“I’m not sweet.”

He guffawed. “Yes, you are.”

“I’m not.”

“Are too.”

She narrowed her eyes and he made a face at her. “Oh, you’re so grown-up.”

They smiled at each other, their conversation having digressed back to twin-speak. Max looked his sister over as she sipped her tea. She was sweet, and innocent, and he was glad to be able to work with her. She had a soft heart, and he didn’t mind watching over her, like any good brother would. In a family as big as the Turners, there was something happening all the time, and Maxine was usually right in the middle of it. He’d learned to withdraw a bit from the constant clannish demands, partly because he’d been working for himself since he’d discovered computers. Maxine never seemed to have learned to say no.

He opened his mouth to tell her about Tasha, then took a quick gulp of tea instead. Until he had something concrete to tell, he wasn’t going to share. And until Tasha made a decision, there was nothing to convey.

It felt kind of strange, to keep a secret from Maxine. Not that he told her everything, but they were close. She chatted about something going on with a couple of their younger cousins over the past week, and he nodded and listened as best he could. All the while his thoughts drifted. Back to the soft touch of Tasha’s skin under his fingers when he’d kissed her. To the taste of her lips. He could hardly wait to make love with her.

“What do you think?”

He jerked upright guiltily. “Sorry, Maxy, lost my train of thought for a minute.”

She laughed. “Didn’t get much sleep last night, hey? I heard you ended up driving Cousin Lila and her drinking buddies home. I thought I was the only one sweet enough to get suckered like that.” She batted her eyes and he groaned.

“I didn’t mind.” No, he hadn’t. Hadn’t minded one bit. In terms of charitable acts, it ranked right up there as one of the most self-serving activities he’d ever taken part in.

He sat back and concentrated harder on Maxine. Tasha wouldn’t be calling any time soon, and until tomorrow, his life was in limbo.


There was something hard poking her in the belly, and the most god-awful taste in her mouth. Tasha rolled over, tossed the shoe she’d found to the floor and winced as the sunshine pouring in the window stabbed her in the eyes. Okay, officially not the best way to spend a day. She levered herself vertical, fearful her head would spin, or her stomach.

It was her heart that did back flips when she spotted the file folder on the side table.

Maxwell Junior had proposed to her.

She wasn’t sure which rose faster or higher—confusion or anger. He hadn’t done anything on purpose to upset her, but damn it all, she’d had everything figured out. She was happy with her plan for artificial insemination. All the arguments he’d gone through she’d fought out with herself over the past months. There was no doubt in her mind that she’d be a fabulous mother, and any baby that did come along would be well loved and cared for. Still, she wasn’t about to argue that two good parents couldn’t provide even more, and she loved the thought of having extended family for her child.

But it wasn’t possible. She’d tried the regular route of getting involved with a partner. She’d had no luck finding anyone she wanted to spend a year with, let alone long enough to raise a child.

I like Max.

Her mind darted everywhere. It wasn’t acceptable for him to come in and tear her world apart. Intoxicating kisses and magical orgasms aside, she had to do the right thing for the long run.

She poured herself into the shower and turned the heat up as hot as she could handle. The headache from the previous night’s overindulgence had faded, exchanged for the dull ache of stress. She soaped her body, trying to ignore the tenderness between her legs from where he’d rubbed her to an orgasm. It was too easy to slip her fingers over the sensitive skin and daydream about what Max would do to her when she had her clothes off, his fingers touching her more intimately. Stoking and sliding over her skin…

Dammit, no. She would not fantasize thinking about Maxwell Turner. Tasha forced her hands away from her sex and did the fastest wash ever of her breasts, the tightness of her nipples taunting her.

Even when he was nowhere in the room, Max tormented her.

She dried herself, rough with the towel, then yanked on track pants and a T-shirt before stomping to the kitchen.

He had proposed to her.

Three glasses of water and an orange juice later, Natasha sat on her balcony in the sun, her eyes closed. Every deep breath she took in she mentally wrapped up one of her concerns and breathed it out. She needed to make a decision, but totally uptight and upset wasn’t the way to go into anything.

She grabbed the notepad from the chair beside her and started another list.

He’d given her three reasons for them to be together. She listed them, neatly, in order. Made two columns to the right of each with room for pros and cons. There was no way to get to the bottom of this without some solid information. Knowing Max, if she phoned him right now he’d insist on far more than a simple yes or no. He’d want to know why.

She laughed in spite of the situation. Yeah, he’d said she knew him better than to simply say he was too young. He hadn’t been too young mentally since fifth grade. The damn man was borderline genius. She couldn’t accuse him of not having thought out all the angles.

Tasha blew out a long slow breath. Fine, then it was only right she do the same thing. She’d gone through this before when she’d made the decision to become a single mom. Once more wouldn’t hurt.

The first item seemed the easiest, and safest, to deal with.

#1. Having a baby w/ Junior

Pros-

The words he’d shouted at her in the house made her smile. Colic and diapers. She had to admit she liked that he wasn’t afraid to speak plainly to her.

She listed points under each category, everything she could think of. She winced as she wrote down financial security. She didn’t like to admit that was one area she’d been the most nervous about regarding being a single mom. Even after getting to the point she had a solid home business, and enough money put away for the immediate future, what if something happened to her? She’d have insurance, but still.

#2. Having a baby with the extended Turner family around

Oh man. The lists grew fuller, on both the pro and con sides. Her family was a write-off. Her dad had disappeared a long time ago, and her mom was too busy with her own life on the other side of the country to give a damn. Tasha had settled on the west coast. She’d been friends with Lila for years, and Max was right, she’d attended more Turner-clan gatherings than she could count. The joys and downfalls of a large extended family were not a mystery to her. There were always willing hands to cuddle babies, wipe noses and read stories.

There were also tons of unasked-for opinions offered regarding personal issues. She swirled the glass of juice she’d refilled, watching the ice cubes spin in the bright liquid. Her privacy wasn’t so important that the thought of the family scared her away, but there was something to be said about not having everyone in town know everything about your business.

#3. A long-term relationship, by choice, with Maxwell.

Tasha put down the pen. She wasn’t willing to add to either the pro or con list right now. It was as if writing it in ink that would make it more real.

Was he someone she’d choose to be with?

Physically, there was nothing but dynamite between them. He’d proved that without a shadow of a doubt, her sex aching even now when she remembered his commanding touch. No, there would be hesitation when it came to writing that down as a positive. On the negative side—how long would it last? She’d done her best to stay in shape, but she was thirty-four. She planned on a having a baby. Would there be the same physical fireworks a year or two down the road? She couldn’t count on it, not as a positive, and suddenly the current overwhelming attraction between them seemed less important in the big scheme of things.

Mentally—that was the one area she couldn’t think of a single downfall. Max was smart, probably smarter than she was. Yet he wasn’t mean about it like some people she knew who felt the need to rub in their superiority at every opportunity. He worked with others easily, and in that typical Turner style, he supported his family by finding ways to make their lives easier by using his brain.

Gack. Even thinking about it made him sound like some sort of incredible epitome of manhood who she’d be crazy to think about turning down.

The con side taunted her. It wasn’t so much him, as his sex. A long-term relationship. What exactly did that mean to a twenty-four-year-old? She’d dated thirty-year-olds whose idea of forever was “until they spotted a better looking pair of legs”. Coming home to find her partner in bed with another woman—not something she ever wanted to experience again. Being neglected, or having a new job in a new location chosen over her? Maybe she had the shittiest luck in who she’d gotten involved with over the years, but frankly her track record with guys was miserable.

Maybe it wasn’t the guys’ fault, maybe it was her. Hell, even in her own tiny family of origin she saw no indication she could be loved long term.

She knew she’d be there for a child, unconditionally, and forever. A devoted family of two wasn’t a terrible thing to plan to achieve. Maybe it would be more physically challenging, and emotionally, she’d have to go it alone. But she was certain having someone bounce in and out of her child’s life was potentially much worse than never having daddy figure at all.