Page 38 of If Only In Our Dreams

“Thirty-seven,” she countered, eyes bright.

There was no way in hell I’d sworn thirty-seven times since we’d arrived at the park fifteen minutes ago. Which…weirdly enough, made sense. I’d believed her at the party—and now I was realizing I might’ve been just drunk enough to be duped.

“Thirty-seven?” I asked, dubiously.

She nodded.

“Is that the highest you can count?” I asked, ignoring Ben—who was literally quaking with laughter beside me.

Rosie nodded again.

“You are one sneaky motherfu—,” I paused, watching the way her eyes lit up like she was just waiting for me to mess up. “Motherfudger.” Her eyes narrowed, disappointed. “Sneaky,sneaky,” I clucked at her before turning to the other twin. “Hi. What’s your name?”

This twin shook her head, watching me warily.

“This is Jane,” Ben said in her stead, his shoulder gently brushing mine. “She’s shy.”

I nodded, because I got that.

Miles had been that way too.

“Nice to meet you, Jane.” I held a hand out for her to shake, but she just shook her head again, so I retracted it. “I’m Robin.” I smiled at her first, then Rosie, careful not to make the two of them uncomfortable.

I wasn’t the best with kids. But I really wanted to be. Especially these two.

They were seriously cute as fuck.

Looked like grumpy lil penguins.

“You ready to go down again?” Ben asked them, tone light. They both nodded very seriously. Ben turned to me with a little smile. “Would you like to take one of them? Only two people can fit per sled.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that.

What if I crashed the sled and launched one of them Jason-Statham-style into a snowbank? Just…weeeee—smack,toddler legs sticking out in the air.

“I don’t want to fu—” I glanced toward Rosie. “Fudge it up,” I amended.

“You won’t.” Ben had way more confidence than I did. He handed me the sled. “Let me ask them first, one moment.” And then he bent down and whispered to the two of them.

“What do you think? Should we let Robin sled with us?” Ben’s voice was a quiet, gentle whisper.

The twins glanced at each other, and then up at me. And then, as if they could read each other’s minds—holy shit—they nodded at the same exact time.

“Which one of you would like to ride with him?” Ben asked. He talked to them like they were tiny little adults, and I couldn’t help but find that super fucking adorable.

I’d never had a dad like that. Or a dad at all—not really. Mine was a piece of shit who’d fucked off, and only came back to screw me over all over again. This was a totally new concept to me. The only other dad I’d ever known was Miles—and that was…different.

Because he was my kid brother, and I’d never looked at him like he was a juicy steak before.

Apparently, I liked men who were good with children.

Good to know.

I figured Rosie would want to ride with me. That way she could trick me into more swearing. I was nothing but a cussing piggy bank to her. And Jane was shy. She probably didn’t want to hang out with a stranger she didn’t know.

However…I was more than a little surprised when Jane was the one that raised her hand.

“Alright,” Ben hummed, standing back up. He stroked a hand over each kid’s hat, his eyes on mine. “Jane would like to ride with you.”

---