Colton 911--The Secret Network

by Marie Ferrarella

January turned around, beaming at the larger-than-life man.

  “You’re not imagining things, Dad. It’s me,” January answered, affectionately kissing her father’s cheek.

  “So, you’re not a figment of our joint imaginations,” Uncle Ernest said, coming up to her other side and pressing a kiss to her cheek in turn.

  “Wow.” The word escaped Sean’s lips without his meaning it to. He heard it belatedly and flushed as both men and January turned in his direction.

  January was the first to say anything. “I told you they looked eerily alike.”

  That they certainly did, Sean thought, stunned despite having been warned ahead of time.

  “January, that’s no way to talk about your father,” her uncle said.

  Ernest’s comment was echoed by his brother. “Or your uncle,” Alfred Colton told his youngest daughter.

  “In my defense, I don’t think that Sean was prepared for just how very alike the four of you look,” January said.

  “Well, your mother and I don’t look alike,” her father teased.

  “You know what I mean, Dad,” January told him, looking at the foursome who had been the reason for so much confusion in her younger days.

  “Uh-huh.” Disregarding his daughter’s words, Alfred Colton took Sean’s hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you,” he told the detective. “You’re the first breathing male January ever brought home who wasn’t in foster care.”

  January’s face turned bright red as she cried in protest, “Dad!”

  “Alfred.” Her mother chided her husband at the same time.

  Alfred Colton appeared the soul of innocence as he asked, “What did I say? It is true.”

  “Women,” Ernest Colton said with a shake of his head. “Who can understand them? Am I right?” he asked Sean with a conspiratorial smile.

  Sean glanced over at January. “Absolutely,” he agreed.

  The funny thing was, he found himself falling—not only for January, but for her family, as well.

  At least, the members he had met so far.

  Chapter 17

  No one was as surprised as Sean at how much he really liked and got along with January’s family. Not just one or two of the members, or because he felt he had to be polite to the Coltons who were, after all, a very big, important family in the area. Sean had never kowtowed to someone because of who they were or how much money they had.

  But in this case, he quickly discovered that these people—every single one of them—were all genuinely nice and down to earth. He felt he could see through an act and these people really did seem like they took an interest in him as a person.

  Sean found himself caught up in the various family dynamics playing out before him. Moreover, at no time did he feel as if any of January’s relatives felt themselves to be above him in any manner, shape or form.

  The detective was also surprised to find that he wasn’t the only nonfamily member attending the gathering. Shortly after he, January and Maya arrived, he saw Cruz Medina in the group. Medina was Tatum Colton’s newest employee at her restaurant. Since Sean had assumed that this was a family-only gathering, and that he and Maya were the exceptions, seeing another nonfamily member there was a surprise.

  When he questioned January about it, she told him that her restaurateur sister had just hired Cruz as a sous chef for True and had brought the man to meet her family. It was her way of getting him entrenched. Sean found all of this to be unusual, given that he recognized Cruz from the Narcotics Division. As far as he was aware of, Cruz knew his way around a coffee maker, and that was the sum total of his culinary abilities.

  Sean made no comment when they were introduced, but as soon as he found an opportunity to do so, he made his way over to Cruz.

  Pouring a glass of wine for himself and one for the Narcotics detective, Sean handed the other man a glass and asked, “Hey, what’s the deal, man?”

  When Cruz raised his dark, expressive eyes to Sean’s face, indicating his ignorance about the comment he had just made, Sean asked plainly, “Are you moonlighting these days?”

  Since news traveled fast at the police station and rumors even faster, Cruz saw no reason to pretend. Sean, he reasoned, knew enough to keep this quiet.

  “Something like that,” Cruz replied evasively. Then he said, “Way too complicated to get into right now.”

  Just in case this was something other than he thought, Sean felt a warning of sorts was in order. “These are good people,” he said to the man he knew as Harry Cartwright’s new partner. “I wouldn’t want to see any of them get hurt.” The smile on Sean’s lips never wavered, but there was no mistaking his warning. He was telling Cruz to be on his best behavior.

  “Don’t worry,” Cruz said as he raised his glass to his lips. “I have no intentions of hurting anyone here. I have a completely different target in my sights, but that’s all I can say on the subject right now.”

  Sean nodded his head, dropping the topic for the moment. “Understood.”

  “Hey, what are you two talking about?” January asked as she came up to join the two men.

  “Just sharing some common interests,” Sean replied vaguely. “Speaking of common interests—” he quickly scanned the room “—where’s ours?”

  He had really expected to find Maya hermetically sealed to January’s side since the little girl wasn’t with him at the moment. That she was with neither one of them worried him more than he let on.

  “She’s with Carly,” January explained, pointing her out to the detective. She had kept one eye on the little girl at all times, even when she wasn’t with Maya. “Everyone’s doting on Maya,” she told him with a touch of affectionate pride. “But, as it turns out, Carly also knows how to sign, and she and Maya have been talking up a storm, so to speak.”

  January looked again toward where she had left the little girl. Observing Maya with Carly and her mother now, she thought Maya was positively glowing. With a sigh, January said, “I think we’re going to have a tough time getting her to come home with us.”

  The moment the words were out of her mouth, she immediately looked at Sean to see if he had caught her slip.

  The look on his face told her that he had.

  I’m going to have to be careful, January told herself. She hadn’t meant to make it sound as if the three of them were a unit.

  To her surprise, as well as relief, her inadvertent comment didn’t seem to bother Sean.

  It was getting harder and harder for her to maintain that barrier she had put up between them. Harder for her to remember that Sean was just here with her—and Maya—in a professional capacity. She found that his constant presence was generating some very unprofessional thoughts in her head.

  And those thoughts were really beginning to get in her way.

  “I agree,” Sean was saying, watching the little girl. “Good thing that Maya seems to have such a soft spot in her heart for you.”

  “For both of us,” January corrected emphatically. She wanted to give credit where it was due and to make Sean realize that, without even meaning to, he had formed a bond with Maya. But this situation couldn’t go on indefinitely and she knew it. “Has any progress been made with that DNA match?”

  “No, not yet,” he told her. When he caught the sharp look that crossed her face, he quickly added, “but it turns out that the lab is really swamped, so it’s going to take longer than the promised forty-eight hours to get back to us.”

  “It’s getting really hard to be patient,” she told Sean.

  He caught the edge in her voice. His eyes met hers.

  “Yes, I know,” he replied, even though he wasn’t thinking about getting the DNA results or anything even remotely close to that. Instead, he was thinking about the impatience that longing had created within him.

  Apparently feeling as if he was intruding, Tatum’s pseu
do-chef took this opportunity to break away. “I’ll see you around, Stafford,” Cruz said.

  Nodding at January, he made his way back to where he had left her sister.

  “You two know each other?” January asked, mildly interested.

  Sean had no desire to be caught in a lie, but at the same time, he didn’t feel he should volunteer too much at this point.

  “Yeah,” he answered, leaving it at that.

  January drew in a breath. At times Detective Sean Stafford could be the most uncommunicative man, she thought in frustration.

  “From where?” she asked.

  “Long story,” he answered flatly.

  She supposed that was meant as her cue to back off. “Maybe some other time,” January replied.

  She wondered if the man realized just how much slack she kept cutting him.

  “Maybe,” he agreed, leaving it at that. “Let’s get back to Maya before someone in your family decides to permanently whisk her away.” Sean began to make his way back to the circle of people around the little girl.

  Despite the fact that a perpetual wall of silence surrounded her, effectively separating her from everyone else there, Maya seemed to be very happy, even thriving, in the ongoing atmosphere.

  January began to appreciate the fact that, in every way except for one, Maya was a normal, happy little girl. It made the social worker in her more determined than ever to attempt to find the little girl’s family and unite her with them.

  January made a solemn promise to herself that, with or without Sean’s help, she was going to make this happen for Maya.

  * * *

  They wound up staying at her parents’ house a lot longer than January had intended. Initially, she’d thought that they would leave the gathering a great deal sooner than they did. She didn’t want to abuse Sean’s good nature.

  But as it turned out, he was the one who demurred when she suggested leaving.

  He seemed to be really enjoying himself, January thought. She had the distinct impression that the detective was not accustomed to this sort of celebration. Her guess was that, being exposed to it now, Sean was trying to absorb as much of it as possible.

  January had watched in fascination as her father and her uncle took Sean aside at different points in the afternoon and evening, undoubtedly sharing some sort of guy thing that ultimately pleased and/or amused the detective. She saw him smiling, really smiling.

  For her part, she would have loved to be able to hear what was being said, but she instinctively knew it had to be something to do with “man talk,” a term both her father and her uncle favored. Quite simply, it referred to imparting “wisdom” along the lines of older man passing down acquired knowledge to younger man.

  She’d been afraid that Sean would initially brush it off, but she discovered that she was worrying needlessly. Going by Sean’s expression, he seemed to take it all well, and each time she saw that his demeanor remained easygoing. Possibly, in part, thanks to his police training.

  By the time they finally did leave the family gathering, Maya appeared to be all but spent. She did attempt, for a while, to get across how excited she felt. For a little bit, her small hands seemed to fly, talking almost nonstop, sharing as much as she could with January and Carly.

  But then, perforce, Maya’s hands grew still, and her eyelids kept drooping, signaling she was about to lose the battle against encroaching sleep.

  By the time they finally reached Sean’s apartment, Maya had fallen sound asleep. She didn’t even wake up when January unbuckled her from her car seat.

  Nor did she wake as Sean slowly picked her up from that seat and drew her into his arms.

  Careful not to jostle his precious cargo, the police detective moved almost in slow motion. He didn’t want to wake Maya up.

  “I think she’s completely worn out,” Sean whispered, holding the small body to him as he began to go up to his door on the second floor.

  “Sean, you don’t have to whisper,” January reminded the detective, once again pointing out, “Maya can’t hear you.”

  “Logically, I know that,” Sean replied. “But on some level, I think maybe she can. I know it’s dumb.”

  “No, it’s not dumb,” January argued. “It’s sweet. I know that’s not something I’m supposed to say to a homicide detective, but it doesn’t change the fact that I think it is. So sue me.” She raised her chin as if she was issuing a challenge.

  His mouth curved. “Suing is just about the last thing on the list of things I want to do with you,” Sean confided as he came to the landing. Crossing to his door, he realized that he would have to shift Maya in order to get his house key out.

  Which probably meant waking her up.

  He looked over toward January. Positioning his hip in such a way that she would be able to get into his side pocket, Sean said, “Would you mind?”

  January wasn’t following him. “Mind what?”

  He supposed he hadn’t exactly been clear. “I can’t get my key out to open the door without shifting and jostling Maya. But you can.”

  That didn’t jibe with what he had told her earlier. “I thought you set the alarm before we left for my parents’ house.”

  “I did. But I need to put the key into the lock to disarm the alarm so I can input the right combination in order to open up the door.” He looked at her to see if she was following what he’d just said.

  January rolled her eyes. “Oh, for the days when you could just kick down a door,” she said with a wistful note in her voice.

  “Yeah, right.” He laughed, trying to envision her actually kicking down a door. “You and what army?” Shifting, he waited for January to slip her hand into his pocket in order to secure his house key.

  January took in a deep breath and then slipped her hand into his pocket to retrieve the key. “I’ll have you know I can kick down doors,” she informed him. When he gave her a skeptical look, she qualified her remark. “Little doors in dollhouses, but still doors.”

  Sean nodded. “If I’m ever trapped in a dollhouse, you’ll be the first one I send for,” he told her with an aura of solemnity in his voice.

  “Deal,” January agreed.

  Her hand seemed to tingle where she had slipped it into the pocket of his jeans. It had taken her longer to locate the key only because she was trying her best not to turn the hunt for the key into something a great deal more tantalizing and physical.

  She failed.

  It was exactly that.

  But that was because she was trying so very hard to divorce herself from the process.

  Finally securing the elusive key, she held it up in front of his face. “I got it,” she declared. “Now what?”

  “Use it?” he suggested. “Before the night gets too old?”

  “Right,” she murmured, utterly embarrassed that, just for a moment, she had managed to get really distracted by her hunting errand.

  Slipping the key into the lock, she input the combination, then turned the doorknob and opened the door to his apartment. She quickly looked around the immediate area. “Nothing looks as if it’s been touched.”

  “That’s good to hear,” he said, looking around himself. “But I am the detective, so I’d better act like one. I’ll check everything out. You take Maya.”

  Very carefully, Sean passed the little girl to her.

  “This must be what the changing of the guard feels like,” January quipped, taking Maya into her arms. The little girl didn’t even stir, she noticed with pride. “I’d better get her to bed,” she told Sean.

  “Not until I clear the apartment,” he said emphatically.

  She thought he was being needlessly overcautious, but she didn’t want to spoil the night by arguing with him. Better safe than sorry, she reminded herself for the umpteenth time.

  “You’re right,” she agreed.
“I’ll wait here with Maya.”

  She stood there, holding Maya against her, thinking that this had to be what having a child was like.

  A warm, protective feeling flooded through her as she waited for Sean to return.

  Someday, she promised herself. Someday.

  She felt as if she had been standing there, waiting forever, when Sean finally returned to the front of the apartment.

  “It’s all clear,” he told her. “Nobody is in here except for us.” He gently took Maya back into his arms. “I’ll take her to her room and put her to bed. You look as if you’re about to fall over if you try to do that.”

  “I’ll have you know that I’m fresh as a daisy,” she informed him.

  “Right, a daisy that’s been growing in the desert for the last two months—without any water.” He laughed.

  “Flattery is definitely not your strong suit,” she said as she followed Sean to the guest bedroom.

  “Maybe not, but observation is,” he pointed out. “It’s what I do for a living, remember?”

  “I keep forgetting,” she said, deadpan. “I guess that’s why I have you to remind me.” She watched as he laid Maya down.

  “You want to get her ready for bed?” he asked, although if it were up to him, he would opt to leave the little girl dressed.

  “I don’t want to risk waking her up,” she said, agreeing with him without realizing it. “This will do fine for tonight.” And with that, she stepped back and accidentally bumped up against Sean.

  Chapter 18

  Without meaning to, Sean brushed his chest against her back. It was just the most innocent of contacts, and yet the moment it happened, January was on the receiving end of an electrical shock that went shooting right through her.

  Sean reacted instantly without even thinking about it. He put his hands on her shoulders and slowly turned January around. There was nothing more to his action than wanting to steady her.

  At least, that was what Sean told himself.

  But when he turned January around so that she was facing him, he was suddenly aware of all sorts of emotions vibrating through him. Without meaning to, Sean found himself acutely conscious of every single part of the woman. At the same time, every shred of his own desire was making itself known to him.