Heat shot through her, right from her toes straight to her chest, an electric sensation that almost made her gasp.“How about some coffee?”
He laughed softly, knowingly.“It is fresh.”
She poured her cup and then looked at the table piled high with books and papers.“I thought you said you were done or almost done.”
“So did I, and then I went through the article this morning and discovered I’m missing something critical.An entire section is missing, and I’d like to find it.If I can’t, I need to recreate it and that could take days.”
Cat grimaced.“I hope you find it.”
“Me, too.”He rubbed the back of his neck.“Are you okay if I claim the kitchen table today?”
“Absolutely.”
“I don’t want to push you out—”
“You have work to do.I get it.”She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.“It’s probably for the best.We need to take it down a couple degrees.It was getting pretty hot in here.”
“I noticed.”
Cat slipped into the sitting room, curling up in the chair by the fire with her laptop tucked next to her, her favorite plaid blanket across her lap.After ten minutes of just savoring her coffee, because really, there was nothing like that first cup, she forced herself to open her laptop and go through her email.
There were several emails that looked promising.One was a request for an interview.The other asked for her references.Cat hesitated before replying to either, not eager to reply.She didn’t want to think of Michigan and jobs and a future without Rhys when all she could think about was being close to him, and sleeping with him, which felt like the most natural thing in the world.
She closed her eyes and pictured Jillian, and how happy and relaxed Jillian had become once Cat assured the girl that she wasn’t a threat, and she wasn’t going to steal her father or do anything else to upset her home.
Cat remembered herself at ten, eleven, and twelve… all those years where she felt so lost and so alone, even though her grandmother had been there at every step.Unfortunately, a grieving Cat didn’t trust that her grandmother would be there.If disaster could take her parents, why couldn’t it take her grandmother?And then, where would she go?To foster care, like her mother?To a life where she was bounced from house to house, unwanted by anyone?
How could Cat betray Jillian’s trust?
And yet with Rhys, Cat finally felt wanted.She felt safe.In his arms, she knew where she belonged, and it was with him.
From the kitchen came the quiet rustle of papers, the occasional scrape of Rhys’s pen.
He was still focused on his work, and she didn’t want to disturb him, but at the same time, she needed a small snack and wondered if any of Mrs.Johnson’s Christmas biscuits were left.
Cat quietly stepped into the kitchen, refilled her coffee cup and checked the cookie tin.Three little shortbreads remained.She took two and put the lid back on.
Rhys looked up as she slipped past him.“How is it going?”he asked.
“Slow,” she admitted.“Finding it hard to focus.”
“Funny, that.”He set his pen down and held his arm out, wanting her to go to him, and she did.He drew her down on his lap, just as he did with his girls.“This isn’t how I thought we’d spend the day.”
“You getting your article right is better.It’s why you hired me.It’s what I was for—to keep the girls busy so you could work.”She pressed a kiss to his lips and then slid out of his embrace.“Now work.I might go upstairs and read in bed.”
“Now you’re really distracting me.”
Cat laughed.“Work now.Bed is later.”
*
He finished whathe could finish in one day, and when he went to check on Cat, found her sound asleep on the couch in front of the fire.The blanket had slipped down, and he drew it up over her shoulder before leaning over to brush her cheek, tracing the line of her jaw.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him, her lovely dark eyes full of emotion.“No matter what happens, this was the best Christmas since I was ten,” she whispered.
He sat down and pulled her onto his lap and kissed her, the kiss deepening quickly.
Her hands slid up his chest, fingertips grazing the warm skin just beneath his collar.He drew in a sharp breath against her mouth and held her close, one hand cupping the back of her head, the other slowly slipping down her back, just as he’d stroked the length of her last night.
