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And he wanted to make everything possible with Lyssa.
He closed the door and pushed her up against it. Outside, a voice called, “Did you hear that? It came from Wild Bill McCutchen’s room. Do you think he’s angry?”
The medium’s voice rose above them. “Ladies and gentlemen, there are no malevolent spirits here. Not in this room. You’re safe.”
“So safe,” Lyssa whispered at she pressed her mouth to Cal’s, letting him feel just how much she wanted him.
When they finally came up for air, he whispered, “Should we be quiet? Or should we give them a huge thrill thinking it’s the ghost of Wild Bill McCutchen?”
She giggled. “When all along it’s actually Wild Lyssa and Cal.”
With that, he picked her up and laid her on the bed, the brass rails knocking the wall, the bed springs squeaking.
He climbed over Lyssa. “The more you cry out and sigh—”
“—and the more you moan and groan—”
“—the happier everyone at the seance will be knowing they must surely be hearing real live ghosts, just a wall away.”
Scrambling with each other’s buttons and snaps and zippers, they didn’t even get fully naked before they came together.
The bed squealed, and the brass rails banged the wall. And outside, the ghost hunters chanted, “Wild Bill McCutchen is here! Wild Bill McCutchen is here!”
Cal was damned glad he’d locked the door, just in case. Then he lost himself in Lyssa’s kiss, in her scent, in the sweetness of her skin, and the heat of her body around him.
In his own head, he repeated the words he still didn’t believe she was ready for: I love you, I love you, I love you.
* * *
Maybe Lyssa should have been embarrassed at the way the headboard had hit the wall and the bed springs had creaked with a room full of people just a wall away. Instead, she’d relished every touch, every sigh, every kiss.
Down in the restaurant for breakfast the next morning, the other guests in the hotel crowded their table, dying for every detail of what they’d experienced in Wild Bill McCutchen’s room.
“Cal was terrified,” Lyssa told them, her tongue firmly in her cheek. “But I protected him, no matter what Wild Bill threatened.”
There was a chorus of oohs and aahs.
After checking out and saying their good-byes, Cal was still laughing as they got in the car.
“You’re a really good sport,” she said, humor infusing her words. “I already knew you were good with kids, since I’ve seen you with Noah and Jorge, but now I know you can knock it out of the park with the older crowd too.”
“I really like people,” he told her. “All people, no matter their age.”
“Me too,” she said. “I think it’s because I grew up in such a big family. There was always someone to talk to, always someone with a perspective different from mine. That’s why I want a big family—because I loved growing up in one.” She looked at him. “What about you? What do you think about having a big family?”
He must have felt the earnest turn of the conversation, because he looked at her for a moment before returning his attention to the road. “I was an only child and didn’t have any aunts or uncles either. The closest I’ve come to a big family is the Mavericks.” His expression shifted, his smile fading. “You’ve probably guessed by now, but family is a pretty complicated subject for me.”
“I have guessed that,” she said slowly, “but I don’t know why.”
If he wanted to tell her more, she wanted him to do it in his own time, rather than her having to drag the information out of him. She braced for a change of subject, the way he’d always handled it before.
They were close to a freeway exit that led to an ocean overlook when he said, “Why don’t we pull over for a minute so we can talk without worrying about what’s going on in traffic?”
He parked, then stared out at the water a few moments. “I’ve told you how my dad and I used to go fishing, then out for hot dogs on the way home. Back then, I wanted to be just like him. He always had time for me, no matter his caseload. He seemed like the best dad in the world.” He paused for a deep breath. “Until I found out that was all a lie.”
She watched him closely as he spoke without looking at her, staring out to sea. His muscles were more tense now, as though he was bracing for impact, even though they were parked.
“I was seventeen and applying to universities that also had good law schools when my father left my mother for his secretary.”
She felt his words like a punch. “Wow, that must have been a blow to her. And to you.” Lyssa knew how lucky she was that her parents had always had a solid marriage, with none of the huge relationship upheavals other families suffered.
