* * *
Tory smiled with relief. Mind? He wouldn’t be underfoot, looking sexy and being sweet with the two babies she was beginning to believe might be the real loves of her life?
She had to stifle a laugh of pure joy. “Of course I don’t mind.”
“Usually you get a little break at night when I play with them.”
“I had a nice break at your mom’s.”
“If you wanted dinner now, you could go up to the house now. I won’t change until after you’re back.”
“What time are you meeting your brother and sister-in-law?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll call them now and say I’ll be there at eight. You just go get your supper.”
She nodded, grabbed her jacket and happily left to have dinner with Cook and the other household staff. She hated being excited that he’d be out that night, but she was. It was so much easier to simply care for the kids on her own.
When she returned, he showered and changed while she fed the babies a snack before bed. He kissed them goodbye, told her not to wait up and was gone.
And she had the whole house to herself.
The whole peaceful, quiet, roomy house to herself.
No worry he’d notice she was attracted to him.
No worry she’d feel those things she knew were wrong.
CHAPTER FIVE
THAT NIGHT WHEN THE BABIES cried, Tory raced into the nursery hoping to get to them before they woke Chance, but no such luck. He ambled into the room at the same time she did. Shirtless, sweat pants hanging off his hips, making her mouth water.
She sucked in a breath and headed for the cribs, telling herself to straighten up and deal with this. There was more time when he wasn’t home than when he was. She only had to be with him a few hours every day. And they barely talked. When he returned from spending time with his brother, he didn’t talk about himself or ask about her. He only asked after the babies. Surely, she could handle that.
He beat her to the cribs and reached for Cindy. Tory almost stopped him, but she remembered that Cindy had special needs at nighttime feeding and showing him would give them something neutral to focus on.
She pulled Sam out of his crib and silently changed his diaper as Chance changed Cindy’s. Then she handed Sam over to him and went to the kitchen for bottles.
When she returned, she took Sam from his arm. She walked to her rocker, slid the nipple into Sam’s eager mouth and set her chair to rocking.
From her peripheral vision, she watched Chance try to settle Cindy as she fussed. When the baby wouldn’t settle, she quietly said, “She likes you to talk to her.”
Sleepy-eyed, he glanced over. “What?”
“Chitchat,” she whispered, feeling weird sensations in her tummy. His eyes were the color of a perfect sky.
His brow furrowed. “Chitchat?”
“Tell her she’s pretty.”
He laughed. But when she didn’t laugh with him, he frowned. “You’re serious.”
“Yeah. She likes you. She likes having your attention. So just say nice things to her.”
He glanced down at her, pressed his lips together as if thinking that through, then said, “Hey, sweetie.”
Tory watched Cindy grin around the nipple in her mouth.
“That made her want to drink even less.”
“Keep talking. She’ll catch up.”
He sighed and frowned, obviously thinking, then said, “Hey. Didn’t we have fun playing while Tory went to supper?”
Cindy grinned again.
“I mean, who doesn’t like a bunch of colored rings?”
She slowly began to suck.
“And those bears of yours. They’re really fuzzy.”
Tory couldn’t help it. She laughed. His gaze shot to her. “You said to do this.”
“And you’re doing great. It’s just weird to see somebody so…” Sexy. Virile. Masculine. She wanted to say any one or all of those. Instead, she said, “Young. Somebody so young with a baby.”
He peered at her. “I’m not that young.”
No. He wasn’t. He’d piqued her curiosity when he’d said he was adopted, and she’d asked Cook about him. Cook had told her a few things that were surprises. Like his age. She’d thought him to be twenty-eight or thirty. He was thirty-four. She’d thought him to be a somewhat spoiled rich guy. He’d gone off on his own at eighteen and worked in construction before he started his own company. He’d told her bits and pieces of all that, but hearing it from Cook in a coherent order, it had all fit together.