Helen Myers – Daddy on Demand / Déjà You: Daddy on Demand / Déjà You (страница 7)

Amused at her irritability, Collin opened the second door of the glass-encased entryway. “You’re welcome.”

Sighing, Sabrina passed him. “Thank you for the compliment—and the door.”

This woman was more self-deprecating and modest than he had remembered, and Collin filed away that tidbit of new information. “You really fell out of bed? So this whirling dervish persona has been a lifelong thing?”

“I have three older brothers. I was always being left behind and hated it. I had to learn to speed up if I didn’t want to be left out of things.”

Brothers, thought Collin, all older and probably protective where baby sister was concerned. More reasons to keep his thoughts in check—and his hands to himself.

“Bet you didn’t have to try too hard to be included. But back to the bed problem…don’t they make those beds that can stand alone while the kids are young, yet can be stacked as they grow up?”

“I suspect you can ask her,” Sabrina said of the woman who was approaching them. “Oh, I wish you’d have let me stay in the car.”

“Darling, you look fine,” Collin declared in a normal street voice. “Anyone with a clue as to what kind of day you’ve had with trying to prepare the condo and talking colors with painters and whatnot will commiserate completely. Ah, the cavalry,” he added beaming at the saleswoman who was within hearing distance.

“Good evening. I’m Brenda. What can I do to help you?”

“We need a bedroom suite for twin girls.”

As he hoped, the woman turned to Sabrina and dropped her gaze to her tummy. “Oh, how lovely for you. Congratulations!”

Sensing Sabrina was about to correct her, he quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Thank you very much. Um…we’re receiving a ton of baby things already and thought we’d skip the crib part and prepare for the toddler-to-teen stage. Do you by chance have white bunk beds we can keep separated until the girls are old enough to cope with the height thing?”

“Of course, sir. Let me show you—and how insightful of you to already be cognizant of child safety. You’d be surprised at how many first-time parents overlook that in their excitement to create the perfect room for their new family.”

“Isn’t he wonderful?” Sabrina slid him an adoring smile, all the while twisting his pinky until he was forced to release his grip on her hand.

“Remind me not to underestimate your strength again.”

“Pardon?” the saleswoman asked.

Collin cleared his throat. “I was just telling Sabrina to be careful maneuvering around all of this furniture. She’s refused to quit her warehouse managerial job yet and I fear doing way too much and staying on her feet too long.”

The saleswoman nodded knowingly. “You do look amazingly small for carrying twins. If you don’t mind my asking, how far along are you?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be showing at all if I hadn’t indulged in dessert tonight,” Sabrina replied through gritted teeth. “Stop exaggerating, Collin, dear, and let’s get this done or I’ll go wait in the car, hugging the barf bag.”

Despite the woman’s worried look, he laughed uncomfortably, “Don’t frighten the poor woman with all of these beautiful furnishings, darling.”

Sabrina grabbed his sleeve and held him back until he found himself gazing into her flushed face and blazing eyes. He’d never seen her closer to eruption—or more provocative.

“Call me ‘darling’ one more time and so help me, I will get sick,” she whispered fiercely.

“Whatever you say…dear.”

It was forty-five minutes later when they finally exited the store. By then Sabrina was certain she’d sweated through her clothes. Collin had taken some secret glee in making it seem that the furniture was for their children and she could have, should have taken one of several opportunities to correct the situation—and make him look the fool. Now she was the fool for not exposing him, she thought, shivering as they walked to his Mercedes.

It had been a lovely Indian Autumn day in Dallas, but the nights held the bite of fast-approaching winter. Also fatigue from her relentless schedule lately didn’t help.

“Sorry, why don’t you take my jacket?” Collin asked, starting to remove it.

But that would leave him in shirtsleeves. As annoyed as she was with him, she couldn’t do that to him. “Thank you, but if you’ll turn up the heater once we’re in the car, that should be fine.” Besides, the idea of being surrounded by his masculine scent the whole drive to his home was more than she wanted to bear.

“Consider it done, but we’ll head to a mall next and get you some warmer clothes.”

Groaning inwardly at the mere idea of another stop, Sabrina replied, “I appreciate the gesture, but if you’ll give me an advance on my salary, I’ll do it tomorrow after work.”

“You can’t return to that place. Besides, they’re delivering the beds and dressers tomorrow. Plus you need to be on the phone warning your credit card companies, your bank and the DMV of potential identity theft.”

Stopping midstep, Sabrina covered her face with her hands. The mess her life was in rushed back at her with the devastating results of a tornado. She should never have accepted his offer. Bothering her parents in Wisconsin was out of the question; they still worked their two-hundred-acre farm, but she should have called her oldest brother Sayer, who plucked up businesses and property in trouble like some people haunted garage sales. The problem was that he would have sent her a one-way ticket home and she would never be let off a leash for the rest of her unmarried life. Her brother Seger didn’t need the burden any more than her parents did, what with a second child on the way and his construction business suffering due to the economy. As for Sam, well, he was Sam—sweet, devoted to their parents, and denying himself a life to keep the family farm intact. No, she’d done the right thing to handle this herself regardless of the headaches involved. Only how could she fulfill new commitments when she hadn’t completed the old ones?

“What?” Collin asked hovering beside her. “I’m just trying to be helpful. You’re usually the pragmatic one. How can the idea offend you? Consider it part of the package.”

No longer the trusting ingenue she’d been when she first ventured beyond the safe haven of her family and college, she dropped her hands and surmounted a strong defense. “Why? So you can continue embarrassing me in front of salespeople? Did you hear that woman back there? She thought I looked pregnant.”

“No she didn’t, she said—”

“I was there, Collin, I know what she said!”

His lips twitching, he replied, “Well, your mood does make you act like you’re…with child.”

Throwing back her head, Sabrina screamed into the night.

“Fine, fine.” Glancing around with chagrin, Collin urged her to the car. “Home we go. I’m sure there’s an unopened package of pajamas from a Christmas past that I can offer you. If not, will a Dallas Cowboys’ jersey signed by all of the cheerleaders do?”

Sabrina yanked the car door out of his grasp and slammed it, almost knocking him off balance.

As Collin climbed into the driver’s side, she said in a defeated tone, “Thank you for the offer. On second thought, it would be wiser to purchase a few items tonight. Because I really need to go into work in the morning and give notice.”

“How can you do that? I told you—”

“I remember the furniture and the calls, okay? There’s just the small technicality that this is still my employer.”

“Who worked you like a slave because they were saving money by having you do management and the work of two others.”

Sabrina almost regretted telling him as much as she had about conditions at the place during dinner. “That’s beside the point. I owe them two weeks’ notice if I’m going to ask for a referral down the road.”

“I’ll give you a referral—as my assistant. This way you don’t need them.”

“That’s not ethical.”

“Let me tell you something—if you were going to be fired, they wouldn’t think twice about showing you to the door without notice. That’s what the severance check is for. It clears their conscience.”

He was probably right, but it just wasn’t the way she was brought up, or the way she wanted to think the world was. She had asked her boss, the district manager, to allow her to hire one or two more people, but he’d point-blank told her it wasn’t going to happen.

“I’ll think about it,” she told Collin.

It was close to an hour later when, empty-handed, she returned to the car. She gave him a look through the passenger window that warned him not to utter a word until she spoke. He leaned over and pushed open the door.

“Can you please come inside?” she asked, sounding even more defeated that she had earlier.

“What’s happened now? Don’t tell me that they wouldn’t accept the credit card. There’s no balance on the account. I rarely use it.”

“Thanks. So that’s why they think I stole it. Either you come in and assure them that I didn’t, or I will sleep in an orange jumpsuit in a holding cell tonight.”

It was when she motioned over her shoulder with her thumb that he saw the security guard that had accompanied her and was standing watching them.

“Good grief.” Collin hurried out of the car and locked it with his remote. “We definitely have to talk to your obstetrician about those hormones, darling.”