Page 16 of Twins to Tame Him

Laila had enough to handle with her world turning upside down, thanks to Sebastian’s determination to mold himself into the father of the century and the most reliable, easygoing, close-to-wonderful co-parent.

He’d gone overboard with an army of extra staff he had interviewed himself and hired to keep an eye on the boys around the villa, and an insane number of toys and swings and slides and scooters and bicycles and inflatable castles that had begun to arrive in quick succession at the villa over the first week.

On the sixth afternoon of their arrival, Laila ran out, her heart in her throat, as Nikos shouted loudly for her from the front lawn. She skidded to a stop on top of the steps to find Sebastian on his knees, surrounded by two puppies and their sons, though Zayn was a few steps behind his twin.

Mouth hanging open, Laila reached them. “Sebastian, what did you do?” she asked, inanely.

Zayn answered for his father, more excited than she’d seen him in a long while, amber eyes dancing with pleasure. “Puppies, Mama.” He held up two of his little chubby fingers aloft as if to make sure she understood the significance of the number. “Two puppies, one for Nikos. One for me,” he said, thumping his chest, then turning away to run toward the tiny little bundles.

There was no way for Sebastian to answer her, though he grinned at her from the ground. Hair flopping onto his forehead, gray eyes shining with attention, he was overwhelmingly gorgeous, far too real in a way Laila had never imagined he could be. For one bitter second, she wanted to say he was manipulating the boys but she instantly knew that was unfair.

She followed the caravan—Paloma and the two helpers gleefully joining in—as Sebastian showed both the boys how to pet the tiny puppies and told them in soft, easy words how important it was to treat them kindly and to give them lots of love.

Nikos and Zayn—eyes bright and wide—followed his hands and his words and his actions, as if he was a larger-than-life hero. And maybe to her sons, he was a hero.

Maybe, sooner or later, they would have needed this, too, in their life. Laila had enough experience to know that one parent’s undivided, unconditional affection could never make up for negligence from the other.

It was a long while—after he directed them to pour water in the puppies’ bowls, and put a leash on them and set them all free—before Sebastian walked toward her.

Hair wind-ruffled, dark denim showing off his lean physique, he looked like he had walked out of a photo shoot. Wishing she’d put on a different top and combed her wayward hair, Laila rubbed at the banana stain on her shirt.

If he noticed her frantically grooming herself like a pet being presented to its master, thankfully he ignored it. She felt an instant thrum under her skin when he finally reached her, a thin sheen of sweat coating his face and neck.

“You didn’t come to pet the puppies. The boys called you enough times.”

Of all the things for him to notice and comment on... Laila was continually shocked by how perceptive he was for a shallow playboy who cared nothing about others. Or at least that was the impression he wanted to make. “I’m... I’m not used to dogs. In fact, I’m scared of them,” she admitted, her cheeks going pink.

If she thought he’d laugh at her, he proved her wrong again. “You didn’t have one growing up? Never played with a neighbor’s dog?”

“No. I had enough people to look after without adding a dog to the mix,” she said, before she could arrest the thin thread of resentment. “Baba was an academic who buried his head in research and history and my mother and sister... They would have hated the idea of a dog. Unless it was one of those posh crossbreeds that fits in a designer purse.”

When he stared at her in surprise, she colored. “What about you? Did you have one?”

“No. I begged and begged but was not allowed. It was a sort of punishment.”

“For what?”

“Let’s just say I was a lot to handle as a kid. Giving me a dog would have been too much. And in hindsight, I’m glad I was deprived of it.”

Laila stilled at the strange tenor to his words, the tight set of his jaw. But she didn’t want to probe. “You’re a lot to handle even now,” she said, hoping to pull him out of that dark mood.

Meeting her eyes, he grinned. For the space of a second, his gaze dipped to her mouth and then back up. “I’m easy to handle if one was inclined to learn,” he said, his tone returning to teasing.

“Two tiny puppies, though, Sebastian?” she said, as much to cover the heat racing her cheeks as much to speak up. He flirted so easily with her and it wasn’t like it was an act, either. She knew that much. “That’s a bit much for two-year-olds, don’t you think?”

“A boy should always have a dog.”

She heard both his resolve and something more—like a loss—in those words. It shook her a bit, the intensity he hid beneath his easy charm. “Who’s going to look after them? They’re babies.”

“All of us.”

“You’re spoiling them,” she said, unable to help sounding critical.

“I have more than two years to make up for.” He turned to her, turning that thousand-watt attention squarely on her. Her skin prickled. “What’s really bothering you, Dr. Jaafri?”

Their gazes held in a silent battle before she relented with a sigh. “Puppies feel permanent. It will be hard enough to make the boys understand when...if things don’t work out.”

His anger was betrayed by the tight fit of his mouth but nothing more. “I don’t think you’ve still grasped my commitment to this and maybe that’s on me. To answer your question, if you move out of here, which will be because you didn’t give this a fair chance, the puppies and the extra helpers and probably even I will just follow. That’s how this works, ne?”

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