No problem.
Only, there was a problem. A very large, very shirtless, very attractive problem. And my lady parts were totally onboard with this particular problem.
"Sorry," the guy returned, coming back down the hall. In his arms were two babies and I blinked as he carried them towards me looking sheepish. "Leif and Ulf are only here while I tried to grab some clothing but I guess I should have just waited till tomorrow, yeah?"
I blinked, taking in the hot guy who just became even hotter as he carried the babies. "Sorry, I… I need a minute." I told him, placing a hand to my chest. "What's your name?"
He frowned, "Liv didn’t tell you?"
"No," I murmured, watching as one of the babies snuggled closer into the guys chest.
"I'm Erik, Liv's brother." He hefted the babies up slightly. "And these are my sons, Leif, and this big man is Ulf."
"Well," I blinked staring at the adorable babies. "Twins. You and your wife must be busy."
"Actually, it's just me."
"Just—" I looked at the chaos with new eyes. "You're a single dad?"
"Yeah, long story but I adopted these two." He pressed a kiss to Ulf's head. "Worth every minute of crazy."
Adopted. He'd adopted twins. Be still my heart, this man deserved a blow job followed by a beer.
"Wow," was all I could manage. "You're brave."
He chuckled. "Or stupid. Verdict is still out."
His place wasn't dirty or unorganized out of neglect, it was chaos because this poor guy was living with two babies and little sleep every day on his own.
I reached across, laying a hand on Ulf's back. "Can I help you with one?"
The guy looked unreasonably grateful. "Actually, could you take both for a minute? I was just trying to get a load of washing on but knocked over the detergent. It's everywhere."
"Oh, why don't you look after them and I'll get it sorted?" I asked, glancing down the hall. "Which way is the laundry?"
"It's through the kitchen but—"
I didn't let him finish, immediately setting off. Cleaning was not only in my name, my blood or my job title, it was a part of me.
Some people hated cleaning. I knew that. But my earliest memories were going along with my family to jobs. Mom or Dad would hand me my own spray bottle and rag and they'd let me clean a window or dust a table. We'd listen to music and they'd press kisses to my cheeks, exclaiming over my efforts and how wonderfully spotless everything looked.
As I got older, the need to clean, to give people that ah… moment that came when entering a beautifully clean house, grew. When Instagram took off, I started posting videos showing us cleaning various filthy things. People seemed to enjoy the videos so I kept posting and people kept watching and then it got kind of crazy.
Someone had shared a video I did of cleaning dried blood off a blouse. A local news station picked it up and ran the story on their morning show. I'd been invited to discuss cleaning and they'd loved me and asked me to be part of a regular segment. Liv had seen it and contacted me about recording a series where I helped families who needed a spring clean. Next thing I knew, I had eight episodes recorded and the network wanted another season – this time twelve episodes.
Cleaning was addictive viewing, apparently. Go figure.
The kitchen was equally as filthy as the rest of the house. Food crusted across surfaces, the kitchen sink over flowing. Flour and chocolate sauce were splattered across the floor and up some cupboards.
"I knocked it over looking for the spare can of baby formula," Erik said with a laugh as we passed. "Then did the same in the laundry trying to clean my chocolate coated shirt."
I flicked him a smile over my shoulder as I bypassed the mess. "Don't worry, I know exactly what to do to get chocolate stains out."
I found the laundry and laughed. Two giant piles of dirty washing sat on a counter. This room was just as beautiful as the rest of the house – if you overlooked the current mess.
I found the broom closet and pulled out a dustpan and brush, quickly cleaning the spilled detergent and making a mental note to add child-proof locks to my list of things to talk to Erik about. His kids were still little but they'd be crawling soon, and a quick look in the under-sink cupboard showed a few things that could definitely hurt their little bodies.
"Thank you," Erik said from behind me as I finished cleaning the spill and began to sort the clothing.
