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“Everybody?”He waited for a retraction. “Hayley, there are people in this room I don’t even know.”
“And you will be nicer to them tonight,” she said, “than you have ever been to me.”
Nick felt the back of his neck heat up, like he’d just been caught cheating on a test. He slid back into his seat. “Look,” he said, “I said I was sorry.”
“Yeah,” she said. “And now that you’ve fixed this problem, you’re off to be the king of the bar and greet your adoring public.”
Nick was stunned. She had seen right through him: He had done what he needed to do, and he was escaping. But he would be damned if Hayley Michelle Burke left this bar tonight thinking of herself as a problem.
“I know I said I didn’t like you,” he said quietly. “I didn’t mean it.”
“Sure you did.” She didn’t meet his eyes as she said it, and there was tired acceptance in her voice, as if not liking her would be completely understandable. He was horrified—did she really think of herself that way?
“Really,” he insisted. “I didn’t mean it.”
“Then where’s that smile?” she asked. “I watched you last week. Everyone gets blinded by that smile of yours except for me.”
He was confused. “You want me to try and impress you?”
“You don’t want to impress me?”
“No. I mean, of course, but …” He gulped the drink she’d brought over. “There’s more to it than that.”
“I know it’s because you’re putting on a show,” she said lazily. “I put on shows for a living. But yours is a really good show.”
If Hayley knew that she was casually ripping apart his armor with every word, she showed no sign of it. She wasn’t even looking at him, and still Nick felt panicky and wounded. Hayley knew he was putting on an act, and yet that act seemed to be exactly what she wanted from him. Why wasn’t that great news?He’d been charming women from this very booth for years; why couldn’t he do it one more time?
Because as annoying as Hayley had been when they’d met, she had been passionately trying to save him from his own misery. She had seen joy in him and tried as hard as she could to bring it out. He wasn’t going to repay such a genuine act of kindness with his pathetic karaoke-night charm, even if she wanted him to. Hayley deserved better, and she didn’t seem to know it.
“Okay.” He caught Alexa’s eye and waved her over. “More drinks.”
After they’d done two more pickleback shots, Hayley said, “Aren’t you gonna sing?”
“Eventually,” Nick said.
“You can’t not sing.”
“I will, but now I’m talking to you,” he said. “You’re more important than the songs tonight.”
She watched him take a tiny sip of his drink. “You’ve gotta do better than that if you want to catch up with me, rock star.”
“Yeah, but I have enough trouble trying not to fall over as it is.”
She guffawed at that one. “Shit, sorry,” she said, still laughing. “Not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” he said, and drank more. He hadn’t meant it as a joke, but he really liked her laugh.
“Hey, did you really hurt your legs in a manicure accident?”
He tried to keep a straight face. “Who told you that? Alexa?”
“Because manicures are for your hands, so I don’t see how the hell that was true.”
He started laughing and had trouble stopping. “I’d had a lot to drink that day,” he said. “Could never keep manicure and pedicure straight anyway.”
She grinned. “So what happened, rock star?”
He changed the subject. “I like it when you call me that. It’s growing on me.”
