“I’m sorry. Bad joke,” he said, heading for the checkout lanes. “Let’s get you home so you can take a nap.”
As it turned out, she slept in the car. Gavin heard her gentle snore before they had been on the road fifteen minutes. He drove slowly, in no hurry to get back to Silver Glen. As they headed up into the mountains, he pulled off at a scenic overlook and parked.
Cassidy never stirred. The tiny frown on her forehead disturbed him. Were her dreams unpleasant, or was she still mad at him?
For the first time, a novel thought occurred to him. What if he accepted the babies regardless of their parentage? Was it enough that Cassidy was their mom and Gavin wanted Cassidy?
He watched her sleep and felt a shift in his thinking. Cass wasn’t the only one whose reality was changing. Like it or not...father or not...Gavin was reaping the results of his one wild night in Vegas.
It was an unexpected pleasure to be able to study her intently without her knowing. Asleep, she looked closer to eighteen or twenty than twenty-three. He was only six years older than she was, but it felt like a much wider gulf than that.
She’d been innocent when it came to physical intimacy. He still hadn’t come to terms with that. If both of them had acted out of character that one crazy night, what did it say about the chances for any kind of long-lasting relationship?
No matter the difficulties and the questions, he couldn’t turn his back on Cassidy. Her father had thrown her out. Gavin never would. Not unless some other man came to claim her.
Imagining that scenario hurt. A lot. The severity of his mental reaction told him he was in far deeper than he wanted to admit.
He wanted to touch her...if only to ruffle her dark hair or straighten the shirt that had rucked up to reveal a slice of soft golden skin at her waist. The urge was almost uncontrollable.
Soon, very soon, she would start to show. When that happened, his whole family would speculate. They weren’t shy about asking questions. While it was comforting to know that he and Cassidy had a circle of support when it came time for the babies to be born, one part of him wanted to hide her away and keep her for his own.
She stirred and sat up, a crease on her cheek where she had rested against the seat belt. “Sorry,” she said, yawning. “I seem to keep doing that.”
“It’s good for you and the babies.”
She paled, her eyes dark and wide. “I thought maybe I dreamed that.”
“No such luck. Try to think of it as efficiency...two for the price of one.”
“It’s too early to joke about this,” she muttered. “Somebody up there made a big goof. I’m not the maternal type. The prospect of one baby freaked me out, much less two.”
“I have faith in you, Cassidy.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
The grumpy note in her voice made him want to smile, but he held it in. “It seemed like you were having a rough day. I’m trying to be supportive.”
“Unless you can push two watermelons out of your female parts, you’re pretty much useless to me now.”
This time he did chuckle. “Women do it every day. How bad could it be?”
“Maybe like giving a guy a mammogram on his family jewels.”
He winced and held up a hand. “I stand corrected.” He started the engine and backed out of the parking space. “When we get home I have a proposition for you.”
Cassidy yawned and rummaged in her oversize tote for a bottle of water. “I think that was what got us into this mess. Don’t you remember?”
He did remember. In stunning detail. And that recollection made it very difficult to be objective about Cassidy’s pregnancy. Or his own role in the situation. In fact, his life would be a whole lot easier if he could erase every moment of the time he’d spent in bed with Cassidy Corelli.
Easier maybe. But not nearly as much fun.
Twelve
Back at the house, Cassidy planned to hide out in her room and try to come to terms with the soap opera that was her life. But she and Gavin were still in the driveway when her phone rang.
She muttered an unladylike word.
Gavin shot her a glance. “Who is it?”
“My father.”
“Are you going to tell him about the babies? Plural?”
The phone continued to ring. “No. Not yet.” She didn’t want to answer, especially with Gavin listening in. Getting another lecture from her father about the need for a husband and a wedding ring was an embarrassment she’d just as soon not share. “I’ll call him back in a minute.”
Inside the house, she was ready to disappear when Gavin took her arm. “Not so fast. I want to show you something.”
He led her down the hall where her bedroom was located. His was farther back. And across from it was a door she hadn’t opened.
She came to a halt. “Are you about to show me your collection of baseball cards and workout equipment?”
His lips quirked in a half smile. “No. Those are in the garage. Take a look. I thought you could use this as a temporary nursery when the babies first arrive.”
“Oh.” She peeked inside and was pleasantly surprised. The room was easily fourteen by fourteen, plenty big enough for two infants. At the moment, the furnishings consisted of a set of twin beds and a bedroom suite that was probably used for guests.
Gavin leaned against the door frame. “Some of my clients like to have face-to-face consultations. I occasionally offer them a room here.”
“How would that work if the house is full of babies?”
“They’re tiny at first, right? We can manage. There’s the Silver Beeches Lodge, of course, and also half a dozen B and Bs in town. It’s not a problem.”
“And I won’t be here for all that long.” She said it deliberately, to goad him, to get a reaction...any reaction.
For a moment, she thought she had failed. His expression was blank, closed off. But before she could blink, he reeled her into his arms and kissed her hard. The embrace left them both breathless.
Gavin brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “One day at a time, Cass.”
Her phone rang again, shattering the moment of intimacy. Same caller. “I’ll take this in my room,” she said, her stomach curling.
Gavin kissed her one more time, this one gentle and sweet. “Don’t let him be a bully. You have options.”
* * *
Cassidy had been on the line with her dad for fifteen minutes, and not once had he mentioned her pregnancy. She squelched the stab of hurt. Apparently the impetus for this call was a far more pressing concern.
“I need you to come back, right away,” her father bellowed. “I’ve lost half a million dollars already.”
Letting him ramble and bluster for several minutes, she finally got the picture. Someone had infiltrated the casino’s computer systems and was siphoning money into an offshore account. Gianni Corelli had spotted the missing cash, but that was as far as he had gotten.
Cassidy was sympathetic, but she wouldn’t be a doormat. “You threw me out, remember? Why can’t Carlo handle this?”
Her father’s volume rose two decibels. “That pup can barely even turn on a computer,” he yelled “You’re the one with the brains. Come home, Cassidy. I need you.”
Interestingly, he hadn’t realized he needed her until she wound up on the other side of the country. “I’ll think about it, Daddy.” She sensed his rage, but beneath it was fear. Her father had built a mighty empire. It must be maddening to see it threatened.
Part of her was angry that her only parent hadn’t acknowledged her pregnancy at all. Or admitted that he was wrong to throw her out. Or at least shown some appreciation for her talent and her dreams for the casino. But she told herself it was just as well, because she was no closer to having any answers than w
hen she left Vegas.
He spent another five minutes demanding her immediate presence, but Cassidy stood firm. “I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said. “But I make no promises.” He knew what he had done. It wouldn’t hurt him to spend a few hours learning to regret that he had booted his only daughter to the streets.
Over dinner prepared by Gavin’s housekeeper, Cassidy told Gavin about the crisis in Las Vegas.
His forkful of lasagna stopped halfway to his mouth. “So he wasn’t calling about your pregnancy...or to check on how you were feeling?”
“Never even mentioned it,” she said wryly. She swallowed a bite of the garlic bread that was to die for. “But I let him know that he couldn’t order me around like a child.”
“Good for you.”
“I need a favor,” she said. The request was really rather ballsy considering all he had done so far, but he was her babies’ father. And this request would indirectly benefit them.
Gavin took a sip of his Chianti and wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Okay.” He seemed cautious but resigned.
“Do you think you could hack the casino’s security protocols and help me figure out who’s doing this?”
He caught on immediately. “That’s brilliant. If we succeed, your father would take you back with open arms.”
“That’s what I was thinking.” But was that truly what she wanted? She was confused and adrift. If her father changed and her goals were back on track, where did that leave her relationship with Gavin? And what about the twins? She knew she wanted to be at home with them, at least for a few years.
“Do you have the appropriate access codes?”
“If they haven’t updated them. And I doubt they have. I haven’t been gone that long.”
“Then let’s give it a try.”
In Gavin’s amazing office, he offered her a high-backed leather chair that matched his. She sat beside him at the console while he booted up one of his computers. One of the things she liked about him was that he wasn’t scared off by her intelligence.
In college and grad school, she’d sometimes started dating a guy only to get dumped when he found out that her looks didn’t equate with being a party girl. And the smart ones...the boys she would have enjoyed going out with, rarely asked her out because of her looks.
Gavin, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the whole package. It made her feel good. Really good.
He pulled up a screen and glanced at her. “You ready?”
She nodded, her heart racing. What they were attempting was probably illegal...unethical at best. But the casino was part of her life, part of her birthright. She had a vested interest in seeing it succeed.
As she rattled off username and password, Gavin entered all sorts of characters and letters that looked like gibberish to her. “What are you doing?” she asked, frowning. This didn’t seem like the usual log-in procedure.
“We don’t want anyone to notice that we’re poking around. I’m essentially camouflaging our access.”
She leaned forward, fascinated by his matter-of-fact knowledge of things that were Greek to her. Soon, he pulled up a visual of the security suite. She and Gavin could see the multiple television screens that monitored everything happening in various parts of the casino. “Amazing,” she whispered.
Gavin shot her a grin. “You don’t have to be quiet. No one knows we’re here.”
She punched his arm. “Don’t make fun of me.”
In that moment, she realized this was the first time since she had arrived in North Carolina that she didn’t feel at odds with Gavin. He was more like the man she had met in Vegas.
Who knew how long his good humor would last...
After forty-five minutes, she began to get bored. Gavin was deeply immersed in his task. But since she hadn’t a clue how he was doing it, and because she had nothing to contribute at this point, she decided to bow out. “I think I’ll go now.”
Gavin barely acknowledged her departure.
With a sigh, she wandered down the hallway to the room he had offered as a nursery. Sitting on one of the twin beds, she tried to imagine what this space would look like with two babies in residence. Her pregnancy still didn’t seem entirely real, even after seeing the evidence on an ultrasound.
What did seem very real were her feelings for Gavin. She cared about his opinion of her. And she wanted to be a part of his life. She might even be falling in love with him, though her mind shied away from that thought. Too much room for heartbreak.
What was she going to do? She had some big decisions to make and no road map. Even if she understood Gavin’s reservations about accepting his paternity on faith, it didn’t make things any easier for her. He’d told her she could stay until the babies were born, but that wasn’t a viable solution, was it? If she hunkered down in his home, seeing him every day, the outcome would be inevitable. She would want to stay in his house and in his heart. It was easy to hope he might give up his doubts about her trustworthiness. Easy, but not realistic.
Given what Maeve had shared with her about Gavin’s past, trust wasn’t a commodity he shared easily. Perhaps even the attraction that burned so brightly between the two of them increased his misgivings.
Cassidy wanted a father for her babies, but even more than that, she wanted a man who loved her unequivocally. Once Gavin saw legal proof that the babies were his, he would do the right thing. She had no worries there. But that wasn’t enough. It never would be.
She’d given her innocence to a wonderful man. But was the sexual chemistry between them a sign of something deeper? For her part, it was becoming more and more clear that the answer was yes. Gavin was smart and funny and sexy and masculine in a way that made a woman feel protected...even if she could take care of herself.
Staying in his home would almost certainly increase the intimacy between them, with or without sex. Which would make Cassidy incredibly vulnerable to deep hurt.
She had to come up with another plan. One that didn’t involve Gavin. She was a mature, well-educated woman. She could figure this out. But how could she leave Silver Glen when her heart was trapped here?
* * *
Gavin stretched and craned his neck, working out the knots from sitting too long. It hadn’t been easy, but he’d done it. He knew who was stealing from Cassidy’s father. Telling her was a task he’d rather not face.
Surely it could wait until morning.
He yawned as he shut everything down and prepared to head to bed. It was almost 2:00 a.m.
The house was quiet when he left his office. Some part of him wanted to make sure Cassidy was okay. When he saw that her door was open, he peeked in. His heart stopped. The room was empty, the bed neatly made. She wasn’t in the bathroom. All her things were still in the closet and drawers.
Crazy thoughts rushed through his mind. Did she sleepwalk? Could she be outside? Had she taken his car and gone for a joyride? Was she so upset about her pregnancy that she might consider desperate measures?
It took him a full sixty seconds to get hold of himself. There had to be a plausible explanation.
He would search the house first. If that produced nothing in the way of answers, he might have to involve the police.
Fortunately for his galloping pulse, he found her almost immediately in the extra guest room. She was curled on her side in one of the narrow beds. Still on top of the covers, she was fully dressed except for her shoes that lay tumbled on the floor.
He leaned against the wall, breathing harshly. The kind of fear that had swept through him wasn’t logical. But then again, none of his reactions to Cassidy Corelli fell into the realm of rationality.
The depth of his anxiety shocked him. In a very short time, she had done something to him...something unfathomable. She had made him want to love her.
But as much as he yearned
to let go and wallow in the sunshine that was Cassidy Corelli, he was bound by his past. By the memory of getting burned. By the prospect of finding out that everything he thought he knew was a sham. What did it say about him that he couldn’t take her bubbly charm and artless innocence at face value?
Was he too cynical for such a woman?
When he regained a modicum of control, he picked her up gently. His heart clenched when her head lolled against his shoulder. In her bedroom, he tossed back the covers and deposited her gently on the mattress.
She roused despite his care. “Gavin?”
“You conked out in the other room.” He brushed the hair from her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed, her gaze heavy with sleep. “Close your eyes, Cass. It’s late.”
Her hand gripped his wrist. “Don’t go.”
The quiet entreaty undid him. Chances were she wouldn’t have said it if she had been fully awake.
Chances were he could have refused it in broad daylight.
But the hour was late and his walls were down.
He leaned over her and found her lips. The taste still baffled him. Both exotic and sweet, the combination hit his weak spots. The need to pounce warred with the desire to cherish. She was so damned adorable.
The kiss lengthened, deepened. His mouth moved over hers lazily, as though they had all the time in the world. The room was quiet except for the sound of their breathing.
Her arms came up around his neck. “I want you, Gavin.”
How could any man resist such a raw, honest statement? She asked for his unquestioning belief about her babies, and he couldn’t give her that...not yet. But this he could offer. Pleasure. Connection. Two people meeting in the comforting dark and trying not to think about the struggles they faced outside these walls.
Deliberately, he reached out and turned off the bedside lamp.
Undressing was a dance, a slow, wistful ballet. First her clothes, then his. In the light from the hallway all he could make out was the shape of her. Any nuances of expression were lost in the shadows.
Twins on the Way Page 12
