His Best Friend's Wife (Bachelor Best Friends 2)

Disentangled from the tunnel, the twins ran toward them. “Want to play air hockey with me, Evan?” Daniel asked. Though Renae had initially suggested that the kids should call him Mr. Daugherty, Evan had urged them to use his first name instead. “I’m pretty good.”

“Sure,” he said, making a mental note to let the kid win. “Show me your skills.”

The kid slaughtered him. Rather than generously throwing the game, Evan had to make an effort just to score a couple of points. He blamed it on the many distractions around him. Besides which, the kid was fast.

“That’s okay, Evan,” Leslie consoled him afterward. “Daniel always wins air hockey. You should play Skee-Ball with him. He’s not as good at that.”

Evan and Renae exchanged an amused glance over the girl’s head.

They played Skee-Ball. And video games and Whac-A-Mole and a couple of other games he couldn’t identify. He was nearly mowed down a couple of times by oblivious kids, and had pizza sauce smeared down the leg of his jeans by a runaway toddler. His head was starting to hurt.

Renae was different with the kids. He’d figured she would be, but still he found the changes striking. Even when she was talking to Evan, her attention was focused on her kids. She knew where they were and what they were doing at all times, and she had a way of communicating with them without words, letting them know when to settle down or be more careful, stopping a couple of potential quarrels with only a stern look. She cheered them on and high-fived them when they played well. And when Leslie was pushed down by a girl racing her to a game they both wanted to play, Renae gave her daughter a hug and stopped her tears by leading her to another game they could play together. Evan was tempted to give the other girl a piece of his mind, but Renae stopped him with a calming hand on his arm.

She was very...motherly, he decided. In comparison to the woman who’d made love with him beneath his tree, the difference was a bit unsettling. But was he as attracted to her now as he had been then?

He watched as Leslie clapped her hands with a squeal when bells rang and a light flashed and a long ribbon of prize tickets spat out from a slot on a machine. Looking almost as excited as the child, Renae hugged her daughter tightly, giving Evan a bright smile over Leslie’s head. His stomach tightened.

Oh, yeah. Definitely still attracted.

It was time he stopped fighting it and started chipping away at the barriers that had been troubling them both so far.

* * *

Renae had to give Evan credit for effort. He had survived the past ninety minutes with remarkable aplomb, considering it was glaringly obvious he had little to no experience with kiddie arcades. He even remained outwardly patient while the twins dithered for what seemed like an eternity over the cheap trinkets for which they wanted to trade their prize tickets.

Leslie, especially, had a hard time deciding between a glittery plastic bracelet and a cheap-looking stuffed unicorn. She spent so long debating that Daniel, his hands full of his own carefully chosen awards, grew impatient and began to nag at her to hurry up. Leslie snapped back at him, which caused him to snarl a response.

&nbs

p; Tears and anger threatened when Renae interceded quickly. “Daniel, leave your sister alone. Leslie, you have two minutes to make your choice or we’re going to have to leave without either.”

“Can’t I just pay for one of them?” Evan asked her in a low voice. “I mean, those things can’t cost this place more than a buck apiece, if that.”

Renae wasn’t sure if he’d made the offer because he wanted Leslie to have both toys or because he was past ready to get out of the place. She shook her head.

“She needs to learn to make choices, and that she can’t have everything she wants,” she explained in a murmur. “One minute, Leslie.”

A few minutes later, they walked out to Evan’s truck. Tired, overstimulated and still looking a bit pouty, Leslie carried the stuffed unicorn. Evan opened the back passenger door for the girl.

“I like the unicorn better,” he assured her. “The bracelet was kind of gaudy.”

Preparing to climb into the high vehicle, Leslie paused to look up at him doubtfully. “You like the unicorn?”

“Yeah, that’s the one I’d have picked. What are you going to name it?”

“Peaches,” Leslie replied without hesitation.

“Oh.” Evan blinked. “Sure, that’s a great name for a unicorn.”

He boosted her into the seat, then stepped back to let Renae check the seat-belt buckle. She noted that Leslie was smiling now, and playing with the unicorn with a new appreciation.

Daniel had climbed into his side of the truck without assistance. “Do you like my dinosaurs, Evan? They’re cool, huh?”

“Very,” Evan assured him, looking around from the driver’s seat to admire the six-inch-tall plastic figures. “I especially like the velociraptor, though the stegosaurus is pretty cool, too.”

Daniel looked suitably impressed that Evan had correctly identified the plastic creatures. “Yeah. Look, they’re fighting. Rowr, rowr.”

He clashed the two figures together, providing noisy sound effects for the battle. Renae gave him some leeway until he attacked his sister’s unicorn with the velociraptor, eliciting a yelp of protest from her.