“Maybe you didn’t know this, but I don’t celebrate Christmas.”
“I know,” she said, handing Luke another cracker. “Ben told me.”
“Ben’s got a lot to say.”
“In fairly long sentences, too,” she added with a quirk of her lips.
He sighed, then his gaze fixed briefly on her mouth and the memory of the taste of her swamped him. She was the one woman he couldn’t forget. The one he couldn’t stop wanting. And the one who could make his life the hardest—just by being her.
“If you knew how I felt,” he blurted out, “why all the pine?”
“I didn’t put up a tree,” she pointed out, then reached across to smooth Luke’s hair back from his face.
“That’s not what I asked.”
Shaking her head, she looked at Jake. “This is Luke’s first Christmas and my first Christmas away from my brother and sister. Until we can get back to Boston—” the dog looked up hopefully “—I’m going to do what I can here.”
Back to Boston.
Those three words wiped out any other argument he might have made about the Christmas decorations. A sinking sensation opened up in his gut. It felt as cold as the storm raging outside the warmth of the house.
The thought of Cassie’s leaving wasn’t something he was willing to consider. Whether she liked it or not, she was staying. So before anything else was said, they had to get this one thing straight between them.
“You’re not going back,” he told her, his gaze locked on hers, so he saw the flare of outrage spark in those gray eyes. “At least, no time soon. So you might as well put through a call to whoever you work for and tell them you’re gone until at least January.”
She stiffened in her chair. “You can’t order me around, Jake.”
“Just did.” He set his spoon in the bowl and though he’d like more of that stew, this conversation had priority. “I want time with the son I just found out I had.”
She flinched. Good. Even better if she really thought he was willing to let her leave come January, because it would keep her defenses down. The truth was, he would do whatever he had to do to make sure that she and Luke never left this ranch. He might not be husband and father material, but that didn’t matter anymore, did it? Trust each other or not, the two of them were linked by a son they both wanted. For now, that would be enough.
Sighing, Cassie said, “I work for myself. From home. I do billing for several small companies in Boston.”
Again, that tail thumped against the floor.
“Good. So you can stay with no worries.” He carried his bowl to the sink and rinsed it out. Turning, he braced both hands on the counter behind him and looked at her. Jake had the feeling he could stare at Cassie forever and never tire of the view.
When that thought sailed through his mind, he told himself he should probably be worried. But he wasn’t. He might not trust her completely, but he could admit, at least silently, that she tugged at strings inside him he hadn’t even known were there. She was thawing a heart that had been cold for so long, it was a wonder it could beat.
Even when her fog-gray eyes were flashing with indignation, as they were now, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. And he wanted her now more than he wanted to go on living. Everything in him itched to take her. To lose himself in her heat and scent.
“I’ll stay,” she said shortly as she pushed up from her chair and crossed to him. “For now, anyway.”
At least they agreed on that much, Jake told himself, looking down into her eyes, feeling himself fall into that smoky fog.
“But this isn’t settled, Jake,” she whispered.
Giving in to instinct, Jake reached for her, dragged her close and kissed her, hard and deep. His head swam, his blood rushed and his heartbeat pounded so hard it should have sounded like a drum in the stillness of the room.
She yielded to him, bending her body into his, wrapping her arms around his neck and parting her lips for his tongue. Desire sizzled into a blistering arc between them. When he pulled his head back after what felt like an eternity, he stared at her and agreed, “Not settled.”
* * *
When his phone rang, Ben picked it up, smiling. “Hello, honey.”
“Hi, Dad,” Elise said. “How’s it going on your end?”
Ben looked through his windows at the main house and imagined the three people inside it. Cassie and Jake were making this so much harder on themselves than it had to be. Ben had seen for himself what was shining in the air between those two. And with the baby they shared, they had the beginnings of something wonderful—if they chose to take the chance.