Free His-And-Hers Twins by Rita Herron Page B

away. When he’d stopped by to talk to the day-care director, she’d encouraged him to watch the girls during the tea, thinking he might see some of August’s inappropriate behavior himself. Instead he’d watched the girls fawn all over Paige, and he’d seen her talking and laughing comfortably with them, as if she belonged right there at the mother-daughter tea. She’d even danced and sang to that silly song they’d performed, something his ex-wife would never have done. His daughters had loved it.
    Summer and August suddenly spied him and broke into a run, throwing themselves at his legs and wrappingtheir arms around him. “Daddy, daddy, what are you doing here?”
    He stroked their pigtails, his gaze still trapped by the elusive emotions in Paige’s dark green eyes. “I just stopped by to see if you two were okay.”
    Summer giggled. “We’ve been having fun.”
    August looked a little contrite from their earlier conversation. “But you’re not sposed to come to the mother tea. We’re having Doughnuts with Dad on Father’s Day.”
    Zeke laughed, shooting Paige a sideways glance as she said goodbye to the teachers and started toward the door.
    â€œI’ll come back for doughnuts,” Zeke promised.
    Paige’s sweet scent wafted toward him and he straightened his shoulders, every nerve cell in his body tingling with awareness as she approached.
    â€œHi,” she said softly.
    â€œHi.” He was acting like a tongue-tied idiot. He gazed into her eyes as if thirty kids weren’t running around behind them and his own two weren’t clinging to him, chattering mindlessly about their morning.
    â€œThanks for coming,” he finally said.
    â€œNo problem. It was fun.” Paige smiled as she hugged both girls, then said goodbye.
    â€œSee you later, Paige,” Summer and August yelled.
    Then Paige disappeared out the door, and Zeke thought he called goodbye, but he was so mesmerized by Paige’s sexy legs and the confusing feelings swirling inside him that he wasn’t sure he’d actually vocalized the words.
    Â 
    A LL AFTERNOON AS Paige waited on customers in the boutique, she tried to shove thoughts of the girls from her mind. They weren’t her responsibility and if she let herself become involved, she could get hurt. Besides,Zeke Blalock probably did have plans. He hadn’t invited her over—his children had. An attractive, single man with a respectable job most likely had women chasing him. Although the idea of Zeke in a serious relationship made her stomach sour. Probably all that icing she’d eaten, she finally decided.
    Still, as she drove home after work, bathed and dressed for her date for Amelia’s party, she kept peeking out her bedroom window. At six forty-five, when the Blalocks hadn’t arrived home, she chewed her thumbnail in worry. Her navy dress swished by her sides as she walked back and forth from the window to her mirror. She checked her appearance, forcing herself to remember she was a free woman. The people next door were not her business. She’d invested two years of her life in her relationship with Eric and Joey, and it had cost her a heartache that had cut to the bone. But Eric and Joey had been gone for months, and it was time she rejoined the dating scene.
    She strode to her closet, slid her feet into her navy pumps, checked herself in the mirror again. The strait-laced outfit made her look like an old biddy. She jerked the dress over her head, searched her closet for something more fashionable. The red dress. No, too loud. The purple, no it made her hips look huge. The dark blue linen skirt, hmm. The length was good; it would showcase her legs. And the straight skirt made her hips appear thinner. She chose an ivory shell top and pulled it on. Classy, but sexy. After all, Amelia had set her up with this guy. She didn’t want her friend to be