Love Unlocked (8 page)

“I didn’t know what went with pork, then I remembered you said champagne is always a good idea.”

“I was right.” The fact that he’d listened to her, remembered her offhanded remark, then bought her one hundred and fifty dollar bubbly made her feel warm, like he’d switched on a heat lamp inside her.

She popped the cork and it seemed to pop the tension between them, as well. He told her funny stories about his childhood in Chelsea. They didn’t speak of his art, or her collection of paintings, most of which had been hung. She didn’t mention John, or the task she faced. He didn’t bring up the kisses they’d shared. Or the fact that they were finally alone in the house, and a staircase was all that was between them and a very large, very accommodating bed.

Hudson seemed so distracted by the meal she’d prepared that anything else, sex, art, or crime, wasn’t even in the air. She didn’t know whether to be proud or exasperated.

“This tenderloin is incredible!” he said, happily taking seconds. “I didn’t know you were such a cook. John sort of gave me the impression....”

“That I’m hopeless in the kitchen? He’s a little obsessed with technique,” she said, warmed by his compliment. “I usually don’t follow recipes. I put together ingredients that I think will taste good together.”

“Is there anything you can’t do?” He sounded perfectly serious.

Eve laughed. She was a little sad, knowing he’d probably take back every complimentary thing he ever said or felt about her if he knew exactly what kind of person she was.

“A few things.” She topped off his champagne glass. “I’ll get the dessert.”

While she was more than competent in the kitchen, she usually left baking to the professionals. She pulled a bakery box out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter to take the chill off. The box was chock full of delicious tidbits she’d picked up earlier in the day on a mad rush around town after Hudson had accepted her invitation.

Eve had made her mind up about two things. First, she was going to sleep with Hudson Cleary. Second, she wasn’t going to tell him anything he didn’t need to know. The second made the first doomed to a passing fling, but perhaps that was how her life was destined to be. He was too delicious to pass up, and she’d already spent her share of willpower keeping her hands off him this long. She plated a lemon tart and a couple of chocolate éclairs and carried them back to the dining room.

“Why don’t we take these....” she trailed off, leaving off the word “upstairs” when she saw Hudson was on his cell phone.

“All right, don’t worry, I’ll be right there.” He ended the call and frowned at her. “I’m sorry, but my brother’s eldest is sick and he took her to the hospital. He wants me to go over and watch his two littlest ones so his wife can join him.”

“Of course.” His concern was palpable. “Listen, you’ve had too much champagne, and I’ve had barely half a glass. I’ll drive you over there.”

“I’d appreciate it,” he said.

“Give me two seconds.” Eve returned to the kitchen to repack the bakery box. She balanced her purse and a sweater on top of it as they stepped outside, and she spared a moment to key in the security code, sealing the house up behind them.

“Thanks. I’ll come get my car tomorrow,” he said, and climbed into the passenger seat of her sedan.

The trip down the hill and into town took mere minutes. Hudson directed her to his brother’s trim wood frame house in the residential area by the elementary school. All the lights were on, and she could see movement behind the practical white curtains.

He started to thank her for the ride, but she was already out of the car. She didn’t intend to impose on his family, but she wanted to make sure everyone was going to be okay.

A slim, olive-skinned woman with attractively highlighted brown hair opened the door before they could knock. “Hudson, thanks for coming.” Two dark-eyed children jumped up and down behind her as they caught sight of their uncle.

“This is my sister-in-law, Nancine,” Hudson said. “And these are the little monkeys.” He indicated the children. The kids, a boy and a girl who looked about five and three, giggled and hauled him into the house.

“Hi, I’m Eve. I drove Hudson over. What can I do to help?”

“I’m going to run over to the hospital now. Gracie, my oldest, has been sick for a couple days, but then her fever spiked and my husband and I didn’t want to wait until morning to get her seen. I’d appreciate it if you could give Hudson a hand with the kids. He’s great with them, but he doesn’t exactly set boundaries. They should have been in bed half an hour ago, but….”

“I understand,” Eve said, smiling reassuringly. “You go. We’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks, I have my cell phone and I’ll text if we’re going to be more than a couple of hours.” Nancine called out, “Jordan! Caitlyn! Your Uncle Hudson is going to put you to bed now. I’ll see you in the morning.” She then escaped out the door.

Eve surveyed the scene. Jordan, the older one, was holding a foam football and talking nonstop about some sporting event he’d seen. Caitlyn, the toddler, was clutching a well-worn stuffed horse in one hand, and her uncle’s hand in the other. Eve’s heart melted a little at the sight of big, strong, commanding Hudson hand in hand with a diminutive girl in a sparkly purple tutu. He was trying to listen to his nephew while also paying attention to his niece, who was tugging at his hand and exhorting him to look at her new collection of ponies.

She caught his gaze. He smiled apologetically. Eve squared her shoulders.

“Hi guys,” she said, “I’m Eve.”

The chatter stopped and she was inspected by two pairs of curious eyes.

“Caitlyn, do you want to show me your ponies while your Uncle Hudson takes your brother to change into his pajamas?”

Divide and conquer, that was her plan. She held her breath, hoping she sounded more authoritative than she felt. What she knew about kids could be written on a cocktail napkin.

Caitlyn seemed to consider her offer. “Are you Uncle Hudson’s girlfriend?”

“Um.” She glanced at Hudson, but he looked as curious as his niece about her answer. “I’m his friend who happens to be a girl,” she said, a bit lamely.

“Okay,” Caitlyn said, apparently satisfied. She dropped Hudson’s hand and grabbed Eve’s.

“Come on, buddy, let’s go get ready for bed.” He winked at Eve, and took off down the hall, listening attentively as Jordan resumed his story at full tilt.

Eve found herself dragged to the corner of the living room that had been devoted to everything a three-year-old girl could want, from a play kitchen to a dress up box overflowing with all things pink and sequined.

She sank onto her knees so she could be at Caitlyn’s level as the girl introduced her to a stable’s worth of ponies, from the stuffed one in her hand to the miniature purple plastic one on her play table. Eve oohed and aahed over each one, but when the introductions were over, she was somewhat at a loss.

Caitlyn turned to her. “You have pretty hair.”

She choked up a little. “What a lovely compliment. You have beautiful hair, as well.” Caitlyn had glossy brown curls in no semblance of order framing her chubby toddler’s face.

“Thank you,” the little girl said formally.

Not for the first time, but sharper than ever before, Eve felt certain that she wanted this, a chubby face looking up at her, a daughter or son she could adore with her whole heart. She had precious few outlets for her affectionate impulses at the moment; she was overflowing with the need to give love and be loved in return.

Hormones, too. She blamed hormones. Her body was getting louder with each passing year.
Get pregnant!
it seemed to scream at her every time she saw a babe in someone’s arms or a family walking down the street.

Perhaps that could explain her deep carnal response to Hudson. As a physical specimen, he was flawless. He had a virility that was obviously in direct contact with her womb. Eve could all too easily picture a baby with his chocolate brown eyes, his golden brown skin. Maybe her ears. Not that Hudson didn’t have fine ears, but she’d always liked her own.

This thought trend was making her a little sad. There was no baby in her future, not immediately, anyway, and especially not with Hudson. She stood up briskly. “Do you want to show me your bedroom?”

“Okay,” Caitlyn said. “But I have to say goodnight to my ponies first.”

Eve waited while Caitlyn said goodnight to each one in turn. The little girl then grabbed a stuffed one with the unlikely name of Joey Sparklehoof and tucked it under her arm.

Caitlyn led her down the hall. There were three bedrooms. They passed the door to an older girl’s bedroom, decorated not with ponies but with cats. The Cleary girls really liked animals. The door to the master bedroom was closed, as was the door to the bathroom. Eve could hear Hudson cajoling Jordan into brushing his teeth.

Caitlyn finally arrived at the room she shared with Jordan, bunk beds taking up most of the space, clothes and toys filling the rest of the small room. Eve spied a pair of yellow and pink striped pajamas on the lower bunk bed. She handed them to Caitlyn, who began carefully changing out of the sparkly tutu and into the shirt and pants.

“Where’s my mom?” Caitlyn asked.

“She had to go out, to be with your dad and your sister,” Eve said.

“Gracie got sick,” the little girl confided in her.

“Yes, I know. I’m sure she’ll be better soon.”

“I hope she gets better before the party,” Caitlyn said, now pajama clad.

“What party?”

“Um, the big party,” she said, as if there were any other kind.

“Oh, the big party,” Eve echoed, as if that explained it. “Hey, do you want to go brush your teeth?”

“No,” Caitlyn said sweetly.

“Well, you don’t want your brother to be the only one with clean teeth, do you?”

“No!”

“Okay, let’s go!” she said with more enthusiasm for the task than she thought possible. Parenting was the hardest thing she’d ever done, and she’d only been at it for fifteen minutes.

Caitlyn led the way.

Hudson and Jordan were coming out of the bathroom, as if on cue. “All yours, sweetie,” he said. For a minute, Eve thought he was referring to her, and the endearment made her unaccountably blush. But then she realized the sweetie in question was Caitlyn, which made a lot more sense.

“Do you need help?” Eve asked. Caitlyn nodded.

“See you in a minute,” Hudson said.

“See you in a minute,” Jordan repeated, in imitation of his uncle.

Eve relaxed a bit as she helped Caitlyn brush her teeth. This wasn’t rocket science, but it did take patience. Possibly even more patience than needed to crack a safe by touch, which took silence, discipline, and a huge capacity for patient concentration.

“All right, into bed,” she said.

Jordan was ensconced in the top bunk. Hudson perched on a child-sized chair, reading aloud from
The Wind in the Willows
.

Caitlyn clambered into her own bed. Eve watched as the children, safe and secure in their world, listened to their uncle, whose deep voice took on a melodious quality as he read about the adventures of Toad and his friends. When he came to a stopping point, they were almost asleep.

“Goodnight. We’ll be in the living room until your mom and dad get home,” he said.

They mumbled their goodnights, and Eve eased out of the room, followed by Hudson, who switched off the room light behind him, but carefully left the door ajar and the hall light on.

He either had lots of practice babysitting his nieces and nephew, or he instinctively knew how to make a child comfortable. Either way, she was impressed.

When they got to the living room, he offered to make coffee, his invitation to stay implicit. Eve hesitated. She’d wanted the night to go in one direction, and it had ended up somewhere completely different. She didn’t really want to go home to her dark empty house. But somehow, being with Hudson in this den of domesticity was even more intimate than the prospect of sharing her bed with him had been. She couldn’t afford to get too close, and this was definitely straying into dangerous territory. She shook her head. Only she could see the danger in sharing coffee with a man while two children slept ten yards away.

“Sure, coffee would be great,” she said.

He led her to the kitchen, where the big picture window looking onto the backyard would make the room bright and airy in the daytime.

“You seem at home here,” she commented as he went about the business of brewing coffee in a well-used French press.

“Will and Nancine are my nearest family since my parents moved to Paso Robles after Stephanie died.”

Eve wanted to ask him more about the sister whose premature passing coincided with his return to Chelsea, but she couldn’t justify prying. “Jordan and Caitlyn are big fans of yours,” she said, moving onto safer ground.

He grinned. “They’re terrific kids. We have fun.” He got two mugs out. “Hey, did I see you bring a bakery box in here?”

“Oh, I forgot!” She quickly retrieved it from the living room, and they each chose an éclair. As Hudson slowly squeezed the French press filter, the aroma of rich brew hit the kitchen.
It smells like home
. She corrected herself; it smelled like France, which wasn’t home to her anymore.

“You were great with Caitlyn,” he said.

Eve couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so delighted by praise. “Thanks. I have to confess I don’t have much experience with kids. But I was a little girl once, too, so....”

He smiled and handed her a generous cup. “I’m surprised. You’re a natural.”

Feeling suddenly shy, she mumbled her thanks and quickly bit into her éclair. The combination of chocolate, cream, and sugar was like ambrosia for her soul. The man sitting across the round kitchen table was like ambrosia for her body. She was acutely aware of how attractive he was, still wearing that brown sweater, the sleeves pushed up over his muscular forearms. There were fresh ink stains on his fingers, and his hair, which had been neatly combed when he’d arrived for dinner hours before, was tousled in such a way that practically begged her to run her hands through it. He’d been freshly shaven before, too, and his chin had acquired a sexy shadow to it. Her belly clenched and she was warm all over. Maybe the sweet éclair was making her heart race, but she couldn’t stop thinking about having his mouth on hers again.