by Judy Kentrus
She said goodnight to the security guards and thanked them for the great job they did. Rather than go through the store that was packed with holiday shoppers, she took the stairs to the street and headed for her car.
She wasn’t going to call him like he’d asked. Her first instinct had been to call and read him the riot act for his deceit, but decided there was something else going on. Yes, he’d lied about who he was, but he’d helped her out at a moment’s notice and created a special flying club for her daughter and her friends. He’d set up the Helping Hands project in all his stores, just for her. He’d shared with her an inner part of himself. The tears he’d shed in her arms were very real.
He wasn’t about to get off without paying for his deceit.
She picked up Danielle from Louis’ house and took a shower as soon as she got home. She gathered her wet hair in a long ponytail and put on her skimpy cut-off shorts and camisole, without a bra. This would be his first lesson how outward appearances weren’t always what they seemed.
She checked on her meatloaf and put her pot of already cut-up potatoes on the stove to boil. This gave her fifteen minutes to do a little research on the lying snake. She booted up her laptop and called up Hughes Corporation. She found him in the history section that displayed photos of the original founders of the multi-million-dollar company. There weren’t any photos of Daniel Thompson.
“There you are, you speaks-with-forked-tongue liar.” Dressed as a chief executive in a black tailored suit and white shirt, he was devastatingly handsome, especially with those damned glasses. He wasn’t smiling and anyone who didn’t know him would see the fierce, icy challenge in his aqua eyes. But she did know him and had seen those beautiful eyes filled with laughter, pain, tears, and intense passion. Her eyes dropped to his unsmiling mouth and knew what his beautiful lips felt like on her mouth, her breast, her inner thighs. He wasn’t cold at all, but a man who’d suffered heartbreak at the loss of his brother that he loved very much. In that moment, Erin’s heart melted and she finally admitted to herself what she’d been strongly denying. She loved Caleb Thompson.
Caleb gathered the bouquet of flowers from the front seat of his car and the envelope that contained tickets for the Houston Astros, a thank-you gift for Danielle. He hadn’t been this happy in a very long time. Things were going great with Hughes. He’d spoken to Bradley and the managers from ten other stores throughout the country, and all reported the great response to their new promotions. His personal life couldn’t be better. He’d met the woman of his
dreams and was in love. He must have been doing something right and was heading in the right direction, because he hadn’t gotten any signs from his brother.
He wanted to stop by his house to take a quick shower, but he really needed to see Erin. He’d called a little while ago but she didn’t pick up and he didn’t leave a message. The past few days he’d been debating telling her who he really was, but decided to wait until the Santa Traditions program was up and running. Once he told her, he’d speak to the manager of the store and bring her up-to-date. After that there really wouldn’t be any need for him to stay in Fort Mavis, but he had a lot going on in his personal life that took precedent. Bradley had things in good running order and he wasn’t about to leave the woman he loved. The Super Flyer’s club was depending on him, too.
He rang the bell and a moment later Danielle answered the door.
“Hi, Mr. Thompson.” Her eyes dropped to study the flowers in his hand. “Why did you bring my mom roses?”
The challenge in the eight-year-old’s voice was obvious. “I wanted to thank her for the great job she did today and she invited me to dinner. Can I come in?”
“Uh, sure,” she said and opened the door wider. “She’s in the kitchen making dinner. I’m watching the rerun of the Dallas versus Redskins game from Thanksgiving. Do you want to watch it with me?”
“Not right now.”
“I understand. You’d rather be in the kitchen because you like cooking more than doing guy stuff.”
Caleb suffered a direct blow to his male species being knocked down by the eight-year-old girl’s statement. When he thought about it, he spent more time in the kitchen than watching sports on television. He liked football, hockey, and baseball, but never took the time to watch the games. Relax and enjoy. More changes in his life.
He followed Danielle into the kitchen and agonized a second blow to his manhood. His maverick was wearing those sexy cutoffs. His libido kicked into overdrive at the sight of her bending over and taking a tray of biscuits out of the oven.
“Mr. Thompson is here,” Danielle announced. “Do I have to stay and be a hostess while you make dinner?”
“Thank you, but we’re just about to sit down,” Erin said, and put the tray on a warming rack on the counter. “Shut the TV off, wash your hands, and come sit down.”
Don’t look at her luscious breasts, he told himself, and held out the flowers with sweaty hands. “These are for you, but fall short of the beautiful Mrs. Claus who made Santa Traditions a wonderful success.”
“Flowers and beautiful sentiment all rolled into one.” Erin brought the petals of one flower to her nose. “Nothing like a PR man with a clever tongue.” She gave him a flirty wink and ran the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip. “I’ve been a victim of that tongue, so I’m very much aware of what it can do.”
Caleb forced himself to step away from her kinky flirtation. “Erin, this isn’t the time or the place for a sexy come-on. We aren’t alone.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing? Things aren’t always what they seem. Ever hear of smoke and mirrors? You must have, because you are an expert.”
He was totally confused by her unnatural behavior. “Erin?
“Have a seat while I put these in water.”
When she put the vase in the center of the table and patted him lightly on the cheek, his sense that something was very wrong rang loud and clear. What the hell had he done?
He felt a sense of relief when Danielle returned to the kitchen and sat down at the table.
“I’ll put the food on the plates over here and bring them to the table.”
“Do you want me to get the drinks?” Caleb offered.
“Absolutely not; you’re our guest.”
“You’ll like my mom’s meatloaf,” Danielle said. “She makes some things good.” She picked up a roll from the basket and broke it open to slather it with butter.
Erin served Danielle’s plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn and a biscuit. She’d added extra barbecue sauce to the top of the meat. The feeling that he’d done something wrong was more apparent from the mischievous gleam in her eyes when she set the plate in front of him.
“Enjoy.”
The mashed potatoes were creamy and buttery-tasting. The corn was delicious and tasted like it had just come off the cob. It was when he took his first bite of the meatloaf that his mouth caught on fire. Every taste bud exploded into flames. He couldn’t do anything but swallow and reached for his glass of water, only it wasn’t what he’d expected. The water was heavily laced with lemon juice.
He shuddered inwardly from the combination of hot and sour. He shot up from his chair and hurried away from the table, coughing harder on his way to dump the contents of his glass in the sink and refill it with cold water. He drank it down and refilled it a second time and drank it down, trying to ease the burning in his mouth and chest. Goddamn! That was scorching hot. What the hell did I do?
“Mr. Thompson, are you okay?” Danielle asked. “The meatloaf isn’t that bad.”
“I’m okay,” he choked out, rejoining them at the table with his third glass of water. He glared murderously in Erin’s direction. “Something didn’t go down right.”
“Lying will do that to a person,” Erin said, and put another serving of meatloaf in her mouth.
Caleb pushed his plate away. “I’ve had enough.”
“So have I,” Erin said, and put her fork down before
staring directly at Caleb. “Sometimes people appear too good to be true. They’re experts at pulling the wool over people’s eyes. When the truth eventually comes out, they shouldn’t expect to get away without suffering the consequences.”
“Mom, am I supposed to understand what you said? I think you want to talk grown-up talk with Mr. Thompson.”
“Danielle, you’re absolutely correct. You worked hard today and are excused from clean-up duty. Finish watching your game and then we’ll start putting up the tree.”
“Thanks! Is Mr. Thompson going to stay and help us?”
“That will be up to him.”
The moment they were alone, questions tumbled out of his mouth. “Why are you angry with me? What did I do that you felt it necessary to burn the interior of my mouth? What’s all this talk about lies?”
“It’s more than you deserve, Caleb!”
The sound of his name coming from her lips was like an invisible punch to the chest. He sighed heavily and shook his head at the irony. He’d planned to confess all this evening.
“Well, shit!”
“Yes, well, shit!” she repeated with a lot more emphasis on the curse word.
“Who told you?”
“Don Malone, the reporter from Ganette. All this time I thought I was dealing with Daniel, your brother!” Erin got up and started clearing off the table. “I felt like a fool when he told me! I wanted to shout ‘you’re wrong!’”
She pulled open the door to the dishwasher and started to load the plates. “You deceived me right from the start. I said you were too good to be true. Only the president of the damn company could get that room ready in two weeks! Anything you want, Erin,” she mimicked his words. “You lied to me about everything!”
Yes, he’d deceived and lied to the woman he loved and she deserved an explanation, but he couldn’t talk to her over rattling dishes. He got up from the table, took the dirty plates from her hand, and set them on the counter. He used his knee to close the door to the dishwasher.
“I can’t talk to you over clattering plates.”
He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. When she didn’t face him, he put a finger to her chin and lifted her head. He wasn’t prepared to see the hurtful tears that coated her eyes. “I never lied about my feelings for you. I just didn’t tell you I was the president of the company or my real name. Will you give me a chance to explain?”
She nodded quickly and the tear that escaped her eye shot pain straight to his heart. He leaned down and caught it with his lips. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. Things will be better once I explain.”
They sat down at the table and Caleb drank more water. The walls of his cheeks still burned. He reached for her hand and held it under the table just in case Danielle came into the kitchen.
“You hurt me, you really hurt me,” Erin murmured before he could apologize. “I thought we had something special.” Erin sniffed and used a paper napkin to wipe away the wetness under her nose. “I slept with an imposter one and half times.”
“I am truly and deeply sorry. I was going to confess it all tonight, but you found out before I could explain who I am. Just to clarify, you slept with me one and a half times,” he added with a slight chuckle in his voice. “I just didn’t tell you my real name.”
“Why?”
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
Chapter 14
“Ghosts! You mean like woo woo, supernatural? Not really.”
“Okay, let me explain further. You know Daniel passed away two months ago…I believe he is responsible for me being here and finding you.”
Erin put a hand to his forehead. “Did I burn your brain and your mouth?”
“No,” he chuckled, and kissed her knuckles before she moved her hand to her lap. “You did a job on my mouth! What the hell did you use?”
Her head lowered in guilt. “I coated the surface of the meatloaf with hot pepper and jalapeno sauce before I topped it off with barbecue sauce. I was so hell-bent on getting revenge, I didn’t take into consideration how much your mouth would hurt. You didn’t storm out of here in anger and that told me how much you really care. I’m sorry, too.”
“You’re forgiven and I will never tempt your Irish temper again, but we’re digressing. Before coming here, I received a letter my brother wrote six months ago. It was to be given to me if anything happened to him. Daniel told me I was being choked by my life that revolved around my corporate world. He warned if I didn’t get out, I would die a very lonely man.
“I decided to take his advice and wound up in Fort Mavis. When I walked into the toy department at the Hughes store and found out the Santa Traditions program was cancelled, I went ballistic. The person they’d hired to run the program was a no-show. I had Tracey, my assistant, let the manager know corporate was sending their own PR person. I didn’t want them to know the president was going to handle the program, so I gave them Daniel’s name. No one knew him because he was never involved with the company.”
“So you’ve been doing the undercover boss thing.”
“Yes. I wanted to wait until Santa Traditions was underway before I told you and the manager who I am.
“When I left the store, I drove past the school and a ball bounced off my car. A beautiful, red-haired teacher ran in front of my car and my heart practically leaped out of my chest. It was then I got the idea that a teacher would be the perfect one to help me with the program.”
“Stop, you’re embarrassing me. So you’re saying your brother sent the ball?”
“Exactly! At the end of his letter he said he’d send down a message if I was heading in the wrong direction. I would have driven right past that school if the ball didn’t hit my car. He sent that message to me about the Angel Bells.”
“Daniel, I mean, Caleb, if that’s what you believe, I’m not going to try to talk you out of that special connection you have with your brother. It’s kind of cute and unique.” She turned in her seat to face him and squeezed the hand she still held under the table.
“Now that the truth is out, how long will you be staying? Technically, there’s nothing to keep you here.” Erin’s chest tightened from the thought that he would be leaving. She loved him so much. The pain in her chest eased when he leaned into her and his warm breath swept her cheeks.
“I’m looking into the beautiful face and eyes of the person who is keeping me here. There’s also a great kid in the other room who told me I love being in the kitchen rather than watching a manly football game. That being said, I’m not leaving anytime soon. Now don’t move, because I’m going to kiss you.”
“Hurry, and make it good,” she whispered. “We have a tree to put up.”
Danielle was sitting on the floor in front of the television, hugging a pillow in the shape of a football, when they walked into the living room.
“Before get we started, I have something for Danielle.” Caleb removed the envelope from his pocket and passed her his gift. “This is a thank-you from me, for helping out today and at the outreach center the other day.”
“No way!” Her eyes were as big as her smile. “Box seats for the Houston Astros!”
“Hughes has season passes for home games. You can bring a couple of friends. There’s plenty of room.”
“Gee thanks! Will you go with us?”
Here it comes, Erin told herself, untying the string around the big box that held their artificial tree. Once again, his generosity had boxed him into a corner. You don’t make a commitment to a kid and then back out. She turned about and wound the hemp around her hand, waiting for his reply.
“On one condition. You let me buy the hotdogs.”
“Yes!” Danielle yelled and threw her arms around Caleb’s waist.
“What, no popcorn?” Erin winked, making sure her smile reached her eyes. When he returned her daughter’s hug, she decided they made quite a pair.
They managed to get the tree up and the living room put back to rights. Caleb helped return the boxes t
o the crawl space before he went home. She’d just gotten into bed when he called her.
“You went home a half hour ago. Can’t sleep?”
“No, I just wanted to say goodnight to my sweetheart. What time do you want me to come over tomorrow?”
“We’ll be back from church by eleven. How about noon?”
“Perfect, I have a number of emails to review and work to do. I’ll bring lunch.”
“You’re going to spoil me.”
“I’d like to do a lot more.”
“Caleb, please don’t change. I know you must have a lot of money, but I want the guy who flies model air planes, makes tamales, and helps at outreach centers. I want the guy with the magic finger and the one who cried in my arms.”
“Erin, you humble me. There’s something I have to tell…”
When his voice broke off, she became alarmed. “Caleb, are you okay?”
“I’m good, just tired. See you tomorrow, sweetheart.”
“Night.”
Erin set her phone on her nightstand. Her womanly instinct said he hadn’t told her everything. His story was full of holes, but maybe the rest of the letter from his brother had been too personal. For now, she was content to know who and what he was. And she loved him and he wasn’t leaving.
Now that he didn’t have to concentrate on Santa Traditions, Caleb poured himself into the work he’d put aside the past three weeks. One was working on the foundation for his brother. After reviewing the initial paperwork, Ryan would be taking over and doing all the legal work for Daniel’s Angel Bells. He also reviewed reports that were needed for the end of the year. Working from his temporary home office allowed him to get a lot more work done, minus the interruptions.
When he met with the kids Wednesday afternoon to work on their planes, they were wearing their hats and shirt. It was all business and they made more progress than he anticipated. Once the body of the plane was completed, he would install the small engines. Flying them Christmas afternoon was looking like a reality.