by Violet Duke
âEverything okay?â Eddie asked.
âYeah, itâs fine. Chelleâs out with Katie and Iâm having a tough time getting Mya down. She wants her momma.â
Those words caused a tightening in Eddieâs chest. He wondered how many nights Emily had cried herself to sleep because sheâd wanted her mom. They didnât talk about Lacey much, but Eddie knew that his daughter thought about her a lot. Heâd overheard her talking to Haley about it, and sometimes she would draw pictures of her.
Not that sheâd ever seen her because Lacey had left when Emily was still an infant. But Eddie had shown her pictures of her mom.
âMan, I donât know how you do the single dad thing. The Marines were nothing compared to this. Iâm exhausted.â Rileyâs voice sounded worn out.
Eddie had to smile. His friend was a badass Marine. Riley had served ten years in the military and been Special Ops. But Eddie could definitely relate to the fact that one crying baby could make that seem like a walk in the park.
He could remember countless nights walking the floor with Emily, not having a clue if what heâd been doing was right or wrong. He wasnât close to his parents so he hadnât reached out to them, but heâd already been working for Bob, Rileyâs dad, at Sloan Construction. And Bob had raised five boys practically alone, so heâd helped a lot.
âI remember something your dad told me that helped. You canât always fix whatâs wrong. Sometimes they just need to cry.â
âDamn, I forget sometimes that my dad did this five times.â Rileyâs voice quieted as the sounds of the crying faded. âSheâs asleep. Finally.â
âYouâll be fine, man. And luckily for you, Chelle doesnât go out much.â
Eddieâs little sister had always been a homebody. Even before sheâd gotten married and had a baby, sheâd always preferred a quiet night in to going out and partying. But if there was one person who could entice his sister to leave the house, it would be Katie. Those two had been inseparable from the moment Eddie and Chelle had moved to town when Chelle was in the second grade. Theyâd always been as close as sisters, and now, because Katie was married to Jason, Rileyâs brother, they actually were family.
âHold on a sec. Just let me put her down.â Eddie heard rustling over the line and then Rileyâs voice came back on. âYou got plans tomorrow?â
âNope.â Eddie tried to spend every Sunday doing whatever Emily wanted. It was âtheirâ day. So chances were there would be roller skating and Barbies in his near future.
âIâm grilling around noon. You and Em want to come over around nine?â Riley asked.
Eddie was suspicious. âIf youâre not grilling âtil noon, why do we have to be there at nine?â
âSo you donât miss the swing set assembly.â
There it was.
âDonât you have four brothers who can help you with that?â Eddie was just busting his balls. He didnât care about helping out.
âYeah, so you should feel honored that I asked you,â Riley said.
âTheyâre busy,â Eddie guessed.
âYep.â
âAll right. See you tomorrow.â Eddie smiled as he hung up.
As he palmed the steering wheel while turning onto his street, his heart started pounding harder in his chest. Flexing his fingers open and closed around the plastic wheel, Eddie tried to calm down his bodyâs reaction to the fact that in about sixty seconds he would be seeing Haley. In that dress. In his house.
Heâd made up his mind on the drive home, that he would not be engaging in their normal pattern of heading out to the patio or sitting in front of the fireplace on the couch and talking for hours.
Boundaries. Rules. Discipline.
Those were the things that he needed to enforce when it came to the all-too-tempting Haley Sloan. Otherwise, he didnât have a chance in hell of keeping his hormones, his hands, and he feared even his heart, to himself.
Turning off the ignition, he got out of his truck and made the short walk to the front door. He wasnât exactly sure how he was going to avoid their ritual time together. Luckily, heâd never cut a night out short before so he could just say that he was tired. Sheâd get the hint.
Yep. That was the plan. Tired.
When he walked in through the front door, the first thing he noticed was the fresh smell of lemon that wafted through the air. As he took off his shoes, he noticed that he was standing on newly vacuumed carpets. Haley.
Heâd tried to tell her not to clean up while she was here. She did him a huge favor by staying with Em and she wouldnât ever take a dime from him, always maintaining that she looked forward to the time she got to spend with Emily. At first heâd felt like he had been taking advantage of her. And it wasnât like he didnât have other people to leave his daughter with. He did. But he always just felt better when Emily was with Haley. Not that he wanted to delve into the reasons behind that fact.
The light was on in the kitchen and he heard the sink water running, as well as, if he wasnât mistaken, singing. He couldnât make out if it was bad or good singing. But for some reason, it was music to his ears.
As he moved into the doorway that led into the kitchen, he saw Haley standing at the sink, her back to him, suds up to her elbows, barefoot, and singing softly but with enthusiasm. His pants grew tight as he watched her hips swaying back and forth to the rhythm of the music that was playing through the headphones she wore.
Damn, she looked like a pinup girl from the â50s. His blood was not just heated; it was also quickly headed down south. Arousal, like heâd never felt before, crashed through him.
He needed to get her out of here. Now. While he could still think fairly straight and exercise some self-control.
âHales.â He had heard the need in his voice as he spoke her name.
She, on the other hand, hadnât. It seemed she hadnât heard him at all. Singing into a large spoon, she whipped her head back and forth as she sang along with Prince…
I want to be your fantasy, maybe you could be mine.
You just leave it all up to me. We could have a good time.
You donât have to be rich to be my girl.
Donât have to be cool to rule my world.
Ainât no particular sign Iâm more compatible with
I just want your extra time and yourâ¦
Kiss
And with the word kiss, she rolled her body more seductively than any stripper heâd ever seen and Eddie thought he might explode in his pants. He was having trouble breathing. His thoughts were clouded with lust.
She had to go. Now.
Stepping forward, he hesitated. He was only a foot behind her, but he didnât trust himself to touch her. He didnât want to raise his voice to alert her to his presence because he might wake up Em and he didnât want to scare Haley.
Before he had a chance to figure out a plan, Haley glanced up and caught his reflection in the window that sat above the sink. He saw the split second of panic in her eyes. Okay, so much for not scaring her.
âHaley, itâs me,â he said as she jumped about a foot off the ground and spun around, sucking in a terrified breath.
On instinct, his arms wrapped around her and he pulled her close to him. For a moment she was tense and poised to fight, but then her eyes softened with recognition as her body molded against his. She was clutching her hands to her chest, but he could still feel her full breasts pressed against his chest as he held her.
His hands spread out on the small of her back and his fingers rested against the delicate dip of her spine. For just a moment, Eddie closed his eyes and let himself feel.
Never before had they been this close. Body to body. Pressed up against each other. Heâd made it a po
int never to touch her. Whenever she would hug him, heâd made sure that full-body contact had not occurred and heâd always done the one-arm pat move.
Now he knew for a fact that had been the right thing to do because the feel of her in his arms wasâ¦amazing. Right. Perfect.
âYou scared me.â Her quiet voice drifted into his consciousness.
âIâm sorry,â he rasped as he opened his heavy-lidded eyes. Looking down, he was temporarily speechless at what he saw. Her huge baby blues were staring up at him through long, inky lashes. Her full, pink lips parted as she took in short pants of breath. The seductive line of her cleavage was heaving against him through labored breathing.
Need. Arousal. Desire. All of those things coursed through his veins like raging water in the rapids. His fingers tightened at the strength of it, pulling her body even closer to his. A groan ripped from his chest as a needy sigh escaped Haleyâs perfect mouth.
Dammit. This had to stop.
Forcing himself to release his hold on her, he took several steps back until he clumsily hit the kitchen table. He was off balance. Off kilter. Off his game. Looking down at the Spanish-tiled floor, he raked his hands through his hair as he took in a deep breath to try and regain his footing.
When he didnât feel like he might pass out or fall over, he looked up to find Haleyâs eyes transfixed, mesmerized even, on the area just below his belt. A glance down told him why.
His reaction to her was on serious display. A âbulgeâ didnât begin to describe what was happening beneath his zipper. Someone else definitely wanted to join their party and he was not being shy about it.
âSorry about that too,â Eddie said, figuring he might as well just address the elephantâor if he was going to use an animal metaphor, he guessed it should be cockâin the room.
Slowly shaking her head from side to side, Haley said in a barely audible tone, âYou shouldnât be.â
For whatever reason, her words just struck him as funny. He wasnât sure if it was the wide-eyed honesty in her delivery or the fact that she hadnât gotten all shy and embarrassed about the situation. Maybe it was as simple as his bodyâs way to release some of the pent-up tension it was feeling.
But whatever the reason was, he laughed. Harder than he could remember laughing in a long time. It took a few beats, but Haleyâs mouth turned up in a smile, and although at first she looked at him like he had lost his mind, which that was actually a distinct possibility, she too started chuckling and before long joined him in his hysterics.
It took several minutes for them both to compose themselves. Eddie wiped beneath his eyes. Heâd laughed so hard his eyes had begun watering.
Haley sighed happily as she reached behind her and turned off the water that had been running the entire time. Grabbing a hand towel off the kitchen counter and wiping off her hands, she asked, âIs everything okay? Youâre home early.â
Right. He was. Plan âtiredâ engage.
âYeah, itâs fine. I was just tired,â Eddie explained.
Haley nodded, but he could see in her eyes that she was not convinced by his explanation. Setting the towel down, she began walking out of the kitchen. âOh, okay. Well, I had wanted to talk to you about Em, but if youâre tired, we can do it anothââ
As she passed, he reached out and grabbed her arm. âStay.â
She froze and looked up at him in surprise. He didnât blame her. His actions were surprising him too. Not only was he asking her to stay, he was touching her. Again.
Way to stick to the plan.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE FEELING OF Eddieâs roughened, work-worn hand wrapped around Haleyâs arm sent a tugging pull deep in her core. He was touching her, skin to skin. It was almost too much for her to process.
After years of nothing, no hint that he might even be the slightest bit attracted to her other than the heated gazes she would catch him in when he didnât think she was looking, now in the last five minutes heâd held her tightly in his arms, which logically she knew was mainly the result of her jumping into them. But it wasnât as if heâd let her go as soon as they found themselves in the intimate predicament. Heâd not only stayed right where he was, heâd closed his eyes and pulled her closer.
Then, out of nervousness, sheâd stupidly broken the spell that had seemingly fallen over him by speaking, and when she was about to kick herself over the fact that heâd moved away from her, sheâd caught a glance at how very affected he was by her. And now, here he was, touching her again and asking her to stay.
Best. Night. Ever.
âOkay,â she agreed easily.
Heat flashed in Eddieâs eyes. For a moment, a brief, heavenly moment, Haley was sure that he was going to lean down and press his mouth to hers. She felt her tongue run along the seam of her lips as she nervously waited to see what his next move would be.
His eyes followed its path and she heard a sound of male appreciation rumble in his chest, but the next thing she knew, he was halfway across the kitchen, opening the fridge. At his sudden departure and the intensity of the last few minutes, Haleyâs head spun. Reaching out, she held on to the back of the kitchen chair to steady herself. She almost felt as if she were floating away. Everything seemed very surreal.
âDo you want a beer or tea?â Eddieâs voice brought her back to the here and now.
Shaking off the strange feeling, she answered, âBeer.â Tea was nice. She loved tea. But right now, she wantedâscratch that, neededâa beer.
As Eddie stepped past her while heading towards the back door, his body brushed hers, sending a thrill racing through her from head to toe.
Oh boy.
If she felt like this from innocent-ish brushes and his hugging her against him while they were both fully clothed, would she even be able to handle it if he ever really touched her? Kissed her? Made love to her?
As she followed Eddie out to the wooden deck that overlooked the grassy area in his backyard, she pondered those questions. Sitting down on the cushioned patio chair, she brought the bottle to her lips and took a swig of cold beer as a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She might not know the answer to her questions, but she sure did want to find out.
âSo whatâs up?â Eddieâs deep voice sounded beside her as he casually sat down next to her. Leaning forward, he rested his forearms on his strong, muscled thighs as he stared out over the yard, his beer dangling loosely from his fingers. Haley tried not to drool as her eyes traveled up the lines of his ripped arms. The night sky was lit up with stars and the moonlight caressed his olive skin.
A hum of awareness thrummed through her entire being at his closeness. That happened more often than not when Eddie was in the same vicinity as Haley, but tonight, after being in his arms, feeling the rough pads of his fingers against her soft skin, the hum was definitely stronger.
Trying to focus on what she needed to say, Haley diverted her attention back to the grass also illuminated by the rays of light shining from the full moon in the black sky. It wasnât nearly as nice a view, but hopefully she would be able to hold on to her train of thought.
âIâm not sure how to bring this up. And I know itâs none of my business, butâ¦â Haley hesitated, not sure of how to continue. What should she say exactly? Anyone who knew Eddie knew that Lacey was a sensitive subject. More than that really, talking about her was kind of like walking through landminesâone misstep could be disastrous.
âThis doesnât sound good,â Eddie said. Haley still wasnât looking at him, but she could feel him staring at her. His gaze was palpable.
âI justâ¦â She took in a calming breath and set her beer down on the small table beside her. This conversation wasnât about her or for her. It was about Emily. For Emily. Haley needed to know what to say to
the little girl when she brought up the subject of her mom, which was happening more and more frequently.
âHales.â Eddieâs serious tone made the tiny back hairs on her neck stand up. When she turned her head, her eyes locked with his. God, she loved his eyes. The deep brown pools reminded her of milk chocolate that melted in her mouth. âYou know you can say anything to me.â
She almost laughed out loud. Luckily, she must have used up all of her fits of giggles in the house because she was able to refrain. But her mind was screaming, Ummm, no. No I canât.
It was sweet of him to make that offer though. She knew for a fact that Eddie wouldnât say that to just anyone. Especially someone who had started a conversation with, âItâs really none of my business.â He was private. He minded his own business and he expected others to do the same. But as much as she appreciated his faith in her, she absolutely could not tell Eddie anything.
She couldnât tell him that she loved him. That, she had for so long, she couldnât remember a time when she didnât. That she compared every guy she met, dated, or got into a relationship with to him and that theyâd all come up short. It probably wasnât a good idea to spill the beans about the fact that she dreamt about him on almost a nightly basis, and after the nights she didnât, she was in a bad mood the following day because those dreams were the most action she was getting.
Yeah, full disclosure was definitely not the way to go here.
Instead of pointing that out, she nodded and tried to refocus on what she did need to tell him. âLike I said, itâs none of my business, and Iâm sure Iâm not telling you anything that you donât already know butââshe cleared her throatââEm has been bringing up Lacey. A lot.â
Haley watched as the expression on Eddieâs face changed from intensity directed at her to inner conflict. He sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He brought his bottle to his lips and tipped it back. Haley wasnât sure but she thought he might have finished the entire thing in one drink.