Page 6 of Threatened

“Nothing. Except the energy flow is all off.” Kylie forced a small smile and followed him into the kitchen. She glanced back able to see the kids and couldn’t help noticing the obvious flaws with the room. Looking back his way, she saw that he was pulling eggs and bacon and mushrooms and peppers from the fridge. “Yoursofa should be against the wall and the chair placed in the corner—and don’t even get me started on your windows.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll see,” she said, then turned her attention to cooking. As she prepared the omelets, they talked and worked, falling into a rhythm. They both kept an eye on the babies. Would she fight him for custody? Was she prepared to raise the twins on her own? Those were questions she didn’t know the answers to, so she’d wait and see where all this took her.

4

Two days later, Gage was freaking out.

He’d figured it would not be a big deal having Kylie around. After all, she’d be gone soon, right? But the more time she spent at his place, the more things changed. Gage wasn’t a big proponent of change. He liked things to be the same. All the time.

It had started when she insisted on moving his sofa, then it had quickly escalated to changes in the kitchen and the bedrooms. Even the bathroom hadn’t escaped her little touches. She’d moved the towels and placed candles everywhere. The kitchen, though… that was the last straw. He’d just returned from a grocery store run and found her teetering atop one of the chairs, moving some of the houseplants from his living room to the top of his cabinets.

Gage hovered between the urge to ignore her and just put the groceries away and the urge to yank Kylie off that chair before she killed herself. But yanking her down would mean touching her, and he wasn’t about to do that. It would be a huge mistake.Bad enough he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about her. Putting his hands on her would only make things worse.

So, instead, he sidled around where she was working and shoved a milk jug into the fridge. With one eye on her, he stacked canned goods neatly on the shelf in the pantry with all the labels facing outward, perfectly aligned. He gave a satisfied nod. Exerting control over things as mundane as soup, spaghetti sauce, vegetables gave him the illusion of being in charge.

His security that he was in command of his environment had been severely lessened when he took on the twins and learned just how unpredictable babies were. Having Kylie as a house guest had further eroded it.

“There,” Kylie said with a smile as she climbed down. She gestured to her handiwork. “What do you think?”

“I think it was fine the way it was,” he grumbled and quickly turned back to the groceries.

“It wasn’t fine,” she insisted. “Did you know having empty space between the top of your cabinets and the ceiling is a bad thing? Chi gets stuck there, clogging up your energy flow and creating bad vibes. Having living, breathing plants up there helps keep things moving.”

“Yeah? And who’s going to water them?” He shook his head and shut the pantry door, looking at her now. Big mistake. Her cheeks were flushed, and her blue eyes sparkled with joy. He suddenly felt a nearly overwhelming urge to pull her into his arms. Instead, he shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and stepped away from temptation. “Guess it’ll have to be me when you’re gone.” He didn’t mean to be rude, but he wantedhis space back. More to the point, he wanted—no,needed—her out of his realm.

One of twins squeaked in their carrier seats on the table. Gage’s gaze went to them. It was a happy sound, he quickly realized. No need to react. He was getting better at knowing when to do that. He had a long way to go in the fatherhood department, but he was gaining confidence—slowly.

“So, what’s the matter?” Kylie asked, tilting her head and thrusting out that full pink bottom lip of hers in a little pout. “You can’t be scared of heights.”

“No. I just don’t appreciate having my place rearranged without my permission.” He moved around her and back over to the bags of groceries. “How were the twins while I was gone?”

“Fine.” She sat at the table and toyed with Brennan’s sock covered toes, making the boy giggle and rock back and forth. “I realize that you don’t believe in Feng Shui, but even you have to admit the twins have been much more relaxed since I got here.”

“Hmm.” He put away the peanut butter and cheese crackers and boxes of cereal, then stuffed the reusable grocery bags away under the sink. She might be right, not that he was ready to admit it. “Maybe. Or maybe they’re just getting used to being with me now. They’re too young to express their feelings in words, but they have to realize that their environment has changed. I guess you could say that it’s been an adjustment for all of us.”

“That could be true,” Kylie said. “I still feel that the energy here is much more positive now than it was the first night I arrived though. Part of that that has to be because of the changes I’ve made. As for adjusting, you’re still working out your routine withthem and changing things all the time. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s unsettling to you and them.”

Gage wanted to argue—but dammit, things really did look better the way she had them. He wanted to argue that she still shouldn’t have changed so much—some of it, like the plants, she’d moved without even asking him first—but he was honestly too weary to put up a fight. Having her here had meant he’d gotten more sleep and had time to run errands without having to worry about carting two babies around with him, but still.

“It’ll all work out,” he said because it had to. The kids were his to raise, and that wasn’t changing. They were his last remaining connection to his friend—a buddy he’d always miss. Gage took his job of guardian seriously. It was one hell of a responsibility. He was proud that his friend had trusted him so much, even if he was struggling at times with grief and feeling overwhelmed. But what mattered was that he was getting through it. He and the twins got into a better rhythm with each other every day. They were making it work as their own little family of three. And he wasn’t at all sure that having Kylie around would help in the long run.

“I’m sorry I didn’t ask you before moving the plants,” she said, her voice soft. “I just wanted to help. And just so you know, I also washed the windows while you were gone. They let more light in now, which is good for everyone. Light equates to happiness.”

“So more good vibes?”

“Exactly. We all need them.” Kylie gave him a wobbly smile, and he had to remind himself that she’d lost her sister. Her grief might be even greater than his. He wasn’t convinced that gave her the right to take over his house or try to take over his custody arrangement, but he tried to tamp down his irritation with her.

Maya grunted. When he looked over, he saw her little face was all red and scrunched up, a sure sign she was doing her business. Again. Duty called and with a sigh, Gage walked to her and unstrapped her from her carrier. He picked her up and carried her down the hall to the changing table in the nursery. He’d just gotten her outfit off and was grabbing a clean diaper from the box to have on standby when Kylie walked in with Brennan and began doing the same thing with him.

As he stripped off Maya’s dirty diaper and disposed of it in the genie thing, he caught Kylie watching him, her expression unreadable. What was that about? Annoyed, he ripped a wet wipe out of the container with more force than was necessary.

After getting Maya’s bottom clean, he grabbed the tube of diaper rash ointment and squirted some out on his fingers. Kylie was staring at him again and this time, he’d had enough.

“Why are you watching me?” he snapped. “I’ve changed a couple hundred diapers in the past few weeks. I know what I’m doing.”

“That’s a lot of cream, isn’t it?” She pointed at the huge dollop on his fingers.

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