“I can.” He looked so serious. “Besides, what do you have to lose?”
My dignity.
Must be the pheromones
HAYLEE WAS WRINGINGher ?hands on the table about as much as she sipped at her sugared tea. She looked absolutely adorable while at it, but also made me wish I had a reason to join her on her side of the kitchen island and still her fidgeting with a kiss. I’d start by kissing the backs of both of those hands, the top of her head, trail kisses down to her cheeks, and to the tip of her nose.
I kept telling myself not to make her uncomfortable. She clearly was, though. Flustered and uncomfortable. She probably thought I’d belittle whatever made her embarrassed to speak up or think less of her. If she was thinking about her incident with Jay, the fuckface, she could’ve also felt insecure and vulnerable.
Fuck, I didn’t really know what went round and round in that beautiful head of hers. I did know, however, that simply having her back in my kitchen eased my soul. Despite whatever plagued her, she’d agreed to have tea with me. She liked me, but—I would be supportive throughout whatever secrets she may reveal, because the thought of her walking away the way she almost had in the hallway terrified the living shit out of me. It was just like me to fall this hard.
“When you accidentally texted my dad, he must’ve told my mum, because she showed up in my flat Monday evening,” Haylee finally said.
I knew she didn’t like talking about her family. I noticed that on Friday. There was tension in her shoulders whenever they came up, and I’d agreed to steer clear of all of that.
“So my text stirred suspicions? Were they worried about you?”
Haylee raised her eyes from her teacup. Her sorrow was like a rainy day. Sticky, wet, and clinging to me with a cold embrace. I did not have an umbrella efficient enough to protect me from such downpour.
“She came guns blazing,” Haylee said very quietly. “Telling me I was bound to be reckless and stupid, and would most likely get into trouble. She’d need to fix it for me. She demanded your name, so she could run a background check. She trusts my judgmentthatlittle.”
I raised my eyebrow. “Did she find anything?”
She probably didn’t, since they’d ran a background check on me before I could start working with Lewis & Walker Law Group. Hell, it was probably her mother who’d done it then, too, since why else would Lisa Walker have the video files of Haylee’s assault? I was surprised she hadn’t confronted me about courting her daughter. If all of that happened on Monday, she had plenty of time to pull me aside and give me an earful. Or a warning. Or an outright smack in the face if she disapproved of me that much.
“I didn’t tell her. It is none of her business.”
Debatable, but I could understand where she was coming from.
“What happened after that, Haylee?”
“I... ah... started doubting my judgment,” she murmured into her cup.
That was it. I was done standing on my side of the kitchen island. This woman needed a hug, and I damned well was going to give it to her. I might have not understood her relationship with her family, but I saw how it ate at her.
I left my cup in its place as I walked over to where she sat on her barstool and pried her hands off hers, turning her towards me in her seat.
