All I Want (3 page)

“Maybe I want you to figure it out on your own?”

Okay, definitely flirting. Positively flirting. Good sign. “Do I get a hint?”

“I’ve heard you’re pretty smart. I bet you can figure it out.” With that, the song ended and she looked up at him, sent him another sly smile and glided away toward her table.

Damn, well, he definitely made ground. Now he just needed to figure out which way to go from here.

Payback

“Are you sure they won’t mind that we’re doing this?” Carly asked Isabel after she was handed a paint roller. Carly knew Brynn was very anal about things in her house. Everything had to be done a certain way, placed in the proper location, and completed to perfection. Carly was lucky Brynn even let her hold a paint roller when Brynn had helped Carly do a few things to her own home, so she didn’t feel qualified to touch anything in Brynn’s new house.

“Not at all. Besides, this is just payback for all the times Alec has come into my home and done things without my permission.” Isabel stopped and eyed Phil. “You should feel lucky your house was completed when you went on your honeymoon. I’m just returning the favor for when you gutted and redid my entire kitchen when your father took me on that cruise.”

Phil actually blushed, and Carly thought it was hilarious. “That wasn’t my idea.”

“I know it wasn’t,” Isabel said sweetly. “But you participated, so you still get blamed.”

“You said you loved it,” he argued.

“I did, and I still do, but you did it without my knowledge.”

“Dad knew.”

“Of course he did.”

“Trust me, Phil,” William Harper jumped in. “She made me pay for it too. Kaitlin is the only one who didn’t get any flack for it.”

“Who says I didn’t?” Kaitlin replied.

Snorting, Phil said, “Really? Mom never gives you grief.”

Ryan, Kaitlin’s husband, said, “She gets just as much as the rest of you.”

“Keep it up, Ryan,” Isabel said, chuckling. “You’ll get the cold shoulder next.”

“Ha, pretty boy. That will teach you,” Ben said, looking at Ryan when he walked in the door with Presley behind him.

It seemed to Carly the whole gang was here to pitch in, more people than Carly could count at the moment. Alec and Brynn had tried to get their house completely finished before the wedding, but they just couldn’t manage it.

Looking around the room, she watched as Isabel handed out paint rollers and instructions just like a drill sergeant. “We all know how organized Brynn is, thank God for that. She’ll need it with as much of a slob as Alec is. Anyway, all their paint had been ordered and Phil knows which rooms are getting what colors.”

Ten minutes later, everyone was assigned to a room in pairs with the exception of her. Brynn’s brother and father, Andy, were off hanging molding.

Carly was left alone in the smaller formal living room. Not that it was small, really. No room in the four-bedroom home was small, not even the finished basement. Thankfully the goal was to just get the main floor and upstairs bedrooms painted today. Worst case, Alec and Brynn could finish the basement.

“So where do you need me?” Sean asked, walking through the front door and spotting Phil.

“Carly is by herself, so grab a roller and help her out. Two people to a room and we should get this done pretty fast.”

The heat rushed to her face, fast and furious. She hadn’t been expecting to see Sean today. When she woke up this morning she was mortified to remember how she’d flirted with him. It had to have been the champagne, of course it was. It was the only thing she could think of.

She’d never flirted with a man like that before. Ever. Not even someone she had been dating.

She remembered everything she’d said to him the night before at the wedding, too. Ugh, so embarrassing—admitting that she ran away from him, and not because she was scared of him. She pretty much threw it in his lap how she found him attractive. At least she thought she did, because it was the truth.

The first time she met Sean she stumbled a touch. Well, stumbled a lot. For the average woman it would have been a tiny stumble, but she was already shy and awkward around men.

Walking into Brynn’s office to talk with Brynn and seeing Sean there threw her off balance back then. He was taller than most of the men she was drawn to. She’d always liked men that were on the shorter side, even skinnier. Not someone that was so intimidating to her in size. Of course most of the men she seemed to be around lately were intimidating to her in size, Sean included, even though he was the shortest man here today.

There was something about Sean that had drawn her in at first glance, almost a year ago. His dirty blonde hair with a hint of red in it, the way his hazel eyes had twinkled when he walked forward and thanked her for bringing Brynn to them. Twinkled was probably the wrong word to describe a man, but it was the only thing she could come up with. Maybe Brynn was right— maybe she spent too much time around young kids.

Still, he was so happy and good-natured. He just went with the flow, always laughing, joking and well…happy. Just like her. Again, not something she was used to from the men she was drawn to.

Even though he was tall, he wasn’t overly big, but definitely wasn’t scrawny. There was a defined look to him. One that worked well on him—and especially attracted her. The one problem was she clammed up around him every time, just like Brynn accused her of.

Now here he was going to be painting right alongside of her. Here she was, without a clue on how to handle him, what to say, what to do, or how to act.

***

Sean looked over at Carly quietly moving the roller up and down on the wall. She’d barely done more than nod her head and politely say hi to him this morning. Now it looked like he might have lost all that he gained the night before.

He wasn’t one for giving in easily though. He would be damned if he was going to take any steps backwards. “Where’s Droopy?”

She jumped slightly, then turned her head to answer. “Sleeping in his crate in the kitchen. Drew brought him over earlier, as they are both leaving for home from here. I’ll take Droopy with me when I’m done.”

He nodded. “Are you ready for babysitting duty?”

“Sure. How hard can it be, right? As Brynn keeps telling me, all he does is sleep, eat and go to the bathroom.”

Sean tried to bite back a laugh. Guess she never had a dog before. He’d had plenty growing up, and puppies did a lot more than that. The good thing was Droopy would be in the office during the day and not left alone to get into mischief. Though Droopy did seem to sleep more than most of the puppies he’d had growing up. Bulldogs were obviously a much lazier breed, even when puppies. Guess it fit Alec well. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

She nodded and went back to her painting. A few minutes later she spoke up. “Don’t get so close to the ceiling.”

“What?”

“Isabel lectured us all to stay away from the ceiling with the rollers. To use a brush, so we don’t get paint on the ceiling. The crown molding will cover up any gaps, but I know Brynn and she will flip out if paint gets on her ceilings. At least that’s what Isabel said.”

He knew Brynn too; she was very particular about the way things were done. “Thanks for the warning. I’m surprised they got everyone here to do this.”

“Why?”

“I’m not so sure Alec and Brynn are going to be happy about us finishing their house for them.”

Softly, her eyes got a tender look in them, then her lips quirked up next. He wanted so badly just to put the roller down and walk over and pull her into his arms. That would be a little bit too bold. It’d taken him months to even dance with her. “I said the same exact thing, but Isabel explained she was taking responsibility for it.” He watched as she nervously pushed at her hair, then pulled a rubber band off her wrist and put her hair into a ponytail.

He nodded once and tried not to sigh over her continued shyness. “Well, if she is taking responsibility for it, then we should get to it.”

An hour later, they’d finished the room and were wiping their hands off. Sean looked around and decided he and Carly did well. He wasn’t one for construction work, but he could do the basics. He’d helped his father with repairs around the pub plenty in his life. And Carly, for all of her protesting that she barely knew what to do with a paint roller, had done a pretty decent job, too.

“Should we see where else they need help?” she asked.

“We could. Or we could take a break and talk.”

He walked out of the room into the kitchen, grabbed a couple bottles of water, then brought them back, handing one to her. “Have a seat,” he said, gesturing to the floor. Not real chivalrous, but it was the best he had to offer.

“What did you want to talk about?” she asked, sitting Indian style, looking leery and making him feel guilty. He didn’t want to upset her or make her nervous. And he definitely didn’t want her to run out of the room, but he was afraid she might with the way her eyes were darting around.

“Nothing serious,” he assured her. Well, it was to him, but he didn’t want to let on. “I did some thinking last night.”

“Oh no,” she groaned, blushed, and buried her face in her hands. “About last night. I’m sorry about what I said and how I acted.”

He stopped for a moment, curious, and asked, “Why are you sorry?”

That question seemed to throw her for a loop, and she sat there quietly gathering her thoughts, it seemed. “I behaved inappropriately with you,” she finally said.

He threw his head back and laughed. “That’s what you think is inappropriate? Carly, that was nothing. And,” he said quickly before she could interrupt, because he saw her open her mouth and try to defend herself, “I was happy. Thrilled. Even flattered.”

“You were?” she said, looking baffled at the moment.

She couldn’t be this naive, but maybe she was. “Listen. I’ll be honest with you. I’m not sure if it was the champagne that loosened you up.”

“It was. It absolutely was,” she confirmed before he could say another word.

“Then wait here while I run to the store and buy some more.” He had to laugh at her shocked expression but continued on before she could speak again. “Carly, I find you attractive. I have for a long time. I even alluded to that last night when you made the comment about guessing why you ran away all the time. After a lot of thought, I came to the conclusion that you find me attractive as well.”

He held his breath. He was taking a risk throwing it out there like that. All or nothing, he told himself. If she said no, he was prepared to argue, because he knew she would be lying. The dance they shared yesterday was still too fresh in his mind. Thankfully, she was truthful. “Well sure, I find you good-looking.”

“Gosh, you don’t have to sound like you’re pacifying me.”

“I wasn’t doing that, really I wasn’t,” she said quickly.

He snickered at the distraught look on her face. “Relax, Carly, I know that. It was just the way you said it. Listen, I’ll make this easy and straightforward. I find you extremely attractive. I like the person you are, from the handful of times we’ve talked, and I admire the person you are from everything Brynn has said about you. I’d like to get to know you a little bit better, and would like to take you to dinner sometime if you’re interested.”

She opened her mouth and then shut it. She seemed almost thrown off by what he’d just said about her, but it was the truth, every word of it. She was a great person.

Before she could answer, Isabel walked in and eyed the two of them knowingly, then said, “Sorry to interrupt, but since you two are done, why don’t we all grab a quick lunch and let the paint dry some more. Then maybe you wouldn’t mind painting another spare bedroom upstairs? Phil, Ryan, and Mac are going to start hanging the crown molding with Drew and Andy. We’re making a lot of progress.”

“Sounds good,” Sean said, then turned to Carly. “Think about it and let me know tomorrow when you drop off Droopy.”

Happy Thoughts

So Carly thought about it all night long. It’s not like she had anything else she could be doing, like sleeping. No, that would be the normal thing to be doing at midnight, except Droopy was having none of that.

He’d been whimpering, then crying, before going to full-blown howling in his crate since they went to bed two hours ago.

It all started out just fine. She’d left Brynn’s house after painting for a few more hours, loaded Droopy and his crate in the back of her car and drove home. Brynn had dropped off food a few days before, so all Carly needed was Droopy’s favorite blanket, a few toys and his leash.

It seemed to be going so well that she was trying to figure out where things went so wrong. They’d gotten home around dinnertime, Carly took Droopy for a walk, let him do his business and then fed him while she threw together her own dinner.

Once they were both done eating, Droopy settled down on his blanket in Carly’s living room while she got to work on her lesson plans. For hours Droopy lay there sleeping, barely moving.

At one point she walked over and nudged him to see if he was breathing. He opened one sleepy eye at her and then closed it back up. She even had to pick him up to bring him outside to do his business before bed. He absolutely wanted nothing to do with being woken up at that point.

She climbed the stairs to her bedroom with Droopy in her arms because he tried to walk up them, but his little legs just weren’t able to do it. Either that or he was playing her. She wasn’t quite sure, but she was positive the dog looked at her and begged each time he tried to lift his paw, just to have it bang into the step.

She was trying to figure out if the dog was really too stupid to figure out how to climb the stairs, since she knew Brynn’s bedroom was on the second floor, or the dog was just plain lazy.

Anyway, she cradled Droopy in her arms like a baby, then made her way to her room. Not surprisingly, the dog fell asleep in the short one-minute walk, so Carly felt it was going to be all right. She placed Droopy in his crate next to her bed, shut the door and went into her bathroom to get ready.

The minute Carly climbed into bed, the little whimpers started. Carly had rolled to her side and gazed down at Droopy looking up at her with a sad pleading look in his eyes. At least she thought it was that; there were so many wrinkles on his face she still wasn’t positive his eyes were open at all. “It’s okay, buddy, go back to sleep.”

That seemed to work, so she shut her light off, lay back down and closed her eyes. Only five minutes later a few more whimpers escaped. Carly tried to ignore them, hoping he would settle down. She was a schoolteacher after all, so she was used to tuning out whining.

But he didn’t stop. Almost an hour later the whimpering turned into crying, and slowly her ever-present patience reached her breaking point. She’d grown up being able to shut loud noises out of her brain, but for some reason she couldn’t do it tonight.

So she dug within herself and turned her thoughts to Sean and his invitation to dinner. Did she want to go on a date with him? That was easy enough: sure, why not? He was nice, sweet and seemed harmless. All the things she looked for in a guy.

Just because he was bigger than the normal man she was attracted to didn’t necessarily mean anything. She
wouldn’t
let it mean anything. What was the harm in one date to see if they had anything in common? Nothing, that’s what.

Except, deep down, she knew the harm. If for some reason one of them liked the other more, it could become awkward. The connection they had through their friends could make things uncomfortable. Maybe. Or maybe she was over thinking things. It’s not like she was around Sean all that much. She was getting way ahead of herself in her thoughts—something she always did.

Taking a deep breath, she realized she had successfully blocked out Droopy’s crying and felt her own eyes close, her body relax, and her brain shift off into wonderland.

Until the howling sounded. She sat upright in bed, her heart pounding, not believing something that loud just came out of the little wrinkled figure in the crate next to her bed. Only it did.

Leaning over the edge, she turned the light back on, looked in the crate and saw what she thought might be tears in Droopy’s eyes. She had to be imagining that. Dogs didn’t shed tears, did they?

Dropping her arm down, she slid her fingers between the bars and ran them over his head, speaking in a soothing voice like she did to the abused children she mentored. “It’s okay. Just close your eyes and go to sleep. Think happy thoughts. Let your body relax and drift to sleep.”

What the heck was wrong with her? This was a dog she was talking to, not a child. He had no idea what she was saying. “Ouch.” She yanked her fingers back. Those puppy teeth of his had started to gnaw on her. It wasn’t the first time it had happened, but this one hurt the most.

Normally Droopy would start to lick her fingers, as he’d been doing when she was talking to him, then he’d suck on them almost like it was a pacifier. As grossed out as it made her feel, if it calmed him down, she didn’t care…until he took nibble out of her finger for no reason.

“I tried to be nice. Now you need to just close your eyes and sleep, buddy. Morning will be here soon and you can go see your Uncle Phil.”

After what Phil had told her, she should have known it wasn’t going to be that easy. She’d thought Droopy would have been fine in the office with Phil. Let’s be honest, Phil and Alec were twins and the dog really didn’t seem smart enough to be able to know the difference between them. But Phil had told her that Droopy spent a lot of the day pacing from room to room looking for either Alec or Brynn. Phil even tried to go sit at Alec’s desk and work to see if that helped. Carly guessed Phil might have thought the same thing she did, that the dog wouldn’t know the difference between them, but unfortunately that didn’t work. Droopy was obviously missing his parents.

Two more long howls and Carly couldn’t take it anymore. Her heart was just breaking. Always a sucker, she sat on the side of the bed, unlatched the crate and picked Droopy up, hoping to rock him to sleep.

Almost immediately the howling stopped, and that was when she noticed the dog had the hiccups. Seriously, he’d worked himself up so much he was hiccupping. Talk about piling on the guilt and pulling on her heartstrings.

So she held him tight, cradling him again—because he seemed to like that the best—and rocked him to sleep. Once she was positive he was out for the count, she bent down to return him to the crate, but he woke up and let out a whimper. Immediately, she sat up straight and started to rock him again, this time with her back up against her headboard.

When the sun came up through her windows and woke her, she was stunned to find herself sleeping on her back, still up against the headboard with Droopy curled against her side. Yikes, that might have been a mistake, letting the dog sleep on her bed.

Nothing she could do about it now. Throwing the covers back, she put her feet on the floor, looked over and saw the dog stretching on his side, then rolling over on his back, his little tail wagging, and then out of the blue he let out a bark. That was the first time she’d heard him bark. Before this, she wasn’t sure he even knew how to bark.

“What, do you need to go potty?”

Droopy walked to the edge of the bed, looked down to the floor and she swore she saw him gulp. “Guess you need me to help you down, huh?” She set him on the floor, quickly pulled on sweats and a shirt, slid her feet into flip flops, then grabbed the puppy again as he started circling her floor. She knew what he was doing and she didn’t want it done in her house.

Racing down the stairs as fast as she could, she grabbed his leash and clipped it on, never breaking stride. Just in the nick of time she placed Droopy on the grass.

***

“You look a little tired this morning. Rough night?” Sean asked when she walked into Harper’s hours later. He’d gotten to work earlier than normal to meet her. He knew she arrived to school before most; it was part of her dedication to her job. He’d heard Brynn mention it before and he didn’t want her to be late.

“It could have been better,” she said, smothering a yawn. “Sorry.”

His eyes softened. The vulnerable side of her was sweet. “No worries, we all yawn.” Bending down, he gave Droopy a brisk rub on the head. “How are you doing, boy? Did you have a good night’s sleep?”

He didn’t miss the snort Carly let out. “Sure. After I rocked him to sleep.”

Choking, Sean asked, “You rocked the puppy to sleep last night?”

“I had no choice, not unless I wanted to listen to howling all night.”

“Droopy howls? He’s never even barked that I’ve heard.”

“He whimpers, he cries, howls, and surprisingly, he let out a little bark this morning when he woke up. Right after he was rolling around on my bed all happy as a clam since he got his way.”

“Your bed?” He tried not to think of her in bed. It was an effort, but he could do it. So he focused on the dog. The lucky dog that seemed to have slept in Carly’s bed last night. “Was he there all night?”

“Pretty much. And if that’s the only way I’ll get any sleep, then he will continue to stay there. Alec and Brynn can break him of that habit when they get home,” she added, letting out a little chuckle.

“Serves them right for leaving him, don’t you think?”

“I do.”

“So,” he slipped in there. She seemed agreeable to conversation, but he knew she needed to leave for work soon. “Did you think about my invitation for dinner?”

“I did. I had a lot of time to think about it while I prayed Droopy would cry himself to sleep.”

“And?” he asked, holding his breath.

“I think dinner sounds good.”

She was hedging and he wasn’t sure what that was about. “But…?”

“I think we should maybe wait until Brynn and Alec get back. I really don’t want to leave Droopy alone. He already seems traumatized.”

Sean thought it was adorable that she was putting the dog first, and shouldn’t have been surprised by it. “I would offer to cook for you at my place, but I can’t have any pets in the townhouse.”

“A week isn’t a big deal, right?”

“Sure,” he said, agreeing with her, sort of leaving it hanging, waiting to see if she took the bait.

And she did. “I guess I could cook for you if you don’t mind. Not that I normally ask guys over to my house for the first date. Not really. Actually, not ever. Maybe it’s not a good idea,” she rushed out, rambling sweetly to him.

He stopped her before she could change her mind even more. “I think it’s a great idea. Maybe Droopy will calm down with someone else there that he knows. I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble, though.” He didn’t want to seem too eager, even though he was.

“No trouble. I like to cook, but I’ve got plans tonight after school and tomorrow. Does Wednesday work? If not, then we can just push it off. No rush.”

He wasn’t pushing it off. She offered and he was going to make himself available for it. “Wednesday sounds awesome.”

“Do you have something for me to write my address down on?”

He walked over and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen off of the reception desk and handed them over. “Here you go.” When she was done, she leaned down and rubbed Droopy’s head quickly. “I’ll see you after work, buddy. Don’t sleep too much today, please.”

“That’s like asking a child not to eat the cookie you placed in front of him.”

“True. Anyway, I need to run. Maybe I’ll see you when I pick him up.”