All I Want for Christmas Is You (9 page)

"You've got school tomorrow," Will said firmly. "Be home by nine-thirty."

"Awe, Dad. Ten-thirty."

"You're sixteen years old, young lady. The curfew still stands."

"Me and Max will hunt you down," Kyle cut in teasingly. Although he smiled, he kept his eyes fixed on Bruce. What his sister ever saw in this guy, or the portfolio of tattoos he displayed, was beyond him. The best thing he could say about them dating was that their hair colors matched.

"Stay out of this, Kyle," Zoey shot back.

Being the peacemaker of the family, Judy clapped her hands together and cut in with her usual flair, before WW3 erupted.

"I have a cheesecake for dessert. I hope everyone left room for some," she said. Lauren stood up and started helping, but Judy held up her hand. "No, no. You just sit here and relax. I can take care of it. Zoey, will you help me with the coffee before you leave?"

The little ones excused themselves and scooted into the family room to watch a video.

Bruce bounded from the table and exited the room with Zoey. Both Kyle and Will dropped their heads forward in disgust.

"I don't know what the heck I'm going to do with that one." Will rubbed his face with both his hands and looked up at the ceiling. "Please, Lord, tell me she'll outgrow him."

Zoey swung through the doorway, her Army coat draped over one hand, a tray with plates topped with cheesecake in the other. She deposited the tray on the center of the table and rushed to kiss Will on the cheek. "See you, Dad."

"Remember what I said. Nine-thirty on the nose." She rushed out of the dining room and he added under his breath, "Or I'll take Max and hunt you down."

Kyle chuckled and looked across the table at Lauren. She shifted nervously in her seat, seemingly uncomfortable with the conversation. He wondered if she was thinking of herself at that age. Of her own parents' disapproval. Hard as he tried, he couldn't imagine her dating someone even remotely like Bruce.

A scuffling noise erupted from the kitchen that sounded like scratching paws on the tile floor. He heard the familiar bark. "Oh, no," Kyle groaned as he bolted to a stand.

"Whoa! Incoming!" Zoey called from the other room.

"Kyle Preston!" Judy screamed.

As if on cue, Will dove to the center of the table and grabbed the cheesecake tray just as Max pounced into the dining room. Kyle chased the dog around the table unsuccessfully until the animal lunged on top of the table, sniffing and slobbering for tidbits. Lauren jumped from her seat and stepped away from the table, her hand to her chest.

"I got him, Ma," Kyle said to Judy when she appeared in the doorway, hands on hips and scowling. To Lauren he said, "In case you were still wondering, this is what happened on Thanksgiving."

Judy's lips were tight. "Except that time this...this..."

"Max," Kyle offered.

"This animal got away with the turkey and dragged it through my house." Her nostrils flared with anger.

Will cleared his throat and eyed Kyle in a message that said he'd better take care of Max before the woman of the house blew her lid.

"Come on, boy." Kyle clutched the dog by the chewed leash and yanked, while Max continued to sniff for leftovers on the floor. When he got to the doorway, Judy glared at him and stepped back to let them pass. Kyle shrugged and said quietly, "Sorry, Ma."

"Oh, go. I swear, Kyle Preston, you get worse as you get older. You don't have to take in every stray that wags its tail on your doorstep," he heard his mother say as the kitchen door slammed shut.

As he crossed the driveway, he saw the red taillights of a car exiting the driveway. "I hope she knows what she is doing, Max," he said to the dog. Max whined, pulling away until Kyle ground his feet in to keep standing.

He let the dog pull him to the back of the carriage house and noticed the frayed end of the leash where Max had broken free. "Looks like I'm going shopping first thing in the morning for a strong chain," he muttered to himself.

He deposited the dog in his apartment, saying a silent prayer that his home would remain in relative order while he was gone.

Pushing the kitchen door of his parents' home closed, he heard the sound of laughter spilling from the dining-room. Lauren's laughter. God, what a beautiful sound. "He was a lot of trouble? I can't imagine it." Lauren's wide eyes twinkled with delight as she watched him sink into the dining room chair.

"Don't let him fool you. Kyle wrote the book on trouble." Judy handed him a plate full of cheesecake. But given the current topic of conversation, he didn't feel much like eating. "Kyle and Chas, I should say. The two of them were notorious for getting into everything."

"Really?" Lauren stared at Kyle in disbelief. Well, he never meant to paint himself as anything other than what he was, but he didn't go broadcasting his youthful indiscretions.

"There was the time you and Chas rolled that gigantic tractor tire down Main Street and wedged it in front of the Town Hall doors. I still can't believe no one saw you two do that," Will said, shaking his head.

"Or," Judy eyed Kyle, this time with affection, "the time you two borrowed Mr. Marsh's horse and strung it up on the water tower for the whole town to see."

Lauren's eyes flew open. "You put a horse on a tower?" she gasped.

Kyle shrugged uneasily. "It was a life-size plastic horse from the dairy over on Mill Brook Road. You know the one displayed at the front gate?"

Lauren nodded. "Oh, my word. How did you get that thing up the tower?"

"He used the Romex wire from my van." Will chuckled. "I got to Mrs. McAffree's house bright and early the next morning to re-wire her house with no wire for the job. And of course, there was the time-"

Kyle cleared his throat and extended his cup. "How about some coffee, Ma?" he asked as Judy refilled Lauren's cup. She turned and filled the cup he held out to her.

"Speaking of Chas, he called earlier today when you were out," Judy said. "Seems he and Kim are coming back to Palmer. Things didn't work out like he'd planned in New Jersey so they decided to come back here before Kim has the baby."

"Really?" he answered. "That's too bad. It’ll be good to see him again, though."

"I invited him Christmas Eve. You and Kristen are welcome, too, Lauren. Unless, of course, you'll be with your family."

Lauren's spirit plummeted.

"Great idea," Kyle broke in before she could answer. "What do you say?"

"Well, I, ah..." she stammered.

"No need to decide right now. You let Kyle know. He'll be ho-hoing for the kids again this year."

Kyle half grinned. "Max can be my reindeer." "He'll be no such thing. That dog is so far from my good graces, I don't want him in my house."

Kristen and Julie ran into the room with Scotty on their tails. "He wants to shoot us!" Kristen screamed.

"Yeah! With the gun!" Julie confirmed. Then the girls giggled as they climbed into their mothers' arms.

"Scott William Preston," Will scolded as the little boy ran around the dining room table sporting a plastic gun loaded with a sponge torpedo on the end. "You know better than to scare the girls."

When Scotty ran around the table, Kyle hooked him with his arm and reeled him in, tickling him on his lap.

Lauren chuckled softly, her head still spinning from the chatter during dinner, trying to keep track of all the conversations going on at once. It was a crazy arena. Being an only child, it was something she never understood. She marveled that no one else here seemed to have any trouble keeping it all straight. But then again, it was probably second nature to them.

Watching the commotion around her, she noticed how Kristen interacted and thrived among Kyle's family. The outgoing personality and confidence her daughter displayed both filled her with pride and stabbed at her heart.

Involuntarily, she clutched her stomach and felt it tighten with the thought of how their lives could have been. If Kristen had been adopted, she would have had a family like this. She would have had Sunday dinners and maybe even sisters and brothers like Julie and Scotty. Had she been selfish to only think of what she was losing by giving Kristen up for adoption? She never once thought of what Kristen would be missing in her life. Never.

And now Kristen wanted a daddy. What else did she want that Lauren couldn't provide?

Everyone around her moved in slow motion. She looked at the faces, smiling, laughing, joking, as if she were in suspended animation. It suddenly seemed surreal.

Someone touched her shoulder and she jumped. Looking up, she peered into Kyle's smiling eyes. The lines she'd seen around his eyes earlier had smoothed. She touched his hand and felt her heart race. It wasn't just Kristen who needed something more in her life. Deep down, Lauren knew she'd gone far too long with unfulfilled need.

And Kyle Preston was just the kind of man to satisfy that need.

A short time later, Lauren thanked Judy for the lovely dinner and sent Kristen up to Julie's room to help clean up the toys.

She waited in the foyer, her wool coat draped over her arm. Kyle leaned against the doorjamb staring at her, looking through her, and making her incredibly nervous.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" he asked.

"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about." She avoided his gaze by looking at the pattern of the marble floor.

He reached forward and brushed his fingers across the hollow of her cheek. But she didn't look at him, couldn't look at him. "Yes you do," he said in a whisper.

"Am I still that predictable?"

"Anything but." The rough timbre of his voice caused her to finally look up at him. He sucked in a deep breath of air, expanding his chest against the cotton shirt he wore.

He was strong, no doubt about it. He had a strength she longed to wrap herself around, but feared like she'd never known fear before. She had the distinct feeling it wouldn't take much for her to tangle herself in his hold. He bent his head closer to hers and said, "I can't figure you out."

"I'm...not all that complicated."

He chuckled softly. "You look at me like you do, but you don't want to get involved," he said as he cupped both of her cheeks in his palms, forcing her to finally gaze up into his eyes. "That complicates things."

She closed her eyes and swallowed. The startling reality shocked her to her senses. It wasn't fear that seized her, it was desire. And damn, he knew it. "Kyle, please..."

"Look at me."

She didn't move. She heard his shallow breathing echo in her ear louder and stronger than the sounds of laughter upstairs from the children and the clanging of dishes and pans from the kitchen.

"Are you afraid of what you'll see? Of what I'll do?" he murmured when she didn't answer.

No, she thought, I'm afraid of what you'll see written all over my face.

This has to stop. She had to end it right here and now if she had any chance at all of getting away from Kyle Preston and the magnetic hold that was drawing her to him.

She shook her head and his hands fell away from her, leaving her cold. Straightening her spine, she took a stand.

"I'm sorry if I've been sending you mixed signals, but...you're right. I don't want to get involved. I don't intend to start something that I have no intention of finishing."

"No one is defining anything yet. We can take things as fast or as slow as you want."

"I don't want to take things at all."

"I don't understand."

"My daughter is very sensitive. She has hopes for a daddy for Christmas. I can't have men coming into Kristen’s life today, giving her false hopes that they'll be around tomorrow.”

“What makes you think I won’t be around tomorrow?”

She blinked hard. “It's not fair to her."

He looked away as if she'd slapped him. "Are you sure that it's really your daughter you're trying to protect?"