He dropped the packet on the table with a thud. “Don’t think so. You bailed me out last night and worked your ass off, all with a smile on your face. If you ever want a job—”
“I already tried that, and she turned me down,” Amy hollered from her kitchen. “And FYI, I get first dibs if she changes her mind.”
Jesus! He rolled his eyes while Hailey fought a snicker. “I’ve got an envelope for you too, big ears,” he yelled back.
“Keep it,” Amy sang.
“Not gonna happen.” He lowered his head and gave Hailey a fake glare. “Same goes for you, surfer girl.”
Hailey unclasped her hands and traced tiny circles on the tabletop, staying far away from the stuffed envelope that sat like an explosive device between them.
“Right. Moving on. We’ll debate me paying you in a minute. How about you tell me what Ursula said instead?”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because you did your best to avoid me right after your exchange with her on the stairs, and because there’s a high probability whatever she said wasn’t true.”
She gaped. “You saw that? But you were slammed behind the bar.”
“Not a lot gets by me.”Plentygot by him, especially when it came to women, but what the hell? He was running with it, especially if it got him the answers he wanted. “So tell me why things turned chilly between us after you two talked.”
Hailey schooled her features into a passive mask. “I didn’t think it was in my best interest to spend time with a man who was capable of laying a kiss on one woman while his longtime girlfriend was in the same building.”
Bingo. His suspicions about Ursula had been right, which was a sad statement. His mind returned to the analogy of her being like a tick burrowed into his flesh that he couldn’t extract, and like the nasty insect, she spread disease that affected everything and everyone around him.
“She’s not my girlfriend, and she wasn’t in the same building when we kissed. Not that it would have made a difference.”
“Her being your girlfriend or being in the same building?”
“Being in the same building. If shehadbeen my girlfriend at the time, I would never have kissed you.”Truth.
Hailey waved her hand. “A technicality.”
“A pretty big one, wouldn’t you agree?” When she didn’t reply, he folded his arms over his chest. “As I recall, you kind of opened the door to that kiss. Don’t get me wrong. I’d do it again, given the chance.”And frankly, I was looking forward to finishing what we started. “Back to Ursula. She has no claim on me. That ended a long time ago.”
Hailey seemed to flinch, which gave him a modicum of righteous indignation—and breathed life into a tiny flame of hope. “You do have quite the fan club vying for your attention, so it’s not a stretch to assume you get around.”
He stared out the window for a beat while he processed her words, folding inside with the realization this was a small town and gossip traveled faster than a skier down a sixty-degree slope. Though she’d only been here a few days, someone might have already filled her in on his … past exploits. It also bugged him that she believed him capable of cheating. Hehadplayed around—a lot—especially when he’d been younger, but he had never cheated on a partner, whether the relationship lasted a week or six months. Then again, from her perspective—especially with Ursula being Ursula and Germaine coming on strong … Yeah, he got it.
He brought his gaze back to hers. “Well, you assumed wrong. As for Ursula, everything’s a game, and she doesn’t like to lose.”
Curious eyes searched his. Her voice was gentle when she said, “What happened?”
Would baring himself get him back in Hailey’s good graces? He hated to go there and put his dumbassery on full display—he hadn’t even laid out the whole story to his brothers—but his gut told him she wouldn’t accept anything less than complete honesty, and for some unfathomable reason, he wanted her to have faith in him. Oddly, he couldn’t recall feeling that way before about anyone but his mother.
“I’ll lay out the whole sordid story if you really need to hear it,” he offered.
“I’m not sure Ineedto hear it, but I admit I’m curious. How about you give me a sec to check my email about an appointment I have later today while you get yourself that cup of coffee? Then you can tell me the condensed version, just so I’m able to arrange the puzzle pieces in their correct order.” She arched her brows in question.
He pushed out a sigh. “Fair enough.” Moseying over to the coffee service, he found a clean cup and spoon laid out for him. Mercifully, Amy was nowhere in sight, and he prayed to God her ears wouldn’t dial into what he was about to spill.
He dropped back into the seat across from Hailey. “Did you get squared away?”
“Yep, all set.” She rested an elbow on the table, dropped her chin in her palm, and leaned in.
He pulled in a lungful of air and traveled back to the dismal night of Wyatt’s wedding.
After seeing Wyatt and Serena off, he had returned to the reception, and Ursula had been MIA. When she had reappearedmuchlater, she’d been disheveled and complained of stomach trouble, so he had taken her back to their room and tucked her in.
