The Texas Christmas Gift (13 page)

He spread his hands, obviously eager to please in whatever way necessary to get back in her good graces. “Whatever you want.”

Eve groaned facetiously. “I’ve had a heck of a day, McCabe. Just make a decision.” Telling herself that no matter what he thought, this wasn’t a date, or anything close, she handed him a take-out menu.

He glanced at it. “The Everything.”

A man after her own heart. “Works for me.” She let him place the order. Opened up a bottle of zinfandel and poured two glasses. “I gather Tiffany is with her mom today.”

Derek clinked glasses with her. “Carleen and Craig took her to see family. They won’t be back until late tomorrow evening, so I won’t see her until Monday after work.”

Eve settled on the sofa opposite him as they waited for their dinner. It did seem quiet without his daughter. “You must miss her.”

“I do,” Derek confided in a low, husky voice. “Although I’m kind of used to the schedule. And the split custody arrangement allows me time to pursue other things that are important to me.”

I can’t say I mind that,
Eve thought. Then, realizing how premature it was for her to be thinking that way, she pushed that notion away and continued chatting casually. “I saw the yard decorations on my way home tonight.” He and his family had done a great job decking out his new place. “Santa and Mrs. Claus at the North Pole. Very nice.”

Derek grinned. “It was just about all the store had left, but thanks.”

Their eyes met. “So how was your day?” he asked.

There was, Eve knew, only one way to describe it. “Tiring.”

He listened intently, as much friend now as potential lover. “Yeah?”

Eve ran a finger down the seam of her jeans. “I finally got Flash’s condo cleaned out and properly staged. We’re having an open house tomorrow afternoon.”

“Think it will sell now?”

“I hope so. We have only two more weeks on the listing, and he’s threatening to sign with another firm if I don’t get it done.”

Derek’s jaw flexed. Gallantly, he jumped to her rescue. “Lefleur can’t blame you if he wouldn’t do what was needed all this time.”

“Actually, he does, and he will,” Eve answered. “But enough about business.” She wanted to escape from real-estate drama tonight, not wallow in it.

She stood and went to the window that looked out over the parking lot. But despite her grumbling stomach, there wasn’t a delivery vehicle in sight.

Derek rose, too. “Where’s your Christmas tree?” He looked past her galley kitchen, which was on the other side of the half-walled breakfast bar, and down the hall, where open doors revealed an ultrafeminine master suite, and an eight-by-ten space that seemed to be half den, half clothes closet.

Eve shrugged, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed to be living in such a small space. “I don’t have one.”

He turned back to her, his brow furrowed. “This year?”

She shook her head, embarrassed again. “Ever, really.”

When he stepped nearer, she could see how closely he had shaved. Could smell his familiar, appealing scent. “Why not?” he asked. Eve pressed her lips together and, all too physically aware of him, paced back to the window. “Putting up holiday decorations is nothing my mother and I ever really had time to do.”

Derek blinked and followed after her. “You’re kidding, right?” Darkness had fallen. Although her immediate neighborhood was all brick condo units erected side by side, in the distance, colored lights twinkled and lavish homes beckoned.

She smiled. “When I was little, we had a tabletop tree—like the one I brought you and Tiffany at the hotel. But after I realized there was no Santa Claus, we stopped even that. Marjorie saw no reason for the charade.”

“Christmas is a charade?”

“Expecting that miracles might happen, or that everything changes for the better this time of year, is, in my mother’s view, nothing more than a fantasy, and a harmful one at that. As she’s fond of saying, only hard work and clear eyes will get you where you want to go in life.”

“And your perspective...?”

Of course he would ask her that. Eve sighed. “I don’t know what I believe.” She looked him in the eye.

“Don’t know, or don’t want to say?”

How about a little bit of both?
Eve thought. “Not everything in life has to be definitive, Derek.”

“That’s true.” He bent closer to study her, then murmured, “But everyone knows deep down what they believe.”

Eve stiffened, unsure just how emotionally vulnerable she was ready to leave herself. “Okay,” she said, with a lift of her chin. “Then tell me about you.”

His blue eyes warming affectionately, he rose to the challenge. “I think Christmas is a magical time of year.”

“Because...?” Eve prompted.

After pondering it for a moment, he gave her a long, telling look. “Because Christmas opens up people’s hearts and makes all things seem possible.”

It was certainly making
this
seem possible, she thought. She barely knew Derek, and already they felt incredibly connected. “You really are romantic, deep down,” she whispered.

To her satisfaction, he didn’t even try to deny it. “What does Christmas mean to you?” he asked instead.

He’d been remarkably honest. Eve knew she should be, too. Struggling to put her feelings into words, she raked her teeth across her lip. “I think it’s great, if you have a big happy family, like you apparently do.”

Once again, he seemed to sense all she wasn’t saying. “But otherwise?” Derek tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was becoming a familiar gesture.

Eve savored the tender touch of his fingers against her skin. “It can be—it has been—the loneliest time of the year for me.”

He smiled and dropped his hand. “Then it’s time that changed.”

His confidence made her laugh and groan simultaneously. “Really? And how are you going to achieve that miracle?”

“I don’t know yet.” He squinted, then rubbed his jaw. “But I’ll come up with a plan.”

Suddenly, Eve sensed they were in dangerous territory. “You’re not responsible for me and my happiness.”

Derek sobered, all protective male. “I know that,” he told her in a low, husky voice that seemed to come straight from his heart. “But here’s the thing, Eve. I want to be.”

Chapter Nine

The words hung in the air between them. Derek knew it had been a cornball thing to say. It was true, nevertheless. He did want to be responsible for Eve and her happiness, in a way he’d never been with anyone before.

Problem was, she wasn’t buying it. Not yet, anyway.

“Which brings me to my next question,” he said. “Exactly how tired are you?”

The sparkle was back in her eyes. “Why?” she countered softly, as the doorbell rang.

Derek went to get it. He paid the pizza guy, then brought their meal back to where she was sitting, and put it on the coffee table. When he opened the box, the fragrance of fresh hot pizza filled the air.

She’d already set out stoneware plates and plenty of paper napkins. “Because,” he said, returning to her side, “the evening is still young.”

She glanced at the clock on the wall, noting it was half past eight. “Maybe for you. For all you know, my bedtime could be nine o’clock.”

Realizing too late how that could possibly be interpreted, she flushed.

Gallantly, he let the faux pas pass, and asked instead, “What would you usually do on a Saturday night?”

A serious question deserved a serious answer. “After a week like this past one?” Eve heaved an enormous sigh and stretched. “I’d probably bake something sweet and decadent and watch a movie.”

His dark brows furrowed. “Alone?”

“Usually.” Eve nodded. “I like my quiet time.”

“Me, too.”

For several minutes, they enjoyed their pizza in silence. Eventually, she dabbed the corners of her mouth and said, “Although, for some reason—” she winked flirtatiously “—quiet time doesn’t happen a lot when you’re around.”

He laughed, deep and low, then waggled his eyebrows. “You never know.” He left the implication hanging.

Eve looked down her nose at him like a prim schoolmarm chastising a rowdy teenage male. “I think I do.”

Derek returned her slow smile with a sexy one of his own. “We could go out this evening.”

She considered the possibility. “And do what?”

He smiled and took another bite of the delicious pizza.

Eve took a bite of hers, and when she’d swallowed it, said, “Obviously you have something in mind.”

Derek gave a slight nod. “Something,” he said, both serious and hopeful now, “that should help you get in the Christmas spirit.”

* * *

“
I
’M NOT EXACTLY
Ebenezer Scrooge,” Eve drawled a few minutes later, as they cleaned up and put the leftovers in the fridge.

Derek tossed the napkins in the trash. “No one said you were.”

She pushed the cork back in the wine bottle and put it away. “But you think I could use some improvement.”

He folded up the pizza box. “I think your spirits could use some boosting.” He reached out and rubbed the back of his hand across her cheek. “There’s a difference.”

Tingling from his touch, Eve went to get her jacket. Chivalrously, he assisted her as she shrugged it on. “You guarantee it’s going to be worth my while.”

Derek put his leather bomber jacket on. “Promise.”

She grabbed her bag and together they walked out her condo door. “I don’t know why I keep letting you talk me into things.”

They stepped into the empty elevator and pushed the button for Lobby. “I think it’s my irresistible McCabe charm,” he bragged.

Eve laughed, unable to help but think how handsome he looked, no matter what time of day or night. Like the Prince Charming of her dreams. “It’s something, all right,” she quipped back, aware that she felt more a woman when she was with him than she had in a very long time. A woman with needs...

Oblivious to the disturbing nature of her thoughts, Derek took her hand in his. “Seriously, I promise this will make you happy.”

The funny thing was, Eve realized, Derek did make her happy. Just hanging out with him on a Saturday evening made her feel giddy with excitement. And that wasn’t something she’d ever experienced before.

Was this infatuation? she wondered. Or something much more?

She had no answer as Derek drove the short distance to the nearest Christmas tree lot. Set up by a local Rotary Club, it was filled with a nice selection of Fraser firs. They were about to close for the evening, but some fast talking and the promise of an extra donation from Derek kept them open a little longer.

Up and down the aisles he and Eve went. Derek looked at one after another. “What do you think?” He tucked his hand in hers and drew her close. “Seven feet tall or eight?”

Eve clasped his gloved hand and tilted her head to see his face. “Where are you going to put it?”

He looked at her as if that was an odd question. “Probably in the living room.”

O-kay.
Her brows came together quizzically. “You do know they’re still doing construction in your home, right?”

He erupted into laughter and leaned down to touch his nose to hers. “Then it probably should go in yours.”

His “Eskimo kiss” left her all aflutter. Eve drew back slightly, her eyes locked pleasurably with his. “For now,” she said.

Another perplexed frown creased his handsome face. “At least until New Year’s, I would think.”

Eve blinked. “What are you talking about?”

Derek cupped her shoulders. “I’m buying you a Christmas tree.”

She was dumbfounded.

He continued looking at her as if she wasn’t the only one feeling infatuated. Persuasively, he added, “You bought me and Tiffany one, after all.”

“A two-foot artificial tree.” It was hardly the same thing.

“Which is perfect for us, since we’re in a hotel.” He went back to examining the fresh, fragrant fir he had been looking at. “This one is perfect for you.”

Eve moved so he had no choice but to look at her. She curved her hand around his biceps. “What if I don’t want a tree?”

Derek curved his free hand behind his ear. “What was that you just said?” he shouted, pretending he was half-deaf. “Bah! Humbug!”

Eve laughed despite herself. She could easily see a man like this taking over her life. She could easily see
Derek
taking over her life.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Come on. You know you want one.”

The warmth of his breath sent a shiver down her neck. And caused new heat elsewhere.

“It’s for a good cause,” the Rotary volunteer interjected helpfully.

The guys had her there.

“Okay,” Eve said, deciding it was less treacherous to agree than to prompt Derek to continue persuading her. “But no bigger than six feet.”

“Six feet it is,” Derek and the Rotarian volunteer agreed in unison.

Minutes later, they had it tied to the top of Derek’s Jaguar SUV, along with a nicely decorated, fresh evergreen wreath for her door, for good measure. “Now where are we going?” she asked when they took off once again.

“Exactly where you would think.” Derek parked in front of the nearest megastore with a big red-and-white circle on the front. “To buy some decorations.”

They went inside together. Despite the fact it was nearly ten-thirty, the place was still packed with harried shoppers taking advantage of the extra-late holiday hours.

Derek grabbed a red plastic shopping cart, then paused to study the layout of the store. Eventually, he went left. Amazed by how at-home he was doing ordinary things, Eve trailed along after him. It seemed there were many intriguing facets to this man.

Not that he was right about everything. She tapped him on the shoulder. “If you’re looking for ornaments, we should go right.”

He stopped, chagrined, and smiled down at her. “I knew I brought you along for a reason.”

Eve knew she had invited him in that evening for a reason. She just didn’t want to think what that might be.

“So what do you think?” Derek said, as they reached the holiday decor section of the store and studied the array of possibilities.

Eve pointed out her favorites. “I like the velvet and satin bows.”