He had said he wanted to get to know her better, and he’d been doing that. He’d seemed to accept that her children were part of the package, and that was what she’d told him she wanted. She hadn’t wanted him to pressure her physically, and he hadn’t. And now that she did want him to make a move, he finally had.
So, what the hell?
“They’re fine without me,” Heath said.
“Who?”
“My employees,” he answered with a slight grin curving up one side of his sexy lips. “You were concerned about them.”
“Right, I was.”
“They’re fine, I assure you. I was hoping that we could spend a little bit of time together tonight,” Heath said. He put his hand on her knee.
Sylvie instantly felt a rush of warmth run through her body. She looked down at her hands and saw they were locked together. When did that happen? She pulled them apart and forced herself to relax. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.
“Erm … look, I haven’t … umm … I had the babies and … well … it’s been a long time and …?” God, this was so embarrassing, Sylvie thought.
She was terribly attracted to Heath, but she was a mom now. Her body had changed in many ways since she’d last been with Heath. Her breasts were fuller, as was the roundness of her hips. She was insecure in a way that she’d never been.
But then she didn’t have to think anymore because Heath took over for her. He lifted her chin and met her gaze. What she saw in his eyes made her tremble, and when he reached for her and pulled her into his lap, she didn’t fight against it.
She balanced on his knee as he grazed her jawline with a feather touch. This was the first time they’d had such intimate contact since he’d shown up on her doorstep. He’d been so proper and respectful. A reserved gentleman.
Tonight, though, that reserve was gone. Tonight, something was going to happen, and his eyes promised it would be wild and wonderful. She tingled all over.
Then someone pounded on her door.
Sylvie started and Heath cursed.
“Don’t answer,” Heath said. “They’ll go away.”
The pounding got louder.
Sylvie leapt off Heath’s lap and headed to the door. “Dammit. They’re going to wake the boys.”
“Oh, yeah, the boys,” Heath muttered.
Sylvie rushed to the door and pulled it open. Her brother Will stood there with his hand up, ready to knock some more. His girlfriend, Zilla, was behind him.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“I need to talk to you … now.” Will’s expression told her that whatever it was, it was serious.
Zilla was bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Sylvie glanced back at Heath. He’d gotten up to inspect who it was at the door.
“I need to talk to you alone,” Will clarified as soon as he saw Heath.
She didn’t want Heath to go. She knew that if he had kissed her, it would have just been the beginning. God knows all she had been thinking about for days was being with him. But Will looked really serious, and he wasn’t one to make drama without cause.
“That’s okay, I was just leaving,” Heath said, taking the decision out of her hands.
He nodded at Will and Zilla then gave Sylvie a small smile. “See you tomorrow?”
She nodded at him. “Absolutely.”
And then he was gone.
Chapter Seventeen
SYLVIE MOTIONED FOR WILL ’N ZILLA to come in. Will rolled his eyes.
Everyone called them Will ’?n Zilla, which Zilla loved. Sylvie’s brother, however, claimed to hate it. Sylvie believed he secretly loved it as much as his girlfriend did.
Sylvie hit Will on the arm as he passed her. Hard.
“You could have woken the babies,” she hissed. “You know better than to pound like that.”
Really, she was more frustrated about the fact that her body hummed for something only Heath could offer. Now Heath was gone for the night and that spelled another night spent alone and unsatisfied.
“Ow!” Will complained before dropping into an overstuffed armchair. “I forgot.”
“You forgot about your nephews?” Sylvie gently closed the door then stomped over to the couch. “You ever wake them up and I’ll make the two of you get them back to sleep. Trust me, you don’t want that duty.”
“Quit bitching. I don’t hear any yelling so they must be fine. Anyway, I have to talk to you about something. It couldn’t wait,” Will said.
Zilla perched on the edge of the couch cushion and fidgeted with her hands as she looked anxiously at Will. Sylvie wondered what the heck was going on.
“What is it?” Sylvie asked. “What is so important that you two had to barge in here and couldn’t even bother with a phone call instead?”
“Did we interrupt a romantic interlude? If the action isn’t happening, it might be because of your wardrobe.” Will looked pointedly at her faded jeans and t-shirt. “Folks have been talking about how they’ve seen you around with that guy everywhere lately. Heath was his name, right? I thought you said he was just a friend.”
“He is,” Sylvie replied. So far, that was true. Nothing else had happened between them. She could feel a migraine coming on. She didn’t want to get into it with her brother and his girlfriend.
She knew as soon as she told anyone anything it would be all over town anyways. As long as she said that she and Heath were just friends, she hoped that she could avoid most of the idle chitchat.
Of course, gossips would gossip no matter what, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Momma sure wasn’t happy about Heath’s appearance in Sylvie’s life. In fact, Momma had taken it upon herself to call Sylvie at least once a day to remind her that she was supposed to be spending time with Alan, the father of her children.
Momma rarely hid her opinions, and on the topic of Heath, she believed Sylvie shouldn’t be wasting her time on tomfoolery with some man that was going to disappear as soon as he got in her pants.
Sylvie’s cheeks flushed whenever she thought about the conversation. She was almost thirty years old. She was a mother, so clearly she had had sex at least once. And yet the warnings from her mother made her feel like she was sixteen years old all over again.
And now here was her brother, her younger brother, grilling her about Heath. It was ridiculous.
“Leave me alone about him,” she told Will. “It’s none of your business, little brother. If that’s what you came here to talk about, then —?”
“I thought you said that Alan was the twins’ father.” Will crossed his arms over his chest.
Sylvie was thrown by the abrupt change. “Yeah. Wait. No. What?”
“I couldn’t stand watching you working yourself to the bone while that jackass tooled around town in his new car with his new girlfriend and not paying a dime of child support. It wasn’t right,” Will said, chest puffing out with indignation.
Uneasiness rolled through her. “I don’t know why we’re talking about this. What’s going on?”
“If Alan isn’t the father, then who else would it be?” Will glared at her defiantly.
Zilla was wisely keeping quiet, looking everywhere but at them, clearly trying to avoid involvement in the conversation.
“Perhaps you should start at the beginning,” Sylvie said. “I don’t know why you barged in here, and I don’t care. If all you’re going to do is just regurgitate the same old stuff and berate me for not going after Alan for child support, then you’re wasting everyone’s time. It’s getting late, and I’m tired.”
Will spoke with a tone that combined accusation with triumph. “Yeah, I guess you would say that considering Alan isn’t the father.”
The world went a little hazy along the edges. Sylvie’s mouth went dry and it was hard to swallow. “Why do you say that?”
“I’m your brother and I’ve been worried about you. I’ve also worried about my nephews, no matter what you think. I’
ve watched you struggle to get enough money to make sure you can support them right. I know you’re going to say everybody’s helping you, and you’re doing just fine, but I was talking to Esther at the electrical co-op a few weeks ago, and she told me you’ve been late paying your bill every month for the last six months.”
Sylvie put her hand over her face. She had been doing her best, and she had paid the bills, albeit a little late. Now she knew that everybody was gossiping that she couldn’t make ends meet. She cursed silently to herself. “Esther should respect her customers’ privacy. My bills are my own business.” She couldn’t believe it.
“I knew if I asked you about it, you’d tell me to back off. You can’t blame me for being concerned. So I decided that it was time that Alan started paying his fair share.”
Sylvie realized that this train of logic was going in a bad direction, and she was terrified. “What did you do?”
Zilla stood up. Sylvie sensed that she wanted to play the part of the peacemaker.
“It wasn’t a big deal, Sylvie. You shouldn’t blame Will. It was my idea, and it was actually really easy. We just needed to get a little bit of Alan’s DNA to have it tested.”