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My smirk is swift to her comment, and it pisses Hailey off that much more because we both know that’s not what she was saying last night.
“Boring…unoriginal…needed some spice…”
I snort at the blatant lie. Hailey’s listing the words off like she’s reading items she’s checked off a grocery list.
“What would you suggest I do to improve it for next time?”
Hailey’s nose lifts toward the ceiling. “Next time?” She snorts. “Who said anything about there being one?”
Now I’m full-on beaming. I can’t help it. She’s futile and I’m dynamite. I feel fantastic. She’s mad, bitter, and using anything she can to hurt me, but it has the opposite effect.
I want to make her angrier, work her up, get her to confess…anything. Why did she do me wrong? How she refuses to part with the past. What she feels for me…because neither of us has said it, but we know there’s something there…
“You ready to go, son?”
The tension in the room fizzles from scalding to lukewarm at the sound of my dad’s question. Hailey draws back her rage at his presence. The two of them have never had a problem even after everything she put me through with Aiden.
It’s almost like he’s given her a free pass and I can’t possibly comprehend why.
I slide back in my chair and rise from my spot with ease, never once taking my gaze away from the only girl who’s managed to chain her way around my heart.
My greatest regret and strongest flame stares back just as defiant.
“Ready.”
…I was born for this.
“I got off the phone with your coach before I came in and he said he’s going to meet us there. He wants to get there early and try to talk you up a bit,” Dad notes affably.
One side of my mouth lifts. That’s Coach for you. I can’t pull my eyes away from her…
“I’m afraid craft time’s over for me, ladies,” I say, dusting off my clean hands. “Guess you’ll have to sucker someone else into helping you. Eli might be available.”
Rory tosses a bud my way. She knows I’m kidding, okay, half. But Eli’s long past moved on from the little crush he had on my sister back in high school.
Still, touchy subjects and all that junk.
“Let’s go,” I agree, ready to make my dreams a reality.
Don’t think, just do.
And I do. Rounding the table, I kiss Hailey right on the center of her forehead with a nice pop for emphasis.
Her body goes stock-still, not expecting it either. Less than five seconds earlier, we were in a standoff. Well, one of us was…
“Thanks. I needed some before I go meet with a potential agent.”
Her mouth parts, but no words tumble out.
I wink, feeling positively boisterous. For once, I have no regrets about the repercussions. “You’re my advantage,” I remind Hailey. Whispering the words that are only for her. “Good luck charm.”
forty-one
Finn
“Alright,littleman,don’tembarrass me.”
My son shoots me back with a gummy, too-toothy grin and I cluck my tongue in response as if he could ever do that.
