by Lexi Blake
He leaned over and hauled one of the twins up and into his arms. He had to do this carefully. He grabbed the other baby and both girls started squirming and trying to crawl all over him like he was the best jungle gym ever. He leaned over and got Charlie’s suitcase. He could do this.
Kala started blowing bubbles against his face while Kenzie tried to poke out his eye while singing Daddy over and over.
And his back spasmed again.
They wanted another kid, why?
“I can get the suitcase,” Charlie said as she started to follow him. She stopped and breathed in long and deep as her stomach clenched.
How much time did they have? What if she was wrong and they ended up being that couple who stopped in the middle of the freeway because his kid’s head was coming out, and the local news caught his wife’s hoohaw from the helicopters circling above.
He’d just had his truck detailed.
“Baby, I think we should call an ambulance.”
His wife’s eyes opened and Hell was in them. Yep, his baby knew exactly how to show him with a single stare what she was going to do to him if he didn’t behave.
When they were in the dungeon he gave out those looks, but when it came to birthing babies, she kind of took the lead.
He would have held his hands up, but they were full of wriggling babies. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road. We have to make a quick stop.”
She followed behind. “Where? Are we going to the office to drop the girls off? Or are we meeting someone?”
Getting to the office at this time of the morning would be an hour-long drive. No way, no how. That way led to his son’s place of birth being listed as a Ford F-150. “There’s only one person who lives close enough. He can take the girls into the office, and then I’ve already called Case and he and Mia are on their way back from Austin. They’ll take the girls tonight.”
She stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Are you talking about who I think you’re talking about?”
He grimaced. “Baby, there’s no more time.”
“Oh, I wasn’t complaining. I just thought the day wasn’t going to be fun. Now I know differently.” She walked by him, picking up the keys to his truck. “Come on, Bud. We’re going for a ride.”
“We can’t take the dog.”
“Sure we can. After all, we can’t leave him behind. Remember the heart attack you nearly had when you saw how much the floors cost?”
He groaned as Kenzie head butted him and immediately started wailing. That got her sister to sympathy cry and both the twins’ laments made Bud howl, his head thrown back as he made a sound like a dying water buffalo.
If he survived the day, it would be a miracle.
He watched as Charlie made her way up to the small house on the outskirts of Dallas. They were only a few miles from her preferred hospital, but somehow Remy Guidry had managed to find the one house that looked like it belonged in the middle of a gator-infested swamp. Guidry’s big truck was parked alongside one of those tiny toy cars some women liked to drive these days.
“I’ve changed my mind. I’ll just carry the girls.” And check to make sure that big Cajun bodyguard he’d hired wasn’t making meth on the side.
Charlie waved him off as she walked toward the ramshackle house. “He’s fine. He can certainly be trusted with driving the girls to the office, and he’ll take care of Bud. There’s no room for him in Case and Mia’s apartment. Besides, this is going to be so much fun. Stay back a little. This works best if it’s just me.”
What the hell was she doing? “Baby, I didn’t call him because I didn’t want to give him a chance to run.”
“Oh, he won’t be the one running.” Charlie marched to the door and banged her fist against it. “Remy! Remy Guidry, you son of a bitch, get the hell out here.”
There was a long pause. The girls went still in his arms, as though they knew their momma was about to put on a show.
The door opened and Remy stepped out wearing nothing but a pair of what looked like hastily put on jeans. The top button wasn’t even done. “Such a manwhore move. Don’t ever fall for that, girls. That’s man cleavage right there. Dude walks out in low-riding jeans and he’s basically tempting you to look down below. Don’t you do it. It means he’s a douchebag. Tell him to put on some damn clothes.”
Remy smiled broadly when he realized it was Charlie on his doorstep. “Hey, pretty momma. How are you doing today?”
That was when he saw her. A blonde with sex hair and what looked like a shirt that didn’t belong to her pulled back the drapes to spy on her partner for the night.
“Your mother is the single meanest woman on the face of the planet.” He was getting a little teary. And so hot. Damn but that was a woman. She was having contractions and she still thought of a way to mess with a man. “Goddamn I love her.”
“Do you have another woman here?”
The Cajun’s eyes went wide. “I do. Her name is Sharla. Or Darla. Why? Is something wrong at the office? Look, Charlotte, I picked her up at a bar last night. I didn’t talk about business at all. I know Big Tag can be paranoid…”
“I’m not paranoid.” Bud sank down beside him, showing no interest in leaving the girls to explore the world around him.
Damn that dog was somewhat like Ian. He knew a good thing when he saw it and he wasn’t about to let it get away.
Kala patted his face. “Para…dada…paranod.”
“It’s only paranoia if the world isn’t out to get you, baby girl.” He had evidence that it was.
“How dare you have a woman here when I’m about to give birth to our child!” Charlie put a hand to her belly and pointed at the window. “Damn straight, I’m talking to you. Yes, you, woman. Did he get you pregnant, too?”
The face in the window disappeared but not before it had turned a bright shade of perfectly indignant red.
Remy’s eyes had gone wide. “Charlotte, have you lost your damn mind? Sharla, baby, she’s joking. She’s my boss’s wife. She’s got a sick sense of humor.”
“You keep right on lying, Remy. You know this baby is the product of our love.” Charlie grimaced, but she soldiered on. “How dare you deny it?”
Sharla, Darla stomped out, her walk of shame turning into a march of female anger. “You bastard.”
“Now, Sharla,” Remy began.
The blonde reared back and slapped him full-on across the face. “I’m Megan. Sharla is my sister, you asshole.”
Remy nodded, as though finally remembering. “Oh, yeah. You tell her hi for me now.”
Megan shot him the finger as she stalked toward her hamster-wheel car. She glanced over at Ian. “Did you have his babies, too?”
Ian nodded solemnly. “He wasn’t even a tender lover.”
She shook her head. “You’re all weird.” Her voice shot up. “And I was faking it. Sharla was right. You’re bad in bed.”
Remy put a hand to his heart. “I’m wounded, chère.” He leaned toward Charlie. “And that wasn’t what she was saying last night. Now, it appears to me you’ve actually done me a favor, Mrs. Taggart. Have I mentioned how stunningly beautiful you are today?”
He reached for her hand.
“Hey, none of that hand-kissing stuff. That hand belongs to me.” Ian started up the walk, his back aching. It was all right. Bud was there to ensure that every single step had to be made with the absolute greatest of care since the dog seemed determined to walk underneath him.
Charlie paced the porch as she talked. “I thought you might find that fun. The gossip mill had it that you went home with a crazy blonde last night. You know I live vicariously right now.”
“Any time you want me to talk about my amorous dealings, I will. Only for you though, chère.” He glanced over Ian’s way, looking deeply amused. “What can I do for you, boss? Since it appears the lady boss has done me a great kindness. Sharl…whichever one that was woke me up talking about going out for breakfast and fixing up my house. I saw visions of a ring r
unning through that girl’s head.”
It was good he considered it a favor because Ian needed one of his own. “I have a bodyguard gig for you. It’s a VIP gig and I need you to take it seriously.”
Remy stood straight, his whole persona becoming competent in a heartbeat. Remy was good at his job, hence Ian putting up with his douchebag himbo private persona. “Absolutely, boss. Who’s the client?”
He held up Kala, shifting the girl into Remy’s arms before he could protest. “Kala, meet your bodyguard. And this is Kenzie.”
Remy went a lovely shade of white. His jaw dropped opened as he found himself with two arms full of Taggart princesses. They immediately started exploring the new guy, patting his face and pulling on the hair that was way too long to be serious guy hair. “What’s happening? Why? Ian, I’m not…why?”
He dumped the car seats and two diaper bags on his doorstep. “Charlie and I are going on vacation. We’ll be back in two weeks. Don’t let the girls die and feed the dog. Bye.”
He reached for Charlie’s hand. He didn’t care what she’d said earlier. Those contractions were getting shorter and shorter and the freeway birth was rapidly becoming a real option. They would have to name the baby I-75 if they didn’t get a move on.
Charlie grimaced and her body went still for a moment. Yep, they were getting longer and longer. “Remy, I’m in labor and I don’t think I have time to get to the office and back to the hospital. All you have to do is drive the girls to the office and Li will be waiting to take them up to day care. Case will pick them up this afternoon.”
“What do I do with these seats?” For the first time since he’d hired the six-foot-four-inch muscular ex-soldier, he looked scared.
“Strap ’em in, buddy.” Ian started hauling Charlie toward the truck.
Bud whined and tried to follow after them.
Ian stopped, looking down at the dog and giving him his best alpha badass voice. “You go back and you protect those girls. If the dumbass manwhore does something that might hurt them, you kill. Am I understood? You kill anyone who tries to hurt them and then raise them as your own. Go.”
Bud barked and then went back to the porch, where the girls were attempting to climb up the new guy’s head.
“I’ll work overtime with no pay,” Remy offered.
“They’re just little girls. Play princess with them and they’ll love you for life. But watch Kala. I think she’s already into starting fires,” Ian shouted back. “And Kenzie will put her fingers into light sockets. She thinks it’s fun.”
“Call Li.” Charlie seemed to have some sympathy for the man. “He’ll walk you through setting up the car seats. I would stay and let Ian do it, but I’m afraid my water just broke and we need to go.”
Her water broke? He looked down and sure enough, there was a wet spot on her pants. Her water. The stuff that was keeping his son alive and safe. Amniotic fluid.
He’d seen so much blood in his life, but the sight of that small spot made him woozy.
“Ian? Babe?” Charlie was staring at him.
They were wasting time. He started to turn. “We need to go.”
Pure panic threatened to overtake him. His son couldn’t be born here on Remy’s lawn. There was likely some kind of STD in the grass. Their baby needed to be born in the safety of a damn hospital with his whole family surrounding him. He should have called the ambulance. He shouldn’t have given in. He’d gotten soft and it looked like it could cost them all.
He turned, ready to drag her to the truck. And that was when his foot hit the beer bottle someone had left just lying around, and for the second time that day he found himself upended and falling.
“Ian!” Charlie was yelling and he heard the dog bark.
His back hit the ground and he felt a nasty pain go through his skull.
And everything went black.
“Mr. Taggart? Mr. Taggart, can you open your eyes for me?”
Pain flashed through his brainpan and nausea rolled through him. Some asshole was flashing a light into his eyes while he was trying to sleep.
“Whoa, brother. Theo, help me with him,” a familiar voice was saying.
“And I thought I was bad. Bad Taggart. Down.”
He felt arms holding him and the sound of his younger brothers arguing about the best way to deal with him.
“Are you sure we can’t tranq his ass?” Theo asked.
“His ass isn’t what I’m worried about,” a masculine voice said. It was familiar, too, but this wasn’t one of his brothers. “His brain took a beating. Come on, you big bastard. Open your eyes so I can make sure you’re not brain dead in there. Do you know how many people are waiting to see if they can pull your plug?”
Yes, he knew that voice. Will Daley. He was a Dom at Sanctum. He was also a doctor of some kind.
What the hell had happened? Had an op gone bad?
He remembered something dirty and smelly. Something had been touching him. Jeez, had he been violated by Big Foot?
Nope. Bud. It had been that mangy mutt his daughters loved.
His daughters. His wife. Ian forced his eyes open. “Charlie. Where’s my wife? Where’s Charlie?”
What had happened? Charlie had been in labor and then there had been water.
“I’m over here, babe.” Her voice washed over him like a calming wave. “Welcome back. You were totally right. We needed that ambulance. That happened way faster than I thought it would. It was about twenty minutes from the time my water broke to giving birth.”
She was somewhere to his right. He tried to turn, but Will got in his way.
The neurosurgeon looked down at him. “Ian, you took a nice fall. You were in and out of consciousness and managed to scare some of the ER nurses. You have no idea how hard they are to scare. Your CT scan came back as nothing more than a mild concussion and you likely pulled a couple of muscles in your back. Let me look you over and I’ll let you see your babies.”
He wanted that more than anything. He tried to relax as Will examined him by shining a way-too-bright light in his eyes. That was when the words he’d said actually penetrated.
“Babies? I thought the girls were going to day care. Did they come with us in the ambulance? By the way, I’m charging Remy for that. None of this would have happen if that asshole cleaned up his yard and was way less a redneck.”
“He took the girls to day care,” Charlie explained. “Li says they’re perfectly fine and Remy’s agreed to watch Bud until we get home. He says Bud is whining for the girls but he likes burgers.”
Oh, good luck with that. Bud liked to eat. And vomit. And eat again. And vomit. Maybe he would have his revenge on Remy after all. His vision came back into focus. He could see his two younger brothers standing at his bedside.
Bedside. He was in a hospital, a damn IV in his arm. What the hell had happened? The last thing he could remember was falling.
Babies?
“Charlie, please tell me you didn’t have twin boys,” he practically pleaded. They would be outnumbered. Hopelessly outnumbered, and he was pretty sure Bud would side with the children. Maybe if he gave the dog that ham he always promised…
“It wasn’t twin boys, silly,” she said. “The sonogram was completely wrong.”
“But the CT wasn’t,” Will said. “I think you’re going to be fine, but we’ll keep you overnight so you can get some rest and help Charlotte out. Her birth was smooth and easy. No problems at all except the fact that you were unconscious and unable to see your new baby girls born.”
He sat up. He thought he’d been afraid before. “The doc said it was a boy.”
“Nope.” Charlie smiled his way. “Two more girls.”
He reached out and grabbed Will’s coat. “I’m going to need drugs. Lots of drugs because you’re wrong. There’s something fucked up in my brain.”
Theo and Case started laughing and he knew he’d been had. Even Will couldn’t help a smile.
The doc looked back at Charlie. “Sorry
, that was too funny. I’ll send the rest of them in. Make sure you both take it easy. I’ll be back in a few hours to check on him.”
“Charlie?” He was well aware of the amount of pleading in his voice.
Charlie was sitting up in bed, a bundle in her arms. She looked tired, her hair pulled back and her skin a bit pale. She was the most gorgeous woman on the planet. “Sorry, babe. I couldn’t help myself. Do you want to meet Seth? Just Seth. He was a good boy and didn’t multiply in the womb but damn, Taggart. He’s nine pounds. He’s going to outweigh his sisters in no time at all.”
Case moved to the side of her bed, picking up the baby and crossing the space between them.
Ian forced himself to sit up. Charlie was all right. His son was here. His girls were safely stashed away with a whole office of people who loved them.
His boy. He looked down and no matter what Charlie said, he was so damn small. So precious.
How the hell had his father walked out? How did any man walk away from this? He’d been around the world, been powerful in ways most men couldn’t imagine, but this…this was everything.
Seth Jason Taggart yawned as though the whole birthing experience had been a bore. Then his eyes opened and he grinned a little.
And Ian fell in love all over again. In love with his family. In love with the life he’d built.
“He’s beautiful, Charlie.”
“Well,” she said, “he does take after his dad.”
The door opened and they were inundated with family.
Long after everyone had been shooed out by doctors and nurses, Ian sat up in bed. His IV had been declared no longer needed and he was only staying overnight because Will Daley was a man who knew how to take advantage of a situation.
Sean and Grace had flown home and they’d come by a few hours earlier, bearing gifts from Top. The Piemaker had heard about Ian’s no good, shitty, horrible, backbreaking best day ever and sent along a plate of lemon squares.
Ian glanced down at the card that had come with it.
When life hands you lemons, I’ll make you some kick-ass lemonade bars.
