"No. Don't ever say you owe me a thing. What I do for you is no strings attached. No obligations." He needed her to leave, but didn't want her running so far this time. A tough balance to strike, but he would do it. "This isn't about you and me or debts. This is about what the kids need and my kids needed you."
Her feet stilled. "I had fun with the girls and Kathleen and the whole laid-back schedule.
Next week, my maternity leave's up. I'll understand soon enough what it's like to balance child care and job demands as a single parent." Clouds shifted through her eyes for a flash until the ready sparkle returned. "Before you thank me, you should check what happened to the back hedges when Ivy gave us an impromptu performance of Swan Lake."
"That bad huh?"
"Let's just say Aggie wasn't interested in joining the cast."
Chuckling, Zach hitched a shoulder on the doorframe. Yeah, he'd moved closer to Julia but no problem now that they were back on familiar ground just as he'd planned. No need to rush her out the door now.
Think again, dumb ass. Still, he couldn't stop himself from enjoying a moment of the friendship he'd missed too much the past six weeks. "Thanks for making it sound like this wasn't a colossal imposition."
"It wasn't."
"Yeah, right. Every woman with a six-week-old baby wants to take on two more kids to watch and pick up after."
"You must be joking about the picking-up part." She swept a curl off her brow. "It looks like I ran through your house with a lawnmower."
"It's not that bad." Well, it was, but that didn't matter. Julia brought laughter for his girls along with all that chaos. "Just looks like y'all had fun."
"You should have seen it before they helped me clean."
Zach snorted. "My kids? Help clean? You forget, I've seen their rooms."
"Really. They did."
"Either you're a great liar or a miracle worker."
"I'm not their parent so it's no fun playing the martyred kid with me."
"Too true."
Her laugh joined his with too much ease. Too much power. Too much. Period.
With adrenaline rising as fast as his resistance fell, he needed to stop playing with fire.
Even if that fire promised to be more exciting than any game of cloud chasing. "Point me toward your bag and I'll load it in the car."
"In your bedroom."
He did not need to hear that. His imagination took a fantasy flight right into sharing that bed with Julia.
She spun away, padding barefoot down his hall while Zach strode behind her. If he helped, she would leave all the sooner. Right? He wasn't actually following her into his bedroom for any reason other than that.
Ah, hell.
He pivoted on his heel and went back for Patrick. Snagging the car-seat handle, Zach hefted along his very own pint-sized chaperone. "No napping now, Bruiser. You hear that? I'm gonna need all the back-up I can get. You'll be my wingman and watch for bogies looking to blast us out of the sky. Got it?"
Patrick gurgled a spit bubble.
"Yeah, just like that. Keep 'em coming if that'll help you stay awake." Zach cruised to a stop in the doorway.
Julia darted around the room like a firefly, stuffing sweat pants, a brush, shampoo into her bag.
She'd slept in his bed.
His sheets would carry her scent when he slept there later.