Chapter Two
Penny
The handsome man who’d called out to her still stood on the lawn. Penny paused in the door beside Katrina and turned back to him. While social conventions told her not to trust strange men that came up to her like that, Penny had a strong gut instinct. It was the only reason she could get away with having as many one-night-stands as she had. This guy gave off serious bad-boy vibes but not dangerous ones.
“Sorry about that,” she said, meeting his eyes. “I’ll be back out in a minute if you want to wait.”
He jumped and turned his gaze back to her, then nodded.
Katrina closed the door behind them. She followed Penny to the spare room next to Hazel’s and gestured helplessly at the now sleeping baby Alex. “Your kid hates me.”
Penny bent over the cradle and brought a blanket over Alex’s feet. “No, he’s just a little grumpy pants when he’s tired. The twins love you.”
Lisa and Mark stared through the bars of their crib, both sucking their thumbs. At eighteen months, they were just starting to learn how to toddle about. Neither was steady on their feet, but both were in that stage where they would start screaming if Penny tried to carry them rather than helping them walk. Luckily, they were pretty good otherwise.
Three kids under the age of two. Penny never thought she’d be one of the girls that her parents always warned her about.
“You going to be alright here by yourself? I have a few errands to run.” Katrina had become Penny’s official nanny after Kat had decided to quit her job five months ago.
Penny didn’t know what she’d do without her. She laughed. “I don’t need you every minute, Kat. But if you’re going out, can you pick me up some peanut M&Ms?”
“Sure thing. Oh… and don’t let that guy into the house, okay? I know you’re Miss “Gotta help everybody”, but I don’t want to come home to your murdered body, mm’kay?”
Penny rolled her eyes. “He’s not going to murder me. But if you’re really that concerned, fine. If he’s still around, I won’t let him in the house.”
Katrina pointed at her. “I’ll hold you to that.”
The twins started to pull themselves to their feet and fuss, so Penny picked them up, one on each hip, and headed for the door with Katrina. The man was still out there, looking awkward and unsure with his hands in his pockets. He turned his face away when Katrina passed by him, then glanced up at Penny.
“Sorry for bothering you. I was just hoping I could use your phone. My battery died, and I’m a bit lost.”
Penny resisted the urge to openly gape at his strong, triangle-shaped torso. Even with the heavy coat he wore, she could tell that he’d have a rock-hard body. She always had a thing for men in construction. She came down the porch steps and set the twins down on the wide lawn, then pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to him.
“It’s a pretty hot day out here,” she said, letting her fingers linger as she handed over the phone. His fingers stroked hers, more than was necessary.
“Hot? It’s freezing.” His gaze trailed down her as though she was wearing a negligee rather than old gardening clothes. “’Course, there are some things that are hot about it.”
He looked up at her and winked.
Heat rushed to Penny’s face as her smile widened. Some actual reaction that wasn’t polite disinterest? This she liked. It was a long time since a man had tried a corny pickup line on her. “Oh really? I think that’s called the sun.”
“Sun’s got nothing to do with it.”
She hadn’t been able to go out at all since before Alex was born. While Katrina was more than willing to watch the twins, the last seven months of her pregnancy had been terrible. She was sick all the time, and now, after Alex was born, she was too tired. She was just starting to get her energy back.
Now, any flirting at all was welcome. She needed the practice.
“So,” she said, crouching down to stop Lisa from putting grass into her mouth, “what brings you here? You said you were lost. Where were you trying to go? Maybe I can help you out.”
With a low chuckle, he knelt on the grass as well and ruffled Mark’s hair. “Well, I was looking to meet a realtor in this area. Looking to buy a house, since everything’s going so good for me. But, you know what? I can’t even remember her number. You can have this back, guess I can’t really use it.”
He handed her phone back and shrugged. Disappointment hit her as he straightened again. He was just going to leave? Was it because of the twins? Sure, nothing could happen when she had two little kids to look after, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t arrange to meet again or something. Penny took the phone and cast about for any excuse to keep him around. Her gaze dropped to his shoes, heavy winter boots, and she threw out a desperate line.
“Really? You’re dressed for the middle of winter? I mean, you don’t need all that if you want to be hot.”
The stranger stared at her for a moment, then threw back his head and started to laugh. He plopped down and shook his head. “That wasn’t a very good line.”
Penny blushed as Lisa grabbed a handful of the stranger’s coat and pulled herself up.
“My name is Will, by the way.”
She peered at him for a moment. He didn’t look like a Will. There was something incredibly familiar about him… “Have we met before?”
“Why, do I have one of those faces?” Will shot her a grin.
Penny ran her hands through Mark’s hair. “No. I just don’t have good facial recognition. I mean, one time my mom cut her hair, and it took me two days to start recognizing her when I was looking for her in stores and stuff. I’m just really bad with faces.”
Will arched a brow and shrugged. “Well, I’ve seen you around,” he admitted. “Like I said, I’m looking for a house in the area. We’ve never talked, but every time I see you I can’t help but think… damn.”
“Really?” Something about his story didn’t sit right. She narrowed her eyes at him. “And where is this house you’re thinking of buying? I haven’t seen any signs?”
“Over in Petunia Crescent. The owner hasn’t officially listed yet. They apparently don’t want to get into all of the trouble of it until they’ve already found a buyer. My realtor’s their sister or maybe niece. It wasn’t really clear.” He grinned broadly as he helped Lisa stand with one finger, and when Mark reached for him, he held a hand out for him, too.
That unease in her gut disappeared, seeing how relaxed and happy he was even with this little exchange. “Do you have any kids, Will?”
Will shook his head. “No. I’ve never been in a position to have them. Can’t wait to be a dad one day, though. When my baby sister was young I’d take care of her a lot. There’s nothing quite like successfully getting a baby to sleep in your arms, is there?”
“No,” Penny agreed. “There isn’t. Especially if they’d been screaming for the past two hours and you had no idea why.”
“Oh, I know what that’s like.” Will laughed. “So… you got a husband? Or was that lady I saw leaving your wife?”
“No to both. No significant other of any gender for me.”
Will’s eyes lit up. “Good news for me. That means I can safely ask you out some time. Like maybe tonight?”
“Tonight? That might be pushing it a bit fast.” Katrina was flexible when Penny needed her to watch the kids on short notice, but that was usually for work… Not that Penny usually worked right now, as she was on maternity leave. “Tell you what, you give me your number, and I’ll talk with my nanny.”
“Nanny?” Will repeated.
There was something in his tone. Surprise. Almost a hint of disapproval. Penny bristled on instinct. “I’m a single mom with three babies. If I didn’t have a nanny, I wouldn’t be able to give them the amount of care they deserve. Not to mention I’d go crazy.”
Will blushed a little as he ducked his head. “Sorry. It’s just that my mother… well, she didn’t want anything to do with me, so I ended up with nannies who were mostly just after my father’s position… in his company.”
That was an obvious lie. Not the part about the nannies but the part about the company. Penny frowned. Why would he find it necessary to lie about something like that? A flash of what looked like pain ran over his face before it smoothed out entirely. He gave her a smile that was all charm and no substance before gently moving the twins’ hands to hers.
“I can give you my number if you want.”
Penny nodded, even though she wasn’t certain it would go anywhere now. He’d been lying a little too often for her to be fully comfortable. She didn’t think he was dangerous, but a full-on date was more than just a single night. There were possible commitments looming behind that. Still, she wasn’t the kind of girl to turn down a hot guy’s number just because of a couple of small lies.
“Yeah. That would be nice.”
He smiled at her again, and she started to reach for her phone when a car screeched to a stop. Thonis, the dragon that often hung around and who Penny thought was kind of a bodyguard to the girls since the knowledge of dragons had been revealed to the world, jumped out of the car. His dark skin was covered in glittering scales as he charged toward them.
Will sprang to his feet and backed away from Penny and the twins. “Thonis, there are children here. Let’s not make this violent.”
Thonis planted himself between her and Will. “No, let’s not. So you will come in quietly. No fuss, no—”
“No.”
Penny pulled the twins into her arms and stood, despite how awkward it was. She took a few steps toward the house. “What’s going on here?”
“Go in the house, Penny.” Thonis’ voice was tense, his muscles bunched. “I’ll deal with this.”
Will snorted. His lip curled back from his teeth. “Oh, I’m sure you will.”
The change in demeanor frightened her. The twins could also sense it and started whimpering. Holding them as tight as she could, she raced to the house. There was no way she could open the door without letting go of one of them, though, so she hunched behind the porch railing and watched with wide eyes.