“If you lose it, it’ll come back to you,” Finn assured her. “Rest first,” he said. “C’mon, I’ll take you home so you can get your beauty sleep and be fresh tomorrow morning.”
She raised her eyes to his, actually seeing him as his words penetrated. Looking around, she realized that they were now alone in the back room. When had that happened?
“You think I need beauty sleep?” she asked Finn.
Heaven help him, he really didn’t, Finn thought. If anyone didn’t need sleep to be more beautiful, it was definitely Nik. But he also knew that he couldn’t say that without sounding as if he was coming on to her. So, since he had to say something in response, Finn fell back on a half-truth.
“Everyone needs beauty sleep. Besides, the party’s tomorrow,” he added unnecessarily.
She had gotten so engrossed in her thoughts about the case, she had completely forgotten about that. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “Oh.”
He didn’t like the undercurrent he detected in her voice. She was going to beg off, he thought.
The moment that occurred to him, he realized that he didn’t want her to beg off. For more reasons than just one.
“Yeah, ‘oh.’ And Uncle Andrew wanted me to make sure that you’re going to be there,” he informed her.
Nik highly doubted that. “From what’ve heard, these things usually have wall-to-wall Cavanaughs and ‘friends of Cavanaughs’ attending them. I sincerely doubt that he’s even going to notice that I’m not there.”
“Number one,” he said, moving directly behind the chair she was on and turning it away from the desk that had been assigned to her, “the chief is the sharpest man I’ve ever known and he keeps track of everything. Number two, he specified that he wanted to talk to you personally.”
“He did?” she asked. “Why would he want to talk to me?”
Finn paused, debating whether or not to say anything. He was tempted, but then he felt that her curiosity just might be what would get her to come tomorrow.
So he decided to be secretive. “I’ll let him be the one to tell you.”
It wasn’t hard to read between the lines. “You think that’s going to make me show up tomorrow, don’t you?”
She saw laughter in his eyes and despite her best efforts to ignore it, she found herself drawn to him.
“Am I right?” Finn asked.
Nik pressed her lips together. She wanted to say no, but it wasn’t in her to lie. So she said, “Maybe,” and left it at that.
“Are you still willing to have me come to pick you up?” Finn asked.
Nik knew that if he didn’t, she might be tempted to skip the festivities—especially once she started going over the various aspects of the case. If nothing else, she still needed to live up to her promise to Kim about finding the woman’s daughter, hopefully alive.
“Sure,” Nik responded. “What time will you be over?”
“Eleven o’clock okay with you?” he asked, peering down into her face.
One time was as good as another, she thought. “Sounds about right,” she responded.
“All right, now that that’s settled—are you going to get out of this chair, or am I going to have to push you all the way to the parking lot in it?” he asked her.
The image that created in her mind’s eye made her laugh. “I’d really like to see that.”
“Are you daring me?” he asked in a completely serious tone of voice.
She had a feeling that if she answered that question in the affirmative, the detective might just take her up on it. She had no desire to be gawked at while he wheeled her down the city street.
“No,” she answered, “I think I’d better take a pass on that.”
Finn nodded and then put out his hand to her. “Good choice.”
She put her hand in his and allowed him to draw her out of the chair and up to her feet. For one second, the connection between them had a jolt of electricity zooming all through her veins. And judging from the look that she saw passing over his face, that same jolt passed through his as well.
Realizing that their hands were still connecting, she pulled hers away. “I can get downstairs on my own power,” she informed him.
“Never doubted that even for a minute,” Finn responded.
* * *
Nik bunched up another outfit she’d judged lacking and threw it on her bed.
Although she made it a point to put on a friendly face, the thought of being inside the Cavanaugh stronghold with so many Cavanaugh family members milling about made her feel somewhat nervous.
Not that she thought anyone would be judging her. Collectively they were far too nice for that. But although she could always put up a bold front, the Nik who existed inside wasn’t nearly as confident as she pretended to be.
And what was this thing with the former chief specifically requesting her presence all about? Part of her did think that Finn was just making it up to get her to attend. But the other part worried that he was telling her the truth. That in turn left her wondering why the man was specifically making a point that she be there. Had she unwittingly done something wrong and now Andrew Cavanaugh wanted to dress her down for it?
Granted the man was no longer a part of the Aurora police department and hadn’t been for a long time, but he still carried a great deal of sway over his children and his brothers, as well as their children. That made for a great many Cavanaughs who were all part of the force.
The truth of it was you couldn’t really make a move in the police department without tripping over one of them, she thought as she discarded yet another outfit. She tossed it on top of the others as the clothes in her closet became fewer and fewer and the ones on her bed grew exponentially.
Nik blew out a breath, frustrated. Nothing looked right on her somehow. Outfits she’d always loved now failed to please her.
And she really wanted to look perfect.
Not going to happen, she thought. She went to stand in front of her all-but-barren closet.
“Well, you know that you’re going to have to make a choice soon or he’s going to come in and find you buck naked. That’s not the kind of impression you want to give him,” she told the frowning reflection staring back at her in her wardrobe mirror.
Glancing at her watch, Nik realized that she only had a few minutes before he got there. Her frown deepened. Knowing Finn, he would be perverse and arrive early.
Desperate, she grabbed a teal dress and light tan high-heeled sandals.
“Doesn’t matter what this looks like on you, you’re wearing it,” she ordered her reflection, wiggling into the dress.
She had just slipped on her shoes when she heard the doorbell ring. Habit had her glancing at her watch.
She was right. The damn man was early.
Cavanaugh had no respect for women, she thought to herself. Moving quickly, she secured the second strap on her shoes and hurried to answer the door.
Swinging the front door open, she accused, “You’re early!”
“And you’re...sensational,” he said, substituting the word for the one he was going to say as the full impact of what he saw hit him. “Sensational” wasn’t what he’d meant to say, but it was definitely what he felt the second he saw her. “Grumpy,” Finn added after a beat, “but definitely sensational.”
“Thank you—I think,” Nik said, not entirely certain just how to react to the compliment and what followed in its wake.
Finn breezed by her response. “Sorry about being early,” he apologized. “Do you need some extra time?” he asked. His eyes skimmed over her, all but feasting on what he saw. “Not that you look as if you need it,” he added, unable to help himself.
“No,” she said curtly, “I don’t need any extra time. I had a feeling you were going to be early.” She said it as if it was a failing of his that he would
actually do something like that.
Finn took it all in stride. “So what’s the problem?”
Was he actually being so thick? she wondered in disbelief. No, he was doing this to get to her, she decided. No one who looked like Finn did led a solitary life.
“The problem is,” she told him, “it would have been nice not to have to rush.”
His brother was right. Women were truly a mystery that couldn’t really be unraveled. He knew that he definitely didn’t understand what was at the bottom of her protest.
“Why did you rush if you thought I was going to be here at eleven?” he asked her.
“Never mind. It wasn’t worth repeating the first time,” she told him.
Finn totally agreed, but he felt it best not to say as much to Nik. Instead, he asked her, “Are you ready to go?”
“Just let me grab my purse and I’m ready,” she told him.
He nodded. “I’ll wait outside for you,” he said, thinking it far more prudent that way than to stand around and possibly get into another discussion that went nowhere.
Because she’d been so stressed, it took her a minute to locate where she had left her purse. Finding it, she slipped the strap over her shoulder and took a deep breath.
This was the same man she had been working alongside for more than a week, she told herself. There was absolutely no reason to feel as if she was suddenly growing a squadron of butterflies in the pit of her stomach.
Taking another deep breath, she went outside.
Finn was standing less than two feet away from her door, waiting for her. The second Nik came out, he suddenly snapped to attention.
“I was going to go back into your apartment in a couple more minutes to see if you’d changed your mind again.”
“I didn’t.” Was he telling her that he thought she was the type of person to go back on her word?
You’re being paranoid, knock it off, she told herself.
“I was just trying to find my purse,” she explained. “I forget where I put it sometimes.” And then, because she needed to stabilize herself, she turned it back around to him. “Why is it so important that I come?”
“I told you. I’ll let Uncle Andrew tell you about that himself,” Finn said.
She wasn’t one hundred percent sold on that. “Are you being serious?” she asked. “Or is this just your way of making me attend?”
He led the way to his car. He’d made sure to park closer this time. “I wouldn’t use deception,” he told her. “You’ll enjoy yourself,” he promised. “Uncle Andrew does all his own cooking. The food’s fantastic—even the simple dishes. And there’s a pretty nice crowd, even if I do say so myself,” he told her, holding the door open for her. Then, to ensure it all went well, he made the decision to open up to her a little. “I was where you are a few years ago.”
How was that possible? she wondered. “Come again?”
He came around the hood to his side of the car and got in. He studied her for a second, his expression unreadable.
“I take it that you don’t know the story about the previously unknown side of the family?” Finn finally asked her.
“The what?” She stared at him. He had to be putting her on and making this up. “You’re kidding, right?”
He didn’t answer until he snapped his seat belt into place. And then, wearing a totally straight face, Finn answered, “Nope. My late grandfather and Seamus were brothers. When their parents got divorced—back in the day when people really didn’t do that very much—each parent took one of the kids. Seamus stayed here and Murdoch, my grandfather, went with his mother, who promptly did a disappearing act, I’m not really sure why,” he confessed. “But I think it was because she didn’t want her ex to find her.”
He paused with his narrative, pulling out of her apartment complex before he resumed his story.
“It wasn’t until Uncle Andrew decided to go looking for my grandfather to reunite Seamus and Murdoch that he stumbled across my side of the family. By the time that happened, my grandfather wasn’t around anymore, but the kids he had—and their kids—were.”
He laughed to himself as he thought about the coincidence. “Oddly enough that side of the family was into law enforcement just as much as Uncle Andrew’s side, and gradually, over time, most of us resettled here to form the group of people that you are about to meet today.”
Nik was still thinking about something he’d just said. “And you all really gravitated toward law enforcement?”
It seemed rather hard to believe, and yet, it was obviously true. It started her thinking about how certain traits ran in some families.
He nodded, saying what she was thinking out loud. “Funny how that kind of thing just seems to run in the blood,” he told her. “Okay,” he declared, “now you’re all caught up.”
“Hardly,” Nik contradicted. “But it’s a start. If I have any questions—”
“I’ll be right there to answer them. And if I’m not, anyone else at the party can—unless, of course, you’re talking to some of the really younger members of the family. Then you might not get an answer.” A smile played on his lips.
“I’ll be sure to ask only people over five feet,” she told him.
“Good rule of thumb,” he agreed.
She caught herself wondering if there were other rules she should know about and what they might be.
Chapter 19
“Maybe you people should think about renting a huge bus—or hold your parties in a stadium,” Nik suggested.
They had arrived on Andrew’s development and there were cars parked as far as the eye could see. The cars were on both sides of the block that went through the development as well as going down toward the park. From the looks of it, the cars were parked beyond that, too.
Nik stopped counting and turned toward Finn. “I thought you said we were early.”
“Well, I thought we were,” he answered. “I guess everyone else had the same idea. Tell you what, why don’t I just let you off at the front door and then I’ll look for somewhere to park?” He began to slow down as he approached the former chief’s house.
Nik was surprised by his offer. She really had no desire for any special treatment. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll decide to take off once you drop me off?”
“I find that trusting someone puts them on their best behavior,” he told her and then spared her a quick glance. “And I trust you.”
She studied his profile for a moment. He looked relaxed. She took that to mean he was telling her the truth.
“Nice to know,” she commented. “But I’m not fragile. I can walk from wherever you finally find a space to leave your car.”
Shrugging, Finn put his foot down on the accelerator again, pulling away from Andrew’s front door. “Okay, but let the record show I did try to be a gentleman,” he told her.
Finn began to slowly reconnoiter the area, making his way toward the park. As luck would have it, one of the residents on the next block who wasn’t attending the party pulled his vehicle away from the curb. The second he did, Finn, worried about losing it, sped up and pulled into the newly vacated spot.
He glanced toward his passenger as he straightened his wheel. “Looks like you turned out to be good luck after all.”
“First time anyone ever said that to me,” she told him with a laugh.
He pulled up the parking brake and turned off the ignition. “Maybe other people just weren’t paying any attention, Nikki.”
Getting out of the car, she looked at him. “What did you just call me?”
“Nikki,” he repeated, locking his car and pocketing his key. “That’s your name, isn’t it? I thought that since we’re not working the case today, maybe I should call you by your given name.”
She actually preferred him not using her surname. He just seemed to mangle it when he said it
. But he still wasn’t getting her name right. “That would be Nik,” she told him.
He shook his head. “‘Nik’ is a guy’s name,” he told her. “It’s also something that refers to a cut or scratch, neither of which begins to describe you. ‘Nikki,’ on the other hand, makes a person think of someone who’s cute and who knows it,” he concluded, looking at her.
“So I’m cute?” she asked, not sure if he was being serious or if he was just pulling her leg.
Finn nodded. The woman owned a mirror—she could make that determination for herself. “And you know it,” he told her.
Okay, now she was sure he was pulling her leg, and while she liked compliments, she didn’t appreciate being played. “There is no end to the lengths you’d go to in order to get me to attend this little party of yours, is there?”
His mouth began to curve, but he forced himself to sound stern. “I cannot confirm or deny your allegation,” he answered in the deep, formal voice of a witness offering testimony behind closed doors.
She was about to tell him just what he could do with his confirmation when a blue sports car heading in the opposite direction began to slow down.
“Hey, you two out for a stroll?” Cullen Cavanaugh called out, rolling down the passenger-side window so that they could hear him.
“No, we’re just walking back from where we parked my car,” Finn responded. He saw the confused look on Nik’s face. “In case you’re wondering,” he told her, “this annoying person is my brother Cullen.”
Taking a closer look, she could see the resemblance. Nik raised her voice as she called back to Finn’s brother, “You have my condolences.”
“Hey, I like her, Finn,” Cullen said. “Hold that thought,” he told Nik. “I’ll be right back as soon as I find a space.”
“Ha! Good luck with that,” Finn called back to his brother.
Picking up his pace, Finn took Nik’s elbow without really thinking about it. He was leading her to Andrew’s house.
Nik didn’t pull away. Just for today, she was going to pretend that they were friends, not just two people joining forces for a common goal.
Cavanaugh Stakeout Page 18
