Cavanaugh Reunion by Marie Ferrarella Read Free Book Online Page A

fire departments.”
    This was something she was going to look into, if for no other reason than to be prepared in case she ever bumped into Detective Stud again.
    “I consider myself duly warned,” she replied. “Now, unless you want me falling asleep on your doorstep, I’m going to have to go.”
    Maybe not the doorstep, Ethan thought, but he certainly wouldn’t mind finding her—awake or asleep—in his bed. He had a hunch, though, that she wouldn’t exactly appreciate him vocalizing that right now.
    “Sure. I understand. Thanks again,” he said, holding up the phone she’d brought to him.
    Kansas merely nodded and then turned and walked quickly away before O’Brien found something else he wanted to talk about. She headed toward the vehicle she’d left in guest parking.
    Closing his hand over the charred phone, Ethan watched the sway of the fire investigator’s hips as she moved. It was only when he became aware of the door of the apartment cattycorner to his opening that he quickly beat a hasty retreat before his neighbor stepped out and tried to entice him with yet another invitation. Last time she’d come to the door wearing a see-through nightgown. The woman spelled trouble any way you looked at it.
     
    Andrew smiled to himself when he looked up to the oven door and saw the reflection of the man entering his state-of-the-art kitchen through the back door.
    “C’mon in, little brother.” Andrew turned from the tray of French toast he’d just drizzled a layer of powdered sugar on. His smile widened. He knew betterthan anyone how hectic and busy the life of a chief could be. “It’s been a long time since you dropped by for breakfast.” Maybe he was taking something for granted he shouldn’t. “You are dropping by for breakfast, aren’t you?”
    Brian moved his shoulders vaguely, trying to appear indifferent despite the fact that the aroma rising up from his brother’s handiwork had already begun making him salivate—and food had never been all that important to him.
    “I could eat,” he answered.
    “If breakfast isn’t your primary motive, what brings you here?” Andrew asked, placing two thick pieces of toasted French bread—coated and baked with egg batter, a drop of rum and nutmeg—onto a plate on the counter and moving it until it was in front of his brother.
    Brian took the knife and fork Andrew silently offered. “I wanted to see if you’d gotten over it.”
    Andrew slid onto the counter stool next to his younger brother. “‘It’?” he repeated in confusion. “Someone say I was sick?”
    “Not sick,” Brian answered, trying not to sigh and sound like a man who’d died and gone to heaven. His wife, Lila, was a good cook, but not like this. “Just indifferent.”
    Rather than being clarified, the issue had just gotten more muddied. “What the hell are you talking about, Brian?”
    Brian’s answer came between mouthfuls of French toast. He knew it was impossible, but each bite seemed to be better than the last.
    “About not answering when someone calls to you.”He paused to look at his older brother. The brother he’d idolized as a boy. “Now, my guess is that you’re either going deaf, or something’s wrong.”
    Andrew frowned slightly. None of this was making any sense to him. “My hearing’s just as good as it ever was, and if there’s something wrong, it’s with this so-called story of yours.”
    Putting down his fork, Brian looked around to make sure that his sister-in-law wasn’t anywhere within earshot. He got down to the real reason he’d come. Lowering his voice, he said, “I came here to tell you to get your act together before it’s too late.”
    This was just getting more and more convoluted. “Explain this to me slowly,” he instructed his brother. “From the top.”
    Brian sighed, pushing the empty plate away. “I saw you with that woman.”
    “Woman?” Andrew repeated, saying the word as if Brian had just accused him of being with a