A Little Bit of Déjà Vu (39 page)

His daughter popped back up as if a spring had burst through the mattress beneath her. She turned toward the door, pouting. “But I gots to tell Daddy sumpfin.” She spotted him, and her face lit up like a stadium scoreboard.

Holding his finger to his lips, he crept behind his wife and whispered, “If your husband isn’t coming home for hours, that means I can have my way with you.”

Maggie gasped as their daughter squealed and jumped from the double bed into his arms.

“Shhh!” Jake hugged Katie. “You’ll wake the girls.” While she planted a wet kiss on his cheek, he made raspberries in her neck.

“Don’t worry,” Maggie said. “Those two were so tired the high school marching band could parade through here without waking them. How’d you get home so fast?”

“You think that was quick? I even squeezed in a visit to pay homage to our crown prince. ESPN wanted to interview Alex tonight, so they offered me a seat on their chopper. I was hoping to meet up with you at the hospital.”

“I’m sorry.” She looked pointedly at the two sleeping toddlers. “Two of our little princesses were exhausted. Roxanne and I couldn’t pry the girls apart.”

“Look on the bright side, Rosebud. We’ll never have to worry about our daughter being a
lonely-only
.” He set Katie down on the bed and stretched to ease the kinks in his back. “Man, I feel about a thousand years old tonight.”

A deep crevice creased his wife’s forehead. “Jake, have you considered how hard it will be for poor little Danny to grow up with these three girls ganging up on—”

He smothered her words as he brushed a kiss over her lips. “Why don’t you hold that thought and run us a hot bath? I’ll tuck our little Katie-Kat in, then you and I can talk in the tub.”

“Okay. Don’t let her chatter too long. She’s overtired.”

Jake sank onto the bed after Maggie left, pulling his child into his lap. “So, Kitten, what’d you want to tell me?”

She flashed the sideways grin of an accomplished coquette that never failed to charm him into indulging her. “It’s a secwet.” She giggled and stood on the mattress to whisper in his ear. “Aunt Roxie telled Emma we’s gonna get a baby like ‘lisabeff’s.”

He peered at his daughter’s face. “Aunt Roxie said that?”

Katie’s sky blue eyes widened as her head bobbed.

“I think you misunderstood.” Or maybe Roxanne was pregnant again. Although, that wasn’t likely at forty-six.

He laid his daughter down in her bed and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight, Kitten, I love you a hundred-million-zillion times.”

He switched on the intercom and then stripped off his dress shirt on the way to the master suite. In addition to turning on the tub, Maggie had flipped on the gas fireplace next to it. The only illumination in the room came from the dancing flames.

“By the way, I got an e-mail from Simon today,” he called into the bathroom, toeing off his loafers and undressing. “If he does as well on his exams as he expects to, he should end up with a 3.5 GPA this semester.”

Maggie emerged from the bathroom wearing just a smile. “I stopped worrying how he’d do after he scored so well on the critical reading and writing sections of his SATs last year.”

“Well, he owes it all to you, Rosebud. Simon also said he’s planning to accept the scholarship at Penn State next year so he can fill the void Alex will be leaving. Personally I think his choice has more to do with him wanting to see Tina on the weekends.”

“That,”—Maggie chuckled, poking his rib—“you have to take responsibility for.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m a helluva matchmaker and coach.”

“And a gifted psychologist. Are you ever sorry you decided to continue teaching instead of practicing as a therapist?”

After listening to the parents’ show of support at the board meeting three and a half years ago, Jake had realized he could use his training and help troubled teens far better as their teacher and coach then he ever could in a clinical setting where he had to wait for parents to recognize their kids were at risk. Not to mention, he loved teaching.

He spent his summers writing self-help books for parents of pre-teens and adolescents, which had proved extremely lucrative. Simon’s success and the way Brandy had straightened out her life left no doubt in his mind he’d made the right choice.

“Not at all. What about you? Are you ever sorry you quit?”

Since they hadn’t needed the extra income after their daughter was born, Maggie had begun volunteering to tutor low-income adults in Philadelphia two evenings a week.

“No way. I love being with Katie all day. And I love helping people who slipped through the cracks in school.”

Jake pulled his wife’s naked body into his arms. Even after three-plus years of marriage, she still made him feel like a horny teenager. He slid his hands down her sides and froze at the unfamiliar thickness in her waist. His daughter’s secret echoed in the back of his mind.

No
. He immediately shoved the idea away. Maggie had probably eaten a little too much stuffing and pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving.

After testing the water’s temperature, he scooped her up and lowered her into the steamy bathtub, trying to recall the last time she’d had her period. He settled into the fragrant bubbles behind his wife, pulled her back against him, and peeked at her face as she snuggled into the crook of his shoulder. “Rosebud?”

“Hmm?” She combed her fingers through the hair on his chest while the hot water relaxed every muscle in his body except the swollen one pressing into her hip.

“Katie just told me something strange. She said pretty soon she’s getting a baby just like Elisabeth.”

The starch in his wife’s back told him he hadn’t been imagining things. He closed his eyes and groaned.

~~~

As usual, their daughter was a nosey little motor-mouth.

Maggie glanced at Jake’s face. His tight-lipped expression said he wasn’t as pleased about the unexpected news as she was.

Eighteen months after having Katie, Maggie had broached the subject of another child, and Jake had made it clear he was more than happy to let Alex and Emma provide any future babies to expand their family. At the time, she'd been okay with the decision because, just like Dan, Jake didn’t relish the idea of being the oldest dad in his child’s kindergarten class and having everyone thinking he was their child’s grandfather. And being a grandmother was nearly as great as being a mom.

It had only been
after
the plus sign appeared on the pregnancy test stick that she'd realized how much she truly wanted another baby.

“
Well
....” She winced. “Our daughter has her story straight. I’m definitely a little pregnant.”

“There’s no such thing as a
little
pregnant. And why does Katie know before—”

“I didn’t want to ruin your excitement over Alex winning the Heisman and Danny’s birth. Apparently our little busybody must’ve overheard Roxanne and me talking to Emma today. I was planning to tell you tonight, but Miss Big Ears beat me to it.”

Jake closed his eyes. Becoming a father at forty-three had been traumatic enough. Forty-seven was just plain ridiculous. “We’ve already got two grandchildren. By the time this kid graduates high school, I’ll be on social security.”

“So what. These days, lots of couples are having babies at our age.”

“Those people don’t have a son and daughter who are about to graduate college.”

“He’ll keep us young,” she told him. When his head snapped up at her use of the word
HE
, she added, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and have a boy this time. Then our grandson will have someone to help keep the girls in line. And you’ll get to raise another star quarterback.”

“Okay, so there might be a few advantages.” He smiled down at her and chucked her under the chin. “You’re excited about having another baby, aren’t you?”

“Very much so.” She loved being a mother and grandmother—especially alongside a man who was such a natural with kids. After Dan died, she’d thought her life was over. Now it seemed as if it had only just begun. “I’ll be even happier if you’re pleased, too.”

“I just don’t understand. You’re using a diaphragm, and I always wear a raincoat during the middle of your cycle. How’d this happen?”

Kissing his ear, she laughed softly. “You have your doctorate, and you don’t know?”

“Don’t be smart.” He tweaked her breast, making her shiver. “I know the biology. How and when did we manage to make this baby?”

“Remember when you secretly packed my suitcase and left Katie with my mother so you could surprise me with a long weekend of skinny dipping and nude sunbathing at the lake before you had to start the new term?”

“Yeah.” He bit his lip as she nibbled on his neck.

“And do you recall how we spent most of those three days?”

“Umm.” He dropped his head back while she skimmed her hand down his taut abdomen. “We need to get Alexander to loan us his lake house more often.”

She wholeheartedly agreed. “Do you also recollect how great you thought it was that you didn’t have to pack much besides sunscreen?”

“Uh-huh.” He sucked in a tense breath as she caressed him beneath the bubbles.

“Well, the famous psychologist who wrote the bestseller,
Subconscious Self-Sabotage
, left my diaphragm and the condoms at home with all of my clothes. By the time I realized it, we were in the middle of our
How much do you love me
game. I didn’t say anything because I’d just finished my period, and I didn’t think it was likely for me to be fertile already.”

“So what’re you saying? Deep down I wanted to get you pregnant again?” He drew her closer and murmured into her lips, “Shhh, don’t answer that. Just let me wallow in denial and keep loving me.”

“Mmmm....” She most definitely would.

 
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About the Author

Laurie Kellogg is a two-time winner and seven-time nominee for the
Romance Writers of America
^®
Golden Heart
^®
award, the winner of
Pacific Northwest Writers Association
^®
Zola
award, and a
Romantic Times
^®
American Title I
finalist. She began writing to avoid housework and has since resorted to naming the dust-bunnies multiplying as fast as real rabbits while she plots love stories that are Steamy, Heartwarming, Romantic Fun!.

Laurie also writes red-hot romantic comedies under
L.L. Kellogg
which she’s branded as
A Little Naughty and a lot of Fun!
If you would like to know more about Laurie and her books visit
http://www.LaurieKellogg.com
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Coming Soon by
L.L. Kellogg

Hypnotic Seduction

Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® finalist

(as
Subliminal Seduction
)

She has a problem relaxing with men  

Frumpy wallflower Hannah Oliver is nearly thirty and has a serious self-image problem. Growing up in her centerfold mother’s shadow and being raised by her pious grandparents has left her so self-conscious about her matronly, D-cup figure she gets tongue-tied around good-looking guys. So when Hannah discovers her fiancé/employer boinking her roommate, she’s not only devastated—she’s unemployed.

He’s got a problem fending off women

Pharmaceutical CEO Jordan Calder has a huge image problem too—his professional image. Most guys would kill to be publicly proclaimed a world-class lover, but other men don’t share his dark, shameful past. The only thing women have ever wanted Jordan for is what he can give them in and out of bed. So when his grandfather drags dowdy Hannah into his office as an executive assistant candidate, Jordan hires the mousey woman on the spot.

Could hypnosis be a solution? 

After miraculously landing her plum new position, sexually frustrated Hannah resorts to hypnosis to boost her self-confidence with men, hoping to attract another mate. Unfortunately, a post-hypnotic suggestion compels her to kiss her sexy playboy boss, who she then stupidly falls for in and out of bed. Despair induces her to use similar hypnotic principles on him—in the form of subliminal messages—to convince the man she loves that he wants a happy-ever-after with her. But as everyone knows, desperate measures usually spell disaster.