An Unexpected Father

by Marie Ferrarella

  Harper realized that she still had the keys to Brady’s house on her. Tucking Tyler against her shoulder, she reached into her pocket and got the keys out, then unlocked the front door. Holding it open with her back, she allowed Brady to come in and carry Toby slowly up to the room he shared with Tyler.

  Harper was right behind them, moving almost in slow motion even though every fiber in her body was urging her to bring the boy into his room as quickly as possible so that she would be free to finally be alone with Brady. She wanted to be able to clear the rest of the air as soon as possible.

  But that all involved her own needs, and her needs, no matter what they were, did not take precedence over the twins’ needs. She had lost sight of that for a little bit, Harper now realized, and that sort of thing could never be allowed to happen again.

  Tyler moaned a little when she gently placed him down on his bed.

  “Shhh, Tyler,” she whispered to him. “Go back to sleep. You need your rest so that you can be there to help your brother tomorrow.”

  Tyler made a noise in response and it sounded as if he thought he was answering her.

  Harper smiled down at him. “That’s my boy,” she coaxed. “Go back to sleep. I’m just going to take these clothes off so you can curl up under your blanket, okay, little man?” She was saying everything in a singsong voice meant to lull Tyler back to sleep.

  He cooperated.

  Harper finally managed to get Tyler undressed and comfortably lying back in his bed. She covered him with the blanket.

  Raising her eyes to Brady’s, she nodded toward Tyler and murmured, “Okay, one down, one to go.”

  Brady looked a little uncertainly at Toby. With his cast, he looked so terribly vulnerable to him right now. “Are you sure you want to undress Toby?” he asked her.

  “You want to put him to bed in his clothes?” Harper asked, surprised.

  “Well, given the circumstances, I’d rather do that than risk waking him up so that we get him into his pajamas. In this case, I think it’s more important to let him sleep than to get him out of his Easter outfit.” Having stated his case, Brady looked at her quizzically. “How about you?”

  Smiling, she nodded her head. “My kid brother who would totally agree with you. As a matter of fact, he would be on your side even if you said that Toby should get to fall asleep in his street clothes every night.”

  “You don’t talk about him often,” Brady observed. He took her filling in the blanks as a sign that she was finally beginning to trust him. “You said he’s in the army. Do you miss him?”

  She was intent on carefully taking off Toby’s shoes and socks. Finished, she placed them both neatly on the floor.

  “Absolutely,” she said with feeling, “My brother was kind of wild when he was a kid. The complete opposite of me. He was always getting into things, exploring.” She smiled, remembering. “Jack took off right after high school and wound up enlisting in the army. Right now, he’s going from one base to another, seeing the world and being as happy as the proverbial clam.” Her smile widened as fond memories crowded in her head. “He’s living life the way he always dreamed,” she told Brady.

  “And you?” Brady asked. “What is it that you always wanted?”

  She secured Toby’s blanket, making sure he remained covered. “To be exactly where I am,” she told him. “Being the boys’ nanny.”

  “Like I said when you first came to work here, taking care of the twins, I don’t know how I got so lucky, but I know better than to question my good fortune—and theirs.” The corners of his mouth quirked in an amused smile as the word replayed itself in his head. “You should only pardon the pun.”

  Her eyes crinkled as she stepped back, away from the boy’s beds, and moved closer to the door. “I will if you will,” she told him.

  “Do you want to go into your room and have that talk now?” he asked Harper.

  Harper looked over her shoulder. The twins were both asleep. With any luck, they would continue sleeping until morning.

  “I think it’s safe to leave them now,” she whispered to Brady.

  “Okay, then,” Brady replied, gesturing toward the doorway. “Lead the way.”

  Chapter Twenty

  The moment she walked into the room and heard the door close behind her, something told Harper that this time, it was going to be different.

  A warm shiver shimmied down her spine and then her skin heated as she turned around to face Brady.

  Her breath caught in her throat as he cupped her face in his hands.

  “I don’t need any explanations, Harper,” he told her quietly.

  Her mouth felt dry as she tried to talk. “Are you sure? Because I feel like I owe you one,” Harper told Brady.

  The space between them had managed to grow smaller. “You don’t owe me anything,” he assured her. “Just always know that I’ll have your back, no matter what,” he said just before he brought his mouth down on hers.

  The moment he did, Harper could feel it. She could feel a tidal wave suddenly swelling up and then washing over her with incredible power until every single part of her was drenched.

  Her heart pounding like a giant timpani, Harper threw her arms around his neck, totally submerging herself in his kiss.

  She didn’t attempt to fight it. There was no point to even trying. No point in pretending that this wasn’t what she had been wanting all along, right from the very first moment she had met him.

  She gloried in the feel of his lips against hers, the oh-so-tantalizing feel of his hands as they moved slowly along her skin, claiming her.

  His touch aroused her to such heights that she could hardly breathe, growing more and more dizzy.

  Within moments, they were no longer standing next to the locked door in her room. Somehow, they had moved over and were now on her bed, urgently pressed against one another, desperately absorbing the feel of their bodies as heat radiated from each of them, merging into a giant flame that was only growing in size and scope.

  Each kiss just fed on the next, creating an urgent desire for more. The passion between them mounted, increasing with each passing second.

  The urgency of the desire between them grew more demanding.

  All she could think of was splaying her hands and running her palms along his hard chest. But his shirt was in the way, fighting her. Harper almost ripped off two of his buttons in her desire to get the barrier out of her way.

  Intent on getting them undone as fast as possible, she began to tug at the placket.

  “Wait,” Brady urged, then quickly unbuttoned the rest of his shirt. He stripped it from his torso and tossed the shirt aside without even glancing in its direction.

  All that mattered was Harper, nothing else.

  The moment the shirt was gone, Harper slid her hands over his chest. It was smooth and hard beneath her fingers.

  Her breathing grew shorter, faster.

  She began to tug off her own blouse. His hands moved hers away, then finished what she had started.

  His eyes skimmed over her, touching her everywhere.

  After that, who did what to whom became a blur. All she knew was that the rest of their clothing wound up flying off and then mingling on the floor when they finally landed.

  And then their activity grew even hotter and more passionate, as well as more urgent.

  Harper felt as if he was worshipping her with his hands. The second Brady began touching her, she just found herself wanting more and more.

  There was no end to her desire, no satiation looming on the horizon.

  She just wanted more.

  Brady hadn’t expected the sweet young woman to turn into such a wildcat, although there was a part of him that secretly suspected that this was bubbling, brewing just beneath the surface.

  With each kiss they shared, his desire grew more de
manding. Even with all the women he had known in his life, Harper had turned out to be a revelation.

  The more he familiarized himself with her, the more he wanted to.

  Their bodies completely nude and heated now, Brady reveled and feasted on each tempting curve before him, feeling as if he would never be able to satisfy his hunger for her.

  But he gave it his best shot.

  His mouth forged a network of hot, moist kisses up and down her supple, heaving body.

  To his surprise, just as he was about to culminate his sensual journey and take her, Harper suddenly flipped around and began doing the very same thing to him, causing Brady’s pulse to quicken erotically. His desire grew to such incredible heights, he didn’t think he could hold himself in check too much longer.

  In fact, he was certain of it.

  So when she feathered her fingertips along his thighs, he caught her by the wrist and then drew her hand to his lips.

  Why a kiss pressed to the palm of her hand could feel so sensually erotic was beyond her—but it did. So much so that she found that she was having trouble keeping her hands off him, trouble keeping her desire from exploding and drenching both of them.

  Their bodies came together like two halves of a powerful magnet. They moved urgently against one another, heating until they all but incinerated.

  And still the dance continued.

  His mouth urgently slanting over hers, Brady finally took her.

  He entered her slowly despite the urgency he could feel burning in his body. It was all he could do to prolong the ecstasy that hovered just beyond the perimeter, waiting to seize him.

  The final moment hovered, about to explode. Her breath lodged within her throat.

  And then she began to move, duplicating the ever-growing rhythm she felt throbbing within her.

  They went faster and faster, moving to a tune that only they could hear beating and pulsing within them, growing ever louder until it completely claimed them. Taking them to the highest peak and then, finally, propelling them over the edge.

  The heated vortex was waiting to seize them, making them one.

  The sensation that had been created vibrated all through Harper, holding her in its grip until it finally began to fade. It slipped further and further into the distance.

  And then it became part of the air.

  Harper took in a deep breath, trying to steady her pulse, her quivering body. Finally it began to settle down and she nestled against him.

  “That was some ‘talk,’” she murmured.

  Brady laughed, his arm tightening around her. “Remind me to have those talks with you more often.”

  She felt her smile spreading out to every part of her, completely lighting her up. “Oh, I’ll remind you,” she promised.

  Brady had every intention of slipping out of her room once their lovemaking was over. Harper needed her rest and he didn’t want the boys to accidentally find them together this way.

  Even so, he wanted to linger.

  Just a little longer, he promised himself, holding her to him. All he wanted was just a little while longer, and then he would go.

  The night somehow was able to get away from him. Neither one of them seemed to actually mind.

  He made it out and to his own room just before the twins woke up.

  This became the recurring theme defining their nights together from then on.

  They didn’t plan on it; it just seemed to happen. And Brady and Harper accepted it without any need for further discussion.

  Each morning that Brady woke up next to Harper, he counted himself as one of the luckiest men on the face of the earth.

  The more it happened, the more he knew that he never wanted that to change.

  * * *

  As Dr. Neubert, the ER physician, had predicted, Toby’s arm healed without any incident and before long, the hyperactive twin was back to being his former self.

  Added to that, Brady had filed papers to formally adopt the twins, officially making them a family.

  Life was good. Very good.

  Brady and Harper continued to end their nights in each other’s arms, but Harper was determined that the twins wouldn’t accidentally walk in on them together, so she made certain that Brady would go back to his bedroom before the twins were up.

  But then, one morning, Brady seemed to slip up. He was still lying next to a drowsy Harper when she heard a knock on her door.

  Before she could scramble up and get out of bed, the twins came barging in. Harper found herself wildly grateful that she and Brady were at least wearing their pajamas.

  That wasn’t always the case.

  Gathering herself together as best she could, she realized that Tyler was carrying in a breakfast tray, one that looked precariously close to having its contents tumble to the floor.

  “What are you guys doing here?” she asked. Glancing at Brady, she caught herself thinking that he was a better actor than she’d given him credit for. He looked as if he was taking the twins’ unexpected appearance in stride. “Is everything okay?” she asked the boys. She was never too complacent when it came to the twins’ behavior.

  “Yeah! We brought you breakfast in bed,” Toby announced, looking at Brady with a wide smile. He had just recently gotten rid of his hated cast.

  “So I see,” Harper said. At least they weren’t asking questions about finding Brady in her bed, she thought, taking solace in that. “What’s the occasion?” she wanted to know.

  “No occasion,” Tyler answered in a higher voice than usual—and then he started to giggle.

  Brady grabbed the tray before it could wind up on the bed or the floor.

  Harper focused on what was actually on the tray. “Are those Pop-Tarts?” she asked Tyler.

  “Uh-huh. I put jelly on them,” Tyler proudly told her.

  “And I brought the jelly beans and put them on the plates,” Toby said, not to be excluded.

  She had no idea what they were up to, but nonetheless she was delighted to take part in this unique family scenario.

  “Well, it all looks delicious,” she told the twins, forcing a smile to her lips. “I can’t wait to dig in.”

  “Did you guys remember to bring the dessert?” Brady asked them.

  “Dessert, too?” Harper repeated, amazed. “I’ll be surprised if we don’t go into some sort of a sugar coma,” she told Brady.

  Brady didn’t comment on her observation. He was watching Tyler, the more reliable twin, run out of the room.

  The boy was back in a flash carrying a small bakery box. He brought it over to Harper and placed it on her lap.

  “Open it, Harper,” he urged.

  “Yeah, open it,” Toby cried, his eyes dancing.

  “I will,” she promised. “After I have the Pop-Tarts and the jelly beans.”

  “I think they want you to open it now,” Brady told her.

  That was odd. She looked at him quizzically. What was going on here?

  “You know what they say,” Brady told her. “You never know what could happen, so eat dessert first.”

  Since having her eat what was inside the box seemed to mean so much to all three of them, Harper gamely said, “Okay” and then opened the box.

  There was no dessert in the pastry box.

  Instead, Harper stared, stunned, at the small white box that was nestled in the center. Taking it out, she opened the white box to find a velvet box inside it.

  As she opened that, she saw the most beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen sparkling inside it.

  She looked up at Brady surrounded by the boys, their grins huge.

  “Will you marry us?” Brady and the twins cried in unison.

  Tears slid down her cheeks. It took her a moment to find her voice and then reply, with wholehearted enthusiasm, “Yes, oh yes, I will ma
rry you. All three of you!” she declared, beaming at them.

  The next moment, she found herself hugged by the twins, just before their “unca” Brady kissed her, amid their enthusiastic applause, to seal the deal.

  The twins applauded for a long time.

  * * *

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  Chapter One

  “Doc! There’s a problem up at the barn with Frank Whitmore’s heifers! The old man is gonna be raising hell!” Trey Lasseter announced as he strode into the veterinarian’s office inside Hollister Animal Clinic. “I don’t—”

  His boots skidded to a stop, along with the rest of his words, as he spotted the attractive young woman standing in front of Chandler Hollister’s desk. “Oh—uh, pardon me. I didn’t know you were busy with a client. I’ll—uh—come back later.”

  He started backing his way out of the office only to have the veterinarian order him to stop.

  “Trey, come back here! Nicci isn’t a client. She’s our new receptionist. We were just going over today’s schedule before things start hopping.”