Daddy on Demand / Déjà You: Daddy on Demand / Déjà You. Lynda Sandoval

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СКАЧАТЬ happened. Sabrina gestured down the hallway where the happy sounds continued. “Don’t you want to come and see their room? I want to take your picture in there and then have it blown up into poster size so that the girls will feel you’re not so far away.”

      Cass wrinkled her nose. “Darn it all—I wanted him to have at least kissed you by now. You must really have him conflicted.”

      Conditions were no easier for her. But what was saving Sabrina some wear on her nerves was the certainty that if she behaved like every other woman he’d known—like the proverbial moth to the flame—she was the one who would be reduced to ashes.

      She picked up a pink suitcase with purple piping. “Come see what the fuss is all about. We added a few things since we got to visit with you.”

      An hour later Collin watched Cass say a difficult goodbye to the girls, rise from her knees to hug Sabrina as one would a sister and stride toward him where he waited by the elevator. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and urged her to lean on him, even though that made his eyes burn worse and made the lump lodging in his throat all but strangle him.

      Only when the elevator doors closed them in the car was he able to mutter, “Well, this sucks even more than I expected it to. You should have flown up. It’s too many miles back to the base with no chatterboxes in the backseat to keep you alert.”

      “I’ve got an audiobook to play. It will be novel to indulge in adult fiction for a change instead of reading manuals and course studies, or kiddie books.” But her expression looked anything but enthused about that. “I wish you’d have just given me a hug up there and let me be gone.”

      “I want to see you to your SUV.”

      “You’re not going to make me cry.”

      Not only did Collin do that, but he also pressed his lips to her temple. “If you do something stupid and brave and get hurt, I will never forgive you.”

      “I’m shaking in my boots.”

      “You damn well should be.”

      Cassidy stepped back and studied his face. “I know you’ll take care of my babies, but I hope you’ll take care of this, too.” She pressed her hand flat against his heart.

      “I’m trying.”

      “Now see—it’s comments like that which worry me. I love you, English.”

      “Me, you, Captain.”

      When he returned to the condo and locked the door, he experienced such a wave of weakness and loss that he had to lean back against it to stay standing. His heart had just dropped into one of the dark places in his soul.

      “Collin?”

      He didn’t realize Sabrina had been in the kitchen and had heard him return. Seeing him frozen there against the door, she came to him, her eyes radiating her concern. And then she did exactly what Cass had done, placed her hand flat against his heart and he stiffened and sucked in a sharp breath. It literally hurt, as though she’d reached into his body and physically touched that organ.

      He couldn’t bear the raw, naked emotion of need. Despite weeks of iron will and brutal lectures to keep his hands to himself, he crushed her against him and hid his face in the fragrance and silkiness of her hair.

      Sabrina gently eased her trapped arms free from between them and wrapped them around his waist. Slowly, she stroked his lean, too tense back. “She’ll be all right,” she whispered to him.

      “You can’t know that.”

      “But I feel it.”

      “How, when this is so wrong on every level?”

      The more gravelly and bitter his voice grew, the softer and more tender hers became.

      “There’s just an inner peace.”

      “Peace.” He exhaled shakily and stroked his cheek against her hair. “I don’t know the meaning of the word anymore. I don’t know that I ever did.” He swallowed painfully. “Thank you for being here…for doing this. I couldn’t—”

      “Shh.” She stroked his cheek and then brushed a kiss there. “You don’t have to.”

      He gravitated to the source of that sweet caress until his lips were aligned with hers. “Oh, yes, I do,” he rasped and feathered a kiss to her lower lip. “Yes, I do,” he murmured again as he repeated the caress to the right corner of her mouth, then the left. Shifting his hold to frame her face between his hands, he looked deeply into her eyes, then focused on her lips again. “Yes.”

      He kissed her as he had in a dream, with tenderness and care, and sighed with relief when she opened to him. She was his link to sanity and his soul and he cherished the gift of her. When his tongue touched hers, she murmured softly and let herself lean against him.

      “Bwina…I gotta go potty.”

      It was Sabrina who eased back and called down the hall, “I’ll be right there.” Then she looked at Collin and asked softly, “Are you okay?”

      He could only offer a barely perceptible nod, and then she was off to help Gena. What had just happened? he wondered. He felt as though he’d been in one of those out-of-body experiences.

      “I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay again,” he finally replied to the empty room.

      By the time he felt in control of himself again, the giggle and chatter level was going strong in the girls’ bedroom. Collin noted that Sabrina’s voice came across as excited as his nieces’ did. She was attempting—and succeeding—in getting their focus off of their mother’s departure, at least temporarily.

      At the doorway of their room, he saw that the grand unpacking had commenced. Dolls and stuffed animals were already strewn about. Clothing was being put away; however, some modeling appeared to be necessary.

      “These are my favorite shoes,” declared Gena hugging ultrashiny patent leathers to her pink-and-glitter sweatshirt.

      Collin compressed his lips to hide the smile as “are” came out “aw” and “favorite” sounded suspiciously as “faborite.”

      “They’re beautiful,” Sabrina cooed. “They’re so shiny. Who keeps them that clean for you?”

      “Mommy. But she teaching me.”

      “Then you can teach me so we can make Mommy proud when she gets back and sees that they’re still in good shape, okay?”

      “I will. I teach Addie all the time.”

      “Which are your favorites, Addie?”

      “My sneakers.” But Addison was more interested in the giant polar bear that she had dragged from the far corner of the room and was attempting to sit in its lap. “Is this yours?”

      “No, it’s yours. Everything here is for you girls from your Uncle Collin. He’s very happy to have you visiting with him for awhile.”

      “Addie,” Gena explained, all solemnity, СКАЧАТЬ