Chapter Five
Caitlin pulled her gaze away from the snowy moonlit hills zipping by outside the train window and stared at the woman across the aisle from her. Taylor had fallen asleep several minutes after they’d pulled out of Grand Central and so had Beau, who was snoring loudly, crammed into the space at their feet, spilling under their seats and the ones in front of them. The woman had dozed off as well after over an hour of nonstop chatter about her grandkids, and Caitlin finally had some time to herself to worry. No. She shook her head to ward off the pessimism she’d vowed to leave behind in Georgia. Not worry. Time to think this whole mess through. She’d expected to spend this time talking to Taylor on the way to the cabins his family rented every year. She’d imagined they would work out their fictitious backstory and get their facts straight, but in keeping with the rest of her day, planning had jumped the tracks.
She stared down at the ring on her finger. Taylor had handed it to her when they met outside Animal Attraction. The awkward exchange was followed by an even more uncomfortable moment when she’d slipped it onto her own finger while Jane watched them through the window. Before he’d arrived, she’d filled Jane in on the entire stuck ring debacle and the subsequent barter with Taylor, and to her amazement, her friend thought a weekend in the mountains was a great idea. It wasn’t. This entire thing had fiasco written all over it.
She wiggled her finger. At least the ring fit now. Taylor had managed to have it resized during the day. Even in the dim, fluorescent lights of the train, it was spectacular.
“Next stop, Poughkeepsie,” a tinny voice announced over the speaker, causing every muscle in Caitlin’s body to tense, knowing she’d be meeting his family soon.
“That’s us, Beau.” She leaned down and rubbed the dog’s shoulder. “Taylor said we get off here.” She pulled her coat off her lap and shrugged into it, then put on her gloves and knit cap.
Several passengers around them stood as the train squeaked to a halt, and her heart raced. Not only because she was about to jump off a cliff into a weekend full of unknowns, but because Taylor was still sound asleep.
“Hey,” she said, standing, then reaching overhead to grab her bag from the metal rack. He didn’t budge.
People filed off and on the train around her. Gently, she touched his shoulder and squeezed. “Taylor, we’re here.” No reaction. “Blankenship!” She said louder.
“Ready!” His eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright, shoulders tense, fists clenched. Then, his eyes focused and he relaxed. After a breath, he smiled up at her. “Already here?”
Already? The last couple of hours had seemed like an eternity, but then, sleeping on a train was like time travel, she supposed. “Yeah.”
He stood, put on his coat, pulled down his bag, and relieved her of hers. “Let’s go meet the family…honey.” His grin was full of mischief, and though she knew she should have been pissed, she found it hard to be anything but nervous…and a little turned on. No, a lot turned on. She’d sat next to him for two hours, smelling his yumminess and absorbing his warmth. At first, she tried not to let any part of her body touch him, which was difficult in the narrow train seats, but after a while, she gave up, enjoying the feel of his hard muscles against her from shoulder to knee.
Beau led the way from the platform to the pickup area, tugging on the leash like knew the way. Then, he started barking and pulled her along as if she were holding on to a water ski rope behind a power boat.
“Whoa, Beau!” Caitlin adjusted her purse higher on her shoulder and grabbed the leash loop with both hands, but couldn’t slow bulldozer Beau even a little.
From somewhere behind, Taylor laughed. She’d never heard him laugh before and it did funny things to her stomach. Finally, Beau stopped short, almost causing her to nosedive over him. Instead, she caught a metal light pole at the edge of the walk, saving her from a face plant on the pavement.
“Beauregard!” a high, musical voice said.
Oh, crap. She was definitely writing that how-to manual on making a terrible first impression—at this rate, it could simply be a journal of this one day. Still holding the ego-saving pole, Caitlin met the eyes of the girl from the photo on Taylor’s shelf, only she didn’t have braces anymore.
“Hey! I’m Bethany, Taylor’s sister. You must be Caitlin.” The girl didn’t extend a hand as she had them both buried deep in the fur on Beauregard’s ruff. “You need to dial it back, Beauregard. You almost made her go splat on the sidewalk, and that would’ve put her out of play for the weekend. Grams would be pissed at you for that.” The girl’s grin was gorgeous and reminded Caitlin of her brother’s.
Out of play?
“Hey, loser,” Bethany said, giving Taylor a hug.
“Loser?” he said, spinning her around in a bear hold.
She laughed as he set her down. “Uh-huh. It’s gonna be a mistletoe massacre this year. I’m totally gonna win. I have a new coat and a secret weapon.”
“Yeah, well. I have a secret weapon, too.” He gave Caitlin a wink that made her flush hot despite the frigid air.
“Yep. Secret all right. Better get ready to dish, bro. Mom’s been compiling a list of questions for the interrogation.” She shot a look at Caitlin and her grin widened. “Grams didn’t even make it out of your building this morning before she called with the news, so you have zero element of surprise. Congrats, by the way.”
He ruffled her hair as if she were a little kid and not a teen. “Thanks, squirt. Mom and Dad in the car waiting?”
She pulled a set of keys out of her pocket and jingled them in front of his nose. “Nope. They sent me solo.”
He made a horrified face. “Noooo. You can’t possibly be driving yet. Aren’t you only twelve?”
She punched his shoulder. “I’m sixteen, butthead. I’m a full-grown woman.” She struck an exaggerated sexy pose with her chest out and an arm behind her head.
He laughed. “Excuse me while I throw up.”
“C’mon on, Caitlin.” She took the leash. “We can put the two dogs in the back seat so we don’t get fleas.” Striking out across the parking lot, she shouted out in a mocking, childlike voice, “Caitlin calls shotgun!” She fired a look over her shoulder at her brother, who stuck out his tongue.
Caitlin marveled at the easy, fun banter and clearly loving relationship between the siblings, wishing she’d had a brother or sister. At least she’d had her besties Jane and Fiona growing up. Her two lifelong friends had greeted her at the airport when she returned from her disaster in Georgia, and it had almost felt like coming home to family. Almost.
Bethany opened the back door of a silver sedan and Beau immediately jumped into the back seat. Taylor placed the suitcases in the trunk while Caitlin shuffled foot-to-foot, feeling out of place. She didn’t belong here. This was a terrible idea.
As she reached for the car door handle, Taylor stepped in and opened it for her, which made her insides warm. After she slid in the seat, he leaned in and brushed a kiss against her cheek, which took her insides from warm to scorching.
“Ew!” Bethany said.
“I can’t keep my hands off of her.” Taylor chuckled and got in the back seat with Beau.
“Double ew!” Bethany started the car and pulled out of the parking space. “Glad I separated you, then. I just ate dinner.”
Caitlin knew this affection toward her was all part of the show for Taylor’s little sister and cursed her body for buying into his act so easily. Hopefully, he wouldn’t amp it up for his parents.
“Tell me you’re not one of those couples who grope each other on the train. That totally grosses me out,” Caitlin said as she pulled out on the highway after signaling, checking her mirrors, and looking both ways several times in a classic new driver fashion.
“No, Taylor slept the whole time on the train,” Caitlin said, hoping she didn’t sound as bitter as she felt.
Bethany rolled her eyes. “Yeah. He does that every time. He’ll be out in five seconds in a car, too. You awake back there, Big T?”
“Not for long. You know I catch sleep whenever I can. Never know when I’m going to be called in to work.”
“I thought you had the weekend off.”
“Old habits.”
“Nah. You’re just lazy like your dog.”
“That, too.”
With a mischievous grin, she handed Caitlin her phone from a cubby in the dash. “Hit the playlist named ‘Drive Taylor Nuts’ for me, please.”
Loud techno-pop blasted from the speakers and Taylor groaned.
“Old habits,” Bethany shouted over the music with a grin.
By the time they’d reached the cabins, Taylor looked like he was down to his very last nerve. Caitlin was glad for the music, though, because it provided perfect cover. His sister couldn’t ask a bunch of questions with the bass booming, and she and Taylor still might get a chance to be alone when they got to the cabins so they could get their story straight before his mother’s “interrogation.”
Bethany turned off the music as they pulled to a stop in front of the biggest cabin in the cluster of five. Brightly colored lights strung randomly over the porch railing pulsed rapidly, like her heartbeat.
“C’mon on, Beau,” Bethany said, getting out and opening the back door. “Let’s go!” Beau bounded toward the largest cabin as if it were his home, and Bethany ran after him.
“Taylor, we need to talk,” Caitlin blurted out, twisting in the seat to face him. Her voice sounded strained. “We need to get our story straight and…” A group of people stepped out onto the porch. Shit.
He opened his door. “Leave it to me. It’ll all be fine. I have a plan.”
She started to reply, but he closed his door, then opened hers right away. He dropped to a crouch, putting his eyes even with hers. “This isn’t life and death. It’s just a ruse to make a lonely old woman happy. Low stakes. High reward.”
The dome light of the car reflected in his dark eyes and her heartbeat slowed. She supposed it was fairly low stakes, especially for someone like him who’d been in situations she couldn’t even imagine. But she wasn’t used to misleading people—even if it was for a good cause. She was a terrible liar and got caught every time.
Her apprehension must have shown on her face because he laid a reassuring hand on her thigh, causing all kinds of bells and whistles and party horns to go off in her body, which was not reassuring.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he said in a low voice. “Trust me?”
“Not even a little bit.”
He patted her leg, grinned, and stood. “It’s going to be a long three days for you, then.”
No doubt.
After he retrieved his backpack and her suitcase from the trunk, he took her hand as she got out of the car and entwined his fingers with hers. Even through her glove, she could feel his warmth.
“Showtime,” he whispered as he led her toward his waiting family.