Page 1 of Not Part of the Plan
CHAPTER ONE
Nikolai Vulkov shifted his weight from foot to foot, his scuffed leather boots planted on the pretty farmhouse porch. Flowers in a rainbow of colors exploded out of planters and hanging pots, a testament to spring’s celebratory arrival after an interminable winter.
Spring meant new beginnings. Not that Niko wanted one of those. He’d prefer to go back, back to a time when everything in his life held a little magic. He hoped like hell it was possible to go back because forward no longer held the appeal it once had.
The lowing of a cow in the pasture beyond the house drew him back to his purpose. He was probably making a huge mistake.Definitely probably.His lips quirked at the irony. World-traveling fashion photographer “The Wolf” was vacationing indefinitely in Blue Moon.
Oh, yeah. He was definitely losing his mind.Niko raised his hand and rapped lightly on the door before he could change his mind and get back in his rental car. A cacophony of crying, barking, and yelling erupted from within the neat-as-a-pin two-story.
“Mommy needssomehair, Meadow!” The front door was wrenched open by the woman he was here to see, Summer Pierce. At least, he thought it was Summer. His chic, lovely, always put-together friend was grimacing as a baby—or was she a toddler now? —yanked a fistful of corn silk tresses out of Summer’s ponytail with chubby fingers. Summer’s t-shirt had several stains in varying shades and degrees of dried-on-ness.
The hulking dog next to her, spotted black and white like the cow in the pasture, stood hip high, and when Valentina yawned, Niko guessed she could accidentally swallow one of the twins with ease.
Summer’s pretty, bare face lit up when she processed his presence over the stimuli of sobbing child in her arms and another inside. “Oh, my God! Did I forget that you were coming?” she asked, her denim-blue eyes widening more when she spotted his duffle bag at his feet.
“I winged it. I should have called ahead,” he said sheepishly.
Summer yanked her daughter’s fist out of her hair again. “No! I’m just so happy to see you. And thrilled that I didn’t forget. How long can you stay?”
Niko scratched the back of his head. “A while. If that’s okay?”
He saw the spark of curiosity flash to life in her eyes and was relieved when her husband bellowed from the back of the house. “Who is it, babe?” The crying inside intensified, and another dog, a chubby beagle, slunk down the hallway casting wary glances over its shoulder.
“Poor Meatball,” Summer clucked at the dog as he sidled his hefty body up next to her.
Summer shoved Meadow into Niko’s arms and grabbed his bag. “I’m so happy to see you, by the way.”
“I’m glad to be here.”At least, he hoped he would be.The hopeful desperation that bloomed across Summer’s face made him wonder if it wouldn’t have been a better idea to have his life crisis on a sandy beach on the Mediterranean.
“Carter! We have reinforcements,” Summer shouted as Meadow began to cry in his arms.
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The twins at fourteen months were teething again—molars this time. “It’s only temporary,” Summer insisted brightly as she lugged his bag upstairs. Niko, still carrying the now quiet Meadow, followed her over a baby gate at the top of the stairs and into the sunny bedroom at the front of the house.
Meadow, to his relief, seemed content to stare warily up at Niko with eyes the same brilliant blue as her mother’s.
“The main bath is all yours,” Summer said, placing his bag on the narrow desk under the window before flopping down on the patchwork quilt that covered the bed. She yawned. “I forgot how comfortable this mattress is,” she sighed.
“So, how’s life?” Niko asked, hiding his smile.
She yawned again. “Amazing. Like absolutely amazing. Also, exhausting.”
Meadow must have taken offense to her mother’s statement because she chose that moment to sneeze, sending a shower of slobber and snot all over Niko’s button down.
“Crap. Four seconds in my house, and we’ve already ruined your very nice Tom Ford. Sorry about that. Fluids just fly constantly around here,” Summer apologized.
“I figured that’s how you got twins,” Niko joked.
“Ha. There’s a whole pile of clean burp rags across the hall,” Summer said, directing him with an outstretched arm. “Missed you,” she called after him when he ducked out the door.
In the nursery, Niko found the towering pile of cotton cloths in every shade of pink and blue. Meadow’s little arms flapped like a baby bird when she spotted a stuffed giraffe in the closest crib. She made a squealy cry that sounded as if it might intensify into a shriek.
Panicked, he snatched the giraffe from the crib and shoved it into her grabby hands.
While Meadow amused herself by biting the giraffe in the face and cooing, Niko grabbed one of the clean-looking towels and scrubbed it across her face and then his shirt.
She frowned at him and let loose a stream of gibberish that sounded vaguely accusatory.
