He’d stopped in more way than one. Her skin against his had near stopped his brain from processing.
Caitlin tried to relax but her heart was skipping erratically. She hoped Tom didn’t pick up on it.
Hadn’t she heard something about guys like him, trained so carefully for special operations? That they could feel a heartbeat and know instinctively whether someone was lying or not? If they were dishonest? That’s what the kids had told her, years ago, in one of her past lives. She’d moved so much as an army kid that she found it hard to remember sometimes.
She wasn’t lying about anything, but the thumping of her pulse racing was signaling that something was affecting her. And she didn’t want him to know her nerves were on edge.
“So tell me how you ended up staying with your uncle Tom?” Caitlin decided it was safer to direct questions at Gabby. She’d be in less risk of getting hot and bothered.
“Mom and Dad are away.” Gabby’s voice was like a lullaby, a soft melody that spoke only of happiness. Caitlin loved teaching children like Gabby, when she knew instinctively that they were happy at home, that they were safe and loved.
Tom caught her eye, before he was focused on the road again. “They’re on a second honeymoon.”
Catlin laughed at the way he rolled his eyes. “Did they renew their vows?”
Gabby piped up then. “Daddy gave Mommy her rings back, plus a special new one that’s all sparkly, and they keep kissing. All the time.”
Tom and Caitlin both laughed out aloud.
“Okay, what?” she asked, suddenly not quite so nervous of making eye contact with Tom.
“Believe me, it’s a long story, but the short version of it is that Penny came back from serving overseas and Daniel did everything he could to prove that he was worth coming home to.”
Caitlin had questions, but she wasn’t going to ask now. “Sounds romantic.”
She watched as Tom flicked the fingers of his left hand against the wheel. “Yeah, they’re kind of cute.”
Caitlin watched him, suddenly unable to stop staring at him.
“If they don’t make you sick first with all the loved-up antics,” he added.
She laughed. Truly laughed, liking the way his mouth kinked up when he grinned back at her, as if he was trying to be serious and struggling.
“So that’s why you’re looking after Gabby?”
She watched as Tom’s lips parted, only to be interrupted by his niece. “Grandma is away already and so they weren’t going to go, but then Tommy came home and he said he’d have me.”
Caitlin got the feeling that Tom didn’t mind being spoken for. He was friendly, sure, but he wasn’t exactly bursting to talk. Was probably more comfortable being the quiet guy.
“Well, aren’t you lucky having an uncle to look after you?”
Tom looked serious, but she could tell he was comfortable in his role as uncle. Probably liked playing protector. Maybe she’d lumped him into the same category as other military-type tough guys too quickly. Perhaps he was kind, and didn’t misuse his physical strength or abilities. He sure seemed fond of Gabby; that kind of behavior was impossible to fake. She’d been around children and parents enough to know that for sure. Not to mention the way Gabby treated him, as if he was her placid Labrador puppy, jumping to her every command.
But still, it didn’t change the way she thought. There was no room in her mind or her heart to take any risks where men were concerned.
“Hey, Tommy?” Gabby asked from the backseat.
Caitlin watched as his eyebrows rose, waiting for the question that was sure to follow.
“Yeah?” he asked back.
“I think you promised that I could have ice cream before dinner tonight.” Gabby was giggling now, looking at him in the rearview mirror.
Tom put on a stern face. Gabby was still laughing, but Caitlin wasn’t convinced, and didn’t know what was going on.
He pulled over, before turning in his seat and staring long and hard at Gabby.
“Did I or did I not tell you to keep that a secret?” he demanded, voice low and gravelly. “Gabby Cartwright, answer me this minute!”
Caitlin’s heart started to pound in fright; her hands became clammy. She was trapped, felt that she couldn’t move, wasn’t in control. Wanted to do something and was paralyzed from action.
“Gabby?” he growled.
A high-pitched trill of laughter filled the car, verging on squealing. “Tommy!”
Tom pulled a face before opening his door, but not before he grinned at Caitlin. “I know you’re her teacher and you’re probably going to tell me off, but I did promise her ice cream before dinner. You know, trying to be the favorite uncle and all.”
“You’re my only uncle, Tommy,” Gabby piped up.
Caitlin nodded, it was all she could do. Tried to make her relieved smile appear stronger than it felt, needing a moment to let blood pump back through her leeched-dry veins.
Gabby and Tommy got out of the car, but it wasn’t until he opened her door that she followed—prised her fingers from the seat and forced her legs to cooperate.
They were at the ice cream shop. She turned her head slowly, could see the pink lettering glittering in the near-dark. But her heart was still pounding.
She knew it was stupid—she could see them holding hands, was watching as Tom poked at Gabby and had her leaping around and laughing, but for a moment there she’d almost lost it.
Because she hadn’t known they were joking around. Had thought she was about to witness something she didn’t ever want to see again.
Because she knew firsthand what it felt like to be spoken to like that, only without the laughter and jokes at the end.
When it had happened to her, that kind of seriousness, that type of conversation had never ended in ice cream.
“Caitlin?” Tom looked concerned. Gabby was watching her, too. “You all right?”
She closed the car door and fixed her smile again. “Sorry, I was a million miles away.”
Tom slung his arm around his niece and waited for her to catch up. “My shout.”
And just like that, Caitlin found herself having ice cream before dinner with a man she’d thought this morning that she’d never see again, and one of her favorite little students.
Tom passed Gabby her ice cream before reaching for the single scoop of chocolate Caitlin had ordered. “Enjoy.”
Her fingers brushed his as she took it from him. “I can’t
