rang in her mind.
Before she had the chance to ask, Trey pushed through the doorway. With his long hair caught back in a ponytail, and wearing an oversize T-shirt and raggedy cutoffs, he looked ready to work. But after gazing around, he said, “Way to go, Kelse!” Walking over, he spun her in an exuberant hug. “This place is great.”
“You think?” she asked, with a laugh at her friend’s enthusiasm.
“Well, it will be when you’re done with it, right?” He glanced at Lisa and Connor for confirmation, and only then did Kelsey realize she had yet to introduce them.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Trey, Lisa, this is Connor…”
The introduction faded away as she caught sight of the scowl on Connor’s face. Instinctively she stepped out of Trey’s embrace, which was crazy. Because Trey was just a friend and crazier still because Connor could not be jealous.
Could he?
Still, Connor was less than friendly as he crossed the shop to greet Trey. The handshake the two men exchanged seemed more like a prelude to battle than a customary introduction. “Good to meet you,” Trey said, his smile growing wide even though Kelsey thought she saw him subtly flexing his hand once Connor released it.
“Pleasure,” Connor said, the word sounding anything but.
“Okay, let’s put all this testosterone to use,” Lisa said, bringing a heated blush to Kelsey’s face. “Where do we start?”
“Yeah, give us the list,” Trey said, holding out his hand.
“You guys don’t have to do this. You can’t give up your weekend to help me out.”
“Like the time you filled in for me when I got snowed in back East and didn’t have anyone to open up the flower shop?” Lisa challenged before glancing at Trey expectantly.
Immediately he picked up where she’d left off. “Or the time you shoved chicken soup and hot tea down my throat to get my voice back in time to DJ that last wedding?”
“That’s different,” Kelsey protested.
“Why? Why are you the only one allowed to help?” Lisa demanded. “When do we get to return the favor? And hey, we’re not dummies. We all know helping you helps us.”
“Yeah, as long as she doesn’t forget her friends when she’s off coordinating weddings for the rich and famous,” Trey whispered in an aside to Lisa.
Overwhelmed by their generosity, Kelsey blinked back tears. Growing up, it had always been Kelsey and her mom—Wilson women against the world. But maybe that was only because Olivia hadn’t had friends as amazing as Lisa and Trey.
“All right! All right! I give in. And I promise to remember all the little people,” Kelsey laughed before grabbing the list as well as a handful of paint swatches, wallpaper samples and various store ads from her day planner.
“Trey, here are the paint colors and wallpaper. If you could pick them up from the hardware store along with a carpet steamer, that would be great. Lisa, here’s a picture of the drapes I want for the front window. Could you see if they have a large area rug to match? Anything to hide this carpet.”
Even as Kelsey split the shopping between her friends, she was aware of Connor’s speculative gaze focused on her. What was he thinking? she wondered. That her romantic trappings were literally that—traps for couples foolish enough to believe in love?
“Got it, boss,” Trey said, saluting her with the green and pink paint samples. “Want me to pick up lunch while I’m out?”
“No need. Sara’s catering our workday. Her word, not mine,” Lisa laughed as she grabbed Trey’s arm and led him toward the door.
“Man, I wanted pizza and beer. Sara’ll probably bring mini quiches and crudités.” As the two of them walked outside, the laughter and casual camaraderie went with them, leaving behind a tension that for Kelsey buzzed as loudly as the fluorescent light overhead.
Ready to take the offensive, she turned to Connor. What apology did he want to give? What explanation? Her lips parted on those questions, but he beat her to the punch.
“How many of your friends are working Emily’s wedding?”
Just like that, momentum changed, and Connor had her backpedaling and on the defensive. “Lisa and I went to high school together, and I’ve made friends with some of the other people I’ve worked with. But I never would have hired them if I didn’t think they’d do an awesome job.”
She lifted her chin, ready to battle for her friends the same way she had when she hired them for Emily’s wedding. But if this was a fight, Connor didn’t play fair.
Reaching up, he tucked a loose curl behind one ear. His eyes glowing with a warmth that stole the fight from her spirit and the breath from her lungs, he murmured, “It wasn’t a criticism. Only an observation. Your friends obviously care a lot about you. Just like you care about them.”
Intensity lit his emerald eyes, and Kelsey could almost believe he wanted her to look out for him, to care about him—but that had to be a delusion due to lack of oxygen from the breath he’d stolen with his nearness. “I do,” she managed to murmur.
“So why was it so hard for you to accept their help?”
She started to deny it, but when Connor’s eyebrows rose in challenge, she knew he wouldn’t believe anything but the truth. And maybe if she told him, he would understand why Emily’s wedding was so important. “Fixing things is what I do. It’s what I’m good at. I wasn’t brought up as one of the wealthy Wilsons. I was raised by my mother. We didn’t have much, but growing up I didn’t know that. All I knew was that I had an amazing mother who taught me how to cook delicious meals without spending more than a few dollars and how to clip coupons to make the most of what little money we had.”
A memory came to mind, and Kelsey smiled. “Our favorite day was Black Friday, but we didn’t just shop for Christmas. We bargain-hunted for the whole year. My mom taught me how to look at secondhand furniture and see beyond the layers of flaking paint or rust. She showed me how to strip away the exterior to the natural beauty beneath.”
Her smile faded away. “But then she died, and I came to live with my aunt and uncle. None of the things I knew how to do mattered anymore. Coupons and discount stores and secondhand furniture were as foreign to them as paying hundreds of dollars for a pair of shoes was to me. They had people to shop and clean and fix things.” Kelsey gave a short, sad laugh. “The only thing broken in their house was me. I know they cared about me, but…I just didn’t fit, no matter how hard I tried.”
“Kelsey.” The low murmur of Connor’s voice mirrored the tenderness in his gaze. This time it was Kelsey’s turn to pull away, to try to escape.
“That’s why the wedding is so important. It’s my chance—” her only chance, because if she screwed this up, why would the Wilsons or anyone trust her again? “—to prove that I can do this, that I’m good at something. So I really hope your gut’s wrong, Connor, and that Todd is everything my family thinks he is. Or all this hard work is going to be for nothing.”
“It won’t be for nothing because you’re going to be a success with or without Emily’s wedding. Maybe if you were more like Emily or Aileen, more used to everything going your way, you’d be more likely to give up. But a single setback won’t stop you. You’re stronger than that.” Catching her hands and smiling at the streaks of spackle marring her skin, he said, “You aren’t afraid of hard work.”
Strong…unafraid… Kelsey liked the sound of that, but she wasn’t feeling the least bit of either as Connor stroked his thumbs across the palm of her hands. She felt downright weak and terrified by the desire coursing through her at such a simple touch.
Her fingertips tingled, tempted to chart the planes and angles of his face, the