Falling Like Snowflakes (15 page)

“Maybe you're right. I still don't like it.”

Beau caught her up on Aunt Trudy, who wasn't Abby's aunt since Abby was his cousin from his mom's side. Once they finished with small talk, he brought up the reason for his call.

“I was wondering if I could get your help with something. If I wanted to look someone up—do a little digging—how would I go about it?”

“You'd give me the name and everything you know about this person and let me do my PI thing.”

“I'll pay you for your time.”

“How about you send me a couple fresh lobsters, and we'll call it even.”

“You don't even like lobster.”

“Well, Ryan does, and I like to keep my man happy.”

“Done.” He filled her in on everything he knew about Kate. She tapped away on her keyboard as he talked.

“That's not much to go on,” she said when he finished. “Do you have her soc number . . . a birthday or address . . . anything?”

“Sorry, that's all I got.”

“Who is she, anyway, if you don't mind my asking?”

“That's what you're supposed to find out.”

“Funny guy. You know what I mean.”

“I hired her to be Aunt Trudy's caretaker while she's recovering. Honestly, I'm not even sure she's given me her real name.”

“She's not staying there, is she?”

“No . . . She's staying at Paige's.”

“Beau . . . if she's raising suspicions, and clearly she is, why is she staying at your girlfriend's house?”

He was starting to wonder the same thing. “She might be hiding something, but my gut says she's not dangerous.”

“Well, I trust your gut, but that doesn't mean she's not
in
danger. And if she's in danger that puts Paige in danger.”

“I know, I know.” How could he have let this happen? “I'd feel better about moving her into the farmhouse, but Paige wasn't too crazy about the idea.”

“I take it Kate Bennet is young and attractive?” There was a smile in Abby's voice.

“You said it, not me.”

Abby laughed. “Well, you could always fire her.”

Beau stopped pacing and looked up at the rafters, heaving a sigh.

“Let me guess, you don't have the heart to put her out on the street.”

“Just do your PI thing and leave my heart out of it.”

“Such a softie. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.”

A few minutes later Beau hung up the phone. How was he going to get Kate out of Paige's house and into the farmhouse?

Chapter 15

W
hat are you doing?” Beau's voice was full of reproach.

Eden turned from the sink as he entered the kitchen, studying his face for signs of displeasure.

She relaxed at the sight of his playful grimace. “Um, the dishes?”

He wore a black Henley, worn jeans, and a day's scruff. He'd lost his shoes after church, and one of his toes poked through a hole. Antonio would never have stood for that.

“I told you to leave them,” he said. “You're officially off the clock.”

“I don't mind.”

“Well, I do.” He snatched the dish towel from the peg and took the clean bowl from her hand.

Eden reached into the water and came up with a plate.

They'd invited her and Micah to stay for the Patriots game. She'd watched the Saints with her dad, and he'd taught her the game. But Micah hadn't watched football before. It was only half time, and her boy was already fully engaged. It was good for him to have some guy time.

Paige had to leave after lunch to work on her float for the parade, and Beau had promised Eden a ride back after the game. She had to admit it was fun observing the guys as they watched. Riley darted to his feet at every bad call, shouting at the referees. Beau leaned forward in his seat, his elbows digging into his knees at the critical points, then fell back against the sofa when the moment passed. Zac wrung his big hands.

Miss Trudy pretended not to care at all, but her needles paused every time the Pats entered the red zone.

“You all take your football pretty seriously. I thought Riley was going to have a coronary at the horse-collar call. Though it
was
bogus.”

“You know football?”

“Well enough.” She handed him the plate.

“Does Jack play any sports?”

“Not on a team, no. He used to played soccer with his friends. He seems to like watching football, though.”

“He's catching on fast.”

Kate angled a look his way. “How can you tell?”

Beau smirked. “He's nervous at all the right times.”

“He fits right in around here then.”

She scrubbed at a spot on the next plate, gave it a thorough wash, then rinsed it under the faucet.

“So, Kate . . . I was thinking that maybe it would make more sense if you and Jack moved in here at the farmhouse. Aunt Trudy's room upstairs is empty, and that way you wouldn't have to shuttle back and forth every day.”

Something inside plummeted. Had she gotten on Paige's nerves? She tried to clean up after herself, and Micah hadn't had many nightmares. She tried to quiet him as quickly as possible when he did.

Even so, she'd sensed a distance in Paige since the night she'd come home in the middle of Eden's conversation with Beau.

“I guess we've kind of intruded on Paige's space. I hope she's not upset with me.”

Beau's dish towel paused midswipe. “No. No, it's not that at all.”

“Then what is it?”

His lips parted, then closed.

She hadn't noticed how close he was standing. But now that she had, she could smell the scent of his cologne over the lemony fragrance of the dish soap and see the lighter flecks of brown in his eyes.

“Look, I'm going to be honest. You've given me reason to believe you're in some kind of trouble—”

She started to speak.

He held up his hand. “I know you want to keep your past to yourself. But I'm not comfortable with you at Paige's when I don't know what's going on. And if my gut's right, and you are running from something or someone, you and Jack'll be safer here.”

He was right. Her breath eased out in a rush. She'd done her best to cover her trail, but these weren't amateurs she was running from. She had been putting Paige in harm's way. And even if she moved into the farmhouse, she was potentially endangering Miss Trudy, not to mention Beau and Riley. And after they'd been nothing but kind to her.

She felt a pinch in her chest, and her breath seemed stuffed into her lungs. “Maybe we should just go.” She didn't have enough money yet to pay for the repairs on her car, but maybe Eddie would take installments.

Beau set his hand on her arm, and it was as if the barrier of her cotton shirt didn't exist. Every cell there flared to life. The skin
beneath his hand burned and tingled. Their eyes aligned, and she could see he felt it, too, in the way his expression shifted.

His hand fell away. “Please don't. We need you. And I wouldn't feel right sending the two of you off on your own. Not when I can protect you.”

Her spirit balked at that notion. “I can take care of us just fine. Maybe I wasn't doing such a good job of it when you found us, but I've got some money saved now.”

“Aunt Trudy needs you. And I think having Jack around has kept her mind off her injury. I don't want you to go.” Something flashed in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant.

Zac burst through the kitchen door. “Dude, I thought you were getting the crab dip.”

“Get your own dip. I'm helping with the dishes.”

Zac opened the fridge as Miss Trudy hobbled in on crutches. “What's a woman got to do to get a drink around here?”

“Sorry, Aunt Trudy,” Beau said over his shoulder. “Got distracted.”

She looked between Beau and Eden. “I see that.” Her eyes swung toward the ceiling above them. “I also see you're standing under the mistletoe.”

Eden looked up, and sure enough . . . a sprig of mistletoe dangled from a hook above the sink.

Her eyes flitted off Beau, her face warming. “I didn't hang it there.”

Beau tossed a sour look at his brother's back. “Zac's just being cute. It's a game we used to play with our parents when we were little.”

Zac shut the fridge door, smirking. “Nah. I just wanted to catch Paige unaware.”

Beau threw the towel at Zac, hitting the back of his head as he scooted out the door.

“Like you ever do the dishes,” Beau called after him.

His gaze bounced off Eden as he pulled another dish towel from the drawer and took the wet plate she'd been holding suspended in midair.

“Well, boy,” Miss Trudy said, “don't be rude. Give the lady a kiss.”

Beau narrowed his eyes at his aunt. “
You
moved it.”

Miss Trudy sniffed as she shuffled to the fridge. “I need a little entertainment around here. So sue me.” She withdrew a bottled water from the fridge and cracked open the lid, leaning on her crutches.

After taking a swig and replacing the lid, she gave Beau a long, dark look. Apparently Miss Trudy wasn't leaving until she got her way.

Beau must have reached the same conclusion.

“Fine.” He turned to Eden and gave her a sheepish look.

Her eyes settled on his lips. How had she not noticed how beautiful they were? Curvy on top and lush on the bottom. Lips so perfect God must have come down and sculpted them personally.

He leaned in and set a kiss on her cheek.

Except she miscalculated and turned her head just the tiniest bit. His lips landed on the corner of hers, soft and gentle.

Her pulse skittered like marbles across a hardwood floor. His breath fanned her cheek as he slowly withdrew. His eyes aligned with hers, holding her transfixed. Something flickered there, something that sent a low hum buzzing through her veins.

Then he blinked, his lids like shutters, slamming down over his eyes. He returned his attention to the plate he was drying.

Eden turned to see the tip of Miss Trudy's crutches swinging out the door.

Beau cleared his throat. “She gets ornery when she's bored.” His voice was thick and husky.

“I'll keep that in mind.”

Moments later he dried the last dish and returned to the living room. But Eden's heart still raced when she joined the family well into the third quarter.

He shouldn't have done that.

That had been his mantra for the last quarter of the game. A game he was barely even following anymore. He was more aware of Eden's leg ticking back and forth a few feet away than he was of which yard line the Pats were on.

It was just an innocent kiss. A mistletoe kiss. A kiss on the cheek. Like kissing his cousin Abby.

But it hadn't really been like any of those things, because he'd caught the corner of Kate's mouth, making it just shy of really wrong. And—let's get real—kissing Kate hadn't been anything like pecking his cousin on the cheek.

“Come on, man!” Riley said, jumping to his feet. “Do you believe that?”

Beau zoomed in on the TV, trying to figure out what was going on. A possible interception, apparently.

“Sit down before you spill your Coke,” Aunt Trudy said.

Riley slowly sank to the edge of the recliner, his eyes glued to the screen.

“It hit the ground,” Zac said.

Riley shook his head. “No, it didn't.”

Beau's eyes swung to Kate for the dozenth time since she'd rejoined them. But this time her eyes were on him. Caught, he turned back to the TV where a replay was in motion.

“See,” Riley said. “Interception!” A few minutes later the referee corroborated the call.

The game continued, the Pats holding their lead into the last minutes of the game.

Beau couldn't keep his mind on it, however. His thoughts kept returning to Kate and his offer to move her. She'd never agreed, but she hadn't said no either. She'd only mentioned quitting, and he didn't want that, despite the way she was getting under his skin. He could handle his attraction to her. It was only a few more weeks, and first chance he got he was confiscating that stupid mistletoe.

He glanced over at her, wondering what she was thinking about, so quiet over there in the corner of the sofa. Maybe about how to break the news that she was quitting. Or maybe she was plotting to take off with no warning at all.

He'd already caused problems with Paige by telling her he was moving Kate into the house. Not that she'd said much. She wasn't the type to rant and rave, but she'd protested in her own quiet way.

He wanted to keep Paige safe, but he needed to keep Kate and Jack safe too. Maybe they weren't family, but God had dropped them into his life, and he felt responsible for them.

When the game finally ended, Kate and Jack donned their coats and followed him to his truck. He waited until they were on the road to broach the topic.