Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (156 page)

“Hi.” His deep voice washed over her, and even though they were smack dab in the middle of a heat wave, a second chill raced through her.

“We’re having cheesy noodles and dogs. Do you want some?” Emily asked.

“Sure.” She wasn’t at all hungry. Well, for food anyway. But if she stood under Eddie’s heated stare any longer she was worried that she might start visibly shaking.

As she walked past Eddie, on the way to the stove to fill herself a plate, the combination of his cologne and soap drifted up in the air. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath through her nose and his intoxicating scent washed over her. It was so good, she wanted to bathe in that smell.

Damn,
Haley thought as she forced her feet to keep moving,
I’ve got it bad
.

Emily sat on her knees at the table talking a mile a minute, contemplating all the things that they could do with her extra hour before bedtime. Haley was “
hmming
” and “
oohing
” in response to the excited musings, but she had to admit that she was really only half listening. Her body was
hmming
and
oohing
for its own reasons—Eddie’s presence!—so loudly that she couldn’t really concentrate on what Em was saying.

After grabbing a plate from the cupboard, she turned to find Eddie standing right in front of her.

Her breath caught in her throat and she clutched her plate to her chest. With a knowing glint in his eye and a small smile lifting at his lips, he leaned past her and set the dinner bowl on the counter next to the sink behind her. His movement caused his forearm to brush lightly against her hip, causing a tremor so strong, she was sure he must have felt it spread through her from the brief contact.

“Hey, Em?” Eddie’s deep voice vibrated through her entire body as she stared up into his gorgeous dark brown eyes. “Did you clean up your Barbies?”

“Oops,” she heard Emily say under her breath as she jumped up from her chair. Empty bowl in hand, totally unaware of the sexual tension so thick it could be cut with a butter knife, Em ran in between them, causing Haley to take a step backward, her lower back hitting the counter. She was only vaguely aware of the loud crashing sound of the plastic bowl hitting the sink as a flash of honey-blond hair flew out of the kitchen.

Haley stood in front of Eddie, staring straight ahead, eye level to his muscular chest, her fingers tightly clutching the ceramic plate she was holding. As he took a step towards her, closing the distance between them, he reached up, brushing a stray hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear.

“You look nice,” he said before his hand once again fell at his side. On its path down, his fingers lightly touched the strap of her dress tied around her neck. “Is this new?”

Haley’s lips were numb and a large knot had formed in her throat. “Yes,” she spoke softly as her eyes lifted to meet his.

“Do you have a hot date tonight?” Eddie asked in a low tone.

Only you.

* * * * *

“IF YOU CONSIDER babysitting a hot date, then yes.” Haley’s shaky voice made Eddie’s blood even hotter than it already was. He was about a second away from reaching out, threading his fingers in her silky blond hair, and kissing her until neither of them remembered their names.

Eddie fisted his hands at his sides. He needed to step away. Get out of touching distance before he did something he couldn’t take back. Hell, he needed to leave the house entirely.

He knew that logically. Unfortunately, his body and his brain did not seem to be communicating with each other right now. That might be partly due to the fact that, since Haley had walked into his house in a blue cotton summer dress that showcased her slim waist, long legs, and ample cleavage, causing his mouth to water and sweat to form on his brow, all of the blood his brain needed to function had rushed to the head that was located below his belt instead of the one that sat on his shoulders.

Arousal coursed through Eddie’s veins as he stared down at Haley. Her crystal blues shined up at him, the black of her pupils dilated. A flush rose on her cheeks as her full lips parted and her breaths came in shallow pants.

Eddie had known for a while that Haley had a crush on him. Even before she left for college, he’d suspected as much. He knew that all it would take was one move from him and he could have her in the one place he wanted her most—his bed.

Everything in his body was screaming for him to do just that. A plan quickly formulated in his brain. He could take Emily to his sister’s, ask her to keep her overnight, come back here, strip Haley out of that dress, take her to bed, and keep her there until neither of them could move.

No!
He had to stop that kind of thinking.

Taking a step back, he reached up and ran his fingers through his hair. His phone buzzed, alerting him that it was time for him to go. He knew he should. Claire was waiting for him.

Instead of grabbing his keys and heading out the door, Eddie heard himself say, “Sit. I’ll make you a plate.”

A flash of confusion crossed Haley’s beautiful face. Her brow knitted as she nodded, handing him her plate. His eyes ran down the graceful slope of her arm. The pads of his fingers grazed the soft skin on the back of her hand, causing his jeans to tighten even more as he took the ceramic dish from her.

He couldn’t take his eyes away from her as she slowly walked to the kitchen table, pulled out the chair, and then gracefully slid into it.

Damn
. He could still feel the heat on his skin from where their hands had made contact. The tingling sensation of where he’d touched the silky skin of her hand rocketed his arousal into the stratosphere. It made him imagine what the supple skin of her inner thigh would feel like, if she would shiver beneath his caress as he ran his hands slowly up from her knees, spreading her legs as he…

“Daddy, can I watch
Transformers
with Haley?” Emily called out from the stairs.

“Yeah, but you have to take your bath first,” he answered.

“Okay,” his daughter chirped back happily. He heard her little feet running up the stairs on the way to the bathroom.

There was absolutely no reason that Em had to take a bath before the movie. The only reason that directive had come out of his mouth was to buy him a little more alone time with Haley.

What the hell is wrong with me?
I must be a masochist
. That was the only plausible explanation.

After filling the plate, Eddie reached into the fridge, pulled out a pitcher of iced tea, and poured Haley a glass. He didn’t drink iced tea. Emily didn’t drink iced tea. But since the day he found out that it was Haley’s favorite drink, there’d been a fresh pitcher of iced tea in his fridge.

Eddie set down the full plate and glass in front of Haley and deliberately moved to the opposite side of the round wood table to take a seat. It was safer that way. Distance was his friend.

“Thanks.” Her pink lips turned up in a smile as she immediately grabbed the glass of tea and brought it to her inviting mouth. Sighing, she licked her lips as she set the glass back down in front of her then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Eddie really wished that he were the back of her hand right now. Never in his life had he been so
consumed
with wanting someone. Not even Lacey.

Sure, he’d wanted Lacey, but he’d had sex with her before they were even a couple. So he couldn’t compare it to the way he felt for Haley.

His desire for Haley was…intense. Too intense. And it seemed to be growing every day. Every hour. Every minute. Every second.

“How’s the Martin job coming?” Haley asked as she took a bite of the mac and cheese.

It amazed Eddie that Haley always kept up on the names and details of the projects he was working on. “Almost done. Looks like we have two more weeks.”

“You sound like that guy on The Money Pit,” Haley laughed. The sexy sound washed over him like a cool breeze.

“Wasn’t that movie before your time?” Eddie asked, trying to give himself a much needed dose of reality. Of course, he was a huge Tom Hanks fan and had probably seen the movie over twenty times. It was a classic. But he didn’t think Haley had even been born when it had come out.

“I’m not that much younger than you.” Haley lifted her gaze to him, blue eyes sparking and her voice holding a hint of challenge.

Those eyes, clear blue like the Mediterranean Sea, haunted his dreams. Every night when he closed his eyes, he saw them. He could easily get lost for hours in her eyes.

Clearing his throat, he brought the subject back to much safer ground. “I should wrap up right around when Em gets out for summer break.”

Eddie was going to talk to Jason, who was now the president of Sloan Construction since his dad Bob, had stepped down last year, about working jobs closer to home this summer so he could spend more time with Emily. The last three builds he’d been on were in the Chicago area, and the commute could take up to two hours one way.

Luckily, he’d always had a lot of help with Emily. The Sloans were a huge resource. He’d been best friends with Riley Sloan since grade school. Now since Riley had married Eddie’s sister Chelle, a couple of years ago, he was actually his brother-in-law. But it wasn’t just Riley, Chelle, and Haley who helped out.

Nope. Riley’s brother Jason (who was Eddie’s boss) and his wife Katie, the oldest Sloan brother Seth and his wife Amber (who was Haley’s boss at Bella), Alex and his wife Jamie (whose son Joey was one of Emily’s best friends), and the youngest Sloan boy Bobby (who also worked at Sloan Construction) and his wife Sophie were like Eddie’s family, and they certainly treated Emily as one of their own.

And Emily felt like part of their family. She called them all ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’. There was rarely a weekend that there wasn’t some kind of Sloan family function. Whether it was a birthday or just a barbeque, the Sloans knew how to throw a party and they always included Eddie and Emily.

Which was just one more reason that he needed to keep his distance from Haley. Their lives were totally intertwined. He couldn’t risk things going wrong with them. It wouldn’t be fair for either of them or, most importantly, for Emily.

“That’s great. She’s been missing you lately. We all have.” Haley’s confidence seemed to wane as she ducked her head down. Her cheeks flushed red as she moved her food around her plate with her fork.

Eddie had to hold in a groan. She was killing him.

It was a slow and painful death. She was the perfect woman. Smart, sexy, sweet, talented, funny, honest, trustworthy. The only problem was…she was Haley. Haley Sloan. If being with her only broke one rule or even two, he wouldn’t bat an eye. If being with her even had an
equal
number of pros and cons on the list, he’d consider it. But she not only broke all of his rules; the list of why they would be a bad idea was a mile long.

Which was why he had no idea why he was asking, “Who’s all?”

Her blue eyes shot up to meet his. “What?”

“You said, ‘we all.’” For some reason, Eddie just wanted to hear her say it. He wanted to hear her say that she missed him.

“Oh, well, I just meant”—Haley cleared her throat and then surprised him by sitting up a little straighter—“that I miss you.”

There it was. What he’d wanted to hear. They silently stared at each other across the small wooden table for what felt like forever before Eddie felt his phone vibrate once again in his pocket.

Shit
.

Standing, he said, “I should be home by midnight. Is that okay?”

Haley smiled but there was a hint of sadness Eddie knew hadn’t been there a moment before. “I’ll be here.”

He nodded and grabbed his keys off the counter. Just before he made it to the front door, he turned back around. “Hales.”

“Yeah?” She looked up at him, still seated at his kitchen table.

“I miss you, too.”

He quickly turned and headed out the door, but not before he’d seen the shock that had immediately covered her face. What the hell was wrong with him? He should kick his own ass for saying that. He’d always been so careful not to give anyone the wrong idea. He’d learned his lesson early on that giving a woman false hope ended badly for both parties involved.

So what had he been doing asking her a question to try and get her to reveal that she missed him and telling her that he missed her too?

He jumped in his truck and turned the key in the ignition, making sure that the air conditioning was on full blast. As he pulled out of the driveway, he decided that the more time he spent with Haley, the more his resolve was crumbling like a house of cards.

If he was going to keep his hands and other, more insistent, parts of his body to himself, then he needed to distance himself from her. No more sending Em to clean her room, take a shower, do the dishes, or any other of the hundred tasks he’d sent his daughter on to get a few precious moments of alone time with Haley Sloan.

That all needed to stop. Now.

If it didn’t, Eddie wasn’t sure he would be able to stop himself from doing something he couldn’t take back, something that would change not only his and Haley’s life, but Emily’s too.

He wouldn’t let that happen. No matter how tempting it was.

CHAPTER THREE

���DO YOU HAVE a boyfriend?” Emily’s soft voice snapped Haley out of her obsessive replaying of Eddie’s parting shot. “
Hales, I miss you too
.”

He does?!

She still wasn’t completely convinced that those five words hadn’t been a figment of her overactive imagination. The more she played it over in her head, the more it seemed like a very un-Eddie like thing to have come out of his mouth. And even if he
had
in fact uttered those lovely words, what did that mean exactly? Missed her how? Did he miss her like he missed Emily or his sister Chelle? Oh lord, she hoped not.