Page 48 of This Christmas

She laughed. “You are doomed.”

He smiled back at her, then dipped his head and kissed her. “I’m crazy about her, and you.” He rested his forehead against hers.

“I’m glad. Because I think we feel the same way about you.” She kissed him. “Joe?”

“Hmm?” he sighed against her lips.

“Take me upstairs.” She ran her hands over his arms.

“Soon. I’m really enjoying this making-out-on-the-sofa fantasy I have going.”

She chuckled, then gasped when he shifted so that she was under him.

He wanted to take things slow, to fulfill that fantasy in his mind and prove to her that he was worth the risk of opening herself up to him. But the more she touched him, kissed him, the more he wanted her. His control slipped when she wrapped her fingers around him. He was about to lose all control.

In one quick move, he shifted and slid into her heat. Whatever happened now, this was home. She was the center of his universe now. He’d be damned if he let anything happen to her or to Charlotte.

When the fire was nothing more than embers and their bodies had cooled, he lifted her up, still naked, and carried her up the stairs to the bedroom they now shared.

He was walking by the window when he stilled. Something had caught his eye.

“What is it?” she asked, opening her eyes a little.

“Someone’s down on the beach.” He motioned toward the window.

He hadn’t turned on the lights in the bedroom, and they watched a flashlight beam dance over the sand far below them.

“That’s the private beach,” she said, stiffening in his arms. She nudged him until he let her down. She wrapped a robe around herself and returned to the window. Whoever had been out there was now out of sight or gone. “See, that’s where the secret cave is. Where they found the diamond.”

His eyebrows jerked up. “Okay, that’s… pretty damn cool. A secret beach?” He frowned, trying to remember if he’d looked out the window in the daylight.

“Yes. The only way in and out is by boat or…” She stilled and then rushed from the room. He followed her quickly into Charlotte’s room. They stopped when they saw her daughter happily asleep in the bed.

She motioned toward the door, and they both walked back out into the hallway.

“There are a few secret passages,” she whispered. “One from the closet in Charlotte’s room, one from my brother’s office, and one…” She walked over to a wall and reached behind a large picture frame. She flipped a lock and, to his surprise, the paneling opened. “Max had each of the openings secured with locks.”

“Where in Charlotte’s room is it?” he asked.

“In the closet,” she whispered.

“Show me. We’ll be quiet.” He opened the door and followed her into the closet. Sure enough, there was a dead bolt almost at ceiling height in the closet.

“It’s still secure.” She motioned for them to leave the room again.

He followed her out. “Show me the one in the office.”

They tiptoed down the stairs, and she showed him the door behind her brother’s bookcases. It too had a lock, but this one sat behind a stack of books.

“It doesn’t appear anyone has tampered with these.” He walked over to the window, but was frustrated when he couldn’t see that section of the beach.

“Can anyone get in the house from the beach?” he asked.

She thought about it. “No, not unless there are more secret passages. But after Faye and Nate discovered these passages, Max went through the entire place and didn’t find any more. They did find a smaller tunnel in the basement that led to what they believed was an old storeroom. It’s far underground, but it doesn’t go out to the beach, that they could find. That is why they have a lock on the basement door. We didn’t want Charlotte getting lost down there.”

He nodded. “So, whoever is out on the beach must know about the caves?”

She shrugged. He turned to her, meeting her eyes.