The SEAL’s Unexpected Triplets

by Knight, Katie

  On the previous two, he’d spent part of the night in Cora’s bed, returning to his before morning. The time he’d been with her satisfied him in ways he hadn’t expected. Sex with her was so good, but he couldn’t be distracted by it. Not anymore than he already was.

  “I didn’t want to bother you,” he said. “I was restless.” Sex might have mellowed him, but he didn’t want to use Cora in that way.

  “We could have been restless together.” She pressed a kiss to his jaw, nearly making him moan.

  “You were sound asleep.” He’d opened the door into her room, but she’d been curled on her side, her face soft with sleep, and he hadn’t wanted to take advantage of that.

  “You checked?” A little blush colored her cheeks at his nod. “Next time, do more than watch.” Her blush deepened when she realized the double meaning of her words.

  He’d give about anything to watch her pleasure herself. Could he talk her into letting him? He had some definite ideas about what he’d like to see. He’d ask her to start by touching her breasts until her nipples hardened. Then, he’d want her to dip her fingers against the lush wetness of her clit. He imagined sucking those fingers afterward and tasting her.

  “I better get out of here,” he said, aware of his own heavy breathing.

  She sent him a flirtatious look. “Too hot for you?”

  “Never been in a spot too hot for me.” In over his head? Hell, yes. That was where he was every day in this household between the kids and Cora. Too hot? He didn’t think sex with Cora could ever be too hot to handle.

  “Let me distract Paige, so you can slip out the door with the others.” Cora’s words brought him back from his bedroom thoughts, the ones he shouldn’t be having while standing in a room with toddlers.

  “Right. We’ll be back in a couple hours. Ben’s reviewing footage on site today, so you won’t be alone. Call me if anything happens.”

  “Got it. Paige and I are going to have a mellow afternoon. Maybe a little walk in the stroller.”

  “Take Ben if you go.” He was instantly worried. “Better yet, wait until I’m back and we’ll all go.”

  At swim lessons, Haley plopped into the water like she had been born a fish before he got in. She doggy-paddled and happily bobbed in the water. Melody took some coaxing. She was the happiest of the triplets, the most willing to be agreeable, so her reticence to enter the water surprised him. Part of him had wanted to grab her and jump in, but he decided that might not be the best approach.

  After a few minutes, she entered the water, clinging to his back, her arms tight around his neck. He’d been trained in rescue techniques, so it didn’t bother him any and left his hands free to corral Haley, who was spinning in circles in the water by the time the instructor got in.

  William took a glance around. Four moms, each with just one kid, and a dad, who looked in shape, but not a natural in the water, with another.

  “I hate swimming,” the dad said coming to stand next to William. “Glad to see another dad here. My wife was supposed to come, but she’s on call.”

  “Doctor?”

  “Anesthesiologist. She makes the money and I manage our son most of the time. So far it’s working, except I hate swimming. Always have. You?”

  “I don’t mind the water.” It was an understatement, but he was used to keeping details to himself. He chose not to clarify that he was trained to survive nearly any situation in the water—and that he was no one’s father. Instinctively, he reached a hand out and snagged Haley by the back of her swimsuit. “Not so far from me, little one.”

  “Melody,” the instructor called, “time to get off…sorry, I don’t know your name.” The thirty-something woman in a red swimsuit directed her comment to William.

  “William,” he answered, not bothering to explain his connection to the girls or Cora.

  “Welcome, William. Cora called and said someone else was bringing two of the girls. Sorry to hear about Paige.” She directed her attention to the clinging girl. “Let go of William, Melody. Come join us in the circle. He’ll be right behind you.”

  With a little effort, William got Melody off his neck and playing with the other kids. Haley was the superstar, dipping her face in the water and jumping off the diving board fearlessly. You never knew. He’d thought he’d had the kids figured out – Happy, Bashful, and Fearless – Melody, Haley, and Paige, respectively. The more time he spent with the girls told him that their personalities were multi-faceted. They were little people, and he liked them.

  “Do you want to grab lunch?” the other dad offered after they got the kids out of the pool.

  “Thanks for the invite,” William said, “but I better get home.” He’d blocked out the precise amount of time for the lesson, changing, and driving back to the Lawrences’ home. After this, he had a lunch planned, one that both his little charges would like, followed by naptime for the girls so he could do a security sweep. After that, a healthy snack, outdoor playtime, dinner, thirty minutes of television, bath and bed.

  The next day, he’d repeat the process, which seemed a little daunting, especially when the forecast called for rain, meaning no outside time. He’d have to look up ideas of what to do on rainy days after he got them to bed.

  Later, the thought was still on his mind when he sat down in the upstairs den. Cora was still putting Paige, who’d had a tough day, to bed when William typed in “rainy day activities for toddler girls” in a search engine.

  “Whoa,” he muttered when a zillion hits showed up in seconds. He clicked on a link to Pinterest because he’d heard a mom at the lesson mention it. The site was like descending into a labyrinth. Idea after idea popped out at him, but they all looked so complicated—like the parents were just showing off. He needed something simple. He scanned through more pages and found a craft project using paper plates and construction paper to make flowers.

  After a trip downstairs to the craft cabinet Haley had revealed, he gathered the supplies and hauled them back to the den where he could listen for the girls and help Cora if she needed it.

  He was concentrating on following the directions to make a sample when Cora came in and dropped down on the couch next to him.

  “William, you’re off kid duty for the night,” she said, snuggling a little closer.

  “Yeah, but it’s going to rain tomorrow. And I can’t let the girls just watch TV. I know how you hate that.” He’d discovered that Cora allowed movies, carefully chosen ones, but not the usual network kids’ shows. He needed a plan that would keep the kids from sitting in front of the tube.

  “There’s lots of things to keep them busy.” Her fingers stroked his arm. “You don’t need to spend your evening prepping and planning. You should try to relax a little.”

  “As if you do.” He’d lived with her long enough to know that she often kept busy into the evening.

  “I take time for myself. Some. And you need to as well. You can’t run at this pace for long between the security issues and babysitting Melody and Haley. You’ll crack.”

  “I won’t.” And he wouldn’t. He was trained to handle more pressure than this. He wasn’t going to be reduced to a babbling fool because he organized snacks and meals in advance and scheduled activities. He glued a petal onto the paper plate, evaluated it and moved it before the glue dried. It was acceptable. His next would be better.

  As he reached for the scissors to form the next petal, Cora’s hand closed over his. She took the scissors and pushed the other supplies farther away on the coffee table.

  “What are you doing?” he asked when her hand snaked under his shirt. It was cool and soft against his skin as it slid upward, brushing over nipples. A second later, his shirt hit the floor behind the sofa.

  “Relaxing you.” She shifted onto all fours on the couch and crawled closer. Her position made him hard and aching instantly. He liked the idea of her being on top.

  “I need to…” He gulped in air when he caught sight of Cora’s breasts as her sh
irt dipped lower.

  “You need something,” she gave him a feline smile, “and I think I know just what it is.” She kissed him, sliding her tongue against his in a steady rhythm. She was good at that, something he’d come to appreciate. He reached to pull her shirt up, wanting to see her.

  “Nope, not about me tonight.” She batted his hands away and bent over him, running her mouth down his chest and stomach to the waistband of his gym shorts. His dick got even harder, making his breath rush from his lungs and his brain shutdown.

  “This is going to be fun,” she continued. “I think I like being in charge.” She dragged the shorts down, revealing just how much he desired her. “Undressing you, making you want.”

  “You always make me want.” His voice went weak when she swirled her tongue over his tip several times before taking him into her mouth. God, he was going to do things to her, things she’d never even imagined, but for now he just felt. Felt each suck and nip and those moments when she drew him all the way into her hot, wet mouth and seemed to savor him. His balls tightened as she came down on him again. She withdrew her mouth, using her tongue again to excite him.

  “Christ, that’s amazing. Don’t stop,” he begged. She was playing with him, torturing him by almost letting him go before taking him again, fast and hard.

  The rhythm shifted to one designed to drive his need higher. He’d never been harder in his life. He brushed her shiny hair to the side so he could watch her, loving the way she looked with his dick in her mouth. The pressure built inside him, aching for release. He grappled for some control over himself and lost, letting himself buck and come.

  With one last lick of her tongue over him, she sat back. The feline smile returned along with a bright glow to her blue eyes. She’d completely undone him, and she knew it.

  “Worried about that craft project now?” She crawled her way up his body and snuggled against him.

  “No,” he said, his breath still shaky. “I don’t give a damn anymore.” He relaxed against the cushions, feeling sated and sleepy. “A blow job always has that effect on me, but this was killer.”

  “Good to know,” she whispered, kissing his lips. “Nighty-night, William.”

  Sixteen

  “Thanks for coming in after hours. I appreciate it.” William typed a series of commands into the security system on the house. It had gone down that afternoon with no warning, leaving him scrambling to find the problem. He still needed to watch Melody and Haley, although Paige had her walking cast now and was doing better, and he had to make regular sweeps of the perimeter.

  As night started to fall, William called Ben Albright to come help him with the system, unwilling to leave the house unprotected even for one night.

  “Not a problem,” Ben answered, his eyes on the screen in front of him as diagnostics ran. “Boswell would have both our heads if he thought we weren’t doing everything to complete this mission.”

  “Yeah, I figured him for that type.”

  “All guys like us are,” Ben rolled back in his chair to check a screen behind him.

  “True enough. What about you? Which branch?”

  “Army. Ranger for six years.”

  William wasn’t surprised since all the operatives at Alert Security seemed to be ex-special forces. “What made you get out?”

  “Baby number two. My wife put her foot down when I was set to re-up for another four years, while she was pregnant with our son. I’d been gone for the first six months of my daughter’s life.”

  “Regrets?” William asked, listening to the sounds in the house with one ear. Cora was bathing the girls before putting them to bed, a task he should be helping her with.

  “Not usually. Sometimes I miss the game, but this job’s satisfying most of the time. What about you? I get the impression you didn’t leave by choice.”

  “Bad jump on my last mission. We completed it, but I had to damn near crawl out of that jungle at the end. Anyway, my ankle’s held together with screws, so I was out.”

  “You could have gotten a different assignment.”

  William chuckled. From what he knew of Ben, he wouldn’t have been any more satisfied with a desk job than William. “So could you.”

  “Yeah. Let’s shut it down and re-boot and see if anything changes.” Ben powered the system down. “Do you miss it?”

  William did, more than he wanted to admit. He missed the camaraderie, the adrenaline that hung in the air during a mission, the intensity of the training. Yeah, he missed it. He’d kept those thoughts at bay during the past weeks, focusing on his current assignment—the girls, Cora.

  Splashing and laughter echoed from upstairs followed by running feet and the slower, discordant sound of Paige moving in her walking cast. He’d gotten comfortable there, found purpose for himself, but it wasn’t the same as being a SEAL. Because deep inside him he knew, banged up ankle or not, he was capable of so much more than putting a diaper on a kid and singing her to sleep.

  “Yeah, I miss it,” he said as he watched the system re-boot. A wave of dissatisfaction and frustration nearly took him under. There was a threat to the girls and Cora, an unidentified threat, but it didn’t take someone with his training to negate it. Whoever was causing the “accidents” wasn’t threatening national security. It was just some jerk with a beef against three toddlers.

  “It’s an adjustment,” Ben commented neutrally. “Takes time.”

  “Sure.” But his situation was different. When Ben got out, he had his wife and kids waiting for him, probably other family members, too. William had no one in the civilian world, except the temporary family in this household. His connection with Cora felt real, but he had no experience with how to handle that in the long run.

  The nursery door clicked closed just as the bell on the front door sounded. Cora’s quick steps came down the stairs. He leaned out in the hall, keeping to the shadows to watch her.

  “Check to see who it is,” he commanded before she unlatched the door.

  She peeked through the window. “It’s okay. I know him.”

  “Do you want me to come?”

  “No, I’ve got this.” She swung the door open and a wiry man, slightly above average height, entered. “Francis,” she greeted him. “It’s good to see you.”

  Francis? William’s mind searched for the name and found it. Francis Kelp, cousin to Robert Lawrence. Not much about him in the brief, just that he was the only living relative to the girls and yet he hadn’t received custody.

  “I think we’re getting somewhere,” Ben said from behind him. “Give me a hand for a minute if you can.”

  “Yeah.” William shot one more glance toward the entryway. Cora had stepped back, leaving plenty of space between her and Francis, but he didn’t see any real cause for concern. “Everything okay, Cora?” He felt the need to double check since he wouldn’t be able to see them on camera with the system still off-line.

  “Fine,” she answered with a little wave as she moved her guest into the living room.

  He and Ben worked through the commands and layers of passwords to get the cameras functioning. He didn’t like leaving Cora with someone he hadn’t vetted, but he could hear them if anything went sideways, which it shouldn’t. Francis was a relative and someone Cora knew and apparently trusted, since she’d let him in the house.

  “Got it,” Ben said as the feed from the various cameras popped up on the screens.

  They went through a systematic check of each camera until they were satisfied the system was fully functioning again. In the living room, William could see Cora seated across from Francis. Her lips pinched together, and when she tried to speak, Francis cut her off.

  “I think we better go meet this guy,” William said, not liking what he saw.

  “Right behind you.” Ben had been observing the same thing.

  When they entered the living room, Ben took a position behind Francis while William walked up to him, forcing the man to stand.

  “William, Ben,
this is Francis Kelp, Robert’s cousin.” Cora rose as well, and did the introductions.

  William gave Francis a cool nod but didn’t offer his hand to shake. The man had pale blue eyes, the kind that were almost colorless. William didn’t know much about clothing, but Francis’s looked expensive. His hair was slicked back from his narrow face in a style William had seen in men’s magazines.

  “I was just telling Cora how ridiculous I think it is that there’s a security guard—two, actually—for little girls.” Francis sat again, stretching out his legs as if he owned the place. “What could happen to them?”

  “We’re here to make sure nothing does,” William replied, remaining standing. Cora glanced his way before slowly taking her seat. He guessed that she was trying to read his reaction to the situation.

  “Couldn’t you just monitor, like an alarm company?” Francis waved a dismissive hand around.

  “That’s not the kind of service we provide.” William kept his answers short since none of this was any of Francis’s business.

  “Bob and Jeanie wouldn’t have liked it,” Francis insisted. “They didn’t want their house wired up. What kind of system do you have in here anyways?”

  “It’s too technical to explain to a lay person.” Ben spoke for the first time, cutting off the question.

  “I’m familiar with technology.” Francis never turned his head to acknowledge Ben. “As a matter of fact, I worked with Bob and Jeanie when they were creating their company. You could say I gave them ideas that made them rich.”

  “Did you? If you were close to the Lawrences, you must know they made the decision to hire me to protect their daughters before their deaths.” William wanted to follow that up with a question. Why were the triplets’ only living relative not in charge of their upbringing? “Either way, our security measures are none of your concern.”

  “You don’t have to be rude about it,” Francis snapped at William before turning his attention back to Cora. “I should be going, but I’d like to stop by another time and see the girls.”