Free Eve Langlais by The Hunter Page A

feet impatiently as they waited for Hunter and her to catch up.
    Holding their hands tightly, they crossed. The park came in sight up ahead, and the twins’
    enthusiasm at its sight was contagious. With a laugh at Hunter stuck dragging the wagon, Suzie sprinted with the twins toward the swings.
    When he finally arrived, the twins were soaring on the swings, powered by Mommy pushes.
    “Hunta!” screamed Jared. “Wook at me!”
    “Me too!” squealed Jessica. “I go high!”
    To the twins’ vast amusement, Hunter stood in front of them and pretended to be hit by their flying feet. Falling to the ground and getting up with a mock growl, the children howled and kicked their feet at him. He pretended to lunge at them, and when their little feet hit his chest, went rolling backward in the grass. Suzie laughed. She’d never seen a grown man go through such antics to amuse children.
    As is the case with all young children, though, this game lasted only for about fifteen minutes before they were off the swings and racing for the slides.
    Suzie and Hunter wandered over to a bench in the shade and watched them play.
    “You’ve got really nice children.”
    “Yup,” replied Suzie smugly. Hey, when it came to kids, hers were the best!
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    “It’s funny. I’d never really hung out with little ones and stuff before. Never realized how much fun it could be.”
    “It’s great most of the time. Scary sometimes, though, too. Like when they run high fevers in the middle of the night or when they decide to play hide and seek, but don’t tell you first. And then there are the times they drive you mad whining and bickering. But all in all, I have to say, being a parent is hugely rewarding. Nothing beats hearing that first word. Or the first time they walk.” Suzie looked at him sideways. “You planning to have kids some day?”
    “Hadn’t really thought about it before, but now, having met yours, I have to say, I’d like at least a half dozen.”
    Suzie looked at him with her jaw hanging open. “Are you insane? Six kids!” Suzie started howling with laughter.
    “What’s wrong with six kids?” Hunter asked defensively.
    “Well, first of all, you need to find a woman crazy enough to go through childbirth that many times.
    Let me tell you, pregnancy is not a bed of roses. Then there’s the cost of raising that many kids. Not to mention your sanity.”
    “Okay, so maybe just a couple, to start with,” he said with that endearingly cocky grin of his, eyes dark with some emotion she couldn’t identify. Once again, as if he were the sun and she a flower, she found herself leaning toward him and . . .
    “Hunta, where the fwogs?”
    They pulled apart guiltily as Jared came flying up to them.
    “Ready to catch some frogs, little buddy?” Hunter asked.
    Jared bobbed his head eagerly. A hilarious, but successful frog hunt ensued with the handsome Hunter wading in murky pond water, jeans rolled up to mid calf. Watching him with the twins, crouched down to their level, holding a slimy frog for them to pet, Suzie felt her heart bursting. Is this what it would feel like to be a real family with a daddy? Maybe she shouldn’t dismiss Hunter as a possibility. But what if he turned out to be a jerk? Could she afford to allow her children’s hearts to be broken? And what about my own heart?
    She had no time to ponder this thought further as her hungry frog catchers came running up to her, demanding food. Laying out the lunch items and watching the twins’ tousled hair and animated faces, she knew she had a lot more thinking to do.
    Hunter and the kids tore into their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with relish. Suzie stuck to her ham and cheese. Grown up food , she thought with a grin. Watching Hunter and the kids fool around, trying to talk with peanut butter tongues, she wondered how a man who’d never been around children could get down to their level so easily. He acted like an overgrown kid, himself. And the kids loved