“So what’s a typical day for you now?” he asked as they moved along the sidewalk, a part of, yet separate from, the colorful crowd of locals and tourists.

“Typical?” Jenna laughed in spite of the fact that every nerve ending was on fire and lit from within due to Nick’s arm wrapped tightly around her waist. “I learned pretty quickly that with babies in the house there’s no such thing as typical.”

She risked a glance at him, and his blue eyes connected with hers for a heart-stopping second. Then he nodded and said, “Okay, then describe one of your untypical days for me.”

“Well, for one thing, my days start a lot earlier than they used to,” she said. “The twins sleep through the night now, thank God, but they’re up and raring to go by six every morning.”

“That can’t be easy.” His arm around her waist loosened a bit, but he didn’t let her go and Jenna felt almost as if they were a real couple. Which was just dangerous thinking.

“No,” she said quickly, to rein her imagination back in with cold, dry facts. Their lives were so different, he’d never be able to understand what her world was like. He woke up when he felt like it, had breakfast brought to his room and then spent the rest of his day wandering a plush cruise ship, making sure his guests were happy.

She, on the other hand…

“There are two diapers that need changing, two little bodies who need dressing and two mouths clamoring for their morning bottle. There are two cribs in the room they share and I go back and forth between them, sort of on autopilot.” She smiled to herself as images of her sons filled her mind. Yes, it was a lot of work. Yes, she was tired a lot of the time. And no, she wouldn’t change any of it.

“How do you manage taking care of two of them?”

“You get into a rhythm,” she said with a shrug that belied just how difficult it had been to find that rhythm. “Cooper’s more patient than his brother, but I try not to use that as an excuse to always take care of Jacob first. So, I trade off. One morning I deal with Cooper first thing and the next, it’s Jacob’s turn. I feed one, then the other and then get them into their playpen so I can start the first of the day’s laundry loads.”

“You leave them alone in a playpen?”

Instantly defensive, Jenna shot him a glare. “They’re safe and happy and it’s not as if I just toss them into a cage and go off to party. I’m right there with them. But I have to be able to get things done and I can’t exactly leave them on the floor unattended, now, can I?”

“Hey, hey,” he said, tightening his grip around her waist a little. “That wasn’t a criticism…”

She gave him a hard look.

“Okay,” he acknowledged, “maybe it was. But I didn’t mean it to be. Can’t be easy. A single mother with two babies.”

“No, it’s not,” she admitted and her hackles slowly lowered. “But we manage. We have playtime and the two of them are so bright and so interested in everything…” She shook her head. “It’s amazing, really, watching them wake up to the world a little more each day.”

“Must be.”

He was saying the right things, but his tone carried a diffidence she didn’t much like. But then how could she blame him? He didn’t believe yet that the boys were his sons. Of course, he would hold himself back, refusing to be drawn in until it had been proven to him that he was their father.

“When they take their naps, I work.”

“Yeah,” he said, guiding her around a pothole big enough to swallow them both, “you said you had your own business. What do you do?”

“Gift baskets,” she said, lifting her chin a little. “I design and make specialty gift baskets. I have a few corporate clients, and I get a lot of business over the Internet.”

“How’d you get into that?” he asked, and Jenna was almost sure he really was interested.

“I started out by making them up for friends. Birthdays, baby showers, housewarming, that sort of thing,” she said. “It sort of took off from there. People started asking me to make them baskets, and after a while I realized I was running a business. It’s great, though, because it lets me be home with the boys.”

“And you like that.”

Not a question, a statement. She stopped walking, looked up at him and said, “Yes, I like it. I couldn’t bear the thought of the boys being in day care. I want to be the one to see all of their firsts. Crawling, walking, speaking. I want to hear their giggles and dry their tears. I want to be at the heart of their lives.”

He studied her for a long minute or two, his gaze moving over her face as if he were trying to imprint her image on his mind. Or trying to read her thoughts to see if she had really meant everything she just said.

“Most women wouldn’t want to be trapped in a house with two screaming babies all day,” he finally said.

Instantly Jenna bristled. “A, the women you know aren’t exactly the maternal type, now, are they? B, the boys don’t scream all day and C, spending time with my kids isn’t a trap. It’s a gift. One I’m thankful for every single day. You don’t know me, Nick. So don’t pretend you do.”

One dark eyebrow lifted, and an amused glint shone in those pale eyes of his. “I wasn’t trying to insult you,” he said softly. “I…admire what you’re doing. What you feel for your sons. All I meant was, that what you said was nice to hear.”

“Oh.” Well, didn’t she feel like an idiot? “I’m sorry. I guess I’m a little quick on the trigger.”

“A little?” He laughed shortly, and started walking again, keeping his arm locked about her waist as if concerned she might wander off. “The words Mother Grizzly come to mind.”

Even Jenna had to chuckle. “You’re right, you know. I learned the moment the boys were born. I was so electrified just by looking at them…to know they’d come from me. It’s an amazing feeling. Two tiny boys-one minute they’re not there, and the next, they’re breathing and crying and completely capturing my heart. I fell in love so completely, so desperately, that I knew instantly I would never allow anyone or anything to hurt them. Nobody criticizes my kids. Nobody.”

“Yeah,” he said, with a thoughtful look in his eyes. “I get it.”

His hand at her waist flexed and his fingers began to rub gently, and through the thin fabric of her summery dress, Jenna swore she could feel his skin on hers. Her heartbeat jumped into high gear, and her breathing was labored. Meeting his gaze, she saw confusion written there and she had to ask, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Quickly he said, “Nothing. It’s just…” He stopped, though, before he could explain. Then, shaking his head, he said, “Come on, we’ve still got a long walk ahead of us.”

A half hour later Jenna’s feet were aching and she was seriously regretting jumping out of that cab. But there were compensations, too. Such as walking beside Nick, his arm around her waist as if they were really a couple. She knew she should step out of his grasp, but truthfully, she was enjoying the feel of him pressed closely to her too much to do it.

It had been so long since their week together. And in the time since, she hadn’t been with anyone else. Well, she’d been pregnant for a good part of that time, so not much chance of hooking up with someone new. But even if she hadn’t been, she wouldn’t have been looking. Nick had carved himself into her heart and soul in that one short week and had made it nearly impossible for her to think about being with anyone else.

Which was really too bad when she thought about it. Because he’d made it clear they weren’t going to be getting together again. Not that she wanted that, or anything…

“Oh!” She stopped suddenly as they came abreast of the street market they’d passed on their way to the lab. An excellent way to clear her mind of any more disturbing thoughts of Nick. “Let’s look in here.”

Frowning some, like any man would when faced with a woman who wanted to shop, Nick said, “What could you possibly want to buy here? It’s a tourist trap.”

“That’s what makes it fun,” she told him, and slipped out of his grasp to walk beneath the awning and into the aisle that wound its way past at least thirty different booths.

She wandered through the crowd, sensing Nick’s presence behind her. She glanced at tables set up with sterling silver rings and necklaces, leather coin purses and crocheted shawls that hung in colorful bunches from a rope stretched across the front of a booth. She smiled at the man selling tacos and ignored the rumbling of her stomach as she moved on to a booth selling T-shirts.

Nick came up behind her and looked over her head at the display of tacky shirts silk-screened with images of Cabo, sport fishing and the local cantinas. Shaking his head at the mystery that was women, he wondered why in the hell she’d chosen to shop here.

“Need a new wardrobe?” he asked, dipping his head so that his voice whispered directly into her ear.

She jumped a little, and he enjoyed the fact that he made her nervous. He’d felt it all day. That hum of tension simmering around her. When he touched her, he felt the heat and felt her response that fed the fires burning inside him. The moment he’d wrapped his arm around her waist, he’d known it was a mistake. But the feel of her body curved against his had felt good enough that he hadn’t wanted to let her go.

Which irritated the hell out of him.

He’d learned his lesson with her a year ago. She’d lied to him about who she was. Who was to say she hadn’t lied about her response to him? Wasn’t lying still? But even as he thought that, he wondered if anyone could manufacture the kind of heat that spiraled up between them when their bodies brushed against each other.

“The shirts aren’t for me,” she was saying, and Nick pushed his thoughts aside to pay attention. “I thought maybe there’d be something small enough for the boys to-here!”