A Diamond For Christmas. Susan Meier

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