LITMIR.BIZ

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Summer dropped her chin forward, avoiding his eyes.

      “Wait, girls.” Zeke motioned them to stop as he recognized the familiar crayoned writing. Then he read the words and the sun grew hot on his neck and the porch spun in circles.

      Chapter Two

      “Oh, my God!” The paper rattled in his hands as Zeke waved it at the girls.

      August poked his arm. “Daddy, you’re not sposed to say that.”

      “’Cept in church,” Summer added.

      Zeke glanced in horror from one innocent set of green eyes to another, then back at Paige. A smile curved her lips and he momentarily forgot his daughters’ latest stunt. Attraction hit him square in the gut. Paige was breathtaking. Sunlight glinted off her auburn hair, and he had the insane urge to reach out and touch it.

      Summer tugged at his sleeve, bringing him back to reality. “Daddy, Paige don’t gots a husbund.”

      “And she can make chocwit chip cookies.”

      “Daddy, be nice.” August cupped her hand to her mouth and stood on her tiptoes. “And comb your hair. You look like a poodle-head.”

      For the first time in his thirty years, a blush crept up his neck and scalded his face. He wanted to throttle his darling daughters, then crawl in Henrietta’s doghouse in the back and hide. Instead he gestured at the flier. “Uh…I didn’t know anything about this.”

      Paige’s light green eyes twinkled. “That’s what the girls said. I thought you might want to see it before they finished distributing them.”

      “Giving them out?” Horror struck Zeke anew. Exactly how many had they displayed? He turned to the twins, trying desperately to control his soaring temper. “Summer, August, where did you put these fliers?”

      Summer chewed her lip in thought and shuffled from one foot to the other.

      August piped up. “In the mailboxes.”

      “All along that street,” Summer added.

      “How many did you give out?” he asked, his vision blurring at the thin stack remaining in the wagon.

      “I dunno know,” August said, twirling her pigtail around her finger.

      “’Bout a hundred,” Summer said.

      “Oh, my God!” Zeke’s stomach rolled.

      “Daddy!” both girls shrieked.

      Zeke pressed his hand over his racing heart as he mentally counted mailboxes. What would the neighbors think?

      “You’re never gonna find us a mommy if you keep talkin’ like that,” August whispered with a frown.

      Zeke clenched his jaw. Paige caught her lip between her teeth as if she was fighting laughter. He’d barely moved into the neighborhood, and now he’d have to move again.

      “Girls, we have to get these fliers back,” Zeke said, his voice laced with mortification.

      “But why, Daddy?” August asked.

      “We just do,” Zeke said in a firm tone. “I’ll explain later.”

      “Uh-oh.” August’s eyes grew wide. “Are we gonna have one of those long talks?”

      “Yes, we are,” Zeke said matter-of-factly as he waved the disastrous paper in the air. “This is not the way to go about finding a wife. Or a new mommy.”

      “Then how do we do it?” Summer asked, looking crushed that he hadn’t liked their idea.

      Zeke’s throat closed at the confusion in her small face. He knew single fatherhood would be difficult, but this…well, he hadn’t been prepared for this kind of scene. And right in front of pretty Paige Watkins. “I don’t know, but we’ll talk about it later.” He knelt in front of them and softened his voice. “Now, put Henrietta in the backyard, and we’ll go for a walk so you can show me which houses you gave fliers.”

      “’Kay,” both girls said. They pulled and tugged at the leash until the lazy dog groaned, then lifted her bulk and waddled behind them.

      Zeke searched for some way to salvage his pride. “I…uh, thanks for bringing the girls home,” he finally said. “This parenting business is harder than I thought.”

      “I know,” Paige said sympathetically.

      He narrowed his eyes. “You have children?” He hadn’t seen a wedding ring. Not that he was looking, but the girls said she didn’t have a husband. The big, yellow two-story seemed plenty spacious for an entire family. Did she live there alone? Or did she have a string of boyfriends or a live-in? Maybe she was divorced with kids of her own.

      Paige shook her head. “No, I don’t have kids. But there’re several children in the neighborhood.”

      “Really? Maybe you can give me some pointers.”

      She wobbled on one foot, giving him the distinct feeling she wanted to leave. “I don’t think so.”

      His ex-wife had felt the same way. A frown marred Paige’s heart-shaped face, and something about her tone bothered him, but he didn’t have time to analyze it.

      The twins barreled around the corner. “Henrietta’s in the yard,” August said.

      “Okay, let’s go.” Zeke pointed to the driveway. Summer and August skipped ahead. He closed the door, and he and Paige walked across the lawn to the sidewalk. When they reached her driveway, she paused, chewing her bottom lip.

      “Well, it was nice to meet you, girls.”

      “Aren’t you coming with us?” Summer asked.

      “No, thanks,” Paige said. A wary expression streaked her slender face. “I have homework to do.”

      “You go to school?” August asked.

      “We’re going to kindergarten next year,” Summer said.

      Paige laughed. “I’m finishing a college degree,” she answered. “And one day I’m planning to study in Europe.”

      August’s face lit up. “Our mommy went there. She lives in that big town with that river running through it.”

      “But she never came back,” Summer said softly.

      Zeke’s heart squeezed as he remembered the day Renee had left. Both girls had cried for hours.

      “I’m sorry,” Paige said gently. She gave him a forlorn look and he shrugged, trying to mask his feelings. It sounded as if Paige had high aspirations, just like his ex-wife. Well, he wouldn’t travel that route again. No matter how sexy and delectable the female, looks weren’t the most important thing. If and when he ever became involved with another woman, she’d want a family—she wouldn’t be more concerned about her career than him or his daughters. Besides, he didn’t need the complication of another female—he had his hands full with the two he had.

      Paige gave him a slight wave. “Well, I’ll see you later, Zeke.”

      Zeke nodded and their gazes locked, the magnetism between them instantly sparking his body to arousal. A sweet sensuality darkened the light irises of her eyes, and she caught her bottom lip with her teeth again, a gesture he wanted to remedy by touching his lips to hers. She exhaled, then folded her arms beneath her breasts, her cropped shirt accentuating her subtle curves. Then she turned and he made a futile attempt not to stare at those dynamite legs and her curved backside as she strode toward her house.

      August tugged at his arm and he dragged his gaze from Paige to see a fuming, three-hundred-pound man storming toward him. To his horror, the man had one of his daughters’ fliers clutched in his beefy hands.

      PAIGE STOOD ON her porch and watched as Zeke attempted to explain his daughter’s

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