The Heart of Christmas (10 page)

“Okay, he’s got to be the most beautiful man I’ve ever laid eyes on. But if this is where you warn me not to get my heart broken, don’t worry. I’m not expecting anything permanent with Brent. He’s only in town for a short time.”

Cheyenne’s husband took another sip of his beer as he considered her response. “Is that for real? If so, it’s the best news I’ve heard all night.”

She and Dylan had gotten off to a rocky start when he’d first begun dating Cheyenne, but these days Eve thought so highly of him and his opinion that she couldn’t help being disappointed by what he’d just said. “Why don’t you like Brent?”

“I didn’t say I didn’t
like
him. I’m sure he’s great...in lots of ways.”

“But...
something
has you concerned.”

“Everyone who cares about you should be concerned. He’s completely closed off. One hundred percent defensive. Constantly in fight or flight mode.”

It wasn’t like Dylan to be this opinionated, not so soon after meeting someone. “How can you tell?” she asked.

“Trust me. You trade punches with enough guys, you learn to identify the dangerous ones.”

He was referring to the days when, after his father had gone to prison, he’d become an MMA fighter in order to support his four younger brothers. His level head and vast experience with fighting lent him credibility. But she couldn’t believe Brent was
dangerous.
He’d touched her so gently, and she’d never felt the slightest bit scared—

The memory of when he’d awakened and slammed her onto her back suddenly came to mind. He’d scared her then, hadn’t he? In that moment he’d seemed perfectly capable of violence. Even afterward, he’d acted oddly cautious, as if he expected someone to jump out of the closet and threaten his life.

“What is it?” Dylan’s expression showed fresh concern.

“Nothing,” she replied. “Nothing at all. He’s had plenty of chances to hurt me and he’s been nothing but—” she flashed him a grin to throw him off track “—accommodating.”

“Don’t let that pretty face fool you, Eve. That or whatever other assets he’s got.” The last part was the response she’d been looking for when she started to tease him. She’d been hoping he’d lighten up. But his levity came and went that quickly. When he spoke again, he was serious. “This guy’s a hard-ass. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s done time.”

“That’s crazy!”

Dylan shrugged. “I could be wrong, but...he’s on edge, and that puts me on edge.”

Maybe Dylan was right. But did that mean they should all turn their backs on him?

Eve was convinced that Brent needed someone and she couldn’t keep herself from responding.
My life feels empty enough,
he’d said when she suggested he get with someone like Noelle.

But if she was pregnant, and he wasn’t capable of loving her or being a good father, even at a distance...

“I told you, he’s only in town for a short time,” she said.

Her mother called them all to the dining table, but Dylan grasped her arm before she could move away.

“Just keep your eyes open,” he said. “A lot can happen in a short time,” he said.

If only he knew what had already happened—and how it might affect her future. “I’ll be careful,” she promised.

11

H
e’d fallen into a snow globe, Rex decided, into one of those perfect little Christmas scenes he’d peered into so often when he was a child visiting his grandmother’s house. All that was missing was the snow.

He told himself a million times to leave Eve’s parents’ house. He had no business being here. He couldn’t even say why he’d come, except that he hadn’t wanted to make Eve look bad by proving to be so much less than the kind of man they’d expect her to bring home. He’d had enough disapproval over the years and didn’t want to face it here, just when his life felt like a clean slate again. Also, his behavior reflected on her—there was no escaping that—so he’d planned to put in a brief appearance, to spend enough time that they wouldn’t wonder if she’d lost her mind in allowing him to be so intimate with her.

He’d already stayed longer than he’d meant to, however. The food smelled so good, the house felt so warm and comfortable and the people seemed so happy that he couldn’t resist wanting to be there, to belong to something magical like this again. Since he’d destroyed his own family, this was the closest he might ever get to what he’d once enjoyed.

Almost everyone treated him as if he was more than welcome. The only person who seemed to recognize him for what he was—a wolf in sheep’s clothing—was Dylan Amos. Every time Dylan caught his eye, he seemed to issue an unspoken warning:
Don’t you dare hurt these people.

But that didn’t offend Rex. If he’d been in Dylan’s shoes, he’d be doing everything he could to protect those he loved, too. The man had good instincts.

“So where does your family live?” Cheyenne asked as Eve’s mother circled the table, serving the enchiladas.

Eve’s pregnant friend, Dylan’s wife, had taken the seat across from him and was watching him curiously.

“Los Angeles, for the most part,” he said.

She tucked her long, honey-colored hair behind her ears. “Will you be joining them for Christmas?”

“No.” There was nothing to go back to. Mike, his oldest brother, had moved to San Diego years ago. He was married, had two kids and a job heading up the engineering department of a plastics company. Rex spoke to him occasionally. Mike didn’t seem to blame him for what had happened to Logan as much as their older brother did. Dennis, a heart surgeon in L.A., was also married and had three kids. Dean, their father, lived in Los Angeles, too, an hour south of Dennis. According to what Mike had told him several months ago, their father was finally getting past their mother’s death and was even beginning to date.

Rex was glad for him but the idea of Dean with someone else felt so foreign that he couldn’t imagine it. He missed his father the most. Despite how profoundly he’d disappointed his mother, how much he regretted that she was gone and that he’d never have the chance to ask her forgiveness, it was his relationship with his father—or lack thereof—that had caused him the most pain. But Logan had been their father’s favorite. Whenever he’d contacted Dean, which had only been a handful of times since he’d left, it just reminded him of how and why he’d lost his youngest son, and everything Rex had put him through.

“His sister will be joining him here any day,” Eve’s mother volunteered.

Rex had almost forgotten about Scarlet. With her dark hair and large, luminous eyes, she didn’t look anything like him. But he guessed that didn’t matter, not in the age of the blended family.

Cheyenne gave him a gentle smile. “I bet that’ll be nice. Sometimes smaller groups are less stressful. Not
all
families are the havens they’re supposed to be.”

That comment took him by surprise. He’d expected her to be as untrusting as her husband—or as suspicious as Eve’s father had been when they’d first met this morning. Coming here tonight had taken the edge off that at least.

“Are you speaking from experience?” he asked.

She laughed. “Yes. Not these days, but...I had an interesting childhood.”

Rex thought it was nice of her to try and make him more comfortable. He would never have imagined that everything hadn’t always been perfect in her world—because it certainly seemed perfect now. Her husband acted as if she meant everything to him.

“Fortunately, people don’t have to be related to become a family,” Charlie said, covering Cheyenne’s hand with his own.

Cheyenne sent Eve’s father a grateful smile. Rex could appreciate Charlie’s obviously paternal love for someone who wasn’t actually his daughter and he admired Cheyenne for being so kind. But he wasn’t in the situation she assumed. There was nothing wrong with his family—except him.

“Do you have any other siblings, Brent?” Cheyenne asked.

He was so distracted by his food, by having a home-cooked meal in front of him, he didn’t answer. It wasn’t until everyone went still and looked up expectantly that he realized she’d been talking to him. Although he’d used various aliases since dropping out of The Crew, he still had to use a fictional surname. Right now that name was Taylor, but he’d gone back to Rex three years ago, and was no longer used to answering to anything else. Unless he was paying strict attention, “Brent” occasionally threw him.

“Sorry,” he said. “What’d you say?”

The tension eased when he made it seem as if he hadn’t heard her.

“I wondered whether you have any siblings besides your sister.”

“He has two brothers, as well,” Eve announced, her answer so quick and to the point it gave Rex the impression that she wanted to keep the questions to a minimum as much as he did. “One’s a chemical engineer and the other’s a doctor,” she added, offering those details before her friend could ask. She seemed to think that should be the end of it but, of course, it wasn’t. Cheyenne was too eager to get to know him.

“And you said they’re both in L.A.?”

“Just Dennis,” he replied, “the doctor.”

When Eve stiffened at his side and glanced over at him, Rex sensed that what he’d just said had taken her by surprise or was somehow significant to her. But he couldn’t imagine why. She didn’t even know his real name. There was no way she could connect him to one of the many, many doctors in SoCal. “Do you know a Dennis in Los Angeles?” he asked.

Eve took a drink of water. Then she smiled, although it looked strained, and shook her head. “No, we have a good friend who lives there, though. She married Simon O’Neal, the actor? You’ve probably heard of him.”

“You’re not talking about one of the biggest movie stars in America?”

“Actually, I am.”

“That’s like casually mentioning that you’re friends with Brad Pitt.”

Cheyenne laughed. “We’re all friends with Simon, because of Gail. We grew up with her. After college, she moved down south to open a publicity firm and that’s how she met him. She used to represent him.”

“Gail flies our whole group of friends out to stay with her when she has the time,” Eve said.

“This summer she’s taking us all to Italy,” Cheyenne put in. “Simon will be filming a movie there—although I don’t know if I’ll get to go. My baby might be too young to travel that extensively and I’m not sure I’ll want to leave him. Or her.”

Rex wondered if Eve would be too pregnant to go. He hoped not, for both their sakes.

“Your baby’s father could probably manage without you for a week,” Dylan said. “Not that it’ll be easy.”

Fortunately, from there the conversation revolved around Simon, how Gail coped with the crazy antics of his ex-wife, how happy they were together and how cute their children were. Eve promised to take him to see the mansionlike cabin they owned, overlooking the Stanislaus River near New Melones Lake.

Rex couldn’t tell if she was sincere about that invitation or just playing the role of cordial host, but before long he began to relax and enjoy her friends and family far more than he’d anticipated. He even stayed to play cards with them. It wasn’t until eleven, when Cheyenne and Dylan were preparing to leave, that he said he had to go, too.

“Can you walk me home first?” Eve asked as she pulled on her coat.

“Of course.”

Her mother was in the kitchen, loading the dishwasher, since she’d put that off to play cards with them. Her father had brought in all the dishes for her, but was now changing the channels on the TV, eager to find Sports Center.

“It was very nice to meet you both. Thank you for dinner,” he told Eve’s parents when her father stood up and her mother came out to say goodbye.

“You are such a nice young man,” Adele said.

Not many people would describe him so favorably. The people who knew him well usually said he was his own worst enemy. He’d presented them with good reasons for that assessment. But time seemed to be healing those old wounds, to a certain extent, making it easier for him to behave well.

Her father shook his hand. “I’m glad Eve has a new friend.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t call me ‘sir,’” he said with a laugh. “We’re too casual in Whiskey Creek for that.”

“Since you won’t be joining your own family, we’d love to have you and your sister here for Christmas dinner, if you’re available,” her mother told him.

He shouldn’t have deepened his relationship with them, especially since that invitation was much more appealing than he wanted it to be. “I appreciate that,” he said. “I’ll check with Scarlet and let you know.”

“You do that.”

Her parents stood on the steps and waved as they walked away, and Eve slipped her arm through his.

“You have nice folks,” he said.

“I do.”

The door closed behind them and the porch light snapped off, but there was a full moon to light their way and a black velvet sky filled with stars. “I can see why you like it here.”

“In Whiskey Creek?” She gave him an impish grin. “Be careful. If you hang out with me much longer, you might not want to leave when the time comes.”

In some ways, he was already reluctant. But he couldn’t stay indefinitely. Because his past would follow him wherever he went.

* * *

When they reached her doorstep, Eve told herself to let him go on his way. But she wasn’t ready, despite Dylan’s warnings. And Dylan didn’t even know about that moment of panic when Brent had suddenly pinned her to the bed. Or that Brent had initially told her his name was Jared. Or that he hadn’t mentioned having a sister when he told her parents he had two brothers. She guessed he’d say Scarlet was adopted if she asked, but...would it be true?

Eve didn’t know what to believe. Brent Taylor might not even be his real name. Tonight, he’d identified his brother in Los Angeles as Dennis, which had immediately jumped out at her. When she’d called the number Brent had left in Noelle’s car, she’d heard what sounded like Dennis’s wife pleading with her brother-in-law, whom she called
Rex.
So if Brent’s second brother
wasn’t
named Rex, Brent could easily be him. The fact that he was rambling around with that number in his pocket and seemed to be estranged from his family certainly suggested it was possible.

And yet, as true and frightening as all of that was, he still held a real fascination for her. Whenever their eyes had met at her parents’ house, she’d felt a zing of pleasure—and the way his gaze had followed her, she sensed that he was experiencing the same giddy attraction.

Was it only because she reminded him of that other woman?

Eve hated the thought....

“Lust is an interesting thing,” she told him.

Taking hold of the lapels of her coat, he turned her and pressed her up against the door. “Now
there’s
something we didn’t discuss at dinner.” His teeth flashed in a grin. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

Studying his perfectly shaped lips, she moistened her own. “It’s far more powerful than I ever dreamed it could be.”

His grin slanted to one side. “Is it?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever really felt it before, not like now.”

He nipped at her lips. “I like where this is going.”

“The thought of you, of what you can do to me, is driving me crazy,” she admitted.

His hands slid inside her coat, curled around her bottom and brought her up against him as if he had every right to do whatever he pleased. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

She felt like someone else, someone far more daring, when she lifted her mouth to his ear and dropped her voice. “It means I want to feel you inside me again...and again,” she whispered. “All night long.”

He groaned. “If you’re trying to make me hard, I’m already at rock level.”

Giving him a seductive smile, she stared into his eyes while lowering her hand to feel the evidence. “I just have one question.”

He sucked in his breath as she touched him. “What?”

“Is this for me...or for that other woman?”

“What other woman?” he asked.

“The woman who married someone else. The woman you wanted. Last night, you said I reminded you of her.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Only at first.”

She eyed him, looking for deception. “You mean it?”

He nodded.

“That’s nice to hear,” she said. Then his mouth came down on hers, warm and wet and demanding, and she slipped her arms around his neck. If they weren’t careful, they wouldn’t even make it inside, she thought as the passion built. But he pulled back.

“What about your parents?”

“I don’t think they’ll find it surprising if you stay over, seeing as they nearly walked in on us this morning.”

He didn’t seem convinced.

“What?” she said when he scowled.

“That seems too...disrespectful on my part.”

His response surprised her. He cared about the impression her parents had of him? No matter who or what he was, he couldn’t be all bad. “I’d say we could go to the B and B, but we have no vacancy this weekend,” she told him.

“Jackson’s not far.”

“You want to go to the next
town?
You’re kidding, right?”

“Not at all.”

“But we can stay here for free.”

“And feel self-conscious the whole time? No, thanks. I don’t want anything holding me back.” After another hungry kiss, he grabbed her elbow and propelled her along with him as, muffling their laughter, they carefully skirted her parents’ windows and hurried to his SUV.