Chapter Two
“Caffeine . . . I need coffee.” Haley yawned and picked up the empty mug from her desk. She stood up and stretched before heading for the law office’s break room. This was going to be a busy Monday, and once again, she hadn’t slept well the night before. Gee, it would be nice to get a good night’s sleep. Maybe she’d try one of those over-the-counter sleep aids tonight.
The sound of laughter drifted out of the break room. How long had it been since she’d laughed? Too long. She walked into the kitchen area and headed for the coffeepot. “What’s so funny?”
Their newest law intern, along with Haley’s two best friends and fellow paralegals, Kathy and Felicia, sat at one of the round tables. Kathy gestured toward the radio on the counter. “It’s over now, but we were laughing about KS96’s Loaded Question. This morning’s question was: What’s the sluttiest thing you’ve ever done?” Kathy went on to give her a brief description of what had transpired with the divorcée and the handyman named Sam Haney.
“The woman actually said after Sam did the job, she did him!” Felicia giggled. “The handyman said women throw themselves at him on the job all the time. Can you imagine?”
“It’s going viral. I’m seeing tweets and Facebook posts already, and the radio station’s website is flooded with comments,” Kathy added, scrolling down the screen of her tablet. “I can’t believe the guy gave his real name—his entire name.”
“Let me see that,” Haley said, holding her hand out for Kathy’s tablet. She read a few of the comments before handing the tablet back. People had plenty to say about the handyman, and none of it was good. The guy probably regretted making that call this morning.
“Identifying himself on the air the way he did is a lawsuit waiting to happen.” The law intern’s face lit up. “I’m going to call him and offer my services—pro-boner, of course.”
Another round of giggles ensued. That joke was as old as the Egyptian pyramids. Haley returned to the counter to pour coffee into her mug. “Do you believe it really happened? I think shows like that are setups. They’re staged.”
“Oh,” the law intern—what was her name again?—nodded. “I know it happens. I have a friend who brags all the time about how she’s done it with the UPS guy and the guy who does her townhouse’s lawn care. You’d be surprised.”
“I guess I would be.” Haley leaned back against the counter. “There’s no way I’d crawl into bed with a complete stranger. Would any of you do that?”
“You mean to tell me you’ve never had a one-night stand?” Felicia asked, her coffee-brown eyes widening.
“Nope, I never have.” Her heart wrenched. She’d gone from high school to college to being engaged to being dumped—all with the same man. Her one and only lover, the man who had broken her heart and left her. Practically at the altar.
“Haley, you need to get out more.” Felicia waggled a finger at her. “We have to plan a girls’ night out. You’ve been moping around here for months now. It’s time to move on.”
“Yes.” Kathy thumped her empty mug on the table like a gavel. “Girls’ night out. Count me in.”
“Me too.” Law Intern’s face lit up. “I know where there’s a male strip club. How about it, ladies? Get a stack of ones and let her rip?”
“All right.” Felicia pushed the intern’s shoulder. “You’re OK, Melissa. I like you.”
Oh, yeah. Melissa. That was her name. “Sounds like fun.” Not really. “But I think I’ll pass. I’m in the middle of remodeling my house and—”
“Girl, you’re in the middle of destroying your house.” Felicia shook her head. “Kathy and I have been there, remember?”
Heat crept up her neck to fill her cheeks. She and Michael had intended to remodel the place together, and she was bound and determined to do so despite his defection, or maybe because of it. She had to prove to herself that she could manage on her own. “Of course I remember. Thanks again for helping me with the wedding’s-been-cancelled cards.” She turned to the sink and grabbed a paper towel to wipe up any coffee drips she could find. “Anyway, a strip club isn’t exactly my thing.”
“All right, a nightclub crawl in Minneapolis then,” Melissa offered. “Anywhere where there are single men, loud music and alcohol.”
“Come on, Haley,” Kathy cajoled. “It’ll be fun. We haven’t gone out for more than lunch in ages. Let’s do this.”
“All right.” She sighed. “I’ll be the designated driver.” Felicia was right. She needed to stop moping. It was time she moved on, and going out with friends might just be the best thing for her.
“Uh, no.” Felicia snorted. “We’re all going to pitch in and pay my little brother to be our chauffeur for the evening. He’s in college. That boy is always broke. We’ll be doing him a favor.” She pushed her chair back and rose from her place. “This coming Saturday good for everybody?”
“I’m free.” Melissa got up as well. “Kathy?”
“It’ll work for me, and I’ll make sure Haley doesn’t bail on us. Your brother can pick up both of us at her house . . . if it’s still standing.”
“Hey.” Haley frowned. “Things are coming along just fine with my house,” she lied. “If you’re that concerned, I can come to your place to be picked up.”
“Nu-uh. I’ll be at your house at seven sharp. We’ll go have dinner somewhere first. Be ready to party.” Kathy rose from the table. “I have to get to work. I have depositions to process this morning.”
“Me too.” Felicia followed. “E-mail me your address, Melissa. We’ll be by for you right after we pick up Kathy and Haley.”
“OK.” Melissa grinned. “This is going to be great. I don’t know about you, but I could use some fun.”
Haley caught the intern’s infectious smile and returned one of her own. She’d never really done the club scene before. Sure, she’d gone to dinner and a movie with friends, and she’d gone dancing with Michael, but a club crawl? Not so much. Maybe it would be fun. She took her coffee from the counter and headed for the door. Once she settled herself at her desk, her cell phone chirped with her mom’s ringtone. She fished it out of her purse. “Hey, Mom. What’s up?”
“Hi, honey. Are you going to be home late Saturday afternoon?”
“Sure. What do you need?”
“It’s not what I need, Haley,” her mom muttered. “It’s what you need.”
“Oh?” Haley blinked. “What do I need?”
“Help with your house, that’s what. It’s a disaster area, and your father and I are concerned.”
Why today of all days was everyone ragging on her about her house? Her brow creased. “No, it’s not. I’m just in the demolition phase. The tear-out is always messy. Wait until I start the new install part, and then you’ll see. It’s going to be great.”
“Give it up, Haley Helen. You’re in over your head.” Her mom let go one of her famous long-suffering sighs. “Your father and I have decided to give you an early birthday present. We’ve hired a construction company slash handyman service to help you put things back together. We’re paying, so you cannot argue with me about this. Any day now I expect to hear on the news about a poor woman whose house has collapsed on top of her, name not to be released pending notification of her relatives. That would be us, your family.”
“Mom!” OK, so her mother wasn’t far off the mark. How-to videos and do-it-yourself books weren’t really working for her. She wasn’t finding it difficult to tear things apart, but putting them back together eluded her, and that made her feel helpless and overwhelmed to the point where she became immobilized. She and Michael had purchased the post-WWII story-and-a-half bungalow together, and he’d signed over full ownership to her before he left. Her heart thumped painfully at the thought of him.
She forced her mind away from the hurt. “I guess it would be nice to have a functioning kitchen again . . . and a bathroom.” She glanced at the clock. She had to wrap this call up and get to work. “The only time this construction company can send someone to do an estimate is on a Saturday afternoon? I’m leaving at seven sharp. Do you think they’ll be done in enough time for me to get ready?”
“They’re a busy company. Besides, Saturday was the only time I could make an appointment for you that didn’t interfere with your job.” Her mother paused. “Do you have a date Saturday night?”
The hopefulness in her mother’s voice really sucked. Haley pinched the bridge of her nose. “No. I’m going out with Kathy, Felicia and a new law intern from the firm.”
“Oh.”
How could one two-letter word carry such a load of disappointment? She bit her lip again, this time to refrain from responding. Her mother was an expert at this game, and Haley didn’t want to provide her with the next volley.
“I’m sure the estimator will be finished well before you need to leave.”
“Thanks, Mom.” She knew better than to fight this. Trudy Cooper was no quitter when it came to managing the lives of her children. “Maybe I can watch and learn while things are being fixed. I do appreciate the help. Tell Dad thank you for me.”
“Tell him yourself. You are coming for Sunday dinner, right?”
Haley smiled. Sunday dinners with her family were a tradition, one that had definitely helped her get through these past few months. “Of course. I’ll bring a vegetable dish. Will Junior make it this time?”
“He’d better. It’s a requirement for his continued support while he flounders away our money on multiple undergrad majors.” Trudy snorted. “Frank Junior is giving me gray hair.”
“You’ve been completely silver since you turned forty, Mom.” Haley laughed. “You keep trying to pin that on me and Frank, but we’re not taking the blame.”
“Just wait until you have children, Haley. Just wait.”
Haley’s eyes misted. What if she never did have children? What if she never found anyone to love her ever again? Why had her fiancé felt he had to move to the other side of the planet just to get away from her? Not knowing was the worst part. He’d refused to discuss his decision with her. He’d just . . . up and left.
“I’ve got to get back to work. Thanks, Mom. I really do appreciate the gift. I’ll see you Sunday, and I’ll bring the estimate for the work on my house with me.”
“You do that, sweetheart. See you Sunday.”
Sliding her phone back into her purse, Haley forced herself to focus on work. Some wounds were just too painful to prod, and her broken heart was one of them. She should be looking forward to her girls’ night out, and she would, dammit. She would look forward—not backward.
Sam’s phone vibrated in its belt holster. He put his nail driver down and pulled it out, checking the caller ID before answering. “Hey, Gramps. What’s up?”
“Are you going to make it into the office for lunch today?”
Sam glanced at the clock on his client’s wall. Unless a job kept them from it, he, his siblings, uncles, a few cousins and Gramps always gathered at the office for lunch. If they were lucky, Grandma Maggie brought lunch to them. If not, they had enough stuff in the fridge to feed an army. Eating together gave them a chance to run things by each other and talk about business. “Yeah, I’ll be there. Why?”
“Come back to my office when you get here.” Grandpa Joe grunted. “We need to talk.”
Uh-oh. “OK. See you then.” Grandpa Joe had already hung up by the time he got the last word out—as usual. Gramps hated to talk on the phone.
Sam wiped his sweaty palms on his jean-clad thighs before picking up his nail driver again. Maybe Gramps hadn’t heard about this morning’s radio show, and he just wanted to discuss a job. A man could hope.
Two hours later, he pulled his van into a parking spot in the small lot of Haney & Sons. He still got a rush of pride at the addition of the Handyman Service part of their sign. That had been his brainchild.
When the housing market crashed, he’d suggested they offer repair and handyman services along with the remodeling and new construction that had always been their bread and butter. Folks were hunkering down, fixing up the houses they were in rather than trading up. Things were improving in the construction industry now, but the handyman service had kept them afloat during the rough patches, and they’d decided to keep it going.
He enjoyed the variety of jobs he did as a handyman, though his first love would always be carpentry. They were at a point where they could take on a few more apprentices. In fact, he’d bring that up today.
Sam stomped his feet, freeing his boots of construction debris, and walked through the side door and into the kitchen of the house they’d remodeled into their offices. He continued on down the hall to his grandfather’s office. The door was open. His grandfather sat behind his desk with the phone pressed to his ear. He scowled at Sam before scribbling something on the yellow message pad in front of him.
They really needed to hire someone to answer the phones, file and do general office stuff, so Gramps could focus on other things. His cousin was there, dusting the shelves. “Hey, Jerry.” He gave his cousin a high five. “How’s it hanging?”
Jerry’s slanted eyes and Down syndrome features lit with a radiant smile. “It’s h-hanging.” He waggled a finger at him. “You’re in t-trouble, S-Sam.”
Great. Sam nodded and took a seat just as his grandfather hung up the phone.
“Just what is it you think we’re selling here, son?” Gramps gathered up a wad of yellow phone messages strewn over his desk and thrust them at him.
Sam took them. “You heard about—”
“Hell yes, I heard. Three-quarters of the Twin Cities’ female population heard. The phone has been ringing off the hook ever since your asinine on-the-air debut. You’d better hope your grandmother doesn’t know, because she’s on her way over.”
He gulped. “I don’t suppose she’s bringing lunch.”
“Lunch?” Grandpa Joe slapped his palm against his desk. The phone began to ring. Gramps ignored it. His bushy gray eyebrows dipped so low they nearly hid his eyes. Nearly. “Again, just what is it you think we’re selling here?”
Sam shrugged, feeling like an eight-year-old. He ran his hand over the lower half of his face and studied the pile of messages in his fist. “There are a lot of potential jobs here. I—”
“No,” Gramps gestured toward the messages, shaking his head, “this is not the way to get new business.”
“I’m only human.” He crossed his arms in front of him. “Women throw themselves at me. It’s not me who—”
“And what? You’ve eliminated the word no from your vocabulary? Don’t think for a minute I don’t know what goes on out there.” Gramps leaned back in his chair and waved a hand to indicate out there. “You might not believe this, but I was young and studly once. Believe you me, I had plenty of invitations on the job back then.”
“You turned them all down?” Sam arched a brow. “You always said no?”
“That’s not the point.” Gramps shifted the piles of clutter around on his desk. “Once I met your grandmother, that was it for me. I only had eyes for her. Still do. We Haney men can’t help ourselves when it comes to the one. After I met your grandmother, even the thought of being unfaithful shriveled my—”
“I’m not looking for the one.” I just wanna have fun, not lookin’ for the one . . . He put his thoughts to rock-and-roll music inside his head. He should try his hand at songwriting. Another award sprang to mind, best songwriter of the year, a blue-collar blues award . . .
Grandpa Joe cleared his throat and waved his hand in the air again. “Find a nice girl and settle down. In the meantime, keep it professional on the job.”
“I always keep it professional on the job. You know that.” Sam shifted in his chair. How many hot-blooded, young, single guys out there would refuse a gorgeous woman when she came on to him? Not a lot, he bet. Besides, there hadn’t been that many women. It all started when the handyman service began. The phenomenon had taken him by surprise and had gone to his head. “I’ve never engaged in any extracurricular activities until the work is finished.”
The aroma of Italian food wafted into the room, and his grandmother’s familiar step echoed down the hall. Sam slunk down in his seat. Nobody could reduce him to a mass of guilt and remorse like his silver-haired dynamo of a grandmother. Was it too much to hope she hadn’t heard?
“S-sam, we gonna coach h-hockey soon?” Jerry came to stand next to him.
“Of course we are, Jer.” Sam grinned at his cousin. “I already sent in the registrations and fees. We’re just waiting for the schedule.” They’d been coaching for a couple of years, including hockey camp during the summers, but things were different now that they were in Saint Paul’s Pee Wee League. They’d be competing in the upcoming tournament season, a new experience for them both.
“Samuel Joseph Haney.” Gran stomped into the room with her hands fisted on her hips and storm clouds in her eyes. “I cannot believe what I heard this morning.”
“Uh-oh,” Jerry whispered. “You’re in t-trouble again, S-sam.”
Sam flashed his cousin a don’t I know it look and shot up from his chair, intent on working his way around his grandmother and out of the building. He’d have lunch somewhere else today. “You can save your breath, Gram. Grandpa Joe already laid into me. I gotta go.”
He hurried toward the door to the parking lot, regretfully passing up his grandmother’s spaghetti with meatballs sitting on the kitchen counter. He opened the back door and ran straight into his uncle. “Hey, Uncle Dan.”
“Not staying for lunch?” His uncle blocked his escape.
Sam edged past him. “Nope, not today.”
Dan turned away from the door and walked beside him. “I heard the radio show this morning.” He shook his head. “If your mom and dad were alive—”
“Well they aren’t, are they?” They hadn’t been since he’d been a teenager, not since his fifteenth birthday. And there it was—the shortness of breath, racing heart and sweating palms he always got whenever he thought about his mom and dad’s accident. If his parents hadn’t been flying their single-engine plane over Lake Superior to be home for him, they’d still be alive.
He hadn’t let anybody new into his circle since that day, and he didn’t plan to anytime soon. Yep. He’d closed himself off after losing the two people who mattered most. He wasn’t an idiot. He realized his thinking was messed up, but it was what it was, and it worked for him. The friends he had today were the same friends he’d had since grade school—the few girls he’d dated included. The females in his circle were all married now, thank goodness.
Uncle Dan placed his hand on Sam’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Your birthday was just a few days ago, and I know this is a rough time of year for you. But Sam, I also know my brother would expect better of you. As your uncle, it’s my duty to say something about your behavior. Just think about it. You’re a good kid.” He patted him on the back. “Keep it in your pants, OK?”
“Uncle Dan,” Sam rolled his eyes, “I’m not a kid.”
Dan nodded, his gray eyes solemn. “Then don’t act like one.”
“I gotta go. Got a job to do.” There was nothing wrong with his behavior. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. No one was getting hurt. He wasn’t taking advantage of anyone. If anything, it was the other way around. Women were taking advantage of him, and he had no problem with that.
Haley stood in front of the full-length mirror behind her closet door, armed with a hair dryer. Already past five o’clock, she wondered if the estimator for the company her parents had hired would still make the appointment. At any rate, she’d be ready for her Saturday night out with friends. It would be nice when she could dry her hair in her bathroom again.
Her hair dried and twisted up into a loose knot, she applied her makeup and contemplated what she’d wear. Black leggings, high-heeled boots and a jersey tunic or a slinky black dress? She glanced toward her window. Clouds obscured the little daylight left, and was that a snowflake or two? Brrr. Leggings it is.
A loud knock on her front door sent her blood rushing. This was it. A professional was going to look at the mess she’d made of her house. Whoever it was, he or she had better not judge.
Still wearing her jeans and a long-sleeve Henley, she hurried to open the door. Her breath caught. Before her stood a man who could easily be featured in one of those “Stud of the Month” calendars, or maybe a sexy, blue-collar-works-with-his-hands calendar, featuring only him in different poses for each month—shirtless with a leather tool belt slung low on his sexy narrow hips.
Tall, broad-shouldered and blond, his bluer-than-blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he ran his gaze over her. Whoa. Was he checking her out? The curls and waves of his too-long sandy locks looked as if they hadn’t seen a brush all week.
She wanted to run her fingers through that mop, straighten it out for him. The flannel shirt he wore under the Carhartt canvas work jacket couldn’t be any more faded, and the white, crew-neck T-shirt peeking out from underneath somehow made the entire scruffy ensemble endearing. The overall effect screamed, “I need someone to take care of me.” He handed her a card.
She took it and slid it into her back pocket, too distracted to read. Flustered, she rolled her tongue back into her mouth and swung the door wide. “Are you here to do the estimate on the repairs to my house? You’re the guy from the construction company, right?” Oh, lord I hope so.
“Yes, ma’am.” He put little paper baggies with elastic tops over his work boots before stepping through the door. “If you’d like to show me what needs to be done, I’ll get started right away. I wouldn’t want to take up too much of your time on a Saturday night.” He winked.
He winked at me? Once again those sexy blue eyes of his roamed over her. How could he make the word done sound like crazy-hot sex? Yikes. Where was this sudden surge of lust coming from? She hadn’t been interested in anyone since . . . Oh, for heaven’s sake, Haley, you’re not interested in him. He’s just fun to look at.
She led him through the living room, the small dining area and into the kitchen. Following his gaze as he studied the room, she knew it couldn’t be called a kitchen anymore. Not since she’d torn it apart.
“Cripes.” He turned around slowly, taking in the state of disrepair. “What happened here? Did you get this place through an auction? Was this a drug house or something, and a search and seizure led to this?” He gestured toward the walls.
“Hey.” She glared at him. “I’ve been doing the tear-out myself, and you can’t tell me your tear-outs look any neater. It’s not the demolition that matters.” She glanced at the holes in the old plaster walls where she’d begun to tear them down. “This kitchen needs to be rewired and the outside walls insulated. I was going to put up new sheetrock once that was done.”
One side of the kitchen counter she’d managed to pry away from the wall, but the side with the sink she’d left intact. She had to brush her teeth somewhere. “I have stuff stored in the basement. A new sink and faucet I got on sale . . . light fixtures, insulation and drywall. I haven’t picked out cabinets, countertops or flooring yet.”
She stuffed her hands into her front pockets. “I’ll need new appliances, of course. I think this stove is from the fifties, and the fridge is probably about twenty years old.”
Moving over to the intact counter, she picked up the plans she’d had drawn up for her dream kitchen, along with the pictures she’d cut out of magazines of how she wanted the room to look. “This is what I had planned to do, only . . .”
He laid the plans on top of the aluminum clipboard he held in his hands, the kind that held a stack of papers inside and latched shut. She couldn’t help noticing his hands. He had fine hands, long slender fingers that somehow managed to look entirely masculine. Maybe it was the roughness of the skin . . . Something about a man’s work-callused hands just screamed sexy to her.
He studied the plans, and then he glanced at the magazine pictures. “Hmm.” He lifted his gaze to hers, his expression incredulous. “You thought you could do this yourself?”
She nodded. An angry spark flared to life. She was intelligent and capable. Given enough time and a little direction, she could accomplish anything she set out to do, including installing a new kitchen. There had to be classes offered somewhere. She just hadn’t had the time to look into taking one.
He gestured toward the entryway between her kitchen and dining area. Exposed fragments of framing from the wall she’d been knocking away stuck out at odd angles. “You do know that’s a load-bearing wall, right?”
She had no idea what that meant. “Does that mean I can’t widen the entry to the dining room? This house just feels so cut up. I want to improve the flow of movement from one area to the next. You know, open it up a bit.”
“Sure. It can be widened, but you have to add support.” He moved to the wall in question and stared up. Then he glanced at the arched entryway dividing her dining area from the living room. “You want it arched like that one?” He gestured with his pen.
“That would be nice,” she said.
“If you don’t mind my asking, what do you do for a living?” One side of his sexy mouth quirked up, rendering her weak in the knees. “I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of experience in home repair.”
“I’m a paralegal.” How tall was he? Around six feet and some change, she guessed. Standing near him made her feel positively delicate. “Do you want to see the bathroom?”
“Is it in a similar state as the kitchen?”
She nodded. “’Fraid so.”
He smiled and pointed with his pen. “Lead on, pretty lady.”
He thinks I’m pretty? Her insides fluttered. She shook it off. He probably said that to all of his female clients. He’s schmoozing, that’s all. Her bathroom had puke-green, white and black swirly linoleum tiles covering the floor, and pink and black plastic tiles covering the walls halfway up. Hideous. She had no shower, and corroding chrome fixtures completed the dismal decor that hadn’t been updated since the house had been built, and that had been 1947.
She’d ripped the rusting medicine cabinet and mirror off the wall, along with the matching fixtures for the toilet paper holder and the light switch cover. The vanity was cheap and the sink tiny. She’d shut off the water to the sink and had already torn the vanity away from the wall too.
Problem was, most of the things she’d torn out in her bungalow were too heavy or awkwardly large for her to carry out of the house by herself. As much as she hated to admit it, she did need help. “The only things working in here are the bathtub and the toilet.” She backed away so he could move inside the tiny room. “I want a shower installed.”
“I see,” he said, making notes on his clipboard. “Give me about twenty minutes to do some measuring, and then we’ll sit down and talk about an estimate.”
“All right.” She fought the urge to follow him around her house just to ogle. “I’ll leave you to it. Just give me a shout when you’re done.”
He already had his tape measure out. His pen, now clamped between his teeth, and an expression of concentration on his ruggedly handsome face, he set to work. Haley moved down the short hallway to her bedroom. Might as well change for her night out. Her clothes were lying across the end of her bed. She closed the door, stripped and quickly dressed, and then she went to her closet to choose a purse—something small to carry the bare minimum so she could keep it slung across her chest all evening. She’d just finished transferring items from her larger bag to the smaller purse when the estimator called out to her. What was his name? His card was still in the pocket of her jeans. She’d look at it later.
His gaze traveled over her from head to foot again as she met him in her dining room. He sat with a bunch of papers spread out on her table. Was she imagining the look of appreciation he flashed her way? “So, what are the damages?” she asked, sliding into the chair next to him.
“Well, there are a couple of ways to go.” He shuffled the papers in front of him. “We can get materials and appliances at wholesale, and our markup isn’t nearly as high as the markups through retail stores. This estimate is for labor only,” he said, pushing a page toward her. “If you decide you want to buy the materials on your own, keep in mind that’s going to add quite a bit to the total. If you decide you want to purchase cabinets, countertops, et cetera through us, I’ll point you in the right direction and give you a few catalogs to look through. Everything Lowe’s, Home Depot and Menards carries, we can get for you at a good discount.”
Haley glanced at the figure for labor, and a tiny gasp escaped. Whoa. “That much?”
“You want it done right, don’t you? Your job is significantly more involved than just handyman services. This is a remodel.”
“Of course I want it done right.” Maybe she should insist that her parents get a few more estimates before deciding. But her mom had said they’d already hired this company, and knowing her dad, references and comparisons had already taken place. She stood up. “OK. I’ll probably get materials and appliances through your company. At least that will save a little money.” She’d pay for materials herself, no matter what her parents said.
He rose from his place and held out his hand. She rose with him and reached out to shake on the deal, stunned when she found herself being drawn closer. She peered up at him, confused. Alarmed. Aroused.
“I have some time on my hands. Would you like me to stay for a while?” he purred.
“What?” She withdrew her hand from his and took a step back.
“You know.” He winked at her again. “I have time for a little of that special touch you requested. Although I have to admit, the touching part generally doesn’t happen until after a job has been completed.” He stepped closer. “In your case, I’ll make an exception.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, and you need to leave. Now.”
Confusion clouded his face. “When you called . . . when we made the appointment . . . you said you wanted my special touch.”
“What are you talking about? I never called you.” All the air left her lungs. “My mother is the one who set up this appointment.” His expression went through a series of rapid changes, which would have been amusing under different circumstances.
He pointed his finger at her. “Your mother pimped you out? Why would she do that?”
Indignation swirled into the mix of mortification and shock freezing her in place. “No.” She fisted her hands at her sides. “You’re the one being paid here. My mother pimpled you out.” Suspicion dawned, and more than anything, Haley wanted to be wrong. “What’s your name again?”
“I gave you a card.”
“I didn’t read it.”
“Sam Haney, with Haney & Sons Construction and Handyman Service.”
Her eyes went wide, and her stomach dropped. “You’re him. That guy from the radio show.” Her humiliation was now complete. Her own mother had tried to set her up for a one-night stand with Sam the Handyman from Loaded Question. Her hand went to her forehead. “You’re the man-whore who . . . you’re a . . . a . . .” she stammered. “What do you call the male equivalent of a slut? There’s a word for that; I know there is.”
“Yep. It’s lucky.” He shrugged and began to gather his things.
“No. That’s not it.”
“Depends on your point of view.”
“Lothario. That’s the word, and you’re fired,” she bit out between clenched teeth. Her mother had gone too far this time, and Haley couldn’t wait to have at her.
“You can’t fire me. You didn’t hire me. Your mother did.”
“I certainly can fire you. This is my house.” She jutted out her chin. “You can’t be any good at what you do if you have to offer sex on the side to get jobs.” She strode to the front door and threw it open. Cold air washed over her, but it did nothing to cool her anger . . . or her embarrassment.
“Whatever. Sorry for the misunderstanding. You can untwist your knickers, Ms. Cooper. I’m leaving.”
Haley shut and locked the door after him, too dazed to move. She leaned back against the door. How should she deal with her mother? Her first impulse was to call her up and read her the riot act, but she knew better. When dealing with Trudy Cooper, it was always best to cool down first. Think rationally, even when the situation was anything but rational.
Her mom meant well, she just had no boundaries where her children were concerned. In her mother’s mind, Haley was still a little girl whose life needed to be managed. “Argh! I can’t believe my own mother tried to set me up with Sam the Handyman.” Even worse, she couldn’t believe how attractive she found him. Embarrassing, really. She really did need this night out with her friends.