"Good for you, Lola." Kegan reached out and ruffled her hair, and she scrambled up into his lap. "Go for it, Mary."
I pulled off the wrapping and opened the box to reveal a sleek silver keychain with "Property of Magma" engraved on the back and a big black-enameled letter M on the front. "You guys, it's gorgeous. Thank you." I'd once admired Kegan's silver keychain engraved with Steel's opening date and bemoaned my plain keyring, and he must have remembered. That made the gift even nicer.
The kids beamed, and Kegan said, "To clarify, you're the property of Magma too, not just the keys. So don't assume you're getting away any time soon."
I echoed his joking tone. "You can't get rid of me now."
Our gazes locked again, and when he said, "Good," his eyes told me he meant it, and meant it for more than work.
"Yeah," I murmured, and knew my eyes were telling him the same thing. The electricity crackling between us sent shocks sizzling through my body and made my heart pound and—
"My turn?" Rudy said.
Kegan's mouth pulled into a wry smile. "World's best chaperone."
I smiled back, sparks still dancing through me, and Rudy said, "What's a shaparamone?"
"A crazy but cute kid." Kegan swept Rudy up from the floor where he'd been lying, plopped him onto the love seat between us, and picked up his large lumpy gift from the coffee table. "Here you go, Rudes. Looks like skis."
I laughed, and Rudy said, "It does not." He shredded the paper then crowed, "So cool! A pterodactyl!" He gave the plush toy a squeeze and shrieked with delight as it roared.
"Nora is going to cut you into tiny pieces," Kegan said to me over the repeated roaring. "And I think I'll help."
"It's got removable batteries."
He laughed. "Then maybe not such tiny pieces."
Rudy was eventually persuaded to give the pterodactyl a break and Lola opened her present. Kegan had told me that he'd bought the kids a PlayStation in the summer, so I'd hoped she'd like the Dancing Queen game, but I hadn't expected her to scream and throw herself out of her chair and into my lap.
"My friend Ella has this and she loves it and I wanted it and you're so cool and this is the best Christmas ever!" She flung her arms around me. "Thank you thank you thank you!"
I hugged her back. "You're very welcome. I hope it's fun."
"It's so fun!"
Kegan said, "Should we try it out?"
Lola slipped off my lap and began scrambling to undo the game's wrapping then thrust it at me. "Can you open it? I want to play!"
"I will, but there's something else in that bag, I think. Someone doesn't have a present."
Rudy found the bag and gave Kegan his gift. He unwrapped it, while I watched his hands moving over the package and tried not to imagine them moving over my body, then looked at me. "You're amazing. How did you get this?"
I smiled. I'd spent ages hunting for the perfect present for Kegan, then happened to be nearby when a woman returned a strap for a men's Vivana watch. Kegan had mentioned his needed a new strap but said they were next to impossible to find. The clerk had been stunned that one was coming back, but after asking the woman three times if she was sure she'd accepted the return, and I'd stepped up immediately and bought the strap.
I told him the story while I peeled the plastic from Lola's game, and when I finished he said, "But how did you know I needed one?"
"You said something about it once."
He shook his head slowly, his eyes fixed on mine. "And you remembered from that?"
"How did you know I didn't have a keychain?"
He smiled. So did I. We didn't need to say anything more.
I tore my eyes from him with an effort and popped Lola's game into the PlayStation, then arranged my keys on their new ring while Kegan replaced his watch strap and Lola danced her little heart out accompanied by frequent roars from the pterodactyl.
When my keychain was complete I said, "Time to make cookies?"
"You don't have to."
I laughed and looked pointedly at the kids, who'd both stopped what they were doing when I spoke and were watching me hopefully. "I think I might have to. Not that I mind anyhow."
At first I was working alone, but soon Rudy and then Lola came to 'help', which mostly involved stealing chocolate chips. It became a game; I'd pretend to be busy with something else and then throw a hissy fit whenever I saw them with their hands in the bag. They shrieked with laughter every time, making me laugh too. Kegan sat at the kitchen table and helped the kids by pointing out when I might be too focused to notice them. It certainly wasn't my most efficient baking session ever but was probably the most enjoyable.
Once the cookies were done and cool enough to eat, we returned to the living room and stuffed ourselves while watching a movie. At first the kids sat in armchairs, leaving Kegan and me on the love seat, but before long Rudy crawled into Kegan's lap then Lola surprised me by giving me the same treatment. I looked over at Kegan, and he smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.
When the movie finished, I saw Rudy yawning and said, though I longed not to, "I should probably get going."
Kegan glanced at his watch. "Yeah, I guess it's bedtime for these two."
Rudy whimpered, and Lola said, "I want to stay up all night."
Kegan laughed. "Your mother would not be impressed. No, Mary's right. We'll say good night to her and then I'll get you guys tucked in."
Lola turned to face me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Can't you stay?"
Touched that she wanted me to, I hugged her and felt bad having to say, "No, I really can't. I need to go home and feed my cat, and you guys need to get a good night's sleep."
"Plus you and Rudy have the spare room so there's nowhere for her to sleep."
Lola looked down at the love seat, then pouted, apparently having decided it was indeed too small to be a bed. Her face cleared, though, and she said to Kegan, "She can sleep with you."
"Yeah! Let her sleep with you, and then tomorrow she can make us pancakes."
I felt my face growing warm at the thought of sleeping with him, or better yet staying awake in bed with him, and struggled to control it. I had to laugh, though, when I realized Kegan was blushing too.
"Out of the mouths of babes," he said, smiling at me. "Look, guys, that won't work."
"Why not?"
He leaned toward Lola and me as if about to impart a secret, then whispered, "I snore" and gave a huge fake one. Lola burst out laughing and pushed him away, and I said, "Well, that settles it then. I can't stay if you snore."
He rapped himself lightly on the forehead. "Don't tell her, you fool. When will I learn? Okay, guys, let me call for the taxi and then we'll say goodbye to Mary."
Once Antonio had been called and had promised to have a driver there in ten minutes, I watched Lola do one more dance routine then made myself get ready to go. I put my coat and boots on and waved my keychain at the three of them. "I love this. Thank you so much."
"You're very welcome. Merry Christmas."
I looked into his eyes and the noise of the kids' Christmas greetings seemed to fade away. "Merry Christmas," I said softly.
He smiled, then it widened into an evil grin. "Enjoy your time with your parents."
"Same to you," I said sweetly, conscious that his parents were the kids' grandparents. He'd told me they disapproved of his restaurants, which I couldn't understand even though I knew they'd wanted him to become a lawyer.
"Hug!"
I laughed. "Yes, sir."
I knelt to give Rudy the commanded hug, then had to hug the pterodactyl too.
Lola threw her arms around me and said, "Bye, Mary."
"Bye."
I released Lola then pushed up to my feet and looked at Kegan. We hadn't hugged since the day we'd learned Steel would be delayed, and I missed the feel of his body against mine.
Maybe he did too; he smiled and opened his arms to me.
I didn't even consider not hugging him. He pulled me close as I wound
my arms around his neck, and I shut my eyes and relaxed into his embrace. He smelled delicious, a combination of that rich sexy cologne and the cookie crumbs Rudy had left on his sweater, and having him hold me felt even better. Our other hugs had been during times of crisis or great emotion; this was a hug for its own sake and I never wanted it to end.
"Thank you for tonight," he said softly, his breath ruffling my hair and sending a wave of heat through me.
"You're so welcome. I had fun."
"Me too."
He squeezed me even tighter then released me. "Well, have a great Christmas. Let me know when you're back and we can have dinner."
"Us too?"
Kegan smiled at Rudy. "No, we have to talk about work. Boring stuff." He turned the smile on me, his eyes intent on my face. "Nothing we'd need a chaperone for, right?"
Definitely not.
Chapter Fifteen
I sipped the ginger ale I'd brought with me as a pale imitation of champagne and watched the candlelight flicker on my desk's polished top. Funny how I felt more comfortable in Kegan's office at Steel than I did at home. But then, this was where I'd been spending nearly all my waking hours.
Since December twenty-sixth, when I'd escaped my parents' place to come back to Toronto, Kegan and I had seen each other daily, spending hours at Steel and Magma and then talking and laughing together late into the night. When we weren't together I knew that starting a relationship with him could be disastrous, but when I was enjoying his company it seemed like the best idea I'd ever had.
Maybe it wouldn't be all that disastrous. He still interfered in my plans more than I would like, but while we'd had a few blowups over his interference they resolved quickly and we were still friends afterward.
After one of our worst arguments, over whether the cinnamon on a cheesecake should be sprinkled evenly or be given a swirled pattern, I'd complained to Tanisha, and she'd surprised me by booking us a trip the next day to a gorgeous spa about an hour outside of Toronto, saying it would both calm my nerves and give Kegan a chance to miss me.
"He'll be nicer to you after," she'd said with a Mildred-like grin, and she'd been right. I'd come back peaceful and more able to shrug off Kegan's obsessiveness, and he'd been gratifyingly happy to see me and appreciative of my work. If only I'd known about the spa before Christmas, I would have gone there and relaxed myself before seeing my parents.
I didn't want to think about Christmas, or my mother, or Charles. I reached for my ginger ale again, then jumped and knocked it over as I heard Steel's front door open. I got the bottle upright before too much poured out, but confusion filled me. I'd locked that door behind me, and nobody else but Kegan had a key. It couldn't be him, though; he'd gone to a New Years' Eve wedding, and it was only eleven so he'd still be there.
Or not.
He arrived in the office in a swirl of icy air and stared at me, his eyes nearly as tired and sad as they'd been the day we met. "Why are you here? Should be out having fun." On the last word he tossed his coat at its hook, missing by a long shot.
I went over and hung it up, relieved he was my intruder but still confused. "I'm here having fun. And what about you? What happened to the wedding?"
He shook his head and ripped the tie from the collar of his shirt. "Everyone laughing and having a great time, and me like the cloud of doom." He dropped the tie onto his desk and loosened his collar. "I had to get away. Even Antonio, when he drove me over here, was happier than I am. And the poor bastard's driving drunks all over the city."
I didn't have to ask him why he wasn't happy. I felt it too. "We'll be open soon."
He sat on the edge of his desk and rubbed a hand over his mouth. "I know. But if I hadn't screwed up, we'd be open right now."
My stomach twisted and I couldn't look at him. I fled to the kitchen to grab paper towel for the ginger ale all over my desk and called back, "You mean if I hadn't screwed up," then took my time returning, not wanting to see his agreement on his face.
As I walked back into the office, he said, "No, I said it right. I've had a few drinks but I know what happened. I didn't talk to Danny about alternatives, about ways we could work together to keep Jimmy away from you. I just demanded he obey me, and of course he didn't."
I didn't think he'd noticed his "keep Jimmy away from you", but I had. I wasn't the only one Jimmy had harassed, but maybe Kegan hadn't minded so much with the others? I bent over my desk, soaking up the mess. "But if I hadn't—"
"Mary. We could do this all next year and probably all the year after that, but what's the point? Maybe you could have stood up for yourself more, and I definitely shouldn't have been such an ass, but we can't do anything about it now. Can we agree we both screwed up?"
His eyes looked so sad I couldn't agree to anything that wouldn't cheer them. "Nope. But I'm willing to agree Jimmy's an ass."
He smiled at me, and his eyes did brighten a fraction. "Works for me. Have we got coffee? Mildred's closed and I'm desperate for one."
Glad I could help, I got the coffee maker running and returned to the office a few minutes later with a mug for him and tea for me.
He took a long sip. "Great, thanks. If I never get Steel opened again, or Magma for that matter, you've got a future with Mildred."
I sat at my desk and gave him a mock glare. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."
"Thank God."
"Seriously, we will open both of them, and by the end of February we'll have more customers than we know what to do with."
He tipped his head to the side and studied me. "I love that."
"What?"
"The way you say we."
I smiled but didn't know what to say.
"So, why are you here?"
I shrugged. "Nothing to do."
"Could have gone to see your parents."
My shudder wasn't entirely faked, and he laughed. He knew I'd stayed exactly as long as I'd had to and no more at Christmas; he and I had talked for ages on the twenty-seventh about how infuriating I'd found my mother's "poor Charles" comments.
"Do you think she really invited him over for dinner?"
"Oh, I don't know." I'd left right after she told me her plans. "But I wouldn't put it past her. And I so don't want to see him."
"Only a week and then you'll never have to."
I nodded. I'd be a divorcée. Not something I'd ever wanted, but far better than still being with Charles.
We sat in silence, then he said, "This isn't right. We need champagne."
I held up my nearly empty ginger ale bottle. "Want some?"
"No, I do not. One can't celebrate New Years' without champagne."
"Can't one?"
"No, one cannot."
He headed down the hall to the wine room, fortunately undamaged by the fire, returning in moments with a bottle and two glasses. He poured us each half a glass. "There. You can have two like that."
I smiled, touched he remembered I couldn't have more than one drink.
He raised his glass. "To next year."
I echoed it, and we clinked glasses. As I was about to drink, he added, "Because this year sucked ass," and I burst out laughing.
He rescued the glass from my shaking hand. "Well, didn't it? Leaving your husband, the fire, the blood clot."
I calmed myself enough to say, "I guess so. But I got to work with you, and we're on the brink of great things. So it was an amazing year too."
He studied me, his eyes full of emotion and something much hungrier, and for a heart-leaping second I thought he might kiss me. Instead, he handed me back my glass and said, "Let's drink to that instead. To great things."
Again I echoed him, though my voice shook a bit, and this time we drank without issues.
*****
The candlelight and the champagne made our office intimate and cozy, and soon we were talking as we never had before. He pulled his chair over to my desk so I could keep my leg elevated on my footstool, and we sat close together and opened our souls to each
other.
"I heard you talking to your neighbor the day Steel was supposed to open."
I stared at him. "After you left me at my apartment?"
He nodded. "I got onto the stairs and had to tie my shoe. I heard him, so I waited until I heard you invite him in."
He'd heard me trying to shut Brian down and then giving in to him. And he'd heard Brian say he was mauling me. How embarrassing. "You never said anything."
"When, then? No. I knew you could handle it."
The certainty in his voice felt good, even though I hadn't handled it the way I'd wanted to. Kegan believed in me. "Then why'd you stay?"
He put his hand over mine. "In case you needed backup. Not because I thought you would, but in case the guy was a jerk. I didn't want you to want help and not be able to get it."
I covered his hand with my other one. "Thank you. I hate letting him dump all his problems on me, but I can't say no."
"You will," he said calmly. "When you've had enough."
I looked into his eyes, impossibly gorgeous by candlelight. "Everyone says you've changed since the summer. It sounds like the old you would have stormed up the stairs and stopped me letting Brian in. Is it really just Nora's ex that made you change?"
Pain filled those eyes. "Oh, it was him. But..." He swallowed hard.
I tightened my grip on his hand. "I'm sorry, you don't have to—"
"He hit her."
My heart skipped a beat. "Nora?"
"At first just her." He gave an awful laugh, and I squeezed his hand. "As if it's okay to hit her. But that's how she said it. 'It wasn't so bad when he was just hitting me.'"
It was so bad, of course. But... Lola the dancing girl. Rudy the pterodactyl. God. "The kids?"
"Lola. Just her, although Rudy was probably the next target. She wasn't badly hurt, thankfully, but some nasty bruises. She was terrified, of course. They all were."
I shook my head, sickened. Nora's sad eyes. Lola's fear that my joking punch on the arm had hurt Kegan. How tenderly he'd calmed her and how tightly he'd hugged her. Horrible that they'd all gone through that.
"Nora left that night, brought the kids to Steel and then back to my place. She cried for hours once they'd gone to sleep, told me so many things I didn't know about him and their relationship, and I just kept thinking, "Okay, I've never hit anyone, but how he bossed her around and controlled her? That's all like me.' And I promised myself I'd change."
Toronto Collection Volume 1 (Toronto Series #1-5) Page 88