A Cavanaugh Christmas (16 page)

“This one catches on fast.”

And then suddenly Andrew turned his full attention on her. The smile he flashed at her stripped Kait of any residual suspicions or leery feelings she might have toward him or the whole gathering in general. It somehow managed to scoop her up out of the realm of “outsider” and made her one of them.

“I’m very glad you decided to humor me and come with Tom, Kaitlyn. I’ll try very hard to make sure you won’t regret your decision.” He turned toward Tom. “Your father’s already here. He, Kendra and Bridget are out on the patio, talking with Brian. He’s more or less the family historian,” he said, confiding in Tom. “Your dad’s full of questions, as any of us would be, given the circumstances.”

He guided them both through the foyer and then pointed to what looked like a family room tucked away at the rear of the house. Blocking part of the view was the biggest Christmas tree she had ever seen. It looked to be about ten feet tall and absolutely laden with decorations. Left on her own, she would have been satisfied to stare at it all day.

“The patio’s just beyond that,” Andrew was telling them. “If either one of you find yourself needing anything, just give a yell. I’ll hear you eventually,” he promised. “In the meantime, feel free to dig in. The table’s still full but there’s plenty more if that runs out. Never sent anyone home hungry yet,” he told them with a wink. “By the way, Kait, you might enjoy meeting Brian’s stepson’s wife. Her name was Julianne White Bear before she crossed paths with Frank. Like you, she came here following up leads in a case that started out in her home state.” Andrew smiled. “After she accomplished what she set out to do, she decided that maybe Aurora had a few things to offer that she couldn’t find back in Arizona.”

To be polite, Kait asked, “And what was it that she couldn’t find in Arizona?”

The wide, pleased, not to mention radiant smile was back. “Frank.”

The next moment, Andrew had melded into the crowd, responding to someone who had called out to him. For the first time, Kait was able to focus on the number of people who literally filled the house to overflowing. She turned to Tom with wonder in her eyes. “Are all these people actually—”

“Cavanaughs?” he ended her sentence for her. “One way or the other, mostly, yes.”

“What do you mean one way or another?”

“Well, if I have my figures correct, Andrew has five kids—all married with families of their own. Brian had four with his first wife. When she died, he eventually married his old partner, who has four of her own.” He paused and laughed at the confusion on Kait’s face. “Are you keeping up on this?”

“Just barely,” she admitted.

“That gives Brian four kids and four stepkids—”

“And they’re all married?” she asked.

“Yup. Then there’s the group that belongs to Mike—”

She cocked her head, as if the information made it list to one side. “And that is…?”

“Was,” Tom corrected. “Andrew and Brian’s brother who died in the line of duty. He had two kids with his wife and apparently three more with a mistress. I hear they’re all married, too. And then there’s us,” he concluded. “My siblings and me,” he clarified in case she thought he was referring to himself and her.

“You people should issue scorecards at the door,” she told him.

“I hear that they’re seriously thinking about it,” he answered with a laugh. Taking her arm, he coaxed her to come along. “Let’s go talk to my dad and see if he’s as overwhelmed as you are.”

She would have argued with him—she didn’t like being perceived as out of her depth—but in this case, it was really true.

Chapter 12

“S
o what do you think of them?” Tom asked her as they drove home much later that evening.

As the day had worn on, Kait had found herself drawn into discussions where her opinion was genuinely sought. The Cavanaughs wouldn’t allow her to sit silently on the sidelines, much as she would have wanted to.

The one thing that
all
the Cavanaughs seemed to have in common was that participation was encouraged and actively urged.

“They all seemed very nice,” Kait granted, then couldn’t help adding, “I also think there were probably less people in my dad’s tribe than I saw at that house today.”

Tom slanted a look in her direction. She’d opened the door and he took the advantage to slip in. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that.”

She wasn’t aware that she’d said anything that begged for an answer. “About what?”

“Your last name.”

That again. “What about it?” Kait asked, instantly on her guard.

Just because she’d been sucked into one conversation after another when they’d been at the former chief of police’s house didn’t mean she wanted to bare her own soul.

Tom began slowly, like someone trying to gain the confidence of a skittish colt that hadn’t been tamed yet. “You’re a redhead.”

There was no denying that, so she just moved on. “Yes?”

“A real redhead,” he emphasized. She had that true, warm reddish hue that no bottle of hair dye could begin to approximate. “I’ve never seen a Native American of
any
tribe with red hair.”

That was because she wasn’t a Navajo. She was Irish and Welsh with some other parts she had no direct knowledge of thrown into the mix, as well.

“Maybe you’ve been sheltered,” she answered loftily. “I can’t help it if you don’t get out much.”

He’d thought that interacting with the Cavanaughs would get her to open up a little, but he’d obviously underestimated her stubbornness.

He sighed. “You’re still not going to tell me, are you?”

She laughed quietly, pleased that he seemed resigned that she wouldn’t tell him anything. “A little bit of mystery is good. Keeps things lively.”

He thought of last night. They’d come close to setting the bedsheets on fire. “I don’t think there were any complaints in that department. At least I know I don’t have any.” He glanced at Kait again as a streetlight they drove past lit up the car’s interior. “Do you?”

“Complaints?”

This was the part where she made a comment so blasé that he wouldn’t know or even guess just how much she’d enjoyed last night. How much his lovemaking had pleasured her down to the very core.

But when she opened her mouth, her lips betrayed her—much the way they had last night, when she was the one who essentially began the torrid night of lovemaking.

“No, none.”

He knew to grin outright would most likely cost him his head—or some other, possibly more vital part of him—so he suppressed any outward signs of victory as best he could.

“As a matter of fact,” he said with growing enthusiasm, “I have nothing but high marks, praise and commendations to give you.”

He ended the sentence on a high note, as if he expected her to come in and add her two cents, Kait thought. She merely smiled at him and said, “Don’t push it, Detective.”

Arriving at the house, Tom pulled his vehicle into the driveway and turned off the ignition. But rather than get out, he turned and faced her. “You’re being formal again.”

She felt as if she was struggling to keep even a semblance of a wall up. Her need to protect herself was great, but she was having a great deal of trouble executing the necessary steps for that to continue. He’d managed to all but burn away her defenses.

“Shouldn’t I be?” she asked, struggling to sound distant.

“You can if you want to,” he allowed. “Makes it a little strange kissing you, but I’ll manage.”

She would have been lying if she didn’t admit, at least to herself, that tonight had been in the back of her mind the entire day. Specifically, what it would be like once they were back at his house with the party behind them and the prospect of lovemaking tantalizingly shimmering before them. Would he want a repeat of last night, or was he one of those men who lost interest after the conquest had taken place and the challenge was no longer there?

But now that he’d said what he had about kissing her, she felt that at least tonight would be wonderful. Tonight they’d make love again.

The idea pleased her more than she was happy about. Because she didn’t want to count on anything outside of herself, and this was definitely counting on him.

“So you plan on kissing me.” It wasn’t so much a question as an establishment of fact.

“As long as you don’t have any objections,” Tom told her. “If you don’t, I plan to kiss you until both of us are returned to our ancient liquid states.”

They each got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Tom did the honors, temporarily disarming the security system so that he could open the door for them. All the while, he continued to look at her.

“Doesn’t sound like much of a plan,” she told him loftily as she walked in. “Actually, it sounds like the waste of an evening.”

Shutting the door behind them, Tom caught her lightly by the arm. When she looked up at him, he smiled into her eyes. “The plan doesn’t end there.”

“Oh?” Damn, she had to keep her heart from kicking into high gear like that. She would wind up giving herself away—if she hadn’t already. “Go on.”

“I have an idea,” he proposed, slipping her jacket off her shoulders and down her arms. He tossed the jacket in the general direction of the easy chair. “Instead of telling you, why don’t I show you?” His smile widened. “I tend to be a hands-on kind of guy.”

“Sounds interesting,” she agreed.

The next moment, he surprised her by pushing her back. She felt her back meeting the wall in the living room. In the next breath, the front of her body was securely lodged against his. So much so that their complementing body parts meshed in a whispered promise of things to come.

If she had any illusions about remaining aloof or projecting an aura of disinterest, they all went up in smoke the first few seconds into the seduction. Her pulse raced in tandem with her heart rate and all she could think of was Tom. The way he made her feel, the way she wanted to make
him
feel.

They went as fast, if not faster, as they had the very first time they’d made love last night. There was an urgency, fueled by a fear that something would happen to terminate all this, and she desperately wanted to experience that light show in the sky that Tom could create within her just as they reached the ultimate climax together.

She wasn’t disappointed.

When it happened, when the stars seemed to shower down all around them, Kait could feel his heart slamming against hers even as he continued to balance the weight of his body on his elbows, keeping it from crushing her.

As the euphoria began to recede, she heard Tom laugh very softly to himself. Her insecurity instantly perceived it to reflect something she had done that he found laughable.

Stiffening, she challenged, “What?”

He’d had every intention of going slow, but she’d tempted him into a faster and faster tempo. He didn’t like to admit it to himself, but she had wrested control away from him. He couldn’t remember that ever happening before.

“We went at it like the end of the world was around the corner.”

Was he going to say it hadn’t been any good that fast? Because he had rocked her world, just as he had yesterday. But maybe today he’d been removed enough to feel the need to criticize her.

“So?” she asked defensively.

“So this time,” he said, gently gliding the crook of his finger along her cheek, “I’d like to do it as if we had all the time in the world.”

Her eyes widened as a pleased feeling spread all through her. “You want to do it again?”

He mimicked her surprise. “You don’t?”

She blew out a breath. “You talk too much,” she told him.

“Maybe you don’t talk enou—”

He didn’t get an opportunity to finish. Kait had taken matters into her own hands again, just as she had yesterday, and she pressed her mouth against his, terminating any further flow of words on his part and eliminating the need for answering questions on hers.

An hour and a half later, after a third go-round had left them both spent and trying to steady their erratic breathing, Kait thrilled to the feel of Tom drawing his fingers along her hair with long, languid strokes. Shivers raced up and down her spine in response.

Though she knew the danger of letting her guard down, of allowing herself to simply savor this moment, Kait did just that and could feel contentment slipping in.

“About that question I asked earlier…” Tom began, whispering the words into her hair.

Her mind was a total blank right now. “What question?”

“About your last name.”

Oh, right. That question. She shifted slightly so that she could look at him. “So you don’t believe in maintaining an aura of mystery?”

“I believe in learning things about you,” he told her, playing with a strand of her hair. “Lots of things. Significant things. Insignificant things…”

She made a small, hopefully disparaging sound. “You certainly have a lot of prerequisites for a casual-sex partner.”

Her words hit him square in his chest. Tom rose up on his elbow and looked at her, his expression deadly serious. “What about this felt casual to you?” he asked.

That was just the problem. It hadn’t. Not to her. To her what had just happened had been not just intense but very, very personal. And profound.

In her heart she knew that she was setting herself up for a fall.

Kait took a breath as she looked at the man beside her for a long moment.

Maybe the question he’d asked wasn’t all
that
personal. After all, she wasn’t ashamed of being adopted. It had marked the beginning of her life, really.

What would it hurt, telling Tom?

Telling him wouldn’t actually be letting out some secret. He could look up the records, find out for himself if he pulled a few strings. Something that would be easy enough for him to do if he wanted to. So either he was just teasing her, being lazy—or he wanted her to tell him herself for whatever reason.

She knew what sort of a reason he was thinking of: that she trusted him enough to be personal with him. Because even more personal than sharing her body would be sharing her thoughts, her past.