Page 17 of Home Team Advantage
Every now and then, she paused for a breather, discreetly doing some look-arounds herself, noting his progress. Unsurprisingly, he made much faster progress than she did. She’d barely cleared a third of the driveway before they met up.
Anna resisted the urge to nod, offer a quick thanks, and run back inside. Don’t be weird. Be polite. Be neighborly.
“Thanks for the help,” was what she said, summoning what she hoped was an appreciative but not too friendly smile.
Even if she hadn’t suppressed the urge to flee, she wouldn’t have been able to move. Just like that day at the door, the moment she met the man’s eyes, she was frozen to the spot. The metallic gray provided a sharp contrast to all that coppery bronze and proved mesmerizing.
“My pleasure,” the man said. “I would have done it all, if you’d waited.”
If it snowed again, she was definitely going to take her time getting outside. “I appreciate that, but Mrs. Campbell has an appointment in town we need to get to. In fact, we should be going.”
His gaze went over her shoulder. Anna turned around and saw Mrs. Campbell in the open doorway.
“Good morning, Matthew.”
“Good morning, Mrs. Campbell. How are you today?”
“Fine, fine. Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?”
“Maybe another time would be better,” Anna said, hanging up the shovel. “We really should get going.”
“Nonsense,” Mrs. Campbell said. “It’s the least we can do. Plenty of time for a cup while you’re getting changed.”
Anna looked at Matt, saw the quiet amusement dancing in his beautiful eyes, and sighed, knowing she’d lost the battle.
* * *
When she entered the kitchen ten minutes later, freshened up and not wearing sweaty clothes, Matt and Elsa sat at the kitchen table, heads drawn together, engrossed in quiet conversation. How was it fair that she looked and felt like she’d just run a triathlon, and he looked like he’d just stepped off a photo shoot?
Matt noticed her first, a smile curling those firm male lips. She didn’t like the way her body responded. She cared even less for the way Mrs. Campbell’s blue eyes twinkled with secrets and mischief.
“Matthew has generously offered to drive us into town,” Elsa said.
“Why would he do that?” Anna blurted out.
He shrugged. “I’m going into town anyway, and Mrs. Campbell wasn’t sure you’d feel comfortable driving in the snow.”
Anna wondered what else Mrs. Campbell might have felt compelled to share with him. Elsa had asked her a lot of questions about her background, her family, where she came from, and Anna had given vague, practiced answers. To coin a phrase, it wasn’t her first rodeo.
And Mr. Tall, Bronze, and Gorgeous was fishing.
“I heard the plows go by several times,” she said, deliberately evading his baited hook. Addressing Mrs. Campbell, she added, “And I’m sure Mr. Callaghan has things of his own to do today.”
“Actually, it’s O’Connell,” the coppery-haired devil said.
“Excuse me?”
“My last name. It’s O’Connell, not Callaghan.”
“Oh. My apologies,” Anna said.
Elsa had said something about Faith being a single mother when she moved to Pine Ridge, hadn’t she? Her hormones were messing with her ability to think clearly. Well, that had to stop.
“No problem,” he said.
Anna looked pointedly at her watch. “Well, thanks again for your help today, but we really need to be going.”
“Of course. Mrs. Campbell, thank you for the coffee. Anna, it was nice to see you again.”
