Distorted.

Taking it slowly, she held onto it and nodded. "Why did you ask me what my favorite color and toys are?"

I brushed a few strands of her auburn hair out of her eyes. "I was guessing you liked those colors, but wanted to be sure. And I love those princess toys too."

She looked up at me with wide eyes. "That is so cool. I"m going to tell my daddy to call you!" she exclaimed.

Chuckling, I rose up to my feet. "That would be great, sweetie. It was so nice to meet you, Heather." I reached out my hand for her to shake. Looking at it for just a second, she thrust her little hand into mine and squeezed. I instantly fell in love with this child and hoped her daddy called me so I could try to persuade him to let us help him and his children.

Paul leaned down to face her. "And by the way, I"m Paul. I work with Aly and also hope to be able to help you. We"re here to look around your neighborhood today and see what needs to be done. I"m very glad we got to meet you."

Looking at Paul with her big blue eyes, I could see a little blush appear on her cheeks. Shaking my head, I was amused at the affect he apparently had on her as well. Does the man ever stop?

Shaking her little hand, Paul rose to his feet and put his arm around my waist. Loving the way it felt, I stepped closer to him and watched as Norman walked Heather back to her door.

Paul leaned close to my ear. "Do you even know how wonderful you are?" he asked, his breath hot on my cheek.

Shuddering, I tried to keep my sense about me. "What do you mean?"

"Just watching you talk to Heather. You handled it beautifully. Just when I think you can"t impress me anymore, you do just that."

Trying to hide my elation at his words, and also my embarra.s.sment, I turned my head away. He kept his arm tight around my waist, sensing my discomfort. Gathering my wits about me, I turned back to face him.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me. I just want her to know we"re not scary and that we only want to help."

He gave me a squeeze and I about fainted. "I think you did that. She was glowing by the time she went back inside."

Norman came back then so we started walking. "Norman, what a charming little girl," I said, turning my head toward him. "I really hope her father changes his mind."

Paul stopped and turned to me. "I love your enthusiasm, but don"t get too far ahead of yourself. One step at a time." He reached out and grabbed my hand as he said this. Brushing his thumb along my wrist, he let it go as we started walking again.

When we"d reached the next corner, my cell phone started ringing. Grabbing it out of my pocket, I looked to see who was calling.

Ethan Pleased to see his name, I excused myself from the men for a minute. "Ethan! Hi," I exclaimed into the phone. Turning around, I didn"t miss the look that came over Paul"s face when he heard me.

"Hey, beautiful girl. Just wanted to call and see how things are going out there. I hope this isn"t a bad time."

"It"s fine for a minute, but I will have to go soon. We are walking around the neighborhood with Mr. Shay and meeting a few of the residents. It really is good we are doing this, Ethan."

"I knew it would be. I can"t wait to hear more about it when you get back. Are you still planning on returning tonight?"

Looking back at Paul, I saw he was still looking at me. Holding up my finger to indicate one minute, I turned back around.

"Yes, we are leaving for home when we"re done here."

"I know it will be late, but will you call or text me when you get back? Just so I know you"re safe, Aly?"

"Oh, Ethan. You are so overprotective," I laughed.

"I may be, but I won"t sleep well unless I know my girl has returned safely. So call or text, okay?"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, boss man. I will as soon as I get home."

"Good girl. Now get back to that tour and kick some a.s.s. Talk to you soon."

"Okay, sounds good. Bye, Ethan."

I pushed "end" on my phone and returned to Paul and Norman. "I"m so sorry. Let"s keep going, shall we?"

"What did Baker want?" Paul asked with a scowl.

Suddenly feeling on guard, I scowled back at him. "Nothing that pertains to you, Pierce," I said curtly. I never asked him what Casey wanted when she called. What gave him the right to ask me what Ethan wanted, even if we were just friends?

He shook his head. "I just don"t like him interrupting. He knows we"re touring the neighborhood. That needs to be our focus today."

"Paul, what"s the big deal? He just called to see how it"s going. Drop it." I was infuriated he was behaving this way. He had no right.

"Whoa, Aly. No need to get p.i.s.sy. I just don"t want your focus on him right now, when we need to be giving it to Hidden Creek."

I suddenly remembered Mr. Shay and looked over to him. He seemed very uncomfortable as he waited for us to continue. I felt ashamed at my behavior, and our conversation. Nodding my head in his direction to Paul, it suddenly dawned on him, as well, that we weren"t alone.

"Norman, I apologize. Please forgive us," Paul said.

Rolling my eyes, I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and started walking ahead. I felt Paul"s hand wrap around my wrist as he leaned into my ear. "This conversation isn"t over." Not wanting him to see what he did to me, I yanked my hand free and caught up to Mr. Shay. Hearing him chuckle behind me, I resisted the urge to turn and give him the bird. I wouldn"t give him the satisfaction.

We approached another rundown house down the street. This one was similar to the Halliday"s and I immediately wondered who lived there. Stopping to ask, I was distracted by the door opening and a mother and her child walking out.

My heart jumped when I saw it was the mother and child from the photo that Norman had emailed to us. My hand went to my mouth in surprise as I felt Paul approach me from behind. He knew who it was too and he put his hand on my shoulder, smiling down at me. While I was still upset with him, I didn"t shrug him off. I liked the feeling too much.

"Norman, this is the little girl from the picture you sent us. May we meet them?" I asked him.

As Mr. Shay turned to look, the lady and child were already down their porch stairs and approaching us.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Diaz. Do you have a moment?" Norman asked her.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Shay," she replied. She couldn"t have been more than twenty-two years of age, and she was beautiful with her long silky brown hair and light brown eyes. I was fascinated with her. "I was just leaving to take Kaylie to her friends to play, but I could spare a moment. Are these the people from Pierce Homes?"

Before Mr. Shay could respond to her, I stepped forward and offered my hand. "Yes, I am Aly Chase and this is Paul Pierce. It is so nice to meet you. Mr. Shay sent us a picture of you and your little girl in his email and I was instantly smitten with you both. I was hoping to be able to meet you today."

I could tell my enthusiasm took her off guard and I instantly took a step back. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her off. We were here to help them and I didn"t want her against us too.

Looking to Paul, I indicated for him to step up and continue. Giving a nod, he walked forward. Kaylie went behind her mother at his approach, her little eyes nervous.

"Ms. Diaz, my a.s.sistant, Aly, gets very pa.s.sionate about what we do. I apologize if she got overly excited. We both were instantly enamored with you and your little girl in the picture and were excited to get the chance to meet you. Are you comfortable with our company helping build you and your neighborhood new homes?"

Ms. Diaz thought for a moment. "Yes, Mr. Pierce, I am. Please do not apologize for Ms. Chase. I am grateful for you both to be here and for your excitement at helping us. I live here with my mother and grandmother. My grandparents built this home in the forties and as you can see, it hasn"t had any work done to it since. My grandfather pa.s.sed away many years ago and my grandmother is in poor health. A new home would be the answer to many prayers."

I took a few steps and stood right beside Paul. He instantly put his arm around my waist. It seemed like this was coming naturally to him lately and I wasn"t sure what to think.

"I am so happy to hear you say this, Ms. Diaz. We at Pierce Homes only want to better the lives of our clients and give them a fresh start. Helping them with a new and updated home is a great way to do that. I am so glad we will be working together on this. Tell me, how do your mother and grandmother feel about it?"

"They are both very grateful. Grandmother is quite bedridden these days and worries so much about when the walls will come crashing down on her. It disturbs her greatly that they were never able to do any fix ups on their home. My grandparents love it so much and never wanted to leave, but it"s to the point now that we are worried for our safety here." Looking down at her daughter as she said that, her eyes filled with warmth. Kaylie came from behind her mother and held her hand at her side.

Hearing her tell us about her grandmother brought tears to my eyes. Reaching into my purse for a tissue, I wiped them, feeling embarra.s.sed. I caught Paul looking down at me with an expression I couldn"t figure out and it made me shiver.

"Are you cold?" he asked, whispering in my ear.

Another shiver went down my body. d.a.m.n him. "No, I"m fine," I said, harsher than I intended.

He ran a finger down my arm, giving me goose b.u.mps, and turned back to Ms. Diaz.

"Your story is the reason my father started this business. I am inspired by you and hope that you are satisfied when everything is completed. I am even more excited to start this project after talking with you, Ms. Diaz," he said warmly.

This made her blush a little and I smiled. No female is immune to Paul"s charm. Even little Kaylie stepped toward him as he spoke. Paul knelt down and gave her a wink. She giggled and ran behind her mother again.

Paul stood back up and again wrapped his arm around my waist. "Is your mother or grandmother available to meet us?" he asked.

"No, unfortunately. Not at the moment. Mama went to the grocery store and grandmother is sleeping, but I know they would love to meet you another time. You will be back, won"t you?"

"Yes. We will be back quite a bit," Paul answered.

Ms. Diaz smiled at that. "Oh good. I am glad to hear that. I would love to sit down with you and my mama so we can discuss this more, but right now I must get Kaylie to her play date. It has been very good to meet you."

I gave her a big smile. "I"m so glad we got to meet you too. I look forward to sitting down with you and your mother soon to go over your thoughts and wishes for your new home. We will be in touch when we know the dates we are coming back out."

"Thank you, that would be very kind. C"mon, Kaylie. Let"s get going, sweetie. Say good bye to the nice people."

Kaylie grabbed her mother"s hand and gave Paul and me a wave. She was so cute, I just wanted to squeeze her. Resisting that urge, I waved back. Paul gave her another wink and she giggled again.

Poor Mr. Shay stood beside us, forgotten. I turned to apologize and stopped when I saw the big smile on his face.

"You two have no idea what you are doing for our neighborhood," he said. "I have no idea how to ever repay you."

Paul pulled me closer to him. "Norman, you never need to worry about that. This is what we do and what we enjoy. I am extremely blessed to be able to work in a business like this, where I can help people and make them feel safe again. The pleasure is all ours, believe me."

Norman shook his head as he listened to Paul. "Who are you, Mr. Pierce? I have never met anyone like you before. Most people either pretend we don"t exist or mock us for our circ.u.mstances. No one has ever spoken to me the way you just did."

I reached out to him, wrapping my arms around him. "Oh, Norman, you don"t have any idea what you are giving us. This opportunity to help you and the people of Hidden Creek is an honor. I mean it. Thank you, Mr. Shay," I said as I looked into his eyes.

He let me go and wiped a tear away. I could tell he wasn"t used to displaying emotion and was embarra.s.sed. I turned my head to give him a minute.

Walking back to Paul, I saw him gazing at me intently. Wondering what he was thinking, I remembered his questions about Ethan and anger coursed through me again. Looking away, I could see my change in att.i.tude puzzled him. Serves him right, I thought.

Looking at my watch, I saw that it was already four o"clock. We needed to be heading back to the hotel to collect our things and get on the road. Sad that it was time to leave, but so motivated to begin this project, I could hardly wait to get back to the office to start.

"We should be heading back to the hotel and getting on our way, Paul," I said. He nodded. He continued looking at me with an obvious question on his face.

Mr. Shay turned to us. "Let"s head back to my house. Before you go, I hope you could spare just one minute to come inside and see it? I think it would be good for you to see."

Starting to walk, I nodded. "Of course. It would be silly not to."

We reached his home and he ushered us inside. While it was completely dilapidated, you could tell he and his wife did their best to make it comfortable. An old patched brown sofa was in the living room with a faded family picture hanging above. An end table was placed near it with a worn out lamp sitting on top. The carpet was brown and s.h.a.ggy with stains covering most of it. A few easy chairs were to the right of the sofa, springs and foam protruding out from many spots.

"I wanted you to see inside so you could get a better glimpse at what is needed. I don"t do this in demands for what I want. I do it so you see what we"re dealing with. These homes are falling apart, Paul and Aly. We can"t afford to fix them. I didn"t know what else to do." He sat down on the sofa, putting his head in his hands.

I immediately went and sat next to him. "Norman, please. Don"t be embarra.s.sed. We are here and we are going to help. Never feel bad you reached out to us and never feel ashamed of your circ.u.mstances. We know if you could do it yourself, you would. There is no shame in asking for help." Putting my arm around him, I brought him closer to me in a hug.

"Thank you," he whispered. My heart was swelling with love for this man. I leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"You"re welcome. We are here and we are going to help you."

At this point, Paul walked over and sat on the arm of the sofa. "She"s right, Norman. Please do not be embarra.s.sed, ever. This is what we do and we"re here to help."

Norman looked over at us, his eyes glistening. "Again, I thank you both. Just you being here today shows your dedication. It means very much."

Giving him a smile, we started touring the rest of the house. It wasn"t very big and was in the same condition as the living room. The kitchen was very small and had ancient appliances. The stovetop was stained with many years of use. The countertops were tiled and cracked everywhere. The whole house needed updating and I was determined to make sure it happened. a.s.suring Norman, we would be in touch soon, we walked to the front door.

Putting my hands on his arms, I spoke. "You have done the right thing here, Norman. These homes won"t last much longer without help. That"s what we"re here for. I hope you can sleep better at night knowing help is on the way and that you will soon have a better home to live in."

"Thank you, Aly. I will."

Paul reached out his hand for Norman to shake. "We will return as soon as we can and I will be in touch when I have more information. I will need to know exactly how many residents are giving their consent for us to build them a new home as soon as possible. We will not bully anyone into complying, so this is only for those who are interested."

Norman nodded in understanding. "I will get those to you very soon. I will talk to those against it one more time and let them know this. I hope they will soften their hearts and see the good it will do, but if not, that can"t be my problem. I will have done what I could."

"Yes, and that is all you can do," Paul said.

We headed out the door, waving good-bye. When we got to the car, Paul opened my door for me and helped me in. As I was fastening my seat belt, I looked back to the front door and saw that Norman was still there, watching us leave. I gave him another small wave as Paul started the car. He waved back and then was out of sight.

"Wow, Aly. That was eye opening, wasn"t it?" Paul asked quietly.

"Yes, it was. There"s no doubt in my mind that we are doing the right thing starting this project so soon. When I get back to the office on Monday, I am going to start planning the next fundraiser."

Paul looked worried. "I hope people won"t think it"s too soon since the last one. We can only ask for so much, you know?"

I hadn"t thought of that. "Oh, yeah. That might be a problem. Well, let"s see what happens with the Glendale funds. Maybe we can dip into that to help us start Hidden Creek."

"While that sounds good, I"m not sure it"s ethical. We may have to alert the donors to this, just to be on the up and up."

"I agree. We probably won"t need to do that anyway. Let"s see what happens."

Paul nodded as he got onto the freeway. I could tell there was more on his mind, but I really wasn"t in the mood. He"d upset me with his behavior and I didn"t want to talk about it.

"Listen, I know I upset you by my behavior when Baker called," he said. So much for not wanting to talk about it.

"Don"t worry about it."

"No, I want to explain. I know I overreacted, but I can"t help getting annoyed when he knows we"re touring the area. I don"t want you being distracted."

"Seriously, Paul? Do you not think I"m capable of focusing on something and getting a phone call at the same time? That is ridiculous."