What Makes A Father. Teresa Southwick
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“The twins are beautiful. And I say again—wow.” Carla’s eyebrows went up. “He’s such a cutie, and I’m not talking about Charlie. This one of Mason holding both babies is a seriously ‘aww moment.’”
Annie glanced at the picture and smiled at the memory of Mason dozing off while they were on his chest. He held them securely in place with a big hand on each of their backs. The moment did have a serious cuteness quotient, which was why she’d taken the photo. “More than once he’s fallen asleep on my sofa.”
“Oh?”
“Down girl.” She hadn’t been able to resist snapping the picture, but it didn’t mean anything. Certainly not that she was looking at the future. One day at a time worked just fine for her. “Naps on my couch are about a demanding career, work schedule and his children,” Annie said. “It has nothing to do with me. Or us.”
“Still, he’s not a troll and he likes kids. That’s a good start.”
“There is no start,” Annie argued. “How can there be when he doubts my character? He made it clear that he doesn’t trust me.”
“What does he have against you? The two of you just met.”
“He was justifiably curious about why my sister didn’t contact him when she found out she was pregnant, about the possibility that he was a father. I got the feeling that, with him, that lie of omission extended to me because I’m Jessica’s sister.”
“Is it possible that you’re inventing reasons to push him away? Like I said, you’re good at finding flaws,” Carla said. “Does it bother you that Jessica slept with him first?”
“Of course not. And, as you pointed out, I just met him a few weeks ago.” Annie analyzed the question a little deeper. “And by first you’re suggesting that I will sleep with him, too. That’s just not going to happen.”
Carla shrugged. “If you say so.”
“You’re seeing a relationship where none exists. Is Lillian working you too hard at Make Me a Match?” Annie teased. “Maybe you can’t leave work at the office?”
Her friend laughed ruefully. “We need satisfied customers. And they need to spread the word about the valuable service we provide if the business is going to survive.”
“I’ll talk it up and, if I can, send clients your way,” Annie promised.
But she wouldn’t be one of them. She had enough on her hands without falling in love. Lust was a different thing altogether and had a mind of its own. Proof of that was the vision of twisted sheets and strong arms that had been keeping her awake at night. And those arms didn’t belong to just anyone. They were definitely Mason’s.
Mason was at the apartment with the twins several days after his mom had watched them. Annie was putting in more hours at her office because the deadline for the high-profile campaign was approaching fast. He’d gotten Sarah to sleep and had spent the last fifteen minutes walking Charlie. Now he carefully lifted the baby from his shoulder and put him on his back in the crib, beside his sister. He held his breath, fingers crossed that the little boy was finally sound enough asleep that the movement wouldn’t wake him. No sound, no movement. Mission objective achieved.
He looked down at them—his children—and thought for the billionth time how beautiful and perfect they were. And how lucky he was to have them. Sure, he hadn’t known from the beginning about the pregnancy and could whine about that, but it wouldn’t have changed anything. A lot of active-duty service members missed out on big family moments because of deployment. The truth was, he couldn’t have been there for their birth even if he’d known.
So he hadn’t been able to support Annie through the shock and sadness of losing her sister. A little extra help with the babies wouldn’t have hurt, either. Somehow she’d had the strength to do it all by herself. On the other hand, he wouldn’t be going through the legal maze of securing his paternal rights now if things had been different.
It had been a month since he’d stood at Annie’s door for the first time and he could hardly remember a life without his kids—and her—in it. He’d seen the commercials on TV for companies that facilitated meets for people who wanted a relationship. The tagline: Never More Ready to Fall in Love. Mason was the opposite of that. Never less ready for love.
The collapse of his marriage had been a horrible warning. He found out that even if one made all the right moves and everything was perfect, it was still possible to fail spectacularly. And painfully. Because of things out of his control. He wouldn’t make the same mistake.
That didn’t mean he couldn’t be in awe of Annie Campbell. He thought about her more than he liked, even when he was slammed with patients in the emergency room. She was quite a woman—sexy, beautiful, maternal, funny and smart. Everything a man could want. So why hadn’t a guy snatched her up?
The doorbell rang and he swore under his breath, then checked the babies for any sign it woke them. Neither moved so he hurried to the front door, ready to chew out whoever had been stupid enough to ignore the baby sleeping sign.
He opened the door and saw a thirty-something guy standing there. He was well dressed and nice-looking. Mason wanted to strangle him. “Can you read?”
“What?”
“Did you see the sign?” He pointed. “The babies are sleeping.”
“Right. Sorry, man. I forgot.”
“How to read?” Now he really wanted to strangle this guy.
“No. That the babies are here.” He held out his hand. “Dwayne Beller.”
Mason hesitated then shook hands. “Mason Blackburne.”
“The father?”
“Of the twins? Yeah.” Now his curiosity was on high alert. “Who are you?”
“Annie’s boyfriend.” He shifted uncomfortably. “At least, I was.”
“So you’re not now?”
“No.”
Mason felt an odd sort of relief that she was no longer with this guy. “What happened?”
“Is Annie here?”
“No.” He stood feet apart, blocking the doorway.
“Do you mind telling me where she is?”
“Yes.” They were sizing each other up. “Mind telling me what happened with you and Annie?”
Dwayne shifted his stance uncomfortably. “Look, man, would you just tell her I stopped by?”
“Why?”
“Because I’d like her to know that I was here.”
Mason didn’t miss the fact that Dwayne was looking pretty irritated. It didn’t bother him at all. “I meant why don’t you want to talk about what happened?”
“Because it’s none of your business. It’s between Annie and me—”
“Dwayne?” Annie was almost at the top of the stairs and her eyes widened at the scene unfolding in front of her door.
She had several bags of groceries in her hands and didn’t look happy to see the guy. That didn’t bother Mason at all, either.
“Hi, Annie. You look good.” The ex-boyfriend had a sheepish expression on his face and glanced at Mason, who was still blocking the door. “Can I come in?”
“Why?” she asked warily.
“To talk,” he said. “I really miss talking to you.”
There was hurt and disillusionment in her