Читать книгу Single Dads Collection - Lynne Marshall - Страница 75

TUESDAY MORNING Shannon walked through the employee entrance of Raleigh’s Department Store a nervous wreck. After the kiss debacle, Rory had gone quiet. He’d enjoyed his cocoa and allowed Finley to drink hers, but he hadn’t stayed after. He’d just gone.

Absolutely positive she’d blown her opportunity to spend time with Finley—and that she didn’t need to have any more internal debates about how to handle their attraction because she’d pretty much killed any feelings he might have been having for her—she was more than annoyed with her subconscious. Especially when she’d fallen asleep and had a wonderful dream about them. The three of them. Not just her and Rory married, but her and Rory raising Finley.

She walked through the dark, silent first floor of Raleigh’s. The light coming in from the big front windows reflected off the shiny oversize Christmas ornaments hanging from the ceiling and lit her way to the elevator. Inside, she pressed the button for the third floor and drew in a long, cleansing breath.

Watching herself interact with a child, even in a dream, had intensified her yearning for her own little boy or girl. She’d awakened with a tight chest and a longing so sweet in her tummy that she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she needed to adopt a child. Or maybe two children. Or maybe a whole gaggle of kids. In her gut, she knew she was made to be a mom. Since Mother Nature had stolen her normal child-getting avenue away from her, she would simply go an alternative route.

That solid, irrevocable decision was the good effect of the dream. If she wanted to be a mom, she could be.

But…

Now that she was so sure she would become a mom, shouldn’t she want to spend as much time as she could with children? Especially one-on-one time like the kind she got with Finley? And shouldn’t she also want to spend time with parents, the way she had in South Carolina? Learning the ins and outs of the things they did automatically. Rory might have stumbled a bit dealing with Finley the Diva, but he did so many things automatically, instinctively. Like get her coat. Slide her little arms into sweaters. Make sure she had ketchup.

She’d been watching other people with kids her entire adult life, preparing to become a mom. Now that she had up-close-and-personal time with a daddy and daughter, wasn’t she stupid to throw it away?

She licked her lower lip and remembered every second of both kisses Rory had given her. She remembered the flash of heat that accompanied the sweet, romantic caresses. She remembered the yearning to step into his embrace, the longing to wrap her arms around him, and knew it would be risky to her heart to spend any more time with him.

But just as quickly, she reminded herself that she wasn’t weak. In the past year, she’d lost a part of herself, then lost her husband because she wasn’t whole anymore. She’d come home. Taken over her family’s store. Gotten over her pain.

Surely, she could direct a relationship between herself and Rory away from romantic to a place where they could be friends.

Of course she could. She was strong. Her problems had made her strong. Now that she had sorted all this out in her head and had a solid course of action, she was even stronger. More determined. With her mind set, she could spend a lifetime in his company and not waver.

She walked into her dark, quiet office. Turned on the light. She could do this. She would do this.

Twenty minutes later, Rory and Finley strolled in. Finley raced over to her desk and gave her a hug. “I had fun last night.”

Closing her eyes, she squeezed the little girl affectionately. Without Finley she might have taken years to make her decision to adopt. For as much as Rory thought he owed her with Finley, she knew she owed Finley more.

“I had fun last night, too.”

Shannon rose and helped Finley out of her jacket. “Did you bring your laptop?”

Finley nodded.

“I have a surprise.” She lifted a new video game off her desk. “I bought you a game.”

Finley’s face lit up. “What is it?”

She glanced at the CD. “I’m not sure. Something with frogs and dragons. Wendy said her grandkids love it.”

Finley eagerly took the game Shannon handed her.

Shannon laughed and faced Rory. “So what do you want to do today?”

Obviously avoiding her gaze, he shrugged out of his topcoat. “Chat with the people in advertising and public relations.”

She pressed her intercom button. “Wendy, we’re ready for you to help Finley install her new game. Mr. Wallace and I will be with advertising.”

Wendy said, “Great,” and within seconds was in the doorway to Shannon’s office.

Shannon walked around the desk and headed for the door. “She’s all yours.” She pointed at Rory. “You come with me.”

Rory swung Finley up and gave her a smacking kiss goodbye. “We’ll be back in time for lunch.”

Finley said, “Okay,” then slithered down.

As Rory and Shannon walked out, Finley eagerly raced to Shannon’s chair, where Wendy sat booting up her laptop.

In the hall, Rory glanced over at Shannon. The night before, she’d acted very oddly with him, refusing to let him compliment her, getting nervously quiet after he’d kissed her. He didn’t need to be hit on the head with a rock. She didn’t want him kissing her.

So that morning in the shower, he’d given himself a stern lecture. Kissing her had been wrong. Her reaction to the mistletoe should have clued him in, but he was so damned sure his charm and good looks would smooth things over that he’d made a mistake. A big blunder. But this morning he would fix that by apologizing.

Except, she didn’t seem to need an apology. She seemed strong and in control. No moodiness. No nerves.

He could have been insulted by the second, annoyed that she was denying the attraction he knew hummed between them, but he wasn’t that much of an idiot. He might be feeling the stirrings of being interested in a relationship, but it was clear she wasn’t. His divorce was two years in the past. Hers was one. He was incredibly physically attracted to her. She might not be incredibly attracted to him. He liked her. She… Well, he might not be as charming as he’d always thought.

Plus, they were together because of a business deal. Once the deal was done, she might feel differently. She could be standoffish right now because she wanted to get a fair price for her store. And if she did like him, if she was only pulling back because of their business deal, wouldn’t he be an idiot to push her?

Of course, he would.

When she reached the door marked Advertising, he hustled in front of her and grabbed the knob. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to start being a gentleman, and show her his charming, likable side, while they were doing business so that once their business was concluded he might be able to ask her out.

Even the thought sent a ripple of excitement through him. He couldn’t believe he’d spent two long years on his own. But he had. And that was probably for the best. But now, he was ready.

She smiled at him as he walked through the door and his heart swelled with ridiculous hope. She obviously wasn’t holding a grudge against him for kissing her. He had three or four days left for him to mend his reputation, show her he was a nice guy, and then, when the deal was done, he could pounce.

Good God, he liked having a plan!

John Wilder, obviously having been alerted by Wendy, stood in the center of the big room. “What would you like to see first?”

“Actually, I’d like to talk first.” He glanced around the room. “With everyone.”

John’s brows rose. “Individually?”

He laughed. “We have all day. And I’d like to get a good feel for what this division does to justify its existence.”

John straightened with affront. “You can’t have a department store without ads in the local paper.”

Rory laughed. “Relax.” He glanced at a red-haired woman who was the only one in the department still working. “I’d like to start with her.”

She glanced up, pointed at her chest. “Me?”

“Yes. You are…”

“I’m Rose.”

“And you do what?”

“Layout mostly.”

“Great. Where can we talk?”

John gestured toward a small conference room and Rory motioned for Rose to join him there.

Unusually comfortable with Shannon, Rory didn’t think twice about the fact that she was always with him when he made his visits, until she stepped into the conference room with him and Rose. It was only day two of his tour, but he suddenly realized that he’d never once been alone with anyone from her staff. Worse, he hadn’t once questioned the fact that Shannon stuck to him like glue. Normally, he’d ask for time on his own. Time to see the store. Time to get the real scoop from employees. Yet, with Shannon, he’d never even thought of it.

By eleven o’clock they’d interviewed everyone and were back in John’s office. At the end of that time he’d also concluded that he’d never questioned Shannon’s continuing presence because he liked her and he liked spending time with her. But even friends checked up on each other’s facts and figures in a business deal. He’d been so preoccupied with the personal side of their relationship that he’d fallen down on the job. He might not insist she back off from his department visits just yet, but before this week was out, he’d get some private time with everyone. He’d also spend the evening on the internet, checking things out even more. Then, in the morning, before he came to the store, he’d talk with some of her vendors.

“So are you ready to break for lunch?”

Jarred out of his reverie, Rory said, “Yeah. Sure.”

John rose from his seat. Papers of various and sundry kinds and sizes littered his desk. “Why don’t I come with you? We can continue our discussions over a hot roast beef sandwich?”

Rory was about to decline with an apology, but Shannon beat him to it. “That would be great, but Rory has his daughter with him. She’s been stuck in my office all morning. I don’t think we should bore her with business.”

John easily backed off. “I’ll see you after lunch then.”

Shannon said, “Great.”

But Rory kept himself a step or two behind her as they walked out of the advertising offices, concerned that she’d answered for him. Normally, he wouldn’t care, except the night before she’d been so quiet. And today she was all but bursting with confidence.

Of course, she was trying to sell him her company. And from what he’d seen of her dealings with staff, she was a take-charge person.

His libido instantly wondered how that would play out in bed and in his head he cursed himself. It was that kind of thinking that had gotten them to this place. He’d already promised himself that he wouldn’t make another move, wouldn’t say another inappropriate word until they had this deal done. And he wouldn’t.

When they entered Shannon’s office, Finley was deep in play. Striding over to the desk, he said, “Hey, aren’t you ready for French fries?”

She didn’t take her eyes off her computer screen. “Just one more minute.”

He glanced over at Shannon and the look of love on her face for his little girl nearly did him in. How could he not fall for the woman who loved his daughter? Especially when her own mom hadn’t?

He sucked in a breath, told himself to think about this later and said, “Come on, Finley. I have lots of work to do this afternoon. We need to go now.”

She sighed heavily, but got off the chair and scampered over to Shannon, who took her hand and led her out of the office.

A strange sensation invaded his chest. Four days ago, he thought he’d never see his normal daughter again. But a little bit of time with Shannon had changed everything.

And he wondered if that wasn’t a big part of why he liked her so much, why he was so ready suddenly to jump into another relationship.

Was he really seeing Shannon romantically or was he only falling for her because he wanted help with his daughter?

They walked through the cafeteria line, choosing their lunches, and when Finley picked whipped-cream-covered cherry gelatin and pie as her main course, Rory simply took those dishes off her plate and told her to choose again.

But Shannon smiled and said, “I’ll bet your dad would let you keep the gelatin as your dessert if you picked a better main course.”

Frowning, Finley studied the available food. Finally, she took a salad and an order of fries. But Rory stared at Shannon. He remembered that they’d formed an alliance. He’d been the one to suggest it. But his question about his motives in wanting a relationship with Shannon came back full force. He suddenly felt as if he were using her. And, even worse, that he might be thinking of Shannon romantically just because he wanted a mother for his child.

Nerves skittered down his spine. What if he was? Oh, lord. What if he was?

Then he was scum.

They found a table in the back and once Rory opened Finley’s little packet of ranch dressing and poured it on her salad, she started to eat. Her mouth full of lettuce, she said, “I really like the game, Shannon.”

Shannon and Rory both said, “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Shannon quickly looked down at her own salad, but those odd feelings floated through Rory again. It was wonderful to have a partner. Wonderful to have backup. With Shannon around, it wasn’t just him against Finley. He had an ally.

Finley chewed and swallowed then said, “I also forgot to say thanks.”

The guilty sensations bombarding him intensified. That morning he should have prompted Finley to thank Shannon and he’d forgotten. He was proud as hell that Finley had remembered, but it served as yet another reminder that he wasn’t as good with Finley as he needed to be. And he was getting comfortable with Shannon picking up the slack.

Shannon said, “You’re welcome. It was my pleasure. I appreciate you being so patient while I show your dad my store.”

Kicking her feet under the table, Finley grinned.

Rory’s heart about burst in his chest. Not from love or even pride. From some hideous emotion he couldn’t name. He didn’t have to ponder or think this through. Finley liked Shannon. She liked having a woman around. Having a woman around settled her. Was it any wonder he was interested in Shannon? Any wonder he wasn’t demanding to see her store on his own? He wanted to stay in her company and in her good graces. He didn’t want any friction between them so she’d continue to help him with Finley.

He was double scum.

Once they returned Finley to Shannon’s office and Wendy’s care, they started up the hall to the advertising department again, but Rory stopped her by placing his hand on her forearm.

“Wait.”

She turned, smiled. “What?”

“I want some time alone with the people in advertising.”

She didn’t hesitate, her smile didn’t slip. “Sure. No problem. I understand that you’d want to see what they’d say when the boss isn’t around.”

“And I think I’d like to be by myself tomorrow when I spend the day with accounting.”

Again, her smile didn’t slip. No hesitation when she said, “Sure.” Her smile actually grew. “I’ll be happy to spend this afternoon and tomorrow with Finley.”

His heart lurched. She really did love Finley.

“And I also thought it would be a good idea for the two of you to come to my house for a little more decorating tonight.”

She might not have hesitated, but he did. He wasn’t at all sure that was a good idea. Except, he was confused about his feelings for Shannon and maybe a little private time would clear everything up for him?

“Are you sure we’re not an imposition?”

She laughed her wonderful musical laugh and his heart about kicked its way out of his chest. How could he ever worry that he only wanted to spend time with Shannon because she was a good mom to Finley? He liked her. God, if he liked her any more he wouldn’t be able to hold off telling her until after he made a decision about the store.

“I love having you around.”

He caught her gaze and found himself trapped in her pretty blue eyes. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. And don’t bring food. I’ll cook.”

He chuckled, glad she’d said something that could bring him back to reality. “Thought you couldn’t cook?”

“I wasn’t thinking anything fancy. Just macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. Things Finley might be missing since you’re on the road.”

His heart expanded again. She was so good to Finley that it was easy for him to see how he could be confused. But he wasn’t confused anymore. She was beautiful. Smart. Fun. He liked her.

Ha! Take that, Fate. He liked her.

He frowned. Great. He liked her. But he couldn’t tell her or make a move until after their deal was done. And he was about to spend private time in her company. This night might not be the piece of cake that he thought.

That night when they arrived at Shannon’s house, she opened the door and welcomed them inside, proud of the scent of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs that greeted them.

Impatient while her dad helped her out of her jacket, Finley cried, “Hot dogs!”

“Yep. And macaroni.”

“All right!”

She turned to take Finley’s jacket and saw Rory shrugging out of his coat and she did a double take. He wasn’t wearing his usual dress shirt and dress pants. Instead, he wore jeans and a T-shirt. She’d seen him in jeans, of course, but that was over the weekend when everything was awkward. Tonight he looked so relaxed, so casual in her home, that her pulse fluttered.

She sucked in a breath. Reminded herself she could do this. For the opportunity to spend time with Finley, she could be with Rory without giving in to her attraction.

“Right this way.”

She led them into the kitchen and walked directly to the stove. Pulling a tray of hot dogs from the broiler, she said, “Everything’s ready. Take a seat.”

At the table, Rory put a hot dog on a bun for Finley, who eagerly bit into it. “This is good!”

Shannon took a quick swipe over her mouth with her napkin to keep from scolding Finley for talking with her mouth full. Rory had been giving her odd looks all day. It had taken a while but she’d finally figured out that she might be overstepping her boundaries by constantly mothering Finley. Whether he’d asked for help or not, she was just a bit too helpful. So it was best to back off a bit.

She served yellow cake for dessert then accepted Rory and Finley’s help clearing the table. When the kitchen was cleaned, she turned from the sink and said, “Okay, everybody, let’s get our coats on.”

Rory’s eyebrows rose. “Coats?”

“We’re going to put up the outside lights.”

Finley clapped. Rory frowned. “It’s dark.”

“I know. But my dad has a big spotlight that we can use.” She laughed. “It’ll light up the whole yard.”

“Setting up seems like it will take more time than the actual decorating.”

“I know. But my parents will be home soon. And I was going to do this last Saturday—” She paused. She didn’t want them to help because of a guilt trip. “Never mind. I didn’t mean that like it sounded. I only meant that I was running out of time.”

But it was too late. Rory said, “Of course, you’re right. We’ll set up the big light and decorate.”

After shrugging into his coat and assisting Finley with hers, Rory followed Shannon out to the shed behind her house. Though they’d been there on Saturday to get the sleds, he took a closer look this time around, as Shannon dug through a mountain of junk stored in her shed.

“What is all this?”

She peeked up. “My parents had no use for a lot of their things when they moved to Florida.” She pointed at a snowblower. “Especially winter things.” She went back to working her way through boxes and containers. “So they left it all with me.”

He looked around in awe. “I’m not sure if I envy you or feel sorry.”

“Feel sorry. Because if I have to move to a warmer climate when I sell Raleigh’s, I’m going to have to have a huge yard sale. If I stay in snow country, I’ve gotta move all this stuff to whatever city I end up in.”

He laughed.

“Ah-ha! Here it is.” She struggled to get the big light out of a box and he raced over to help her. Their gloved hands brushed and though Rory felt an instant connection, Shannon didn’t even react.

Which was fine. They were wearing gloves. Besides, did he really expect her to have heart-racing, pulse-pounding reactions every time they touched?

Hoisting the light out of the box, he frowned. He was having heart-racing, pulse-pounding reactions around her. It only seemed fair that she would have them, too.

After they set the light on the floor, she scrambled away. “I have an extension cord.”

He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she held a huge, orange heavy-duty extension cord.

She grabbed the neatly bound electrical cord of the spotlight and connected it to the extension cord. “I’ll unwind as you walk out to the yard. When the cord stops, that’s where the light sits. Anything that isn’t lit by the light doesn’t get decorated.”

He chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.”

He walked out into the snowy front yard. When he ran out of extension cord, he unwound the light’s cord and went another ten feet.

“That’s it!” he called and Shannon and Finley came out of the shed. Shannon held a huge roll of multicolored lights. Finley skipped behind her.

“I’d like to put these around the porch roof.”

He glanced over at it. “We’ll need a ladder.”

She motioned with her head to the shed behind her. “It’s on the wall. I’ll turn on the spotlight.”

He easily found the ladder and when he carried it out of the shed, he quickly noticed two things. First, the spotlight could illuminate a small village. Second, she and Finley sat on the porch steps, laughing, waiting for him.

He stopped walking. He loved that she was so affectionate with Finley, but right now, dressed in simple jeans and her dad’s big parka, with the flood light making her hair a shiny sable and her big blue eyes sparkling, he liked her. He liked everything about her. He even liked that she’d sort of conned him into helping her with the big job of outdoor decorating.

And he was getting a little tired of pretending. A little tired of holding back. He’d waited two long years to find somebody else. He didn’t want to wait another ten minutes to enjoy her. He wanted her now.

He headed to the porch again. Since they’d already proven that they could be professional at work even though they had a totally different connection outside the office, he was going for it. He might not seduce her or even kiss her, but tonight by his behavior he would show her that he liked her. And if he was lucky he might even force her to admit she saw him as more than a potential purchaser for her store.

And after that, let the chips fall where they may.

He thumped the ladder against the porch roof. “Okay,” he said, huffing just a bit because the ladder was heavy. “I think we need an assembly line. Put the lights on the porch.”

Shannon turned and set the big roll of lights on the floor behind her.

“Finley, you stand by the roll and carefully unwind them as Shannon feeds them to me.”

He grabbed the ladder, jostled it to be sure it was steady, and said, “I’ll be up here.”

He paused, faced Shannon. “Once I get up there, is there something to hang the lights on?”

“The previous owner left her hooks. They’re about six feet apart.”

He started up the ladder. “Perfect.”

He looped the string of lights on the first hook on the right side of the porch and strung them on hooks until he couldn’t reach the next one. Then he climbed down to reposition the ladder. At the bottom of the ladder, he smiled at Shannon. She quickly looked away.

Deciding he’d simply caught her off guard, he moved the ladder over to the center of the porch, climbed up and hung the rest of the lights. When he came down, Shannon skittered away from the ladder.

Okay. He hadn’t imagined that, but she could be eager to get done, not in the mood for tomfoolery.

He brushed his gloved hands together, knocking the roof dust and snow from them. “What now?”

“Now, I have a Santa’s sleigh to set up in the front yard.”

He peered at her. “Really?”

“Hey, my dad loves Christmas. It would be a disappointment for him if we didn’t set up the sleigh.”

“Okay.”

They walked into the shed and Shannon went directly to a lump covered by a tarp. Flinging it off, she revealed a life-size Santa’s sleigh, complete with a plastic life-size Santa.

Finley crept over. “Wow.”

Rory laughed, amazed that things Finley used to hate now amused her simply because Shannon got her to relate to Santa the same way she did cartoon characters.

She turned to him with wide eyes. “It’s so big.”

“Yeah, it is,” Shannon agreed. “But my dad loves it.”

Rory walked over. He knocked on the sleigh and confirmed his suspicions. “It’s plastic.”

“Yeah. That’s how I know we can lift it.” Shannon faced him, so he smiled at her.

She quickly turned away. “Anyway, it’s light. Won’t be hard to carry out. We just have to anchor it.”

Disappointment rose, but he smashed it down. They were working. She was single-minded in her determination to get the house and yard decorated for her dad. She wasn’t rebuffing him as much as she was simply focused.

Once they got into the house, he’d be better able to gauge her mood.

They worked like a well-oiled machine. Rory took one side of the sleigh. Shannon took the other. Because Rory was walking backward, Finley directed their steps. When they had the sleigh set up, they brought the reindeer out and lined them up them in front of the sleigh. Shannon arranged small red and green floodlights around the big plastic sleigh and turned off the huge spotlight.

Multicolored lights twinkled around the porch. Santa’s sleigh sat in a flood of red and green light. Finley jumped up and down, clapping her hands. Shannon looked extremely pleased that the decorating was done. And he was feeling downright jolly himself. Now that the work was done, they could play. So he reached down, grabbed two handfuls of snow, patted them into a ball and threw it at her.

She turned just in time to see it and ducked. “Hey!”

“Hey, yourself.” He reached down again, grabbed more snow and tossed it before she could react. This snowball thumped into her thigh.

Finley screeched with joy and bolted behind Santa’s sled for cover.

Shannon brushed idly at the snow on her jeans, glanced over at him and casually said, “You want a war?”

He motioned with his hands for her to bring it. “You think you can beat me?”

Rather than answer, Shannon bent, scooped snow and hurled a snowball at him. He dived behind an available bush. But that only gave Shannon time to scoop up two more handfuls of snow and heave them at him.

She was good. Fast. Having been raised in snow country, she seemed to have a system down pat. And Virginia boy that he was, he didn’t quite have the technique she did.

The battle lasted no more than five minutes and ended when he saw Finley shiver.

Walking out from behind the bush, he raised his hands in surrender. “Finley’s cold.”

Shannon thwacked one final snowball into his chest. “You lose.”

“Hey, I’m from the south. Considering that we get about two snows a year, I think I held my own.” She laughed.

And his heart did a small dance. He’d been correct. She’d missed all his smiles and cues because she was focused on decorating. But things would be different now that they were done.

When he reached the porch steps, he caught Finley’s hand and slid his other arm across Shannon’s shoulders. She immediately slid out from underneath it.

Running up the steps, she said, “I’ll make cocoa!”

Finley scrambled after her.

But Rory stayed at the bottom of the steps. What the heck was going on here? He wasn’t so bad at reading signals that he was misinterpreting Shannon’s. She felt something for him. He knew she had. He frowned. Had. Maybe had was the operative word? Maybe they’d had fun over the weekend, but she didn’t feel anything more, anything deeper?