LITMIR.BIZ

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years.”

      A beat of silence passed. Then Cooper reached across the narrow space between them and tilted her chin, meeting her gaze with his earnest one. “I’m really sorry, Nat. Justin was a good man. He wouldn’t have done anything to purposely hurt you. He was crazy about you.”

      Tears prickled the backs of her eyelids. She’d long since passed the point of unquenchable grief, and most of the time she was just plain mad at Justin for having left her alone. But Cooper’s compassion was both unexpected and touching.

      “Crazy being the operative word,” she murmured, trying to keep her mind on the conversation and off the warm strength of Cooper’s fingers. Off the random thought that she could smell his cologne. Off the reminder that she’d once entertained romantic thoughts about him.

      Something shifted in the caramel-scented air. Cooper pushed away from the counter, eyes never leaving her face.

      Her heart set up a thunder dance, and her mind raced like two hamsters on a Ferris wheel. What was he doing? Why was he moving toward her with that wild glint in his eyes? Was he going to hug her? Comfort her? Kiss her?

      Before she could find out, a feral growl from somewhere behind them ripped through the kitchen.

      CHAPTER THREE

      COOPER whirled around at a sudden noise from behind him. A puck-faced child with teeth bared catapulted toward him, growling like a doberman.

      “Rose!” Natalie stepped smoothly between him and the ponytailed stick of dynamite.

      The little girl’s eyes slanted in menace. “Puppy’s going to bite him.”

      “Puppy is going back in your room right now if he can’t behave himself. Dr. Sullivan is a guest and neither you nor Puppy is going to bite him.” Natalie grabbed the child’s hand and pulled her forward. “You owe Dr. Sullivan an apology.”

      When the child crossed her arms, chin tilted in a stubborn pose, Natalie crouched down in front of her. “Now, Rose.”

      At the firm tone, Rose huffed once and then capitulated.

      “I’m sorry, Dr. Sullivan. Puppy won’t bite you. He’s just in a bad mood today.”

      “Is he always in a bad mood?” Cooper asked, trying to keep a straight face. The invisible puppy must be Rose’s alter ego.

      “Most of the time.” She glanced down at the floor as if a real dog waited at her side. “It’s okay, Puppy. He’s not a criminal like you thought. He’s a doctor.”

      Natalie made a strange noise in the back of her throat. When Cooper looked up in question, her eyes danced. “She’s been warned against opening the front door without checking first to make sure it’s someone I allow in the house.”

      “Ah, that explains it.”

      Natalie gave a wry shrug. “With Rose, we can never be too sure.”

      At that moment an identical child, minus the backward ball cap, entered the room.

      Although she wasn’t growling and didn’t look nearly as menacing, Cooper asked, “Should I brace myself for another imaginary dog attack?”

      “Puppy doesn’t like me, either,” the new addition said, tone dejected. “I wish we had a real dog that didn’t bite.”

      “These,” Natalie said, drawing the children towards him, “are my girls, Rose and Lily. Girls, meet Dr. Cooper Sullivan.”

      “Are you my mama’s new boyfriend?” Rose asked, glaring at him with a look that said her dog was getting riled again.

      The question took him aback. Natalie’s boyfriend? Sweat broke out on the back of his neck. A man on the fast track in his profession didn’t do relationships. Occasional dates, a night here and there, but not the boyfriend-girlfriend thing. No time for that kind of commitment.

      “Rose! Will you please behave yourself? Cooper is a friend. We went to the same college.”

      Lily, conversely, came forward as polite as could be and extended her small hand. “Nice to meet you. Did you go to college with my daddy, too?”

      “Yes, I did. And medical school, as well. Your dad was a friend of mine.” A friend that should be here giving him a hard time.

      This news seemed to win some points with Rose because she stepped up and extended her hand, albeit a bit grudgingly. “I’m Rose. That’s Lily. We’re twins.”

      “It must be fun to have a twin.”

      The peanut-size child jerked one shoulder. “Sometimes.”

      “Bet you try to fool people, too, don’t you?”

      Rose slanted a warning glance at her sister. Cooper swallowed a laugh. This one probably coerced her twin into monkey business all the time.

      Natalie had moved away from the children to stand closer to him. He tried not to notice the curve of her lips or remember the feel of her warm, soft mouth on his fingers. That fantasy had a way of popping up at the most inopportune times as it had done just before Rose had interrupted. Thank goodness for the little girl. He’d almost made a tactical error.

      “They look alike but each has a distinctive personality,” Natalie was saying with those tantalizing lips.

      He looked away, focusing on her girls. He’d come here to be a friend to Justin’s widow, not to get her into bed.

      “I can see that,” he said. They were precocious, cute and as unique as they were alike.

      “And to answer your question, yes, they occasionally switch roles and drive the rest of the world crazy, including me.”

      “Life can’t be dull.”

      “Not for a moment.” Natalie’s dimples flashed. He’d always thought she had the cutest dimples and long ago had even entertained thoughts of exploring them with his tongue.

      Great. There he went again. He really was losing his mind.

      Before the twins had burst onto the scene, he’d been tempted to kiss her. Now the insane urge was back. Natalie, with a pair of chopsticks holding her hair in a messy wad on top of her head and wearing a baker’s coat over an old sweater and leggings, shouldn’t have been the least bit attractive. But Cooper thought she was adorable. Add the bow mouth and peek-a-boo dimples and she was sexy in a way that defied explanation.

      She licked those maddening lips, and his thoughts tumbled south. Way south. She was sexy, all right.

      Whoa, Sullivan. Stop right there and get a grip. Remember why you’re here. Natalie is your buddy’s woman.

      Widow, his evil imp whispered.

      And he felt like a jerk. Even more so because he knew himself too well. He kissed. He made love. He did not—could not—become enmeshed in serious romantic relationships. His work required all of him. Someday he wanted a wife and family, but that day was in the future—far in the future, after he’d reached his goals. A man like him didn’t go messing with his dead friend’s wife.

      Natalie blinked at him and he could swear she’d read his thoughts. Her dimples disappeared.

      One of the twins, Lily, he thought, tugged on his hand and looked up with wide gray eyes.

      “Are you a doctor like my daddy?”

      Natalie answered for him. “He’s a different kind of doctor. He fixes hearts.”

      “Oh. Can you fix my doll? Her leg fell off.”

      “Hearts, Lily, not legs,” Rose said. “Don’t you know the difference?”

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