Switched At Birth. Christine Rimmer

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СКАЧАТЬ “You’re both right. I’m an actress who played the part of Eliza. So no, I’m not really Eliza, but yes, I am the one Coco remembers from The Wild Swans.”

      “Told you so,” Coco gloated.

      “All right, you two,” Hunky Mr. Fixit said from the top of the steps. He’d taken off his tool belt and put on a T-shirt. Darn it. “What did I tell you about bothering the tenant?”

      Benjamin seemed hurt. “Uncle Sten, I tried to stop her!”

      Uncle Sten. Interesting. So the hot guy next door might not be married, after all?

      Or maybe the kids were cousins and only the little girl was his.

      “She waved at me!” cried Coco.

      The hunk came toward them, his lace-up work boots eliminating the distance in four long strides. Up close, he had the same amazing blue eyes as Coco. “I’m Sten Larson.” He offered Madison his big, manly hand.

      “Madison.” His hand was warm, dusted very lightly with dark hair—and rough in all the right places.

      “I know who you are.” He was so good-looking, with all that messy hair and those lips that made a woman think of kisses—kisses that start out slow, but then grow hot and wonderfully deep. “But you don’t have to worry.”

      Her brain seemed to have gone off-line at his touch. “Um, worry? Why would I worry?”

      He smiled then, a wry and beautiful smile. “I just mean that I’m sworn to secrecy concerning everything about you. I’ve even signed an NDA.”

      “Ah,” she replied, the sound absurdly husky. “I can trust you then?” Was she flirting? She needed to cut that out. He could definitely be married.

      “I’m not going to say a word to anyone,” he vowed. “And neither are the kids. I’ll make sure of that.”

      She still held his hand. They just looked at each other. The look went on for several seconds. Eventually, it became downright awkward. They let go simultaneously. “Really, it’s no big deal,” she said, trying really hard to control her totally out-there reactions to everything about this guy. “I waved at Coco. She recognized me from a Disney movie I did a few years back and she came running up to meet me.”

      “Yes!” crowed Coco with glee. “Princess Eliza is my most favoritest princess. She saved her brothers so they didn’t have to be swans anymore. There were eleven of them, those brothers, and the wicked stepmother turned them all into swans and made them fly far, far away and Eliza had to—”

      “Coco, settle down.” A frown lowered the corners of Sten’s distractingly kissable mouth. He seemed super cautious, the way people always did after they had it drilled it into them that Madison wanted privacy and she was not to be disturbed or to have attention drawn to her in any way.

      “The beach is deserted,” Madison said, feeling embarrassed at the rules she herself always insisted on. “I don’t see a problem.”

      For several more endless seconds, he just looked at her. Really, he could do that forever, just stand there with those gorgeous eyes focused on her. She felt something lovely and magic with him, no doubt about it. It was absolutely delicious, that hot little spark of mutual attraction.

      And for once, she was actually imagining acting on it.

      At last.

      But he just kept frowning. He turned to the kids. “All right you two, go on back to the house and check in with Grandpa.”

      Ben took Coco’s hand. The little girl allowed him to lead her to the stairs, but dug in her heels before following him down. Turning, she offered, “Eliza, you can come play with me at my house anytime!”

      I’ll be right there, Madison thought but didn’t say. It probably wouldn’t go over so well with Sten, who was watching her like he didn’t quite know what to make of her, the supposedly reclusive movie star who suddenly found his grade school-age niece—or daughter—fascinating. “Thanks.” She gave Coco a big smile.

      “Come on.” Ben pulled Coco on down the stairs.

      Sten took another step backward. “I’m really sorry about this. I’ll talk to the kids and their mom.” Their mom. So then neither of the children was his? “I’ll make sure they leave you alone and also that they understand not to tell people you’re in town.”

      “Coco and Ben can come visit me anytime.” The words were out of her mouth before she even realized she would say them—and now she had said them, she didn’t want to take them back. The two children were charming and sweet and why shouldn’t she get to know them a little?

      As for hunky Mr. Fixit, well, Madison had shared on-screen kisses with some of the best-looking men in the world. But there was something about this one, with his slightly scruffy haircut and those lean muscles he had from doing actual work. He was so...natural, so real.

      And definitely wary of her.

      And just possibly, married.

      She really needed to find out for sure if he was or he wasn’t. “Your kids are just too cute,” she said with a wide smile.

      He almost smiled back, one side of his mouth curling up reluctantly. “They’re my sister, Karin’s, kids.”

      She kept a straight face, though inside she was happy-dancing. “You all live together, right?”

      He nodded. “Bud, Karin’s husband, died in a fishing accident more than three years ago now.”

      Her silly glee that this hot guy was almost certainly single vanished. “I’m so sorry.”

      He raked his hand back through all that unruly hair. “Yeah. It was rough. Coco was just three at the time. They’re doing all right now, though. She and the kids moved in with Dad and me last summer. They’re all downstairs together—Karin, the kids and my father. I’ve got the second floor to myself. There’s plenty of room and my sister’s a great cook. Dad and I pitch in watching the kids. I’m one of those single guys who likes having family around, so overall, it works out pretty well.”

      One of those single guys...

      Yes! Inside, she fist-pumped like a crazy woman—seriously, what was she, twelve?

      In some ways, yes.

      She’d done a nude scene last year. Millions of people had seen her bare butt. But when it came to relationships in real life, Madison Delaney, America’s Darling, suffered from a serious case of arrested development.

      It was kind of sad. And not only that she knew nothing about men, IRL. But also, well, just imagining the house next door, with Sten and the kids, Sten’s sister and his dad, too...

      She envied them.

      To have family. To have a brother or a sister, nieces and nephews, and to have them close. She’d always wanted that—and maybe, when she finally got up the nerve to get in contact with the Bravos, she would have what she’d always wanted.

      After СКАЧАТЬ