Page 98 of The Holiday Gift

When they left her bedroom, Ben headed into the great room with the others while Caidy, unsettled and annoyed, returned to the kitchen to finish the preparations for dinner.

How could he reduce what had been one of the single most exhilarating moments of her life to a terrible mistake teeming with awkwardness?

Yes, the kiss shouldn’t have happened. They both accepted it. He didn’t have to act as if the two of them had committed some horrible crime and should beat themselves up with guilt about it for the rest of their lives.

It was late and I was tired and not really myself. I never would have eventhoughtabout kissing you otherwise.

That removed any doubt in her mind that he was attracted to her. He had kissed her because he was tired and because she was there. The humiliation of that was almost more than she could bear, especially given the enthusiastic way she had responded to him and the silly fantasies she had been spinning all day.

“Is something wrong? Are you ready for us to start taking dishes out to the dining room?” Becca asked.

With a jolt, Caidy realized she had been staring without moving at the roast she had taken out of the oven. She frowned, frustrated at herself and at Ben, and did her best to drag her attention away from her pout.

“Yes. That would be great, thank you. Everything should be just about ready to go. I ought to let the roast sit for another few minutes, but by the time we get everything else on the table, it will be ready to carve.”

Becca and Laura picked up covered bowls and took them out to the table, chattering as they went about their respective plans for Christmas Eve. Caidy smiled as she listened to them. She loved both of her sisters-in-law deeply. Having sisters had turned out to be far more wonderful than she ever imagined. The best part about them was that each was perfect for her respective Bowman brother.

Becca, with that hidden vulnerability and her flashes of clever humor, brought out the very best in Trace. Since she and Gabi had come into his life the previous Christmas, Caidy had seen a soft gentleness in Trace that had been missing since their parents were murdered.

Laura Pendleton was exactly the woman Caidy had always wanted for Taft to soothe the wildness in him. Taft and Laura had once been deeply in love until their engagement abruptly and mysteriously ended just days before their wedding.

Seeing them together, reunited after all these years, filled her with delight. She especially loved seeing Taft shed his carefree player image and step up to be a caring father to Laura’s two children, energetic Alex and the adorable Maya.

She wasn’t jealous of the joy her brothers had found—she was happy for them all. Maybe she grew a little wistful when she watched those sweet little moments between two people who loved each other deeply, but she did her best not to think about them.

Still chattering, both Laura and Becca came back into the kitchen to grab the salads they had each prepared out of the refrigerator. At least the Sunday dinners had become much easier since her brothers married. She used to fix the whole shebang on her own, but now the two women and often Gabi pitched in and contributed their own salads or desserts.

She didn’t know how much longer this Sunday dinner tradition could continue. She wouldn’t blame Taft and Trace for wanting to spend their free time with their own nuclear families. For now, everyone seemed content to continue gathering each week when they could.

“So the new veterinarian is gorgeous. Why didn’t anybody tell me?” Becca said, putting the rolls Caidy had removed from the second oven into a basket.

“I don’t know,” Laura answered. “Maybe we figured since you’re married to Trace Bowman, who is only second in all-around gorgeousness to his twin brother, you really didn’t need to know about the cute new vet.”

Caidy felt another of those little pangs of envy at Becca’s sudden cat-who-ate-the-canary smile.

“True,” she answered. “But you should have warned me before I opened the door to find this yummy man on the doorstep—and added to the yum factor, the very adorable little boy on his shoulders.”

Caidy didn’t say anything as she carved the roast beef. This was usually Ridge’s job, for some reason, but she didn’t want to call him in from entertaining said veterinarian out in the other room.

“What about you, Caidy?” Becca said. “You’re the only available one here. Don’t you think he’s gorgeous? Something about those big blue eyes and those long, long lashes...”

She had a sudden vivid memory of those eyes closing as he kissed her the night before, of his mouth teasing and licking at hers, of the heat and strength of his arms around her and how she had wanted to lean into that broad chest and stay right there.

Her knees suddenly felt a little on the weak side and she narrowly avoided slicing off her thumb.

“Sure,” she said. “Too bad he’s got the personality of a honey badger.”

She didn’t miss the surprised looks both women gave her. Laura’s mouth opened and Becca’s eyebrows just about crept up to her hairline, probably because Caidy rarely spoke poorly about anyone. Every time she started to vent about someone when they weren’t present, her mother’s injunction about not saying something behind a person’s back you wouldn’t say to his face would ring in her ears.

She wouldn’t have said anything if she wasn’t burning with humiliation about that kiss he obviously regretted.

Laura was the first to speak. “That’s odd you would say that. I found him very nice while he was staying at the inn. Half of my front desk staff was head over heels in love with him from the start.”

After that kiss, she was very much afraid it wouldn’t take more than a slight jostle for her to join them. She couldn’t remember ever being this drawn to a man—the fact that she was so attracted to a man who basically found her a nuisance was just too humiliating.

“I’m not surprised,” she finally said, hoping they would attribute the color she could feel soaking her cheeks to the overwarm kitchen and her exertions fixing the meal. “Do you want to know what I think about Ben Caldwell? I think he’s a rude, arrogant, opinionated jerk. Some women are drawn to that kind of man. Don’t ask me why.”

“Don’t forget, he’s also often inconveniently in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

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