The Mistresses Collection. Оливия Гейтс

the covers, too. He scolded us at first but when he heard the noises, I swear I saw his hair stand on end.”

      A shiver raced over her skin. Bringing up her legs, she hugged her knees. “What did he do?”

      “What any father and husband would do in that kind of situation. He went to investigate. He was gone for what seemed like forever, and with every passing minute the sounds only swelled. That cock crowed again, nearer, louder. And the screeches seemed right there on top of us. The flapping of wings. Smells of a barnyard. A coop. I pulled the cover up over my head when an eerie clucking began.”

       “Clucking?”

      “Right then our father returned. He told us not to worry. He’d found the problem. It was only a bunch of poultry-geists.”

      She gaped and then glared at the same time Zack broke into a grin. Two beats later, she let out the breath she’d been holding on a growl and slapped his arm. “That was so not funny.”

      “Ah, I was only egging you on.”

      A small smile cracked even as her eyes narrowed more. “Don’t leave your day job.” Poultry-geists, indeed.

      “My older brothers have kids. When I go over they always want to hear that story. Entertainment I can do. Diaper duty I leave to the experts.”

      “Not daddy material?”

      “As I’m sure you’d already guessed.”

      She shifted to lie down, propping herself up on her side. She’d like to know more about his family.

      “How often do you see them?”

      “Not including Christmas, Easter, birthdays and other numerous family occasions? All the time. I don’t mind. They’re good kids. What does irritate is—” His jaw tensed and he cut himself off.

      She prodded. “What?”

      “It’s not important.”

      “I say it is.”

      He scrubbed his jaw. “Frankly I’m tired of hearing that I should settle down. Like it’s Regency times and—” he put on an Oxford accent “—every gentleman must find a suitable wife.”

      “Maybe they just want to see you happy?”

      His eyebrows knitted. “I don’t look happy?”

      “Happy in a nonbachelor way.” She put it out there. “Your family must feel like they’re in a revolving door the number of times they see you with a new woman hanging off your arm.”

      “Good thing it’s my life and not theirs.” He leaned back, latched his fingers behind his head again and stared off at some distant point past the ceiling. “Unless you weren’t aware, I’m content with my life just the way it is. What about you?”

      “I’m busy, settled and happy with my job.”

      “And unattached after that breakup.”

      “Definitely unattached.”

      “But I’m guessing you’d want to tie a knot sometime…have children someday. You have a knack with babies.”

      Her heart dropped an inch and she looked into the fire. When she felt his expression sharpen, she explained. “I like children. Babies.”

      “That’s kind of obvious.”

      Her cheeks began to burn, but she shouldn’t feel awkward. Zack had his life and she had hers.

      “Thing is,” she said. “I don’t have family to fall back on, and sometimes both a mother and father drop out of the picture, for one reason or another. I have friends,” she went on. “Good friends. But no one I’d trust enough with a child of my own if something, you know, ever happened. And I have nothing against adoption. Heck, I would’ve loved to have been adopted by a loving family. And, when it’s needed, I can’t slight good foster care.” She took a breath. “Life is about choices. I’ve chosen not to go down that having-my-own-children path.”

      Trinity took a breath and looked from the bed of flickering flames back to Zack.

      A crease forming between his brows, he shifted and lay down on his side, too. Propped up on an arm, he set his jaw in the cup of that palm. After a curious moment of his intense gaze skewering hers, she shifted, too, and frowned.

      “You mean not get married, have children?” he asked. “I thought you sacked the boyfriend because he didn’t approve of kids?”

      “That’s right. He didn’t approve of them at all. I mean, you might not want to be a father, but you like your nieces and nephews, don’t you? You like this baby?”

      “She can be noisy and smelly and has caused me a ton of worry. But sure I like her.” He slanted his head and then nodded. “Who wouldn’t?”

      “I might not plan to have any of my own, but I couldn’t spend my life with someone who thinks kids are a waste of space.”

      His lips twitched. “Bet he didn’t like puppies, either.”

      “Or kittens.”

      Zack was kind enough to smile softly. “You were right to ditch him.” Then he shifted and changed the subject. “What about your professional life?” he asked. “What are you working toward?”

      “One day I hope to be the editor in chief of the biggest, glossiest magazine around. Basically world domination in my field.” She added, “While staying clear of men who tell bad chicken jokes.”

      “No getting away from me tonight.”

      She put on a sigh. “Guess I’ll suffer for a good cause.”

      The tease in his eyes gradually took on a vaguely different light at the same time the quirk lifting one side of his mouth faded away and a different awareness began to ripple between them. The crackle from the fire sounded louder, the rise and fall of his chest became deeper. Pumping in and out of the light, the pulse at the side of his throat throbbed faster and, entranced, her body responded to it all.

      Her breasts came alive, swelling, heating. Low inside, a delicious ache flowered and grew. She watched his lips part slightly, saw his eyes darken more, then he reached out and a hot fingertip trailed her jaw. That delicious ache spread south—a sweet, raw burn.

      When he brushed back hair fallen over her face and his hot palm stayed to cup her cheek, all the oxygen in the room disappeared. Suddenly heavy, her eyelids drifted shut as her body—her very essence—gravitated unerringly toward his. With the lights out, with this extraordinary man she barely knew, everything felt so unreal. So…imminent. She didn’t want to think about who he really was. That before today she would have given him less than the time of day. At this moment, he truly was irresistible.

      “Your hair,” he said in a deep, drugging voice. “A wave came loose from its tie.”

      “Oh.” She breathed in. Out. Then the words just slipped past her lips and she said it. “I thought you might’ve wanted to kiss me.”

      That pulse in his throat beat twice as hard and, while she held her breath, he blinked slowly once. “Actually I’ve wanted to do that all night.” He leaned across and his mouth grazed hers, first slowly one way then the other. “Trouble is,” he murmured, “if I kiss you now, I won’t want to stop.”

      She quivered to her pom-pom-topped toes and clapped a hand over her scruples’ eyes.

       Who said anything about stopping?

      But then her thoughts slid back to what had brought them here in the first place. “What about the baby?”

      “You’re right,” he agreed even as his lidded eyes drifted shut. He leaned that inch closer and his mouth feathered over hers again. “We should think of our responsibilities.”

      But