Darius was standing in the hallway.
“Crap.” Her heart slammed in her chest, then she slammed the door.
She’d come home at the end of her shift at 6:30 this morning and hadn’t bothered to take a shower or even look at herself in the mirror. Amy looked down at her bare feet and the old pair of jeans and tee shirt she was wearing.
Another knock. She opened the door.
“What did you say?”
“I said… uh, glad. I’m glad to see you.” She wrinkled her nose and went into his arms. He kissed her deeply. She ended it as she gestured for him to go inside the apartment with a toss of her head. “The beasties are getting ready for school.”
He looked amused. He also looked damn good in his khakis and a black sweater. He smelled good, too, she decided, breathing in his spicy cologne. His hair was still wet, and he had a close shave.
She kissed his neck, but she had to stop herself before she got carried away. “What are you doing here? We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.”
“I think Zack and Kaitlyn missed the school bus.” He pointed to the street.
“Shoot.” She looked at her watch. “Yes, they did. We’ve been having a little trouble this morning. Zack? Kaitlyn?” She started to walk toward the bedrooms. Darius followed her in.
She peered into the living room. It was reasonably neat. On weekends, she tried to present the best of them to him, but Amy guessed a small dose of family reality wasn’t a bad thing. And this wasn’t too bad.
She knocked on the bathroom door again.
“Zack, you can’t stay in there all day.”
She had to change, too. Look in the mirror, at least. Do something to tame her wild hair.
Amy turned around. “I have to drive them to school.” Darius was right behind her.
“Can I drive the three of you? Then, maybe you’ll let me take you out for breakfast.”
The twins must have heard his voice because they both tumbled out to greet him. Feeling a rush of emotion, Amy took the chance to escape to her bedroom to hide it. It was terrifying how much he already meant to them. And to her.
She almost died at the sight of her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was flattened in places from the hardhat, while the rest of the curls stood out in every which way. Zack’s hair looked normal compared to hers. She had pancake batter on her shirt. Her face was pale from working third shift and not getting enough sleep. She looked at the clock. There wasn’t enough time to take a shower.
Amy grabbed a sweater out of her closet and pulled it over her head. She tried tying her hair back with a scrunchy, but the curls wouldn’t be contained. She gave up that struggle, put on some lipstick, grabbed a pair of socks, and walked out.
Kaitlyn had a clog on one foot and a black boot on the other, and she was asking Darius’s opinion as to which looked better. He was standing and looking very seriously at the little girl.
Kaitlyn beamed up at seeing her mother. “Darius says the white socks and the blue clogs look good.”
“That’s ‘Commander McCann’ to you,” Amy corrected. “And I think I told you the same thing, thank you.”
“White socks it is, then,” the seven-year-old smiled at Darius before going into her bedroom.
Amy turned to face Darius. “Where is Zack?”
“Back in the bathroom,” he smiled.
“I’m sorry. You haven’t seen us like this. This isn’t really the norm. It’s just that I got out of work a little early and tried to do a bit too much in the breakfast department this morning, and I think they’re already on a sugar high with the chocolate chip pancakes I fed them and—”
He leaned down and kissed her. It was just a gentle brush of the lips, but Amy felt a delicious twist of desire in her middle. She could have just melted against him, but her gaze shifted to the clock on the wall.
“Zack! You have to get out of there now.”
The mother’s voice worked. The bathroom door immediately opened and the boy stepped out. He’d brushed his hair straight down, and it now had formed itself around his small face like a helmet.
“What do you think?” he asked Darius, who discreetly cocked an eyebrow.
“You’re getting a haircut this afternoon,” Amy warned.
He started heading back into the bathroom, but Amy got there first. With a wet hand towel and some serious bribing, she had him fireproofed and ready for school in two minutes.
Zack, though, was too excited to tell Darius about the latest his friends were saying about Wario Ware.
Another five minutes, and she had everyone out of the apartment. The twins went down the stairs ahead of them, bickering the entire time.
“Are you sure you don’t mind driving?” she asked again.
“I’ve been insisting on it,” he reminded her, his hand lingering around her waist.
Amy felt a rush of sensations, already thinking that after dropping the twins off, they could go back to her apartment. Six hours. They’d have six hours to do whatever they wanted. She looked at Darius, and their eyes locked for a moment. Then Kaitlyn pushed the outside door open, and Amy welcomed the blast of cold air against her flushed skin.
“By the way, how did you get in the building?”
“Barbara let me in. She was going out when I was coming in.”
They walked toward the parking lot and to his black Volvo sedan.
“Is Darius staying for dinner?” Kaitlyn asked in what was meant to be a hushed voice.
Amy looked at him and was thrilled to see the nod. “Yes, Commander McCann will stay for dinner.”
“Can Darius sleep over?” Zack asked much less tactfully.
“We’re not talking about this now.”
The twins climbed in, but Amy saw Darius’s face over the roof of the car. He was mouthing Please.
She was in serious trouble.
The elementary school was only five minutes away. Darius stayed in the car while Amy walked her children in.
“I am so glad he came early,” Zack announced when they were away from the car.
“Me, too,” Kaitlyn said, turning around and giving another wave to Darius.
“I’m more glad,” Zack insisted.
Thankfully, Kaitlyn wasn’t feeling up to the challenge.
“But he’s in the navy… like Daddy, isn’t he?” the little girl asked.
“Yes, he is,” Amy replied as they crossed the sidewalk.
“Does that mean he’ll have to go away for a long, long time, like Daddy?”
The three of them had reached the main entrance to the school. The twins looked up at her expectantly. She wished she could answer them.
“I don’t know, honey, but I’ll find out.”
They both gave her a hug, and she watched them enter the school. Their last words weighed heavy on her heart. Could she do this to them again?
Who was she fooling? Darius probably wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship. She wasn’t sure that she and her family even knew how to take a road half way.
A bittersweet feeling dogged Amy as she made her way back to the car.
“Everything okay?” he asked when she got in.
Amy stared straight ahead. This was as good a time as any to do it. She could force herself to forget what they had between them. She had to.
“We need to talk,” she said quietly.
“I agree,” he answered. “Your apartment?”
“No.” She shook her head. “Not your house, either. Someplace where we can only talk.”
Darius nodded and drove out of the school parking lot. Neither said anything more until he pulled into the empty lot of a strip mall a couple of miles down the road. He parked by the edge of some trees.
“Amy?” He touched her cheek.
She turned to tell him the truth, but his mouth was right there. Before she knew it, she was kissing him. Then she broke off the kiss.