Kathy studied the card. "Can I bring Blake?"
"Absolutely." Haley grinned. "Sam will be there too."
"He will?" Felicia"s brow rose. "And Trudy? Did you invite your mother to this shindig?"
"Yes, but . . . I was so wrong about Sam. He"s not like everyone thinks. He"s sensitive, considerate, sweet . . ." She pointed at both of them. "Promise me you"ll be nice to him. I didn"t invite him because I want my mom"s scheme to backfire. I invited him because he deserves credit for the incredible job he did on my house, and I want people to get to know him the way I do."
"Oh, my Gawd, you"ve fallen for the handyman," Felicia chortled.
"Shhh." Haley checked the hallway, then moved further inside the office. "Maybe a little," she admitted. "We"ve been out twice now, and we"re going snowmobiling this coming Sunday. But I don"t know what to think." She shrugged. "He won"t . . . I mean, we . . ." Her face grew hot. "I want him, but every time things heat up between us, he pulls back."
"Hmm." Felicia frowned. "So he gets handy with every woman except you?"
"No. It"s not like that. He says he"s done with being the hands-on handyman. He told me he stops things between us because he"s trying to be a better man."
"And you believe him?" Kathy asked, her expression inscrutable.
"I do." Defensiveness on Sam"s behalf roared to life. "I"ve gotten to know him really well these past two months. I"ve spent time with him and some of his family. I"ve seen how he is in his personal life. He got caught up in something that was too tempting to turn down, that"s all."
"OK, Haley." Kathy shrugged. "If you believe him, then I"m willing to give the man a chance. But if he hurts you, I will hunt him down and kick his a.s.s."
Haley grinned. "He has a great a.s.s."
Felicia giggled, and Haley flashed her a grin. "Do you two want to go out for lunch today?" Haley asked.
"Only if you"re willing to give up a few more details about your handyman." Felicia waggled her eyebrows at her.
"I can do that. Plus, I want to tell you about my e-mail to Michael, and his response."
"What?" Kathy"s brow shot up. "You e-mailed that skinny twerp? Why didn"t you tell us?"
"I haven"t had the chance. We"ll talk about it over lunch. I"d better go get some work done." Haley backed out of their office. "Later."
Should she tell her mom she"d invited Sam to her open house? No. It wasn"t like she"d invited him to Sunday dinner to meet the family. This was an open house-casual, with people coming and going. She was doing the right thing. So, why did she feel as if she needed to justify her actions-to herself?
Trudy picked up her phone and dialed her sister"s number. Smiling, she eyed Haley"s open house invitation while she waited.
"Is that you, Trudy?"
"It is." She rolled her eyes. "Who else would be using my phone to call you?"
"Never gets old." Nanci chuckled. "What"s up?"
"Did you get the invitation for Haley"s open house?"
"I did, and I"m looking forward to seeing her new kitchen."
"Me too. Speaking of her remodeling job, I"ve decided to give up on Sam the Handyman. I have a new plan, and I"ve already set it in motion."
"Oh? Why is that? Did Haley say something?"
"No, but . . ." Haley liked the handyman a little too much, which concerned her. "It was a mistake to throw them together. I"m afraid Haley has no idea what kind of man he is, and I want to distract her."
"How? Wait. Let me guess. You"ve pretended to be Haley and set up a profile for her on Match or some other dating site."
"No. Even better."
"Ha! OK, let"s hear it. What have you done?"
"I talked to a few friends, asked around to see if anyone knew of a nice young man who might be available and looking to date."
"Hmm."
Trudy forged on, before her sister could snuff out the beginnings of her newest tactic. "Turns out the Meyers have become friends with their new neighbors. The Andersons recently moved into their neighborhood, and they have a son who just finished graduate school. He"s accepted a job in Minneapolis and has moved home with his parents while he looks for a place of his own and gets situated with the new job."
"OK, and exactly how does that help Haley?"
"Since he"s new to the area, he"s eager to meet people his age." Trudy braced herself for a squashing comment. "Frank and I met with the Andersons at the Meyers", and I offered to introduce their son David to Haley. He"s a very nice-looking young man."
"He was open to meeting her?"
"Absolutely." She drew a breath. "What do you think?"
"I think it"s great. You should"ve maybe done something like this to begin with."
"I agree, but I have to admit I"m glad Frank and I helped Haley put her house back together. No harm; no foul. Right?"
"We"ll see."
She should"ve known Nanci would throw a fly into the soup. "What do you mean by that?"
"I don"t mean anything by it, other than we"ll see. I have to get going. Today is the day I"m doing the grocery shopping for our Christmas dinner. I"ll see you Christmas day."
"All right. Do you want me to come a little early to help?"
"Come as early as you like. We"re eating at six."
"In that case, Frank and I will be there around four." Trudy ended the call. Nanci was right. She should"ve tried to fix Haley up with a nice young man from the start. What had she been thinking, setting her daughter up with Sam the handyman? She shook her head, relieved that nothing had come of her stupid plan.
Chapter Thirteen.
Sam checked his new haircut in the mirror again before wiping the traces of shaving cream from his face and slapping on some aftershave. His nerves were strung taut about Haley"s open house, but at least Wyatt and Josey would be there. Including Haley, that made three friendly faces he could count on tonight.
Dressed and ready to go, he walked to the kitchen and grabbed the large plastic bowl full of bagel chips. He put on his coat and headed out the door, questions still pinging around in his mind like exploding kernels of popcorn, like: Would Haley invite him to stay after everyone left? How many of Haley"s friends knew about his episode on the Loaded Question radio show? He sure wasn"t looking forward to coming face-to-face with Trudy Cooper. Why had he agreed to attend Haley"s open house again? Because she"d asked him to, and he couldn"t refuse her.
She wasn"t a client anymore. His already overworked nerves fired up even more, but for an entirely different reason. Blood rushed to his groin, and he forced his thoughts away from anything having to do with Haley naked, her soft warm skin against his, or the way he wanted to taste every inch of her.
Even driving way under the speed limit all the way there, Sam still managed to arrive on time. Every light in Haley"s house was on, but there weren"t too many cars parked in front yet. Wyatt and Josey"s vehicles weren"t anywhere in the vicinity. By the time he got to Haley"s front door, his stomach had twisted into an uncomfortable knot. He knocked and someone other than Haley opened the door, a nice-looking black woman with a great smile.
"Come on in. I"m Felicia, a friend of Haley"s." Her curious gaze slid over him. "Who might you be?"
"I"m Sam." His mouth had taken on the consistency of the dry mortar they"d used to set tiles.
"Here, let me take that." Felicia took the bowl from his hands. "Sam, eh? Are you the man responsible for Haley"s amazing kitchen and bathroom updates? She mentioned you might stop by."
"Haley designed the rooms, but," Sam shrugged out of his coat, "yeah, that would be me."
"Well, both rooms look great. You can leave your coat on her bed. Haley"s in the kitchen, by the way. I"ll put your bowl on the table with the rest of the food."
"My sister is bringing the dip to go with those bagel chips. Should we wait "til she gets here to put them out?"
"I"ll leave the lid on, how about that? Right now it"s just you, me and two others besides Haley."
He nodded, already on his way to the bedroom. His stomach still tight, he dropped off his coat and headed for the kitchen. Haley was opening bottles of wine and talking to a couple who were arranging vegetables on a platter. Every time he so much as looked at Haley his breath caught, and this was no exception.
Tonight she looked especially s.e.xy in a black stretchy skirt, tights and leather boots that came to her knees. Her blouse, which showed an enticing hint of cleavage, was some kind of silky dark red material that brought out the rich tones of her hair and gave her skin a warm glow. She turned, and their eyes met.
A welcoming smile lit her face. "Sam," she said, extending her hand to him.
He moved to her side and took it, even though his palms were still sweaty. Seeing her, having her hand in his settled him somehow.
"Kathy and Blake," Haley said. "This is Sam Haney, the man who worked miracles with the mess I made of my house." Her brow rose slightly as she noticed his haircut.
He nodded at the two. "Nice to meet you both."
"Nice to meet you, too. I love what you"ve done with Haley"s house," Kathy said. "It makes such an amazing difference."
"Thanks." So far, no one had looked at him funny. Could it be that Haley"s friends knew nothing about him besides the fact he"d remodeled her house? He breathed a little easier. Other than meeting Trudy, tonight might be OK.
"Would you like a beer?" Haley asked.
"Sure. Point me in the right direction, and I"ll get one myself."
"It"s in the breezeway. I"ll come with you. Anyone else need anything?" Haley asked.
Blake held up his half-full bottle. "I"m good."
"Me too," Kathy added. She held a gla.s.s of white wine in one hand.
"We"ll be right back," Haley said, tugging him toward the back door. "You cut your hair. I like it."
"Thanks. It was long overdue." He followed her out to the porch connecting the house and her garage. "What, no keg?" he teased, looking at the cases of beer lining the perimeter.
"No. I opted for variety. You look great, Sam. I like that sweater."
"Me too." He smoothed his hand over the front of his new sweater. "It"s a Christmas present from my grandmother. You"re looking mighty fine yourself this evening." He wrapped an arm around her waist, needing to feel her close if only for a moment. He kissed her briefly. "It"s cold out here. We should head inside."
"In a minute," she said, sliding her arms around him. "I"m glad you"re here. Are Josey and Wyatt going to drop by?"
"Mmm-mm." He nuzzled her temple, savoring her familiar scent. "They should be here soon." Headlight beams pa.s.sed through the porch, landing on them briefly before swinging away. "Looks like you have more guests arriving." Reluctantly, he let her go. Sam grabbed a bottle of beer, and trailed her back into to the warmth of her kitchen.
"Haley," a woman called from the living room.
"It"s my mother." Haley glanced at him. "Ready?"
Sam nodded. Not really. His palms grew damp again. He set his beer on the granite counter and reached for her hand. They were a united front-Team Haley against her meddlesome mother. Three people stood just inside the front door: her mother, a tall man in his late twenties-was that her brother?-and an older man who must be her father.
"Oh, there you are," Haley"s mother chirped. She unb.u.t.toned her coat and took it off. Her eyes lit on Sam, and her lips pursed before she turned her attention back to her daughter.
Haley"s father took the coat from his wife"s hands and draped it over his arm. "Let me take your coat too while I"m at it," he said, turning to the younger man. "Where do you want these, sweetheart?" he asked, kissing Haley on the cheek.
"On my bed. Thanks, Dad." Haley"s voice carried the hint of strain. "Who"s this, Mom?"
So, not her brother. Sam frowned. Why on earth would the Coopers bring a total stranger to Haley"s party?
"I hope you don"t mind . . . we brought a guest with us to your open house. David is new in town, and we thought this might be a good way for him to meet people his own age." She gestured toward the younger man. "He"s recently finished graduate school, and he has a great new job. I"m sure you two will hit it off." She smiled brightly at her daughter. "This is David Anderson. David, this is our lovely daughter, Haley. She"s a paralegal with a prestigious law firm in downtown Minneapolis."
"Hey, I hope it"s OK I tagged along." David grinned at Haley and held up a plastic bag. "I brought cookies."
"Oh, sure. Come on in," Haley said. "The more the merrier."
Despite the friendly greeting, Haley tensed beside him, and blotches of red bloomed on her cheeks. Was Haley"s mother trying to fix her daughter up with this guy, bringing him to the party uninvited? Wow. Haley had told him stories about her mother. In fact, he was one of Trudy"s stories. But it still stunned him. Driven by an overwhelming wave of possessiveness, Sam put his arm around Haley"s shoulders and drew her close to his side. Go, Team Haley. "You must be Mrs. Cooper," he said, sending David a back-off look.
Trudy"s gaze went from his arm, to his face and then to Haley. "Yes . . ." The door behind them opened, and they moved in a huddle farther into the living room to accommodate the new arrival, another woman who looked to be in her late fifties or early sixties.
"Happy New Year, Haley." She smiled.
"Same to you, Aunt Nanci. Glad you could make it."
"Aren"t you going to introduce me to this young man?" Trudy asked, her smile as fake as faux fur.
"Of course." Haley put her arm around Sam"s waist. "Mother, Aunt Nanci, I"d like you to meet Sam Haney. My date."
"No he isn"t." Trudy"s voice dropped, and she paled, and the ca.s.serole dish she held started to slip out of her hands.
Sam caught it before it hit the floor and handed it back, earning him a glare.
"You can"t date my daughter!"
"Who says he can"t?" Haley snapped, folding her arms in front of her.
Haley"s aunt made a m.u.f.fled snorting sound, and Sam cringed. His heart pounded so hard his ears rang.