Tempting Love - Haley & Eddie (17 page)

“I hope everything’s okay.” Haley bit the inside of her lip.

Jessie had been excited when she’d gotten accepted into the internship program in NYC. She’d been chosen from more than five hundred other applicants. Haley knew that it was a lost cause but decided that she would be giving Jessie a call as soon as she got back from seeing Emily.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Krista said, clearly not concerned. Krista was not a worrier. Haley was. “So how are things going with tall, dark, and brooding?”

Haley immediately jumped to Eddie’s defense. “He is not tall, dark, and
brooding.
” Other people just didn’t see the lighter side of him. He did, Haley herself could admit, tend to be serious,
but
he had a lot of responsibilities.

Krista tilted her head, looking at Haley as if she almost felt sorry for her and the river of denial she was floating down. “Yeah. He is.”

Haley dropped it. She knew it wasn’t her place to defend Eddie. Plus, someone saying that he was brooding was better than saying that he was an a-hole.

“How’s the shop coming?”

Butterflies flittered in Haley’s stomach every time she thought about the store. She was happy. Excited. But also, she had to admit, a little nervous. “Things are good. They’re almost done with the renovations.”

Krista wiggled her eyebrows. “Any more tongue action?”

“No,” Haley was sad to report. Since they’d shared that magical kiss over a week ago, there had been nothing.

At the shop, he was never alone, always with at least one other worker. Add to that the fact that Haley was pretty sure he’d been purposefully keeping his distance from her. Not metaphorically,
literally
. There always seemed to be a good six feet between the two of them. It was so strange that she figured it had to be on purpose. She’d even tested out her theory that the distance was intentional and not accidental or coincidental.

The night before, when she’d been setting up displays in the store and he had been finishing up the dressing rooms, he’d had a question about a curtain that needed to be hung. When he’d come out to the floor room to ask her, she hadn’t quite been able hear him. So she’d taken a step forward and asked what he’d said. As soon as her feet had moved, Eddie’s had as well, but he moved away from her, not towards her. So she’d done it again and received the same reaction. While they’d been doing their little dance, the lyrics of that old Ludacris song were playing in her head.
“When I move you move, just like that. When I move you move, just like that.”
It had been so comical she’d almost burst out laughing.

“I still don’t know why you just totally let him off the hook after he planted one on you and then had the nerve to act like nothing happened.”

Haley knew her sister would never understand. Krista was a confronter. If something was bothering her, she said so. If she wanted to know something, she asked. If she felt like someone had wronged her, that person
would
answer for it.

‘In your face’ had never been Haley’s style. After Eddie had kissed Haley senseless, her decision to move things along by returning the focus to work had been a strategic one. It had been a three-pronged strategy.

First, if she didn’t address it, then he couldn’t make any stupid statements like, ‘That should never have happened’ or ‘That can never happen again.’

Second, because deep down she truly believed it
would
happen again. Considering how things
had
been elevating between the two of them, she’d naïvely thought that they wouldn’t be able to be in the same space with one another without
something
happening. Kissing. Touching. At the very least
flirting
.

She’d been dead wrong. Her ‘let’s get back to work’ tactic might have saved her from hearing Eddie say the words ‘This is a mistake’ or ‘Nothing can happen between us,’ but that hadn’t changed the fact that that was obviously how he felt. His actions were living proof that that’s how he felt.

The last thing Haley wanted was for Krista to think badly of Eddie. Like he’d intentionally done her wrong. “He was excited about his promotion. I was excited about the store. It just…happened.”

Haley knew for a fact that, even though she might disagree with his logic, his actions hadn’t been selfish. In fact, they had been the exact opposite. Eddie wanted her. That much was obvious. But he wouldn’t act on it because he was trying to protect Emily…and Haley. Maybe even himself. He truly believed that if things became physical between them it would change
everything
.

Which was the third and final piece of the ‘let’s get back to work’ move. She wanted to show Eddie, to
prove
to Eddie, that no matter what happened between them, things could remain the same. And not to toot her own horn but—
toot toot
—she’d been doing an excellent job of treating him exactly as if there had been no kiss whatsoever. He, on the other hand. practically jumped out of his skin the second she walked into the room.

“How much longer does he have at Tempting?” Krista asked as she picked up another album and started flipping through it.

“Just a couple of days.”

“Well, if I were you, I would take advantage of that time,” her sister advised.

“What do you mean?” Haley felt like she
was
taking as much advantage of it as she could. She’d practically left drool marks on the inventory she’d been unpacking from watching Eddie in action. The man could
seriously
swing a hammer.

“I
mean
a kiss is nice. But you have been crushing on Hunky McHunkster for years. If you want more than a kiss, it’s looking like you may need to do something drastic.”

“More drastic than telling him I love him?” Haley asked. She’d thought that had been pretty drastic.

“I still can’t believe you did that.” Krista shook her head. “And yes, something more drastic than that.”

Haley was still pretty shocked she had told him as well. But she wouldn’t take it back. It was the truth. She really didn’t think she could get much more drastic than laying her heart on the line. But she was all out of ‘moves’ so she figured she might as well see what her sister had in mind.

“Like what?”

Krista looked at her in total and complete disbelief that Haley was so blatantly missing the point. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

Haley had no idea what Krista was talking about. “’Fraid so.”

“I can’t believe
you’re
the big sister.” Krista closed the album and brushed her long red hair out of her face and over her shoulders, sitting up a little straighter. “Okay, men are visual creatures. If you want to inspire Eddie to get down and dirty, you need to put something in front of him that’s
inspiring
.”

Haley looked at Krista with what she knew was a blank expression because she still had no idea what she meant. Did she mean show a little leg? Wear a low-cut blouse? Haley had tried that. She’d even washed her car—several times!—in booty shorts when she’d seen Eddie outside working on his truck. It hadn’t
inspired
anything.

In fact, the three times he’d seemed the most
inspired
she could not have been wearing more different attire. First, the dress she wore to the performance. Then sweats. Then slacks and a button-up shirt. Haley thought her sister might have been oversimplifying the mind of the man.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Krista said flatly.

“No,” Haley answered honestly.

“I’m talking about wearing nothing but his tool belt and asking him to show you how to pound a nail,” Krista said like it was as innocent as asking him to coffee.

Haley grabbed one of her pillows from the top of her bed and threw it at her sister. “Stop it!”

“I’m serious,” Krista laughed as she dodged it. “How do you design such sexy underwear when you’re such a prude?”

“I’m not a prude,” Haley defended. She might be a little old-fashioned, but she wasn’t a
prude
. And when she designed a piece, it wasn’t about sexy in the hey-baby-come-and-get-it way. It was about making the person who wore it feel sexy and more confident.

Krista used the patented response she always did when she was bored with a conversation. “Whatever.” The bed bounced as she hopped off of it. Krista was almost to the door when she turned and asked. “What pictures were you going to show Emily?”

Shoot. Think. Think. Think.

“Just some of the ones from the plays that I was in in elementary school. Emily asked me about it after her
Annie
performance.” That was good. She hadn’t lied, so hopefully her sister would move along.

“Oh.” Krista’s face turned a little serious. “I thought you might be looking for some with Lacey in them. The last few times I saw Em, she asked me about her.”

“Yeah, she’s been really curious about her mom lately.” It broke Haley’s heart that she knew Em was searching for answers that she might not like when she finally got them.

“I feel bad. I don’t really say anything because you can’t tell a seven-year-old, ‘Your mom was a drug addict and a whore.’”

“She wasn’t that bad,” Haley said weakly. “She was just a party girl.”

“In high school, maybe. But you weren’t here when she came back. That’s exactly what she was. Eddie would be home with the baby and she’d be out all night. Leaving bars with random guys. It was sad.”

Haley had heard stories, but she really hadn’t paid any attention to them. People talked in small towns. But if her sister was saying it, then it was the truth.

“I remember feeling so bad for Eddie.” Krista’s tone was serious before a small mischievous smile tilted her lips. “I think the poor guy deserves a little
inspiration
.” With that, Krista winked and was out the door, leaving Haley with a lot to think about.

E
ddie tried to concentrate on the numbers on his screen. He had to get these budget reports to Jason by end of business Friday. He had a few days but he hated waiting until the last minute to do things. He’d been over all three of them several times but kept rechecking his work when he found his mind wandering. Which
kept
happening. His mind was filled with bras, panties, teddies, and all the other sexy things he’d seen Haley stocking her shop with.

He’d never been a huge fan of lingerie. He was a simple man, always preferring naked women over dressed women, even if it was in something sexy. But after spending the last few days surrounded by lacy, silky, see-through garments, his imagination was on overload. Every single sexy-underwear-filled vision starred the same person—Haley.

Eddie didn’t know if anyone had actually died from blue balls, but he was afraid that if not, he might be the first known case. Or, at the very least, it was going to drive him insane. Haley had been joking around when she’d asked if he was going to need a strait jacket, but he was scared that much more of this and that was exactly what he was going to need.

The fantasies of Haley wearing all of the things he now saw displayed in her store were seriously affecting Eddie’s life. He was barely sleeping, barely eating. His mind was so clouded by lust-filled daydreams that he was barely thinking straight.

Even Em had noticed. Yesterday, when he’d picked his daughter up from Chelle’s, she’d asked him if he was feeling okay. When he’d said that he was fine, she’d gotten the strangest look on her face and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead, checking to see if he’d been running a fever. He was sick all right—sick in the head.

Eddie looked up at the doorway when he heard a loud knock on his door. Jason leaned in and said, “Come on. We’re meeting Riley and Seth at The Grill.”

“Nah, man. Thanks,” Eddie declined. “I’ve gotta get caught up on this and then go pick Em up.”

Jason shook his head. “You need a break. I’ve been wanting to take you out to celebrate since you got your promotion, I mentioned it to Riley and he said Chelle had already told him that he needed to take you out. Let you blow off some steam. She’s keeping Em and will drop her off later or she said she could even spend the night.”

Great. So now his little sister was setting up play dates for him. He had noticed the worried expression on her face when he’d seen her over the last few days. She’d kept asking if he was remembering to eat, getting enough sleep. Of course he’d told her yes on both counts, even though it was far from the truth. Apparently she hadn’t taken his word for it.

“All right,” Eddie agreed, closing out of his computer. “I’ll meet you over there.”

In his experience, when that many people were conspiring towards a common goal—in this case, his going out for drinks—it wasn’t worth it to go against the grain. He liked to pick his battles, and this one wasn’t worth picking.

Oh well
. Eddie figured there were worse things than spending a few hours with his friends. Hell, it might even do him some good.

* * *