LITMIR.BIZ

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call for unusual measures.”

      His reasoning was compelling, but still...

      She lifted the spoon in her place setting and turned it in her fingers as she composed her thoughts, then lined it up neatly with the other cutlery again. “I wasn’t ready for one baby, let alone two, and I know I’ll have trouble coping with two babies with absolutely no experience. My mother will be there for us. Full-time. I’m really sorry, but the right thing for these babies is for me to move back to Connecticut.”

      The waiter came by and, after telling them the specials, took their order. Once he left, Nick picked up the conversational thread again.

      “I appreciate you telling me that. It couldn’t have been easy.” He squared his shoulders. “And I’ll be as honest with you in return. You need to know that I have post-traumatic stress disorder from my time in the Middle East, and I’ve pretty much been living as a hermit since I got back. But I’m changing things.” Frown lines appeared across his forehead. “I need to change things. My ex-wife is getting remarried, and she wants me to sign over my parental rights to our three-year-old daughter.”

      “That’s crazy,” Harper said, her lawyer’s sense of justice kicking in. “Why would she want to keep a father and child from seeing each other?”

      He speared his fingers through his hair. “She’s claiming my PTSD is making me an unfit father.”

      “Is it?” she asked and tried not to hold her breath as she waited for the answer.

      “No.” His voice was clear and sure. “I might be screwing up a heap of things in my life, but Ellie isn’t one of them. I’d do anything for her. Plus, she needs her father. She needs me. But—” he winced “—having two babies on the way with someone I’m not in a relationship with will probably damage my case.”

      “Oh, Nick.” She hadn’t thought the situation could be any more complex. She’d been wrong.

      “There’s something else we need to consider. With Maverick active and causing people real grief, this is a secret that may be released at an inopportune time.”

      Maverick. She hadn’t even considered herself a possible target before—there had been nothing juicy enough in her life to interest him—but now she was just the sort of target he seemed to like. “If he announces that I’m pregnant by the boss, it would reflect badly on Tate Armor. It has the whiff of a workplace tinged by sexual harassment.”

      “Worse than that. The breach of privacy itself would make the company look like we don’t know what we’re doing in the security field.”

      “Of course,” she said, running through the ramifications. “So we need to tell people ourselves soon so we’re controlling the information.”

      “Ideally, yes. And if we ensure that everything looks unquestionably aboveboard, all the better.”

      “How can we do that?”

      “The way I see it, we have a few problems that have arisen from this pregnancy. You’re feeling overwhelmed and in need of backup. You also want an intact family unit for the babies. And I have to consider that I’ll look irresponsible when my custody case is heard. And finally, Tate Armor’s reputation is at risk.”

      She winced. “That does sound like a lot when you list everything out.”

      “I’ve thought about this, and I see one solution that addresses all of these problems.”

      “That must be a pretty powerful solution.”

      “It is.” He rolled his shoulders back. “We should get married.”

      She coughed out a laugh. “Are you serious?”

      “Very much. Think about it—you’d have my commitment that I’ll be in this with you one hundred percent. You’ll have all the backup you need without having to leave town. A hands-on father is the only way I know how to do it, anyway. The babies get two parents. Our relationship would look like a positive in my court case. And Tate Armor would be safe from Maverick. Everybody wins.”

      Everybody wins?

      “Nick, we don’t even know each other.” It seemed like a point too obvious to say, but apparently it did need to be said aloud. Maybe this was the one detail he hadn’t factored into his solution?

      He tilted his head, conceding the point. “And if this was a first date, that would be a reasonable objection. But you’re having my babies.” His entire body stilled, but his eyes blazed with focus. “Marry me.”

      She leaned back in her the chair, heart racing double time. Marriage? It was too much. He was watching her closely, expression expectant, obviously thinking there was a chance she’d say yes. “Still, it’s a really big step, Nick.” Her gut was churning just thinking about it. “Really big.”

      “Also,” he said, and the corners of his mouth tugged into a half smile as if he knew he was starting to bring her around, “my mother raised twins. She’s here in town, and she’ll be over the moon about our babies. She’ll help out as much as we want. And if you want your mother around, too? No problem—we’ll fly her down.”

      Harper sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and bit down on it. Marrying without love hadn’t been in her life plan, but neither was being pregnant with twins. Nick was clearly committed to being a father to their children... Oh, God, was she seriously considering it? Her pulse felt erratic under her skin. It was completely ridiculous. Wasn’t it?

      “I’ve had a pregnant wife before, and even though I wasn’t home through all of her pregnancy, I know there are things I can do to help.”

      “What sort of things?” she asked, curious. She’d spent the first three months of this pregnancy alone, and her thoughts had often strayed to how the experience would be different if she were part of a couple.

      He shrugged. “Going to the store for olives at two in the morning. Massaging feet. Help with the heavier chores and picking things up from the ground. Just the regular things a pregnant woman might want.”

      Massaging feet? Ducking out for whatever she wanted to eat? She smiled. “That does sound useful.” But her smile faded as she thought about the reality of their situation. “Nick—”

      “I know we can do it,” he said. “I love babies and kids. When Ellie was a baby, I was between tours, and her mother and I shared all her care. We can do this.”

      Try as she might, she couldn’t see it working, but her legal training wouldn’t let her ignore the fact that it was the only solution on the table that addressed each issue they faced, so she owed it to herself and the babies to at least give the idea due consideration.

      She smoothed her skirt over her lap. “Did you see us living together?”

      “Absolutely,” he said, seemingly unfazed by her zeroing on the specifics.

      “Are you thinking we’d live at your place or mine?”

      “Mine. There’s more room.”

      She almost smiled at the irony that they worked for the same company, yet she would commute to the company’s office each morning and he would stay in the house she also lived in.

      Then she realized she hadn’t even seen his place. It could be a cabin in the woods with no running water. “Hang on. What’s your place like?”

      “Big. Just outside town.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw as he thought. “Modern. Everything inside was done by a decorator, and she used words like minimalist and sleek. You can make any changes you want. I’m not fussy about that sort of thing.”

      “Can I ask you something?” Did she imagine the wariness flickering briefly in his eyes before he answered?

      He sat back and picked up his glass of water. “Sure.”

      She laced her fingers together and, for

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