Bill had been standing nearby and suddenly turned around, his gaze moving between the other two men. “Sandy? You’re having dinner at Sandy’s place?”
Knowing she and Bill were friends, Rory kept his voice steady as he replied with a simple acknowledgment. “Yeah.”
“You know we’re just friends, but damn, Sandy gets around.”
“If you’re such good friends with her, why are you always trying to stir up shit?”
Bill’s hands jerked up in front of himself, and he shook his head. “Hell, I’m not stirring up anything. I saw her outside of some fancy-ass restaurant earlier today with a man who looks like he could buy and sell all of us with chump change.”
Rory heard Blay’s quick intake of breath, but he kept his gaze on Bill. “You know, I heard you tried the same shit with Sean and Harper when they were dating, and that didn’t get you anywhere, did it? If that’s how you treat your friends, it makes me wonder what your motives are.” Leaning closer, he kept his voice low. “But I’ll tell you this right now. I better not hear another insinuation come out of your mouth about Sandy, or you’ll deal with me.”
As he turned around, he caught Blay’s approving chin lift and nodded to his oldest friend. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a beautiful woman and a good dinner to get to.”
Thirty minutes later, he bounded up Sandy’s front stoop and lifted his hand to knock. The door was flung open, and she stood smiling up at him. Work clothes gone, she was dressed in a soft, slouchy blue sweatshirt with the neck cut to hang off one shoulder, the strap of a dark blue exercise bra peeking. Black yoga pants and pink fuzzy socks completed her outfit. Her long hair was piled up on top of her head, held in place by what looked like two chopsticks. Her eyes were bright and her crooked smile enduring. He fought to keep his eyes off the tantalizing skin of her exposed shoulder.
“I know my grandmother always said that a lady should never throw open the door in a rush, but I couldn’t wait to see you.”
He stepped over the threshold and wrapped his arms around her middle, lifting her into the air as he gave her a little twirl. “I couldn’t wait to see you either, Sandy.” He took her lips in a kiss, forgetting dinner and everything else until a loud meow interrupted. Looking down, he laughed. “Okay, Ocee. I get the hint.”
Setting her feet back onto the floor, he sniffed in appreciation. “Wow, what are you cooking?”
“Homemade chicken pot pie.” She had turned to walk into the kitchen, then stopped and looked over her shoulder. “I hope that’s okay. I can cook fancier, but I like simple, down-home cooking.”
“You’ll never find me complaining about a home-cooked meal,” he vowed. “And simple comfort food is perfect.”
“Come on in while I finish things up. I’m really hungry. I only had a salad for lunch at some overpriced, poofy restaurant.”
“Poofy?”
She reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a beer, turning to hand it to him. “Yeah, you know, poofy. Overpriced. Stuffy. The kind of place where people go to be seen or to have business luncheons that they use as tax write-offs. But the food isn’t very good, or if it is, it’s horribly overpriced. I’d so much rather eat at home or go to a place like the Italian restaurant we were at the other evening.”
Bill’s words came back to him, and he was curious. “Do you have to have a lot of business luncheons?”
She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Not a lot. I can’t see wasting money like that. It took a long time to build my business up, and I always have an eye for the bottom line.”
Finding out that she had to watch her spending while building her business had him curious and wanting to know more, especially since that went against what others assumed. “How long have you been in business?” Her eyes sparkled even more, and he could tell he’d hit on a subject near and dear to her heart.
“My senior year of college, I had an internship with an interior design company based out of Philadelphia. They had offices all over the United States and were even branching into Europe. My father kept wanting me to come back to Hope City where he could utilize me in his company. That held no