Page 3 of Twins to Tame Him

“I think your very brilliant friend is afraid of me, Ani,” said Sebastian, watching her. “Maybe you should stay so that I don’t gobble her up.”

“It is ridiculous to assume that I’m afraid of you,” Laila said, turning to face him, finally. “I’m simply unused to situations where I’m at a distinct disadvantage and there is no social precedent to follow.”

“And yet you look like you’re a second away from running.”

“Sebastian, let her—”

He shot to his feet. It was extremely rare that he lost control of his temper, but the very sight of this woman made him feel unbalanced. “Clearly you’re here to confront me, and yet you will hide behind my very pregnant and very kind and probably naive sister-in-law. Why do I feel like you befriended her knowing she’s my brother’s wife? What kind of a scam have you been pulling on Ani?” The more he gave voice to his suspicions, the more Sebastian knew he was right. “Alexandros, call security. Ani doesn’t know that this woman is a thief and a cheat and—”

“Stop it!” Ani said, “Just give her a chance to—”

“You’re upsetting her over me,” Laila whispered, standing up so suddenly that her chair toppled over behind her. Then she poured a glass of water and brought it to Ani. Waited with a stubborn patience until Ani took the glass and drank several gulps from it.

Then Laila faced him, pulling a cloak of calm around her, even as he noted the erratic flutter of her pulse at her neck. “I came to tell you that ‘our encounter’ three years ago, where I seduced you, stole from you and blackmailed you, to protect an innocent man from your plans...” Her chin tilted up in a direct challenge, amber gaze pinning him to the spot “...had consequences...twin boys. I came here because I thought you had a right to know about them. To ask you if you wanted to be a part of their lives. And if you’re not interested in that—” her shoulders straightened “—to ask that you contribute monetarily to their upbringing.”

Consequences in the form of twin boys...his sons?

Sebastian’s ears rang as if someone had set off a series of gongs near his head. He felt dizzy, disoriented, like he did during one of his migraines. He had two sons, with this woman who had approached him under false pretenses, slept with him and then stolen an important document from him.

Truth shone in her eyes, as real and bright as sunlight picking out the golden strands in her hair.

His emotions surrounded him in a dizzy whirl that he felt like he was in some kind of vortex. Like when his migraine medication didn’t kick in fast enough and he needed to throw up. Like he was being battered from all sides and he couldn’t escape fast enough.

Sons... He had two sons. Two-year-old boys. Twins, like Alexandros and him. Twins with a father who didn’t know the first thing about being one and a mother who...had told him the truth two years too late.

He stared at her.

What kind of a mother was Dr. Laila Jaafri? What new trick was she playing on him this time?

Questions buzzed through him, but he refused to give them a voice. Refused to let her see how she’d shaken the very foundation of his life. Refused to let her see how thoroughly...inadequate he felt to meet this moment.

What are their names? How do they look? Were they rambunctious like he’d been or quiet like Alexandros? Did they get along with each other? Did they talk? Did two-year-olds talk?

More questions tumbled through him and his throat closed up in an instinctive, self-preservation response. All the conditioning he’d had in childhood and as a teenage boy came in handy because the last thing he wanted was to scare this woman off by showing his volatile emotions and his anger. He’d made a study of never losing his cool, of never letting anything matter to him so much that it touched his temper. It was the only way he’d known to survive his father’s abusive rants and his meaty fists.

He turned away and his gaze fell on Ani. A jagged sliver appeared in his control. “How long?”

“Three months,” Ani said, understanding his question, her face flushed with guilt.

Three months...

She had known for three months and hidden the truth from him. His one friend. His sister by everything but blood. He let her see how betrayed he felt, hardening himself against the flood of tears on her cheeks.

“Don’t blame her,” Laila said, taking a step in between them, as if she meant to protect his very pregnant sister-in-law from him.

Cristos, what did this woman think of him?

“If it wasn’t for Annika persuading me that you...” She licked her lips, calling his attention to the beads of sweat dancing over her thick upper lip. “...I’d have taken longer to approach you.”

“The better question is—” Sebastian rounded on her, some of his frustration leaching into his voice “—would you have told me the truth at all?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t need you to believe me, nor do I have anything to prove to you, Sebastian. It has not been an easy decision to make.”

“I don’t believe that, either. I know how duplicitous you can be, Dr. Jaafri. How easy it is for you to spin lies, to fake interest, to get close with the intention of stealing from me.”

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