Page 89 of Guilty as Sin
“You see it,” Lily said, “and I see it, but Paige… Honey, no. Don’t. Not every man goes there.”
“Well, yeah,” Jace said, “we probably do. Hardwired. But we don’t have to stay there. And if you want to push me away,” he told Paige, “you’ll have to wait until morning. But if you do? Don’t pretend I’m the one leaving.”
It was those eyes. They were too blue. Too intense. It was the way he made her feel, too. What had he said?Precious. Cared for.Even when she was grumpy. Even when she was mean. Her eyes filled with tears, to her horror. Lily made a noise, and Jace said, “Oh, baby. No.” He sat on the edge of the bed again, took her in his arms like she was made of glass, and held her.
She might have had to haul in a few more breaths, and wipe away those treacherous tears, too. “Sorry,” she said. “Long day. Lots of… feelings. My sister. You. And you’re right. It’s me. Having a hard time. With, uh…”
That hadn’t been too coherent, but maybe he got it, because he said, “Yeah. Believing takes some doing. And maybe it’s better to bring it up. If you didn’t, how would you know?”
“Now you’re just being perfect,” she said, and tried to smile. “Perfectly imperfect. Admitting your imperfection. Really? Every man?”
“I reckon. Sorry. Soldiers have heaps of spare time, and only a few subjects of genuine common interest. They play too much poker, get too competitive over ping-pong or whatever naff thing there is to get competitive about, and talk too much about sex. Put it that I’m fairly clued in on the fantasy life of the young Aussie male. And that some things are universal.”
Lily said in a faint voice, “You guys. I didnotneed to know this. Every man wants to have sex with twins?”
“No,” Jace said. “But most of the men I’ve known have probably thought about it. And I just told you that I’m not doing it. Am I thinking that Paige can be bloody annoying? Maybe. But that’s as far as I’m prepared to go.” He got off the bed. “Tobias and I are going to sleep. We’re busy men. Got goats to milk, and morning’s coming.”
Paige woke up to the smell of coffee again.
She opened her eyes, sat up with less trouble than yesterday morning, and said to Lily, who was perched next to her at the bed, having clearly just deposited said cup of coffee on the bedside table, “I could get used to this.”
“What, me?” Lily asked. “Or Jace? Because I sure can see how that could happen. I got up at seven-thirty, and he’d already made the coffee and was out with the animals. I practically had to arm-wrestle him in order to milk my girls. He settled for cleaning out the stalls. He’s too scary for me, but boy, is he competent. And he’s cooking breakfast right now. How can a man look that good cooking? It’s a confidence thing, I guess. Do they make all the guys like that in Australia?”
“I don’t know. He’s my first one. Pretty good, huh?”
“Well, yeah. Pretty good.” Lily smiled. “Last night, what he said in here? He kind of sweptmeaway. And I wish you’d videotaped that at the meeting. I can’t wait to go to the store and hear about it. That must have beensomething,to watch him really turn it on.”
Paige wanted to go downstairs and watch him do it right now. Way, way too much. To buy herself some time while she debated how good an idea that was, she eyed Lily in her gray leggings with lace bottoms and long pink hooded sweater and asked, “So did you milk in that?”
“No. I put my overalls over them, like always.”
“Which arewhere?”
“Hanging on the back porch, of course. They were under my raincoat, is all. Isthatwhy you were wearing the apron when you met Jace?”
“Well, yeah. How was I supposed to know they were on the back porch?” She swung her legs out of bed and took her coffee. “It’s dress-your-Barbie time. Could you get me set for work, pretty please? It’s tiring thinking up all those layers. I’m sure I’m messing up on the accessorizing. You’re probably getting a bad reputation.”
“You’re not going to work, though.”
“Sure I am. I’m a fast healer, but I’m not fast enough to be you already. And we’ve got this sale. Wow, it’s already eight-thirty? Come on. You could cover up my face for me, too. I’ll bet you know how.”
Lily not only knew how, she did it fast. When the two of them came downstairs, Jace looked up from where he was hauling something out of the oven and said, “Now that’s a change.”
Paige said, “It’s pink, I know.” Nearly a match for the outfit Lily was wearing, except that hers had more lace. “I was thinking that if somebody sees both of us, somehow, over the next couple days, the more alike we look, the better. They can wonder how they just saw me at the shop and now I’m home, but we’ll be the same woman, and people are good at rationalizing. My upper lip’s not hideous anymore, did you notice?”
“I did. Good work on the makeup as well.”
“Ah. Well. That’s Lily.” She eased herself onto the kitchen stool and said, “So what did you make for us?”
“A French toast casserole. Soft. No chewing.”
“Competent,” Lily said with a meaningful glance at Paige.
“Nah,” Jace said. “Lazy. Easier than cooking them one by one.” Lily was already pulling out plates and cutlery, and Jace dished up casserole and cut-up strawberries, filled orange juice glasses, set out maple syrup, and said, “And you’ve been thinking. I can tell by the look on your face. You’re dying to tell me. I’ve been thinking too, though. I’ll go first so you can eat this.”
Paige said to Lily, “He’s competent, yeah, and, all right, he’s seriously hot, too, but he’s awfully pushy, see?”
“He’s right here,” Jace said.
