Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  She thought for a moment that he was going to ask her yet another follow-up question, but to her surprise, he dropped that line of questioning and asked her out instead.

  For a split second, she considered it. He was off-the-charts good-looking. Probably around her age. Gainfully employed. Also, the healthy dose of charm and charisma didn’t hurt. But she turned him down. Why? Because he wasn’t Eddie.

  Thankfully, he took the rejection in stride. He even pulled out a card from his wallet, scribbled something on it, and left it on the counter in case she changed her mind. Haley thought that was a classy move. Sometimes guys, especially guys who were used to having girls fall at their feet—which had to be the case with Mr. Hottie Fed Ex!—could be real a-holes if you weren’t interested in them.

  After he left, Haley reached into her back pocket and took out her box cutter. Clicking the blade out, she sliced open the tape. She knew it was silly, but receiving and opening packages always made her a little giddy. It was one of her favorite parts of working retail because it reminded her of Christmas. Which was her favorite holiday.

  For some reason, Christmas always seemed like a more romantic holiday to her than Valentine’s Day. Obviously, she knew that she was in the minority. She’d just always thought that sitting on a couch, snuggled up to the one you love, sipping egg nog next to a roaring fireplace and beautifully lit-up Christmas tree was a lot more appealing than going out to dinner and eating an overpriced meal. But hey, that was just her.

  Kneeling down, she pulled open the cardboard tabs and her eyes lit up as she saw the contents. It was her new Hidden Fantasy line. She’d loved all of the lines she’d created. There were six in all. But this one was special to her. This one was personal. She’d been inspired by one particular person while designing this line.

  Haley’s inspiration came from all different places. Anything from a bright burst of color splashed on a building, a sunset, a piece of furniture—inspiration was everywhere she looked. Shapes, colors, textures that most people might look past, she saw—really saw.

  In fact, her first line of undergarments had been inspired by a bike ride she’d taken on the river, the fluidity of the deep blue waters, the lines of the waves that would appear when the winds picked up. She’d studied it for hours then gone home and stayed up all night. By the morning, she’d had a full sketchbook and blisters where the pencil had dug into her sensitive skin. Now, every day she’d be able to look out her windows and see the same river that had inspired her almost four years ago.

  She was definitely having a full-circle moment.

  “What’s this?”

  Eddie’s gruff voice cut through Haley’s Oprah moment. Glancing up, she saw his large frame looming over her, his dark eyes unreadable yet radiating intensity.

  Haley’s body instantly responded and she felt a flush of warmth rising on her cheeks. Glancing down at the contents of the box she was unpacking then back up at him, she explained what she would have thought fairly obvious. “Bras and panties.”

  His jaw twitched at her response. She noticed that that had been happening a lot lately.

  “This,” he growled, holding up his hand, displaying a card. His expression was clearly readable now, and he was not a happy camper.

  “Oh.” Haley hadn’t given the delivery guy’s card a second thought after he’d dropped it on the counter. “That’s nothing. You can just leave it there,” she instructed as she looked back down and continued her unpacking.

  The piercing heat of Eddie’s gaze radiated through her like the roaring flames of a fire. Eddie’s energy could be very intense when it was focused, which was why she had always wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end of said intensity while he was inside of her, making love to her.

  The kiss they’d shared had given her some frame of reference and all evidence pointed to the conclusion that it would be out-of-this-world amazing. She just knew it. It was a fact. It was inconceivable to her that it would be anything less.

  She’d fantasized and dreamed about it more times than she could count. His large hands touching her, exploring her, driving her crazy with…

  “Are you keeping it?” Eddie’s rough voice interrupted her sexual escapade ponderings.

  She looked up, her forehead creasing as she asked, “What?”

  “Are you keeping it?” he asked again, still holding the card.

  “I don’t know.” Haley shrugged. She honestly couldn’t imagine why he was making such a big deal about this. As far as she knew, he was totally finished with the installation of her black marble counter area. Why would it matter if a card was sitting on it? Clutter was definitely not the reason for this. Not that his house was messy, only that there were plenty of times Haley had been there and things had been sitting on the countertops.

  “Are you going to go out with him?” he asked in a low tone that sent her stomach flipping around like clothes spinning in a dryer.

  Whoa! What?!

  That was the reason he was asking about the card?! He was jealous?! Had he heard the guy ask her out? No. He’d been in the back. Even if he had, wouldn’t he know that she’d turned him down? A better question was why did it matter if nothing could happen between them? He hadn’t said two words to her that didn’t have to do with work or Emily since he’d kissed her last week. So what if she did have a date?

  “Why?” Haley asked, sitting up a little straighter.

  Eddie’s emotions, unlike Haley’s, were not written all over his face. If he didn’t want you to know what he was feeling, then good luck trying to figure it out. He was a master at masking his emotions. Haley had never wished for the ability to read minds until this very moment.

  He stood perfectly still. The only movement she detected was a slight twitch of his mouth as it opened slightly. Haley’s heart rate picked up speed. Was he going to say that he didn’t want her to go out on a date with that guy? Was he going to say he wanted to be with her?

  He remained silent.

  Was he going to say anything?

  “Never mind.” Dropping the card on the counter, he turned and stalked back to the breakroom, where he was installing a storage shelving unit.

  Well, he had said something…

  *

  EDDIE SLAMMED THE hammer again and again. The wooden handle vibrated in his hand. He knew he was pounding these nails into the shelving unit harder than was necessary or even practical. He’d already split one board, which was a first for him. He didn’t want to bring the count up to two.

  But he couldn’t help it. He was mad. Irritated. Pissed off.

  At himself. At the delivery guy. At Haley, which he knew she didn’t deserve.

  This had to stop.

  His behavior the last few weeks had been out of hand. Not a minute had passed that he hadn’t thought about Haley. Her eyes. Her smile. Her hair. Her kiss. It was borderline obsessive, he could easily admit that. Of course, it wasn’t helping the situation that he’d been in the same fourteen hundred square feet with her every day, all day, for over a week.

  All throughout his work day, there were reminders of her everywhere he looked. And it wasn’t just what he saw. He’d hear her too. Laughing. Talking. Even cursing under her breath when she was frustrated and didn’t think anyone could hear her, which was cute as hell.

  Eddie had always felt like he knew Haley. He couldn’t explain it. Even when they were growing up, he’d felt a connection to her. A lot of people in the small-knit community of Harper’s Crossing grouped the Sloan sisters together since they were so close age in age. The four girls had even been dubbed The Quad Squad.

  The sisters were all beautiful and had done well in school, but in Eddie’s eyes, there had always been something special about Haley. She stood out. Not
just physically, although she was breathtakingly stunning. It was more than just skin deep. He’d felt like he saw her—really saw her—for who she was.

  He had to admit though, after witnessing her opening Tempting, he realized that there was a whole side of Haley Sloan he didn’t know. Eddie had always seen the gorgeous blond—with heartbreakingly, incredible blue eyes—as a smart, sweet, and loyal girl. She would do anything for her friends and family. Haley was selfless in the truest sense of the word.

  Now, after seeing Haley interacting with vendors, fellow store owners, delivery men, he’d seen her through fresh eyes. She handled everything with maturity, grace, and class.

  No matter what the issue—and he’d seen some doozies come up as he was sure was common with any new establishment—she never lost her cool or treated other people badly. He could honestly say that, besides his sister, he couldn’t think of another woman on this earth he had more respect for.

  He realized that he’d really only known Haley the girl, not the Haley woman. Until now.

  “Hey, man.” Jimmy stuck his head in the doorway. “I’m about to take off. Do you need anything?”

  “Did you get the display cases mounted up in the loft?” Eddie was sure that he had, but it never hurt to double-check.

  “Sure did. Haley saw them and signed off. She was really happy.” Jimmy’s eyes lit up a little when he said Haley’s name and spoke about her happiness at his job well done.

  A tightness formed in Eddie’s chest. He didn’t like it. Not one bit. Despite the fact that, from everything he knew about Jimmy, the kid was a stand-up guy and, as far as Eddie had seen, had always treated whomever he was with well, Eddie wanted to wrap his hand around his throat and tell him to stay the hell away from Haley.

  Damn, he needed to get a grip. He wasn’t thinking straight.

  The end of this job could not come soon enough. After he finished this last shelving unit, he was done. Tomorrow, he would be heading out to check on the status of several sites and then he would be back in the office on Friday.

  He could go back to stealing glances of her across the street. And since he didn’t plan on ‘dating’ for the foreseeable future, there would be no reason to have Haley over at his house. No more ‘alone time’ after Em went to bed.

  Jimmy patted the door twice. “So are we good?”

  “Yeah, you can take off.” Eddie turned his attention back to the unit he was constructing until he heard the door shut.

  Glancing up, he saw Jimmy standing in front of it looking…uncertain.

  “What?” he snapped. Eddie didn’t want to take out his frustration, sleep deprivation, and overall poor mental state on the kid, but his patience was running thin.

  “I was just wondering… Do you know if Haley’s seeing someone?” Jimmy asked.

  Eddie could tell that the kid was trying to act casual but was nervous as hell. Part of Eddie felt bad for the guy. Another part of Eddie wanted to kick the kid’s ass just for asking about Haley.

  When Eddie didn’t answer right away, Jimmy continued. “I was just asking because I know you live across the street from her and thought you might have seen her with someone.”

  “You think I spy on her?” Eddie barked. He hadn’t meant to say that, especially not as harshly as he had. He’d probably only been defensive about the notion because it had hit a little too close to home.

  Jimmy’s hands flew up in mock surrender as his eyes widened. “No. Nothing like that. I just meant, you know…umm…that you might of seen…not on purpose—”

  “No.” Eddie decided to put the poor stuttering kid out of his misery. “I haven’t seen anything.”

  “Oh.” Jimmy’s shoulders slouched in relief. Eddie wasn’t sure if it was because of the fact that Eddie hadn’t seen anything or that Eddie wasn’t going to kick his ass. “I just asked because I’ve heard her turn down every guy who’s asked her out since we’ve been here. I thought maybe she had a boyfriend or something.”

  Every guy?

  Eddie put down the hammer he was holding and turned to Jimmy, crossing his arms. “How many guys have asked her out?”

  Jimmy was happy to give Eddie the information quickly stating, “At least three that I know of for sure. Last week, the owner of that coffee place across the street, the guy who came to hang the sign on Monday, and then the Fed Ex guy today. Oh and then Kilpatrick and Grimes told me they saw her shoot down another guy over the weekend when she was at The Grill with her sister.”

  Eddie was trying to stay calm but he could feel his blood boiling. He tried to look at this whole thing logically. It shouldn’t matter to him that random guys were asking Haley out. It also wasn’t even like it was a big surprise. He’d noticed that prick across the street, the owner of The Daily Grind coffee house, checking her out when she’d been putting up the window displays. And he’d heard her turn down that delivery guy today.

  What had he expected? She was gorgeous. Any guy worth his salt would take a shot at her.

  That might be the truth, but it still didn’t sit well with Eddie. So he did the only thing he knew to do. He hammered.

  “All right, well… See you tomorrow.” He heard the hesitation in Jimmy’s voice as he opened the door and left.

  Part of Eddie wanted to stop Jimmy and ask him if he was in fact going to be asking Haley out, but he stopped himself. It didn’t matter whether or not the kid grew a pair of balls and stepped up to the plate. At least it shouldn’t…but it did.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  HALEY’S LEGS SHOOK like Jell-O as she made her way down the wooden staircase from the loft. Most likely it was due to the nervous energy and adrenaline racing through her system. She knew it might be a tad overkill to triple-check the upstairs area. No one was up there. Still, better to err on the side of caution.

  She was convinced now that only she and Eddie remained in the building. Everyone else had gone home for the night. From what Jimmy had told her when he’d left about a half an hour ago, they would not be returning tomorrow. The construction was complete. No more days filled with seeing Eddie, hearing his voice, having her heart jump every time a door opened because there was a good chance he would be walking through it.

  She moved across the front of the store. Her fingers trailed along the deadbolt on the glass door, verifying that it was securely locked. Reaching up, she gently pulled the privacy shade down then clicked off the overhead lights that hung from the ceiling and the room grew dim. The only light source on the floor room came through the picture windows, from the twinkle lights the city had run in the trees that lined the river, giving the space a magical feeling.

  After she took a deep, calming breath, Haley’s bare feet padded across the hardwood floors, making a beeline straight to the dressing area. Questions and doubts flooded her mind.

  Was this really the right thing to do?

  What would happen if it didn’t go well?

  Could she even go through with it?

  Did she even have what it took to pull this off?

  Inwardly she cringed, not having the slightest clue what the answers to any of those questions were. It was all Krista’s fault. Her sister had planted the seed that Eddie needed to be inspired. Of course, her suggestion had been to put on his work belt and nothing else. Yeah, that was not going to happen. No way was Haley going to do that. She had, however, come up with a plan that had formed from the seed of the idea her sister had planted in her mind.

  Standing in the center of the dressing area, Haley turned around in a complete circle. A large crystal chandelier with a dimmer hung from the center of the space. There was a seating area that boasted two oversized maroon chairs and a pale yellow chaise lounge. On three sides there were curtained dressing roo
ms, and against the far wall was a large floor-to-ceiling mirror with an antique frame.

  This dressing room area was definitely private and had an intimate feel. Once you stepped through the doorway that led inside of it, you were no longer visible to passersby on the sidewalk or even looky-loos pressed up against the window trying to get a peek inside at the merchandise of the new store.

  If she was going to go through with her newly formed plan, then this would be the place to do it. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest. Nerves unparalleled to any she’d ever felt rose up inside of her.

  Every night since he’d been on this job, Eddie would stop by and ask her if she was ready to go. If she wasn’t, he would wait. If she was, they would walk out to their cars together. He never left her at the shop alone.

  It was sweet.

  She hadn’t heard any hammering for the last ten minutes and had heard him putting away his tools. Any second now he would be popping in, seeing if she was ready to go. Knowing that her window of opportunity was quickly shutting, she attempted to get her head in the game. Like she had done when she was a kid and had had to take medicine that she didn’t like, get a shot, or even when she’d had to take her first steps out on the stage as Alice in third grade, she mentally repeated three words—the quick internal pep talk that had seen her through adolescence and beyond.

  Ready. Set. Go.

  Then, without giving it a second thought, she watched herself in the mirror as she stripped off her gray t-shirt. Next, she unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, stepping out of them, Her skin felt highly sensitized as the denim rubbed against her thighs and calves. Her body was already alive with anticipation.

  She laid both items of clothing over the chair to her right. Standing perfectly still, she stared back at her reflection. She wore a lace demi bra with a red ribbon threaded through the straps. Her matching black lace panties had two tiny red satin bows on the straps that hit right below her hip bones.

  Haley almost didn’t recognize the woman she saw in the mirror. Her skin was flushed. Hair tousled. Lips swollen. She looked…sexy. If this didn’t do the trick, if this didn’t inspire Eddie, then she would have no choice but pack it in, give him a good ol’ sportsmanlike high-five, and declare game over.