Tempted By You — Helen Conrad

The Destiny Bay Romances all take place in the same world and are loosely connected--but each story can stand on its own and each contains love scenes.

Pals--they're just pals.
And that's all they'll ever be. You see, Taylor Lee is still healing from a rotten childhood and Kai Carrington is trying to make a career out of skimming the surface of the good life. She's chasing success; he's obsessed with staying playboy single, but both hit the wall of doubt when they find twin babies on the doorstep.  A crazy weekend with diapers and lullabies opens them to something new--including some sexy romance that goes way beyond being "pals". And when Taylor starts auditioning other guys as husband/father-of-twins material, Kai begins to panic. Doesn't he want to play that part himself? Maybe it's time to let his heart decide and turn his "pal" into a life partner.

Excerpt:
He began to edge toward the doorway.
"Listen, lady, your babies are very nice… "
She caught hold of his arm, stopping him. "They're not my babies," she told him with exasperation ringing in her tone. "Don't you get it, yet? They're your babies."
"Mine?" His first impulse was to laugh, but one look down into her intensely dark eyes told him she wasn't kidding, and suddenly he had a moment of doubt.
He looked at her again quickly, staring hard. It wasn't possible, was it? No, he'd never seen her before in his life, and besides, he was very careful about that sort of thing.
"We've never met before." That was a stone cold fact.
She shrugged. "I know that."
He blinked. She knew that. She was admitting it. So why was she still staring at him with that accusation in her eyes?
"But then see... how could I have fathered these babies?"
"The usual way. It does happen."
"Not to me, it doesn't."
She rolled her eyes. "Tell that to these little ones." Her hand tightened on his arm. "I don't understand how anyone can deny his own blood like this. I'll bet you weren't there when these babies were born. I know you haven't sent any money lately. You probably never came to see them. You never cared. Did you?"
Well, it was true, he hadn't done any of these things, but then, why would he? These weren't his babies.
"Wait a minute. Let's start over. When did you have these babies?"
She threw back her head in frustration. "I didn't have them."
He frowned. Things were just getting muddier and he was getting frustrated. "You didn't have them?" He shook his head, searching her eyes, trying to grasp some tiny piece of rationality in this whole conversation but getting pretty near the end of his rope. "Then who did?"
"Janine, of course."
Oh, of course. Why hadn't he thought of that?
"Who the hell is Janine?" he bellowed.
She put a quick finger to her lips. "Shh, the babies," she warned, glancing at where they still slept, but only barely. Then she squinted at him. "You don't even remember her?"
If she weren't so pretty and if her mouth didn't look so kissable, he would have been out the door long ago.
See, that was his salient flaw. He couldn't resist a beautiful woman--especially one who wore such a severe, business-like suit over what was so obviously a generously rounded body. It would be a lot like unwrapping a Christmas present to get to know Taylor Lee. Too bad he wasn't going to have time for that.