Wish Upon a Matchmaker Read online

  The woman thought of everything.

  “Let me help,” he offered, rising in his chair.

  “You can help by eating,” Danni told him, waving him back down with a plate of shredded hash browns covered in crushed cornflakes and mild, melted cheddar cheese. She placed the plate close to Ginny.

  The asparagus, ham and cheese crepes found a home near Virginia while almond-sprinkled string beans were destined to keep Stone company.

  The main course took the center of the table.

  “Oh my God, what is this?” Virginia asked three minutes later as she took a second bite of the main course and rolled her eyes.

  “Veal parmesan,” Danni told her, carefully watching Virginia’s reaction. It was hard to tell if that look was stunned appreciation—or aversion. “Why, is there something wrong with it?”

  Danni had never made it a habit to taste her own food while she was preparing it, the way some other chefs did, so Virginia’s question, voiced so quickly after she, Stone and Ginny had sat down to eat, made her a tad uneasy.

  Still watching Virginia closely, Danni waited for more input.

  “Wrong?” Virginia echoed incredulously. “Only in the sense that dying and going to heaven is wrong,” she said with unabashed enthusiasm. “I’ve had veal parmesan once before, years ago, but I definitely would have remembered if it had tasted even a tiny bit as good as this does.” She brought the next forkful to her mouth and it disappeared behind her lips. A contented sigh followed. “Definitely an out-of-this-world experience,” she told Danni. “And you made this?” she asked, still unable to comprehend how a person could manage to make something so utterly spectacular.

  “Yes,” Danni replied with just the smallest touch of satisfaction and pride.

  “Virginia,” her brother said, a warning note suspended in the air.

  “It’s all right, Stone,” Danni told him. “I really don’t mind receiving positive comments. It’s the negative ones that get to me.”

  “You get negative comments?” Virginia asked in utter disbelief.

  “Sometimes,” Danni answered.

  Although, truthfully, she didn’t remember the last time she had. Still, she wasn’t one to take anything for granted and there had been a time when even though she’d always liked cooking, she hadn’t been quite as good at it as she was now.

  Stone listened in silence to the exchange between his sister and the woman who made his body temperature rise just by smiling in his direction. The two, along with his daughter, seemed to be getting along rather well. From where he sat, the conversation seemed laid-back and completely unself-conscious, proceeding as if they had all known one other for years.

  It filled him with a strange sort of melancholy, knowing that this was just temporary. That all too soon, this sort of contented air would all be in his past, a memory to be pulled out on occasion. When he finished the renovations to Danni’s house, there’d be no more reason for them to see one another.

  The renovations were what kept them together. It was the excuse he hid behind in order to see her.

  Though it went against everything he believed in and practiced, Stone began to seriously entertain the idea of working just a little bit slower. Of getting less done each day, not more the way he’d initially planned.

  It was the only way of hanging on to paradise a little longer. He knew he was just postponing the inevitable, but he didn’t care. He was living within the moment and the moment contained Danni in it, which was all that really mattered to him.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It wasn’t like him, but Stone found himself intentionally dragging his feet for as long as humanly possible.

  He forced himself to work even slower after Ernie had called him. Prefacing his conversation by saying that he needed to pick up a little more extra work, Ernie asked him if he had anything available to throw his way. No job, Ernie told him, was too small. Then he’d asked him if work on “that cooking lady’s house” was completed.

  Ernie left him no choice.

  It wasn’t in Stone to lie, especially not to someone he knew and liked. So he’d said that he was still working on Danni Everett’s house and that were a few things he could use a little help with completing.

  Ernie was there the next morning, arriving before he did.

  With Ernie working alongside of him, Stone did what he could to stretch out the renovations on his end. He assuaged his conscience with the fact that Danni wasn’t paying him by the hour, just by the project, so at least this wasn’t costing her anything extra. And it was buying him some precious time.

  But there was only so much he could do to stretch the process out without raising Ernie’s suspicions and calling attention to the fact that he was moving like a man swimming in molasses.

  The renovations, extensive as they were, were progressing smoothly with two pairs of hands working and completion was within sight.

  Meanwhile, Stone’s other campaign, the one whose theme was: look but don’t touch, the one he’d come up with in hopes of keeping Danni at arm’s length at all times, kept self-destructing at the starting line.

  Most likely because his heart just wasn’t in it.

  Whenever they were alone together at the end of the day—after Ernie had left and Virginia and Ginny weren’t coming over for dinner, all of Stone’s attempts to strictly focus on his work just went flying out one of the newly installed double-paned windows.

  Stone admittedly had gotten used to this, used to being with Danni, used to making love with her, to hearing the sound of her voice or catching a whiff of her perfume. In what amounted to an incredibly short amount of time, she had become part of his life.

  Part of him.

  Getting over Danielle Everett would be as hard as getting over an addiction.

  Harder, because he couldn’t hold an addiction in his arms the way he could hold her.

  As if by mutual agreement, Stone noticed, they had both put off talking about it. Put off talking about life after the renovations were finally finished.

  That’s because there isn’t going to be a life after the renovations are over, idiot, Stone upbraided himself. Danni was an intelligent woman. Which meant that she knew there was no future for them even better than he did. She was just too inherently polite to say as much out loud.

  Maybe she even saw him as a guilty pleasure, he speculated. He certainly thought of her that way. Because she was. For him she was a very guilty pleasure and so much more.

  No matter what he was doing, or what he was initially contemplating, thoughts of Danni would suddenly invade everything he did, everything he thought about.

  With a flash of self-awareness, he came face-to-face with a truth that had somehow, without any warning, sneaked up on him.

  He was in love with her.

  Really in love with her.

  “In love with a celebrity chef,” he muttered under his breath, mocking himself as he laid there in her bed, watching her sleep.

  They’d made love again at the end of the day, despite his very real determination—again—not to and afterward, she’d dozed off for a few moments.

  “Hmm? Did you say something?” Danni asked, opening her eyes and looking at him.

  Danni stretched languidly and he almost swallowed his tongue, becoming aroused all over again.

  “What? No. I guess you must have dreamed it,” he told her, the lie chaffing his conscience.

  An embarrassed smile curved her mouth. “I must have dozed off,” she realized aloud.

  They’d made love, wonderful, exquisite love, and she’d been so very comfortable with him, she’d drifted off to sleep. It made her realize that he had become part of her life, a very integral part. How was she going to keep him that way?

  “Can I make you something to eat before you go?” she asked, swinging her legs out of bed and then reaching down for her robe. The robe was usually at the foot of her bed, but it had managed to slide onto the floor, a casualty of their last lovemaking sessio
n.

  “No,” he murmured as he did his best to memorize her every movement. The way she stretched before she slipped the robe on, the way the silky material clung to her every curve. The way she breathed.

  Everything.

  Because it would have to last him a very long time.

  Pulling her hair out from the back of her robe and letting it fall free, Danni turned around to look at the man who had so easily, so effortlessly infiltrated every corner of her life. “Are you all right? You sound a little strange.” There was something different in his voice. She wondered if she should be worried.

  The thought came out of nowhere.

  Getting out of bed, in her estimation Stone pulled his clothes on like a man in a hurry.

  “I’m finished,” he told her, his voice still strained, distant.

  “Finished dressing? Finished for the day? Or—finished with me?” she asked. There was something unsettling about his declaration and maybe she was being paranoid, but she needed him to clear it up.

  To set her mind at ease.

  He drew in a breath, as if to fortify himself, then said, “Finished with the renovations.”

  She pulled the robe tighter around her, suddenly feeling very cold despite the warm weather outside her bedroom window.

  Was she being put on notice?

  “There’s nothing left to do?” she asked, feeling very nervous inside, like someone waiting for the bottom to drop out from beneath her feet.

  He shrugged, trying to look casual about it even though there was nothing casual about the situation. “Just to collect payment on the final bill.”

  Was that it? Was that all what they had boiled down to? A final payment?

  Money?

  “And then what?” she heard someone with her voice ask.

  Stone watched her for a sign, some indication that she wanted him to stay, to be something more than just this intense fling in her life.

  He saw nothing.

  Stone shrugged, feeling an emptiness already beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. “And then I guess I’ll go on to another project.”

  “I see.”

  Not a word, not a single word from him about them as a couple. Nothing to indicate that any of this meant anything other than a hot time.

  Suddenly unable to support her weight, Danni abruptly sat down on the edge of the bed.

  There it went, she thought, the bottom. Dropping out from beneath her feet, sending her plummeting into an endless abyss.

  “How much do I still owe you?” she asked, her voice echoing hollowly to her own ear.

  The rest of your life. You owe me the rest of your life. Didn’t you feel anything at all? How can you just sit there, sounding so controlled?

  “I’ll send you a bill,” Stone said out loud.

  “You do that,” she told him. He was dressed and standing at her bedroom’s threshold. This is it, he’s going. He’s really leaving. “Would you mind letting yourself out? I’m feeling a little tired.”

  Why wasn’t she saying something? his mind shouted. Because she’s relieved, that’s why, a voice in his head mocked.

  “No problem.”

  Yes, problem, Danni thought. A huge problem. You just ripped out my heart and tap-danced all over it. Was this just another gig for you? Was that what I was to you, a ‘project’? Nothing more than a pastime? While you were renovating my house, were you also renovating me just to satisfy your ego?

  She heard the front door closing downstairs. Hot tears stung her eyelashes.

  The sound of the closing door was like a knife scraping across her heart, drawing blood. Danni shuddered as she began to cry in earnest.

  * * *

  Ginny came bouncing into the small bedroom Stone had converted into his office.

  “Can I come with you when you go to work at Danni’s house, Daddy? It’s been a week and you haven’t taken me.” The little girl pouted as she looked at him.

  He’d done his best to avoid talking about Danni and, up until now, Ginny hadn’t asked anything. But he’d known it was just a matter of time before she did.

  Time to clear this up and get it out of the way, he thought, resigned. “That’s because I finished working on her house.”

  Ginny scrunched up her face. As if his words didn’t compute. “You finished it? What does that mean?”

  Ginny was far too gifted a child to not know what that meant, Stone thought, but he told her anyway. “That means that everything she asked me to do to the house is done and I won’t be going over there anymore.”

  Ginny’s smile drooped and she looked crushed. “But I thought you liked her.”

  This was just what he’d been afraid of. “That had nothing to do with it one way or another. Of course I liked her, Ginny. She was a nice lady.”

  “And that’s all?” Ginny pressed, as if his words still weren’t making any sense.

  “What else is there?” her father asked, looking at her suspiciously.

  Ginny seemed on the verge of blurting out something but instead shrugged and murmured, “Nothing, I guess.”

  Leaving the room, the disappointed little girl went out into her backyard. Planting herself on the swing her father had built for her, she began to think.

  * * *

  “Daddy!” Ginny called out, running to him as he let himself in the front door. It was the next day and she seemed impatient for him to come home. “Danni called and said you had to come right over.”

  Why wouldn’t the woman call him on his cell, he wondered. “Why?” he asked suspiciously.

  “She said her new shower was leaking all over the place and the water was raining in the kitchen.”

  He stared at his daughter for a moment, convinced she must have gotten the message garbled. “Water was ‘raining’ in the kitchen?” he repeated in confusion.

  Ginny nodded her head vigorously. “From the shower, she said.”

  Stone thought a moment, trying to visualize what Ginny was telling him. “It’s leaking through the floor?” he asked incredulously.

  Ginny bobbed her head up and down again, no doubt grateful her father had filled in the blanks.

  “Uh-huh. She said for you to come right away.”

  “Why didn’t she call me on my cell?” he wondered again, this time asking the question out loud.

  The small shoulders rose and fell in an exaggerated shrug. “I dunno. But she said to hurry.”

  “I’m going to call her—” he began, taking out his cell phone.

  “She won’t answer,” Virginia said, coming into the room and to Ginny’s rescue. The little girl had shared her impromptu idea with her. Virginia, impressed with the rather clever, if shaky, plan, decided there was nothing to lose by implementing it. “She said she was going to be too busy bailing. She said that you should just come right over.”

  “So you talked to her?” he asked, trying to get the story straight.

  “After Ginny answered the phone, yes,” Virginia confirmed. “Poor woman sounds frantic. Go rescue her,” she ordered.

  Stone sighed, shaking his head. He never took shortcuts with his work or with the materials he used. Something like this had never happened before, but he supposed there was always a first time.

  “I’m on my way,” Stone called out, hurrying out the front door.

  Only after the door closed did Virginia and Ginny grin at one another as they high-fived.

  * * *

  That’s odd.

  Mystified, Danni placed the phone back in its cradle. Ginny had just hung up after telling her that her father had instructed her to call and say he was coming to check out the upstairs-bathroom plumbing.

  Ginny hadn’t been very clear, saying it was something about a leak, but that she wasn’t very sure because her father was hurrying out the door when he asked her to call for him.

  Danni supposed it was all part of the contract and his standing behind his work. If only he was that conscientious about standing behind his silent promises
...

  Stop it. He left you. His choice, not yours. You’re not to look needy around him, understand?

  Danni told herself to remain aloof when he came over. But in her heart she knew it was going to be damn hard not to just throw herself at him.

  Maybe this was just an excuse on his part to come see her. Maybe—

  If it was an excuse, then he’d act on it and she’d know. No point in getting ahead of things and letting her imagination run away with her.

  God, but she had missed him, Danni couldn’t help thinking as she checked her makeup in the mirror—a mirror he’d picked out for her. One week and it felt like one eternity.

  “That’s it, Danni, play hard to get,” she upbraided herself, annoyed at her lack of resistance to the very idea of Stone. “He walked away from you, you didn’t push him out the door, remember?”

  The pep talk wasn’t working.

  She almost jumped out of her skin when the doorbell rang a few minutes later. It took everything she had not to just fly to the front door to answer it. But she did hurry, stopping just at the door.

  Taking a deep breath, she opened it. When she did, when she admitted him and looked up at Stone, her heart hurt.

  “Hello,” she said formally. Stiffly.

  Oh God, maybe he should have sent Ernie in his place. The handyman was equal to anything and he would have paid Ernie well to stand in for him. To take this bullet to the chest for him.

  Stone walked in and she closed the door behind him. “Well, I’m here.”

  Danni stepped away from the door and in front of him again. Was he playing some game? Why? Did he want to see how unhappy his walking out had left her? “I can see that.”

  He couldn’t continue addressing his words to the air. Bracing himself, Stone turned around to face her. “So, where’s the emergency?”

  She looked at him, confused. “Excuse me?”

  “The leak,” he emphasized. “Where is it?”

  Why was he almost shouting at her? “I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the one who wants to check it out.”