Page 41 of Just One More Temptation

He put all the emotion into the kiss he couldn’t express in words. How much he liked her, admired her, appreciated her. With every swipe of their tongues, his cock grew harder and she squirmed in his lap, breaking the kiss before he was ready.

“Not while the girls are in the other room,” she said, hopping up from her seat.

She was right and he released her. “I had fun today. It was definitely the distraction I needed before facing the hard day tomorrow.”

“Work?”

She nodded. “Cataloguing the destruction. It shouldn’t take me long. I’m familiar with the art. It just breaks my heart to see the callousness in the world. And I dread calling the artists.”

“I understand.”

“About the twins, I had an idea. Once I handle all the gallery work, which shouldn’t take longer than half a day tomorrow, I’m off until Clara has the walls repainted and gets the place ready to open again.”

As if they knew they were the subject of conversation, the thud of their bare feet came padding toward the office.

“Why don’t I watch the twins while I’m off?” she asked, just as their identical faces appeared in the doorway.

“Fallon’s going to be our nanny!” Dylan exclaimed, and they both raised their manicured hands in the air. “Yay!”

Noah’s head was spinning. “Girls!” he yelled, and they quieted down immediately. “Fallon and I still need to discuss this.” He didn’t want her to take on such a huge obligation. He had another woman scheduled for an interview on Monday. This one came highly recommended from another partner in the office whose son no longer needed watching over.

“Why don’t you two give me five more minutes under the fans? Then we can clean up. I’ll talk to your dad and be right in to help.”

They ran off and he let out a groan of relief. “They’re like an army. I can’t ask you to watch them all week while I work.”

“You didn’t ask. I offered. And I really want to. I love being with them, Noah. It’s not a burden.”

The offer was the answer to his problem and after seeing the three of them together today, he had no concerns about leaving his girls with Fallon. If anything, he was more worried they’d drive her crazy and away.

“They can be a handful,” he warned her.

“And I can handle them however they behave. But I have a hunch they’d rather have me than someone new so they’ll be on their best behavior.”

He nodded. “Good point. I’m meeting with a promising candidate who can start whenever I’m ready so—”

“So talk to her, see how you feel, and if you like her, I can help the introduction with the girls. I’ve got this,” she assured him.

His fingers itched to have her in his arms again, his hands in her silky hair, his lips on hers. Having her in his home was the next best thing.

“Do we have a deal?” she asked.

“We do. Now come seal it with a kiss.”

And she did.

***

On Monday, Fallonhandled things at the gallery, listing the damaged items and turning the list over to the police. Worried about Clara, she checked on her boss by phone and though she offered to come by, the older woman insisted she just needed the break from work and to rest. She called the artists, explaining about the break-in and damage. The majority were understanding, though one or two had arrogance and ego in spades and took their anger out on Fallon. With one gentleman in particular, she’d had to threaten to hang up on him if he didn’t moderate his tone and he’d backed down. Though he still said he was taking his commissions elsewhere. The day left her with a splitting headache, but the rest of the week Fallon spent with the girls.

She filled their time together with educational but fun activities. One day she took them to the Bronx Zoo, a delight for both girls, but mostly Dakota. The next day they visited Spyscape, an interactive museum the twins loved. On Thursday, they hit up The Paint Place, a studio that offered activities similar to the painting Fallon had done with the girls, but this one catered exclusively to kids and teens.

Fallon loved her days with the girls and evenings with Noah where the twins regaled him with stories of their day. She was beginning to like the family feeling too much considering she wasn’t part of their lives that way. Come Monday, the girls would be the new nanny’s responsibility. Noah had met and hired the woman at the beginning of the week. Her references were stellar and with some encouragement from Fallon, the girls had agreed to give Greta, a Swedish student here on a work visa, a real chance.

Too often, Fallon had to remind herself she was only Noah’s girlfriend, not that they’d defined their status, but as two adults, she knew their relationship was monogamous. She just didn’t know how long it would last and that meant not getting attached.

Though she knew better than to give her heart to the man and his children, she feared it was too late.

Chapter Seventeen

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