Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  As much as Eddie wanted to stay in the blissful state of unconsciousness, he knew he needed to open up his eyes and deal with whatever Emily was trying to tell him. Forcing his heavy lids open, he saw his daughter standing beside his bed, dressed for the day in a pair of new shorts and a flower shirt he’d bought for her the day before when they’d gone shopping for summer clothes.

  Clearing his throat, he closed his eyes again and rubbed his face. A huge yawn escaped from his mouth as he stretched his arms above his head.

  Coffee. He needed coffee.

  “Okay, Daddy? I’ll be right back,” Em said quickly, the way she did when she was trying to pull one over on him, at the same time that he heard the pitter-patter of her feet leaving his room.

  “Hold it,” his scratchy voice sounded with authority.

  The footsteps stopped and he heard a loud sigh. Reaching over, he grabbed his phone off the nightstand. His vision was blurry but he could make out that it was seven fifteen in the morning. Haley was not a morning person.

  “Haley’s probably still asleep. Why don’t you wait to go see her ‘til nine?” That would buy Eddie about an hour more sleep, which sounded like his personal version of heaven right about now.

  “She’s awake. I saw her outside washing her car,” Emily chirped happily.

  Haley already washed her car. Damn. And he’d missed it.

  Pushing up, he turned and sat on the edge of his bed. “You know you’re not allowed to go out in the front without me.”

  Emily’s hands flew up in the air as she animatedly explained, “But I’m just going across the street to Haley’s to make sure that she’s coming to my performance tonight. I’m not playing outside. I’m almost eight, Dad,” she declared as she propped her hands on her hips and looked at him like he’d be crazy to enforce his rule.

  So now he was ‘Dad’ not ‘Daddy,’ huh? He stood, grabbing his dark gray sweats off the floor. “Let me put some sweats on and I’ll watch you walk over.”

  An exasperated huff was the only response he got as Emily turned on her heels, her long honey-blond hair flying in the air as she spun around and stomped out of the room.

  Eddie pulled up his sweats and followed her. She walked with heavy feet, her arms crossed defensively in front of her chest. Obviously, he’d ruined her I’ll-ask-Dad-while-he’s-half-asleep plan to venture across the street alone.

  Last weekend, when they’d been over at Riley and Chelle’s, Emily had asked Chelle how old she was the first time she’d kissed a boy. Emily hadn’t known he’d been able to overhear the conversation through the baby monitor. Neither had Chelle, who had relayed it to him later. She’d thought it was cute. Eddie had not thought it was so cute.

  He ran his fingers through his hair as he padded down the stairs in his irritated daughter’s wake. First, she wanted a bra. Then, she wanted to know how old his sister had been when she’d kissed a boy. Now, she was plotting to head across the street by herself.

  She was obviously growing up. Eddie saw that. He just needed to make sure that it wasn’t happening too fast.

  “Hey, squirt,” he said as they stepped outside into the sunny morning. Lifting his hand, he covered his eyes from the bright rays.

  Keeping her voice carefully modulated, she turned back around. “What?” He had to give her props for at least trying to disguise the frustration in her voice. It was still seeping through, but he could tell that she was giving it the old college try.

  “When you get back from Haley’s, do you want go to The Diner?”

  Excitement lit her eyes, but just like she’d done with her attitude before, she tried her best to hide it. “Okay,” she said faux casually.

  “Oh, and you can wear the lip gloss you got yesterday,” Eddie said. He knew it wasn’t a bra, but he was trying to take baby steps in letting her grow up. When he’d bought her the pink lip gloss, he’d told her she could wear it around the house but only out in public with permission.

  Emily’s brown eyes widened with excitement as she exclaimed, “I can?” He nodded. She ran towards him and flung herself into his arms. “Thank you, Daddy!”

  Now it’s ‘Daddy’ again? He knew that things would not always be fixed this easily. He was under no illusion that breakfast and lip gloss would turn things around so effortlessly when she was a headstrong teenager. God help him. He’d better enjoy this while it lasted.

  Eddie squeezed her tight before setting her back down. Leaning against the front doorframe, he watched his little girl skip across the street. He was happy to note that she had looked both ways before crossing.

  As she stepped up to the front door, his heart picked up speed. There was a very good chance that he would be catching a glimpse of Haley in just a few moments. Eddie had seen her a few times but hadn’t talked to her over the past week. He’d been desperately trying to stick to his plan to maintain distance.

  So far, it had been working in that there had been no more close calls. But he missed her. A lot. He was actually a little shocked at just how much.

  Emily reached up and rang the doorbell, and Eddie cringed inwardly. Even if Haley was up and about this early, Krista might still be sleeping. He needed to remember to talk to Em about that. She was a very polite and courteous girl, but she didn’t always consider things like sleep.

  This morning being a perfect example.

  The door opened and Eddie’s mouth went dry, his palms instantly growing damp. Haley stood framed in the doorway, a white terrycloth towel wrapped her body. The towel not only showed an ample amount of her sexy, long legs, it also molded against her body, hugging the curves Eddie craved to see. To touch. To kiss.

  Eddie watched as his daughter animatedly spoke, her hands flying in the air. Haley moved to the side, inviting Em into the house. His little squirt turned to wave to him before she skipped inside. Then, in a moment that he would remember until he was six feet under, Haley’s gorgeous, clear blue eyes lifted to meet his as she was closing the door and his world stopped spinning on its axis.

  He’d passed out one time from heat exposure on a site after working several sixteen-hour days in a row. The same sensation of everything zooming into tunnel vision occurred now, the difference being that, instead of the black space narrowing to a pinpoint, it all surrounded Haley. Nothing existed except the two of them.

  Eddie honestly couldn’t say how long they stood, eyes locked, motionless. He knew he would never be able to put into words exactly what was happening between them in that moment. He had no idea if Haley was feeling the same thing he was. But he knew she had to feel something, because in that moment, something had definitely happened.

  But then as fast as it had happened, it was over. Something inside her house—probably Emily—pulled her attention away from him and she turned her head. When she did, the lust-fog-trance-spell he’d fallen under snapped and the only remnant that remained was his pounding heartbeat, which sounded in his own ears like wild horses running at full speed.

  Haley turned back and lifted her hand, waving the way she always did to indicate that Em was going to stay there for a bit. He nodded his head on autopilot and watched as she shut her front door.

  Damn. Whatever that had been, it had been potent. Not knowing what else to do, he went inside his own house. As he closed his door behind him, a thought occurred to him. Em had said that she was running over to Haley’s to make sure that she was coming to her performance tonight.

  He’d been so focused on making sure that Emily had had everything she needed for her first starring role as Annie—the wig, the dress, the shoes, the socks. When it came to things like that, he had to make sure he had detailed lists he could check off. If he didn’t, then inevitably something would fall through the cracks. Especially since it wasn’t
like he could just go to one store that had everything she needed. Nope. The socks had been at one place, the shoes another. For the dress they’d had to go out of town. That’s what he’d been focusing on. Well, that and the fact that his baby girl was going to be up on stage in front of a fairly large audience. He had to admit that he was a little nervous for her.

  Now his nerves and Em’s costume were both on the backburner. He’d be seeing Haley. Tonight. That thought made him much happier than it should have.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  HALEY STEPPED THROUGH the double doors of the auditorium and looked up at the stage where she’d played the lead in Alice in Wonderland in third grade, Sandy in Grease in fourth grade, and finally, her crowning achievement at Harper’s Crossing Elementary was her fifth grade performance as Kim McAfee in Bye Bye Birdie.

  Those were good times. She had loved being other people for a few hours. Actually, she’d loved everything about those performances. Learning the lines. Rehearsals. Wardrobe.

  Since her days at the elementary school, a lot of renovations had been made to her old stomping grounds, including new padded chairs instead of the old wooden ones, new carpeting, new curtains, and of course, fresh paint. But somehow, even though to the naked eye the space was drastically different, it felt, it smelled, it seemed, exactly the same to Haley.

  Scanning the nearly filled assembly hall, she realized that changing eight times in preparation for this evening had not only been overkill, it had probably cost her a good seat for the show. After all of her changes, she’d ended up going with a salmon-colored lace dress from Amber’s new vintage collection and camel-colored sandals with turquoise beading on the straps. Ultimately, this dress had made the cut because it had a peek-a-boo back and hit her just above the knee, accentuating her toned calves.

  She felt bad that her indecision had made her run late. But after this morning, when she’d almost spontaneously combusted from the heat that Eddie was putting off from across the street, she couldn’t really blame herself. Haley had spent a good portion of the day reliving that moment.

  It had been magical. It had been powerful. It had been unbelievable.

  Her working theory for the occurrence was that, from his point of view, she’d been standing half naked and in a towel. Most guys would probably react to that. From her perspective, she’d been having serious Eddie withdrawals since their talk last Saturday. This week it had gotten increasingly worse with each day that had passed and she still hadn’t seen even a glimpse of him. Which was really out of the norm. Since she’d moved into the house across the street from him, it had been rare for her to go two days in a row without at least an Eddie sighting. But all week, nothing. Until this morning.

  The force of the silent encounter had been so strong it had actually made her knees weak. She’d never experienced that before. She’d heard people talk about it, sing songs about it, write about it, but she had always thought of it in the abstract. However, there’d been nothing abstract about this morning.

  Nope.

  Moving down the side aisle in search of the closest seat she could score, she waved and said ‘hi’ to her cousins and their wives, who were scattered throughout the audience. Alex and his wife Jamie had good seats. Front row. Which made sense because their son Joey was probably also in the performance. Craning her neck, she tried to see if there were any open seats beside them.

  “Hales.”

  The sexy baritone voice sounded beside her and Haley jumped, sucking in a startled breath. When she looked up, Eddie was hovering over her, a small grin on his face. She pushed his chest playfully as she tried to regulate her breathing.

  “You scared me! Stop sneaking up on me.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be stealth,” Eddie explained, his amusement at rattling her obvious in his tone. “Emily asked me to come find you.”

  “Is she okay?” Haley asked, concern flooding her. Since landing the role of Annie a month ago, Emily had been nothing but excited to play it, but Haley knew that jitters and nerves could pop up before show time.

  “She’s fine. She just wants to see you before the show.” Eddie turned to the side to let Haley pass so she could make her way backstage. As she walked past, her shoulder and arm brushed against his solid form. She could feel the heat of his body beneath his navy blue button up shirt.

  Ignore it, she told herself. She was doing a pretty good job of shaking it off until she felt his large hand settle on her lower back as he guided them both towards the door that led to the backstage area.

  How in the world could such an innocent gesture feel so intimate, sexual, and safe at the same time? The weight of his palm against her back, the feeling of his large fingers spread out almost to her hip, made Haley not only feel protected, but it also sent shockwaves of arousal spreading through her.

  Stepping through the door, she heard Emily calling her name but she couldn’t find her girl. There was a sea of kids, parents, and teachers. Eddie easily navigated them both through the crowd to his daughter.

  Haley’s hands flew to her mouth when she saw her. Emily wore a red curly wig, the trademark red dress with white collar and belt, white ankle socks, and black Mary Jane shoes. Emily was Annie.

  “You look amazing!” Haley exclaimed.

  A huge smile spread across Emily’s face as she glowed with excitement.

  “Five minutes ‘til curtain,” Mrs. Simon, the vice principal, announced loudly. “Parents, if you could please go take your seats.”

  Haley bent down and gave Em a quick hug. “You are going to be amazing!”

  “I know,” Emily replied hugging her back, her confidence shining through.

  “Break a leg, squirt.” Eddie leaned down and kissed his daughter on the top of her red, curly-wigged head.

  Emily’s eyes widened in horror. “You want me to break my leg?”

  Haley and Eddie looked at each other and burst out laughing. But as soon as Haley looked back down at Em and saw the confusion on her face, she quickly composed herself and explained, “It’s just something that people say to performers. It means good luck.”

  Emily did not look like she was buying what Haley was selling. “Then why don’t they just say good luck?”

  Haley smiled, looking back and forth between Eddie and Emily. “I have no idea. We’ll Google it.”

  “Okay,” Emily readily agreed.

  Mrs. Simon was busily ushering all the parents out, and Eddie and Haley made their way out of the room that felt like it was packed with sardines. As he again rested his hand on her lower back, she was filled with how perfect and right it felt.

  Haley quickly reminded herself that she shouldn’t get used to that. She wasn’t sure where it had come from, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It might not ever happen again, so she was just going to enjoy it.

  As they all filed out of the doorway, everyone started scurrying to their seats. Haley resigned herself to the fact that she would be in the nosebleed section. No way was there going to be any prime real estate just minutes before the curtain went up.

  She began heading up the aisle when Eddie’s fingers tightened. His firm grip caused a pull deep in her belly. She looked up at him and he tilted his head toward the front row.

  “I saved our seats when I got here.”

  “Oh.” She nodded and moved towards the seats that were a couple down from Alex and Jamie, who both smiled at her, Jamie waving hello. Haley lifted her hand in greeting as she took her seat. She was doing her absolute best to act completely cool, calm, and collected. But the fact that he’d saved ���our’ seats made her want to do the happy dance. In fact, inside she was doing the Moonwalk, Electric Slide, Cabbage Patch, Roger Rabbit, and Pony. Outside, she hoped she looked totally unaffected by his announcement
.

  As Eddie took his seat, his large legs took up much more room than the small seats were built for. His thigh and knee brushed hers. It wasn’t skin-to-skin contact since he was wearing linen trousers, but it still felt…amazing.

  And that wasn’t the only place their bodies touched. They were both using their shared arm rest. Haley always loved being around Eddie this close, but touching? That was almost too much. Heated tingles spread from all the places they touched to her entire body.

  Oh my.

  Now she had to add her reaction to this close contact to the list of things she was hoping didn’t read like a billboard. Which was especially difficult. She’d always envied people like Amber, Eddie, and her cousins Seth and Riley who could mask their feelings under unreadable, expressionless faces. She never had such a gift.

  She felt her toes wiggling in her sandals and immediately stilled them. Damn, Eddie had been right. She did wiggle her toes when she was nervous. As she pondered what other ticks or quirks she might have that she was blissfully unaware of, Eddie leaned closer to her.

  “You don’t have to be nervous for her. She’s gonna do great,” he said with a soothing tone that washed over Haley like a cool breeze.

  “I’m not. I know she’s going to be amazing,” Haley assured him. She might be nervous but it was not for Em. She was excited for her girl.

  How had Eddie known she was nervous anyways? She couldn’t have been wiggling her toes for that long. What was he a super sleuth or something?

  As if reading her mind, he whispered, “You also bite the inside of your mouth when you’re nervous.”

  “Oh.” Haley wasn’t about to argue with him. Especially considering the fact that there was an indentation of teeth on her inner cheek.

  The curtain began to rise and the audience cheered. As Mrs. Simon made her way to center stage to welcome everyone, Eddie leaned even closer to Haley. So close, in fact, that when he spoke, his soft lips brushed the outer rim of her ear. If she’d felt shockwaves before, his heated breath, his voice, and his lips sent an earthquake of sensation rioting through her.