his glance.
All three boys had nodded off. Blankets and stuffed animals clutched to their chests. Lulu sighed, the affection she felt for them nearly overwhelming her. “They look so sweet right now,” she whispered, stunned by the ferocity of her feelings. She turned back to Sam and, unable to stop herself, asked, “Is it weird for me to be so attached to them already?”
He shook his head. “They need us.” His sensual lips took on a pensive curve as his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “And I’m beginning to think we need them, too.”
His husky observation sent a thrill down her spine. She shifted in her seat to better view his ruggedly handsome profile. “How so?”
“To rekindle our friendship, for one thing.”
He was so matter-of-fact, so certain. Her heart skittering in her chest, Lulu drew in a whiff of his tantalizing aftershave. “Do you think this is all part of some big predestined plan for our lives?” That everything they’d experienced up to now had led them to this day?
A muscle ticked in his jaw. He seemed so serious now, in the way that said he wanted the two of them to get closer. The hell of it was, she wanted that, too. “How else to explain it?” he asked.
How else indeed, Lulu wondered, if not fate?
When they stopped at a traffic light at the edge of town, he turned to her. His gaze swept over her, lingering briefly on her lips, before returning to her eyes. “Neither of us had seen Peter or Theresa for years, yet they both put us on the potential guardian list. Everyone else ahead of us failed. And the triplets end up here in Laramie County with us.”
What was that, if not some sort of sign? Lulu did her best to keep from overreacting. “According to the will, they were just supposed to be with you, though,” she pointed out softly.
He looked deep into her eyes, his gratitude apparent. “But, darlin’, you knew without even seeing them that they were going to need both of us. And you stepped in, initially over my reservations. And now—” he reached over to briefly squeeze her hand “—barely three days later, we’re together twenty-four-seven and feeling like our own little family unit.”
For now, Lulu thought worriedly.
What if they got to the point where he didn’t need her at night? Or left the boys with her, by herself, all day? As they had originally planned?
As much as the hopeless romantic in her wanted to wish otherwise, she had to remember that she was still involved only because he was allowing it. She had no legal standing here. So, if they were to start not getting along again...or decide there was no rekindled romance for them in the cards...their situation could change in a heartbeat.
The light turned green and Sam drove on.
“Um...speaking of destiny...” Lulu drew in a shaky breath.
Sam quirked a brow, listening.
“As heartbreaking...and yet simultaneously incredible...as this has all been for us,” she began, knitting her hands together in her lap, “I still feel it’s an awfully fragile situation.”
Sam turned into the supermarket parking lot. He parked in a space and left the motor running. The boys slept on. One hand resting on the steering wheel, he turned and took in the anguished expression on her face. “Something on your mind?” he asked.
Lulu nodded, her heart in her throat. She didn’t want to do this but she knew it had to be said. Sooner, rather than later.
Still holding Sam’s eyes, she vowed softly, “I just want you to know that whatever happens...” between you and me and the rest of it “...I’m never going to emotionally abandon those boys.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of their future, Sam thought, stunned by the sudden doubt she was harboring about this situation working out as they hoped.
He was about to ask what had caused her to be so on edge. But before he could speak, she slipped out of the truck, eased the passenger door shut and headed for the supermarket entrance.
As Sam had feared, the lack of forward motion had an effect.
By the time she returned a few minutes later with four bakery-fresh loaves of bread and a basket of fresh Texas peaches in hand, the boys were all awake and kicking their legs rambunctiously. Lulu seemed just as impatient. “On to Jack’s!” she said.
Although Sam knew all the McCabes and their loved ones, he had never spent a lot of time in their company. The year he and Lulu had been dating, she had preferred to keep their relationship separate from her family obligations.
And while part of him had felt a little excluded back then, the rest of him had been happy to have Lulu all to himself. So it felt a little different now to be walking in with her and the boys when the rest of her family, sans her parents, was already there in Jack’s big shady backyard.
Together, they made the rounds, saying hello to everyone. Her brother Matt was there with the love of his life, Sara Anderson, and her nine-month-old son, Charley. Matt looked happier than Sam had ever imagined he could be again when he’d first returned from war.
Cullen and his newly pregnant wife, Bridgett, introduced their adopted eighteen-month-old son, Robby, to the boys, who were immediately taken with him.
Jack’s three daughters, Chloe, Nicole and Lindsay, ages three, four and six, also came over to say hi.
Lulu’s brother Chase and his wife, Mitzy, introduced their ten-month-old quadruplet sons.
And of course the triplets were already acquainted with Dan and Kelly’s four-year-olds—Matthew, Michael and Michelle.
In no time, the fifteen kids were scattered on the blankets spread across the lawn, playing with the toys that had been set out. Jack had the grill going, and all the other adults were gathered around, talking in small groups.
And Lulu, it seemed, couldn’t wait to get away from him, Sam noted, as she touched his arm, her manner pleasant but oddly aloof. Like he was just another random guest in attendance at the barbecue. Not her old friend, not her potential love interest and certainly not her date for the occasion.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked, an officious smile pasted on her face. “A cold drink, maybe?”
He thought of the afternoon ahead. The fact he was suddenly and unexpectedly being pushed out of Lulu’s life, just as he had been before.
Aware they had an audience, he smiled back at her in the exact same way. “Sounds great. Thanks.”
Lulu made her escape, just as her parents’ Escalade pulled up in front of Jack’s home. She didn’t know what to expect from them when they finally talked. She just knew she was dreading it.
“So what do you ladies have planned for Father’s Day?” Kelly was asking when Lulu walked into Jack’s kitchen to see what she could do to help.
“Don’t know yet.” Bridgett sighed.
“Me, either, although the kids and I still have a few days to figure it out,” Kelly said.
“Should one of us ask Jack’s girls what they’d like to do for him?” Lulu’s mother, Rachel, asked as she came in, carrying a large platter of veggies and ranch dip.
Bess Monroe, Jack’s friend—and constant platonic companion—smiled shyly and said, “I could probably do that if y’all would like.” Although technically not family to anyone here besides her twin, Bridgett, Bess was around enough to be unofficially considered so.
Lulu smiled. “I think that would be great.”
Rachel set the platter down, then turned back to Lulu, wasting no time at all in doing what Lulu had feared she might. “Sweetheart,” she said softly, “could we have a word?”
“Sure.” Lulu followed her mother into Jack’s formal living room at the front of the big Victorian. Her dad was waiting there.
“What’s this we hear about you becoming a nanny for the three kids Sam is guardian to?” Frank asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
Briefly, Lulu explained the situation while her parents listened.
“I understand he’s probably got his hands full, but do you really think you should be this involved?” Rachel asked kindly.
Yes, Lulu thought. “I’m next on the list of potential guardians, Mom.”
To Lulu’s relief, her parents weren’t as disappointed in her as she had feared they might be.
“Next being the operative word,” her father pointed out gently.
“We just don’t want to see you get too attached, sweetheart,” Rachel said, “since the boys really are Sam’s charges.”
Frowning worriedly, her dad added, “And the two of you have a history of not getting along...”
That they did, Lulu admitted reluctantly to herself. But all that had changed. The last three days were proof of that. She and Sam had been not only getting along splendidly, but working like a well-rehearsed team. “That was because we were broken up,” Lulu explained practically.
Her mother did a double take. “Are you saying you’re not broken up any more?”
Lulu flushed, not sure how to respond.
Rachel lifted both hands, pleading, “Oh, Lulu.” She came forward swiftly to embrace her. “Please don’t do anything reckless that you’ll regret later!”
“I don’t intend to, Mom,” Lulu said, returning her mother’s hug.
“Good,” her dad said in relief. He embraced her, too. Stepped back. “Because the last thing we want to see is you heartbroken the way you were before.”
Lulu shoved aside the memories of that awful time. “I’m not going to be.” She looked both her parents in the eye.
Her mom paused. “How can you be sure of that?”
Easy, Lulu thought. “Because Sam and I are not the naive kids we were ten years ago. We’ve grown and matured,” she insisted, doing her best to reassure her parents. “There is no way we’re making the same mistakes.”
Different ones, maybe.
But even those they should be equipped to handle, she promised herself resolutely.
Rachel exhaled. “So you are back together?” she pressed.
Knowing a few stolen kisses did not constitute a reconciliation, Lulu shook her head. “No, Mom, we’re not.” The hell of it was, she just wished they were. And she wasn’t sure how any of them, her parents or herself, should feel about that.