“Oh, um, hey,” I said.

“Hi,” she called over Jax’s wailing. Behind her, I could hear Jules crying as well.

“I came over to see what all the commotion was about.”

Allison grimaced. “Jake and Abby just left for the doctor—food poisoning or something. They were sick and feverish all night. I think Jake might be pretty dehydrated.”

“Are the spawns sick, too?” I asked, gesturing to Jax. That would certainly explain the f**king scream-fest.

“No, they’re fine. Well, except for the fact they seem to be going through some early separation anxiety when it comes to their parents. The moment Jake and Abby left the suite, they freaked out. Nothing I do seems to help.”

As I glanced from Jax to Allison, I noticed how frazzled she looked. Loose stands of dark hair had escaped from her ponytail, and her face was almost as red as Jax’s. “They’re not wet or hungry or sleepy—they just want to cry,” she said, her voice wavering as if she might cry at any minute as well.

At that moment, I had two options: I could have pulled an utterly douche move by telling her good luck with the screaming hellions and then escaped to my suite. Or I could offer to try to help her calm the twins down.

“Here, let me have him,” I said, reaching for Jax.

Allison’s dark eyes widened. “Seriously?”

I snorted contemptuously. “Like I’m going to leave you all alone with two screaming babies.”

Somehow I imagined that in her head, she was thinking that was exactly what an ass**le like me would do, especially after the way we had left things last night. “Thanks,” she said softly.

As I took Jax into my arms, he eyeballed me for a moment. When Allison started across the room for Jules, Jax picked up his wailing. “Okay, mama’s boy, you certainly have a fine pair of lungs.”

Allison jerked her head over her shoulder and scowled at me. “Don’t call him that.”

“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

“Maybe. But he can’t help it.”

Jax’s lip quivered as I stared at him. A smile tugged at my lips. “Come to think of it, you’re just like your daddy. He was a pansy-ass mama’s boy back in the day, too.”

“Rhys!” Allison admonished, as Jax stopped snubbing to momentarily grin at me.

I laughed at both of their reactions. Staring into Jax’s face was like looking at a mirror image of Abby except he had Jake’s dark hair. “I guess I should give you some slack. I would’ve been a mama’s boy too if I’d been blessed with a mama as sweet as yours.”

Allison laughed while bouncing a fussy Jules on her hip. “Abby is a sweetheart and the best mom.”

A thought popped into my mind, and before I could stop myself, I blurted it out. “You want that someday?”

With her dark brows lining in confusion, Allison asked, “Do I want to have kids someday?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, of course I do.” Allison stared into Jules’s face, a slight smile on her lips. “I can’t imagine going through life without kids, but at the same time, I don’t want them anytime soon.”

Her response surprised me. For some reason, I thought she would be just like Abby with wanting to have a family right away. “Really?”

She nodded. “There’s a lot I want to do and see before I settle down to get married, and even after, I’d like my husband and I to have some time just to ourselves.”

“I see.”

As Jules started to ratchet up her fussing into full-fledged crying, Allison asked, “What about you? Do you want kids?”

I exhaled a long sigh. “Yeah, sure, I wouldn’t mind having a kid someday. Like you, I sure as hell don’t want it to be anytime soon.”

It seemed that Jax took my comment about not wanting kids soon a little too personally because he started wailing again. My ears rang as he and Jules seemed determined to outdo each other with their screams. “Guys, please, don’t cry. Mommy and Daddy will be back very soon,” Allison said, over the noise.

Both of us started walking around the room, bouncing a twin in our arms. But nothing that we did seemed to work. We swapped off babies for a few minutes to see if daddy’s girl, Jules, might benefit from being with me. It didn’t work. Finally, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I walked over to Allison. “Here. I have an idea. Take her for a sec.”

Allison reluctantly took Jules into her free arm. “What are you going to do?”

“I need to run next door.”

Her eyes widened. “You aren’t bailing on me, are you?”

I scowled at her for even thinking something so shitty of me. “Of course not. Just trust me. I think I know what will get them to quiet down.”

“Okay,” she replied, reluctantly.

After I hustled back to my suite, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand. When I returned to Allison, she was walking around the bedroom with both twins in her arms as they continued crying. After scrolling through a few playlists, I picked one. Then I placed my phone on the docking station beside the bed. As I reached out for Jax, the sounds of Abby and Jake singing, I’ll Take You with Me echoed through the room. At the sounds of their parents’ blending voices, Jax and Jules’s cries started to quiet. The longer the song played, the more content they grew.

As Allison shifted Jules in her arms, Jules gave a contented coo as she lay her head on Allison’s chest. Glancing down at Jax, I asked, “How’s that, Jaxy boy? You like hearing your old man and your mama making music?” I asked. He stopped gumming his fist to smile up at me. “I thought you would. They sound good together, don’t they? They make a good team.”

When I glanced up, Allison appeared almost teary as she watched me with Jax. Once again, the familiar ache burned in my chest. It always happened whenever I tried to ignore the feelings I had for Allison. Under her intense stare, it was almost hard to breathe. Part of me wanted to stop the pain by just admitting to her about how much I cared. But the stubborn ass in me overrode those thoughts and clung to the notion that we simply couldn’t be together.

Deciding to change the subject, I jerked my chin at Jules. “She’s asleep.”

Allison’s eyes lit up. “Really?” she whispered. When I nodded, she eyed Jax. “He’s almost there.”

“Think we could lay them down?”

“We could try.” She then stepped over to the Pack ‘N Play next to Jake and Abby’s massive king-sized bed. She eased Jules down onto the mattress as if she was a ticking time bomb that could go off at any minute. Once she pulled her hands away, she waited a moment to see if Jules would start crying. When she didn’t, Allison eased a pacifier into Jules’s mouth, and then stepped back.