His Little Secret: Double the Trouble

“We’ll see, won’t we?” Maria turned her gaze back to Penny and said, “If you need anything, just call. Honestly, I can be over in minutes.”

Penny laughed a little. “I will. Promise.”

“Good.” Nodding abruptly, Maria leaned forward, kissed Penny’s cheek and said, “We’ll go now. I’m sure you two have plenty to talk about.”

“Oh, you don’t have to leave so soon.”

“Yeah, they do,” Colt argued, and Penny shot him a hard glare. Didn’t bode well for their “discussion” but that wouldn’t have gone well in any case, he assured himself.

“Okay then,” Robert announced and took Maria’s hand in his, drawing her up from her perch on the edge of the table. “Remember, if you need something, call.”

Then it was just the two of them. Colton didn’t even know where to begin. There was a lot he wanted to know and even more he needed to know—things like why bother buying and using condoms if they clearly didn’t work? An existential question he’d have to explore more completely later. There were plenty of other things he wanted to know, though.

But at the moment, damned if he could think of a thing to say. Instead, he stared down at the woman he’d married and divorced within the span of a week and tried not to notice just how blasted vulnerable she looked. Hard to have the kind of argument that was waiting for them when the woman was just out of the hospital.

Hospital.

That word conjured up old mental images that threatened to choke him. He had promised to be there in Penny’s room that morning, but hadn’t been able to do it. Couldn’t force himself to walk back into that building. Into a place so filled with the scent of fear and misery, so thick with memories that Colt felt them surrounding him, burying him. Even now, his mind was opening the door to the darkness that hid deep within his past. Shadows rushed out and spilled through his body like black paint, covering everything in its path.

Shaken right down to the bone, Colt reached out blindly and grabbed hold of the anger that was his salvation. If he could just focus on the situation facing him now and shut down the past, he’d get through this. As he’d done so many times before.

“Are you okay?”

“What?” He surfaced from the tangled thoughts in his mind like a surfer trying to breathe through sea foam. “What? Oh. Yeah. I’m fine.”

She didn’t look convinced, but that didn’t bother him. The real problem here was that he was still drawn to her. Still felt that nearly magnetic pull that he’d felt so long ago. What was it about her, he asked himself, that tugged at everything inside him? And why the hell couldn’t he get rid of it?

Trying to avoid looking at Penny, he glanced around the small beach cottage and really noticed it for the first time.

The rooms were small and painted a soft yellow that looked as though sunbeams lived in the walls. An old, stone-faced fireplace stood along one side of the room, with built-in bookcases on either side.

A painting of the sea hung on the wall above the hearth, and around the room, old but comfortable-looking furniture sprawled, inviting people to come in and take it easy. Reading lamps sat on the end tables and there was a huge plastic tub filled with toys beneath the front window.

Off the living room was a hall that probably led to the bedrooms and a dining room with a door beyond that was undoubtedly hiding the kitchen. It was a typical cottage, no doubt built in the forties for long weekends at the beach. The rooms were small, the yard tiny and if you had claustrophobia you wouldn’t last out the weekend. But there were charms in these old neighborhoods, too. Close to the beach, on a quiet night, you could hear the surf. Decades-old trees lined the streets and their roots caused sidewalks to ripple like waves. And any time the city tried to pull down the trees to make the sidewalks even, the neighborhoods came out in full fight mode.

Places like this never changed.

“You hungry?” he asked suddenly, to break the silence.

“I’ll make something in a minute,” she said and eased back into the cushions of the couch.

“I’ll make it.” When she looked at him in surprise, he almost laughed. He’d been on his own for a long time and though he had a housekeeper, he’d never bothered to hire a cook. Hell, he wasn’t home often enough to justify it. “I’m not completely helpless in the kitchen.”

“That’s not what you said—” Her voice trailed away.

“What?”

She shook her head and stared up at the ceiling. Old, smoke-stained beams divided the cream-colored plaster. “That week we were together, you told me that you and your twin once set fire to your aunt’s kitchen when you were trying to make French toast.”

He frowned to himself. He didn’t remember telling her that, and knowing that he obviously had told her confused the hell out of him. Colt didn’t usually share much of himself with women—hell, with anyone. He didn’t want the closeness and didn’t crave what women always seemed to enjoy—the baring of souls. Who the hell wanted a naked soul?

He gave her a tight smile. “Been a long time since the fire in the kitchen. I’m not bad with chicken or pasta, though I’m the first to admit I’m not a chef. But I make great phone calls for takeout.”

She laughed a little, then winced, and Colt felt a twinge in response. But when she spoke, all sympathy for her drained away.

“Look, Colt, I know we have to talk but I’m just too tired to deal with you tonight.” She sighed a little. “Why don’t you go home and we’ll talk in a day or two?”

“Go home?” He repeated it because he couldn’t believe she would even suggest it. He was here now and he wasn’t leaving. Not yet, anyway. “And who takes care of the twins while you sit here on the couch and chew at your lip?”

She stopped that instantly and fired a look at him. “I can manage. I always do.”

“No,” he corrected. “You always have in the past. Now that’s not an option.”

“You’re not in charge here, Colt.”

“Check again.” He walked closer to her and gave her a glare designed to intimidate. From what he could tell, it didn’t work. “Damn it, Penny, as mad as I am at you right now, I’d almost be willing to do just what you said and leave you here on your own just so you could see what a stupid decision that would be—”

“Bye then.”

“I said almost.” Sinking to his heels beside the couch, he met her eyes and said, “As much as you hate the idea, you need me. Damn it, I had to carry you into the house.”

“I could have walked.”

“What is bothering you the most?” he asked. “Needing help? Or needing me?”

“You’re wrong, Colt,” she said. “I don’t need you. Okay, maybe I need some help, but I don’t need you.”

“Tough.” He straightened up again, looming over her and forcing her to keep her head tipped back just to meet his eyes.

“’Cause you’ve got me. Until we get this whole mess straightened out, I’m not going anywhere.”

She huffed out an impatient breath. “Don’t you have a mountain to climb? A building to jump off of?”

For one split second, thoughts of Mount Etna and his Sicilian trip floated through his mind. Then he let it go. “There’s plenty of time for that. Right now, you’re the only adventure in my future.”

“Swell.” She leaned forward, braced one hand on the arm of the couch and hissed in a breath.

“What’re you doing?”

She flashed him a look of pure irritation. “I’m going to check on the twins. Then change clothes. Put on something a little less constricting than my jeans.”

Frankly, he preferred her in something more constricting. Like a suit of armor with a chastity belt. That would be good. But since that wasn’t going to happen, he took a breath and got a grip on his rampaging thoughts. What he had to do here was focus on his anger, he told himself firmly. Just remember that she’d lied to him. Hidden his children from him. That should take care of the raging need clawing at him.

“All right, let’s go.”

She paused and looked up at him. “I can do it myself.”

“Sure you can. You’re a superhero.” He drew her to her feet. “So do me a favor. Stop fighting this so hard. Pretend to need my help. Make me feel manly.”

She snorted a laugh. “Like you need help with that.”

“I think that was a compliment,” he said, following her toward the hall and presumably, her bedroom.

“You don’t need a compliment, either.”

“Harsh,” he said, amused in spite of the conversation. Walking behind her, his gaze dropped to the curve of her behind, defined by the worn, faded denim that clung to her body like a second skin. His body stirred again and he gritted his teeth.

She walked slowly and he could sense the pain that accompanied every movement. Didn’t seem to stop the sexual thoughts dancing through his mind. But a part of him admired her steely determination to keep going in spite of whatever pain was gnawing on her. She refused to surrender to it. Refused to give in to what had to be an urge to curl up somewhere and whimper.

Hell, she was stronger than him. When he broke his leg off the coast of Monaco in a car wreck during a race, Colt had bitched about the pain to anyone who would listen.

Even Connor had lost all patience with him by the time his leg had finally healed. But in his defense, Colt thought, he wasn’t the kind of guy to be content sitting in a damn chair and watching TV. He needed to be moving. Doing. Chasing risk and searching for that next shot of adrenaline. Life was too short to not try to wring every last drop of pleasure out of it.

Too damn short. Those three words rippled through his mind, dragging up the past from the shadows where he’d hidden it. Smothering a tight groan, Colt shoved that past back down again, refusing to acknowledge it. Refusing to even look at it.

The past was done. What counted was now.

Of course, the past was what had brought him here, to this house, today.

He watched her quietly approach a closed door off the hallway and carefully turn the knob, making no sound as she stepped inside. Colt hesitated, knowing that his children were in there. Emotions choked him as she turned to look at him, a quizzical look on her face.

Colt knew she was expecting him to follow her in and see the twins as they slept. But he wasn’t interested in seeing his kids for the first time while in front of an audience. He could wait a bit longer to see the babies who had brought him here. And he’d do it in his own time.

Hell, he realized with a start, he was actually nervous. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d felt the skitter of nerves racking his body. Colt had faced down volcanoes, killer surf, parachutes that didn’t open and broken skis on the steep face of a so-called un-skiable mountain. Yet the thought of meeting his children for the first time had him backing away from an open doorway as if it were a gateway to some black, dangerous pit.

So he waited while she fiddled with blankets and murmured soft sounds of comfort and love. He was finding it hard to breathe past a knot of sensation that he recognized as it grew inside him. This wasn’t nerves. This was a familiar, buzzing feeling settling into the pit of his stomach. He felt it every time he stood at the tip of a mountain, jumped off a cliff, rode forty-foot surf. It was that surge of adrenaline that let him know he was alive. That he was about to risk it all. About to put his life on the line and either change it—or end it.

He didn’t care which.

“Colt?”

She was back in the hall, with the babies’ door closed, and she was looking at him. He stared down into those green eyes he’d never really been able to forget. “What?”

“I just thought you’d want to see the twins...”

“I do,” he assured her, getting a tight rein on the runaway sensations pouring through him. “Later.”

“Okay then.” She walked past him slowly, heading to the end of the hall and another closed door. Looking back at him over her shoulder, she reluctantly acknowledged, “You were right before. I think I will need your help getting out of these clothes.”

In different circumstances, getting her undressed would have been Colt’s highest priority. But things were different now. They weren’t lovers. They were...what? Enemies? Maybe. Sure weren’t friends. Exes with children. He looked at Penny and saw misery in her eyes and it wasn’t hard to identify the reason. Couldn’t have been easy for her to admit to him that she needed help. Especially from him. Right now, things between them were strained so tight, the tension in the air between them flavored every breath.

And it wasn’t only the situation with the twins that had them each walking a fine line. It was the sexual chemistry still buzzing between them. But chemistry didn’t have to be acted on, did it? Nodding, he said, “Fine.”

His brain was busy, racing with too many thoughts to sort out, and that was just as well. If he kept his anger burning, he’d be able to ignore the rush of desire already pulsing inside him.

He followed Penny into her bedroom and took a second or two to look around. A full-size bed on one wall, bedside tables and a tall dresser. There were framed photos on the walls—hers, he was willing to bet—of the beach, parks and two smiling babies.

They were beautiful. Both of them. His heart gave an unexpected leap that staggered him. His children. Yes, he’d get a paternity test, but just looking at those two faces caught forever and trapped behind glass, he knew they were his. They looked like him. They each had the King black hair and blue eyes and he could see his own features replicated in miniature.

“They look like you,” she said softly.

His throat squeezed shut and he could hear his own heartbeat hammering in his ears. He kept his gaze fixed on the photos. It seemed he was going to be seeing his children for the first time in front of an audience after all. “When did you take the pictures?”

“Two weeks ago,” she said. “We went to the park, which is why Reid has sand on his face. He tries to eat everything he finds.”

A tight smile curved Colt’s mouth as he looked at his son’s mischievous face. There was a sparkle in the tiny boy’s eyes that promised trouble. And his sister had that same flash of something special about her, Colt thought. His children. And he didn’t know them. Had never heard them. Had never held them. His heart took another leap and he forced himself to turn from the framed photos to the woman sitting on the edge of the bed.

“You cheated me, Penny,” he ground out tightly as a fresh surge of anger washed over him. “Nobody cheats a King and gets away with it.”

Four

“Cheated you?” she countered, green eyes glittering. “You walked away, Colt. You cheated yourself. Out of the kids, out of what we could have had.”

Shaking his head, he took a step back from her and tried to keep his voice down in spite of the raging fury inside him. Seeing his kids there on her wall, realizing just how much of their lives he’d already missed, had stoked the fire of his anger until it felt as if he were being consumed.

“Yeah, I walked. From a marriage that was a mistake,” he muttered. The past came rushing forward, but he wouldn’t look at it. Refused to remember the pain and shock in her eyes as he left her.

“It didn’t last long enough to be classified a mistake,” she countered.

She was right about that much. Colt reached up and pushed both hands through his hair. He’d relived his decision to spontaneously get married a million times over the last eighteen months and he still couldn’t explain to himself why he’d done it. But in that wild moment in the tacky little chapel, he’d known he wanted her with him for always.

“Always” had lasted about ten hours.

Dawn eventually came and shook him out of the passion-induced haze he’d been operating in. In the glare of morning, he’d remembered at last that “forever” didn’t exist. That marriage just wasn’t in his game plan—in spite of how amazing he and Penny were in bed together.

He’d believed then, and he still did, that walking away was the right thing to do. But he would have walked right back if she’d even once mentioned the whole pregnancy thing.

“What did you think was going to happen, Penny?” He glared down at her, refusing to be swayed by the gleam in her eyes or the tilt of her chin. “Did you really see us living the suburban dream? Is that it?”

“No,” she said on a short laugh. “But—”

“But what? Would it have been better to stay married for a month? Six? And then end it? Would that have seemed kinder,” he asked, “or would it just have prolonged the inevitable?”

“I don’t know,” she muttered, pushing her hair back from her face with an impatient gesture. “All I know is, we dated, got married and got divorced in the span of a week and now you’re back claiming that I somehow cheated you.”

“It always comes back to the same thing, Penny,” he said, voice low and deep. “You should have told me.”

She blew out a breath and glared at him. “And here we are again, on the carousel of knives where we just slash at each other and nothing is ever solved.”

Colt stalked a few paces away from the bed, but he couldn’t get far, since the whole room would have fit inside his walk-in closet. He felt trapped. In the small space. In this situation. But despite the invisible chains wrapping around him tighter by the moment, he knew he couldn’t leave. Wouldn’t leave. He had children—whether he’d planned on it or not—and he had to do right by them.

He spun around to look at her and promised, “You can’t keep me from the twins.”

“You’ll just confuse them,” she told him flatly.

“Confuse them how?” He threw both hands high then let them slap back down against his thighs. “They’re babies. They don’t know what’s going on!”

“Keep your voice down―you’ll wake them up.” She glared at him and after a second or two of that heated stare, he shifted uncomfortably. “And they understand when people are happy. Or angry. And I don’t want you upsetting them by shouting.”

Colt took a breath and nodded. “Fine.” He lowered his voice because he hadn’t meant to shout in the first place. Connor was the twin with the hot temper. Which just went to show how far out of his own comfort zone Colt really was. “Confuse them how?”

“You’re a stranger to them—”

He gritted his teeth.

“—and you just pop up into their lives? For how long, Colt? How long before you tell them, ‘Sorry kids, but I’m just not father material. I’ll have my lawyers contact you about child support.’”

“Funny.” His tone was flat, his eyes narrowed and he had a very slight grip on the temper that was beginning to ice over his insides. “You can be as bitter as you want about what happened between us. But I’m not going to do that to them.”

“And how do I know that?” She winced as she straightened on the bed. “You walked away from a wife. Why not your kids, too?”

“It’s different and you know it.”

“No, I don’t. That’s the problem.”

The last of the daylight pearled the room in a warm, pale haze that floated through the open curtains and lay across the oak floor like gold dust. As the old house settled down for the night, it creaked and groaned like a tired old woman settling in for a nap. There was a baby monitor on her bedside table that crackled with static and then broadcast one of the babies coughing.

Colt jolted at the sound. “Are they choking?”

“No,” Penny said with a sigh. “That’s just Riley. When she sleeps she sucks so hard on her pacifier that she gurgles and coughs.”

“Is that normal?” Frowning at the monitor, he felt completely out of his element here. How would he know what was normal for an infant or not? It wasn’t as if he spent all that much time with any of the new King babies. Seeing them at family parties hadn’t really prepared him for a lot of one-on-one time with two infants.

“Yes. Colt—”

He heard the fatigue in her voice. Saw it in her eyes and the pale color of her skin. They were going around and around and not gaining ground. There would be plenty of time to sort out what they were going to do. And when he argued with someone, he wanted them at full strength. Penny clearly was not. He didn’t want to worry about her, but a slender thread of concern drifted through him anyway.

“Let’s just get you changed, all right? We’ll talk about this more tomorrow.”

“Oh, boy,” she murmured. “There’s something to look forward to.” Then she winced and tugged at the snap on her jeans. “But I’m so uncomfortable, I’m willing to risk it.”

“What do you need?”

“My nightgown’s in the top drawer of the dresser.”

Nightgown.

And she’d be naked underneath it, of course. Even as he felt his body stir and tighten, he had to wonder how he could be so furious with a woman and want her so badly all at the same damn time. Still grinding his teeth, he moved to the dresser, opened the top drawer and discovered there actually was a cure for lust.

“This? Really?” he asked, holding up the most hideous nightgown he’d ever seen.

She frowned. “And what’s wrong with it?”

Shaking his head, he gave her the fire-engine-red sleep shirt that was stamped with oversized, mustard-yellow flowers and hot pink ribbons.

“Other than the fact that it looks radioactive? Not a thing,” he mused. “It’s probably great birth control. One look at you in this thing and the guy in question runs for the hills.”

“Very funny.” She snatched it from him. “It was on sale.”

“For how many years?” It was the ugliest thing he’d ever seen and he blessed her for having it. Maybe the truly fugly nightgown would help him to not think about what was under it.

“I didn’t ask you to critique my wardrobe.”

“You could ask me to burn your wardrobe,” he offered. “Or at least that part of it.”

“Could you just—” She pushed one hand through her wild, wavy fall of red hair and pushed it back over her shoulder. “Never mind. I’ll do this myself. Just...go away.”

“Stop being so stubborn.” He wanted to get this over and done with. “I’ll help you with the nightgown, but I’ll close my eyes to protect my retinas.”

She glared at him. “Are you going to help me or just make snide comments?”

“I can do both. Who says men can’t multitask?”

“God, you’re irritating.”

“Nice that you noticed.”

He was noticing plenty himself. Too much. Such as the fact that she was trembling—and it wasn’t because she was cold, or even furious. She was feeling just what he was. That raw, nerve-scraping need that had pushed them into bed together in the first place. It was something he’d never found with anyone else. Something he’d told himself many times that he just wasn’t interested in. Apparently, though, his body had missed that memo.

Frustration practically wafted off her in waves and Colt told himself he really shouldn’t be enjoying giving her a hard time so much. But he was owed some payback, right? Besides, it kept his thoughts too busy to entertain other things.

“I changed my mind. I can get undressed myself.”

“No, you can’t. Not yet, anyway.” He stepped up in front of her and when she drew back, he said, “Relax, Penny. I’ve seen it before, remember?”

God knew he remembered. Every square inch of her body was burned into his brain, despite how often he had tried to erase it. “We’re both grownups, and believe it or not, I do have some self-control. I’m not going to jump a woman just out of the hospital.”

Probably.

She whipped her hair out of her eyes to look at him. “You wouldn’t be doing that anyway.”

“Is that right?” If she knew just how hard and tight his body was at the moment, she’d be sounding a lot less confident.

Meeting his gaze, she reminded him again, “You’re the one who walked away from me, Colt. So why would you want to go back there?”

Why indeed?

Because, damn it, he’d wanted to go back there ever since the moment he’d walked away from her in Vegas. Hell, it’s one reason he had walked away from her. She made him think too much. Feel too much.