BY THE TIME Connor got back to the kitchen, Jill had at least sixty cookies cooling and was beginning assembly of the desserts.
“I don’t hear the boys,” she said. “What did you do?”
“Don’t worry. I took care of it.”
She stopped and looked at him through narrowed eyes. “You didn’t tie them up or anything like that, did you?”
“No, nothing like that. I’d show you, but right now, we’ve got to hurry with this stuff.”
She gave him a penetrating glance, but she was in the middle of the drizzle across the top of each confection and her attention got diverted.
“What do you think?” she asked him.
Connor looked the sample over with a critical eye.
“I don’t know. It still needs something. Something to make it look special.”
They both stared for a long sixty seconds.
“I know,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of buttercream left. Get your decorating thingamajig.”
“Why?”
“I’ve seen the flowers you can make with butter cream frosting. You’re going to make one hundred and two rose buds.”
“Oh.” She looked at the clock. “Do you really think we can get them out in time?”
“I know we can.” He grinned at her, then swooped in and kissed her hard on her pretty mouth. “We can do anything. We already have.”
He took her breath away, but she stayed calm. At least outwardly. She stared at him for a few seconds, still feeling that kiss. Why was he doing things guaranteed to send her into a tailspin if she didn’t hold herself together?
But she went back to work and she kept control and the job got finished. And at the end, they stared at each other.
“We did it.”
“We did, didn’t we?”
“But the delivery...”
“Quick. We’re five minutes late.”
He piled the desserts in boxes and headed for the door. Just before he disappeared, he called back, “Better check on the twins.”
She was already on her way. There wasn’t a sound as she climbed the stairs. When she opened the door, nothing moved. But somehow everything looked a little wrong. In the dark, she couldn’t quite figure out what it was and she hated to turn on the light, but she had to. And what she saw left her speechless.
“What?”
One crib stood empty. The other had been turned upside down. The mattress was on the ground, but the rest of the crib was above it like a cage. And on the mattress, her two little boys were sound asleep.
Her first impulse was to wake them up and rescue them, but then she realized they were probably better off where they were. After all, how was she going to get them to stay in their cribs without the bars?
She went back down, not sure what to do. She started cleaning up the kitchen, but then she heard Connor driving up and she went to meet him at the door.
He came in smiling. “They loved it,” he announced. “People were asking for our card and I was handing them out like crazy.”
She put her head to the side and raised her eyebrows as she listened to him. “Our” card? When had that happened? But she could deal with that later. Right now she had something else on her mind.
“Now do you want to explain what happened to the crib?”
“Oh.” His face changed and suddenly he looked like a boy with a frog in his pocket. “Sure. I, uh, I had to turn it upside down.”
“So I see.”
He gave her a guilty smile. “Are they okay?”
She nodded. “Sound asleep.”
“Good.” He looked relieved. “That was the goal.”
“But Connor...”
“They wouldn’t stay in the cribs,” he told her earnestly. “They kept climbing out. And that was just so dangerous. This was the only thing I could think of on the fly. And luckily, they loved it when I put them into their own special cage. I told them to be monkeys and they played happily until they went to sleep. Didn’t they?”
“I guess so, but...”
“If I hadn’t done it, they would still be climbing out and running for the hills. And we wouldn’t have finished in time.”
“Okay.” She held up a hand and her gaze was steely. “Enough. I understand your logic. What I don’t understand is how you could do such a crazy thing without consulting me first.”
That stopped him in his tracks. He watched her and realized she was right. He thought he was doing what was best for her, but without her consent, it was really just what was best for him. He had no right to decide for her. They were her kids.
He’d goofed again and it pained him. Why was he always putting his foot in it where she was concerned? He had to apologize. He swallowed hard. That wasn’t an easy thing to do. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to do what had to be done.
“Jill, you’re absolutely right,” he said sincerely. “And I’m really sorry. I was wrong to take your agreement for granted. I won’t do that again.”
Now she had a lump in her throat. Few had ever said that sort of thing to her before, especially not a man. Could she even imagine Brad saying such a thing? Hardly. She felt a small sense of triumph in her chest. She’d asked for an apology and she got one. Wow.
“I guess the first order of business is to figure out how to make a crib they can’t climb out of,” she noted, looking at him expectantly.
He feigned astonishment. “Who? Me? You want me to build a crib they can’t climb out of?”
“Either that, or come up with a plan,” she said, teasing him flirtatiously. “Aren’t you here to help?”
His grin was endearingly crooked and he pulled her to him, looking down like a man who was about to kiss a very hot woman. She looked up at him, breath quickening, and she realized she really wanted that kiss. But a look of regret and warning flashed in his eyes. He quickly released her and turned away.
“You ready for that glass of wine now?” he asked, walking toward the wet bar at the end of the room.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before she answered. “Sure,” she said. “Why not?”
He poured out two crystal glasses
