I was quickly coming to realize she hadn’t been lying when she said she wasn’t normally a mean person. Sitting in her kitchen with her aunt and daughter, I was seeing the side of Hayden I’d seen that night in the bar, the side I’d thought was just a fluke. I’d only had brief glimpses of it then, but it had been more than enough to make me want to fuck her. And I’d be damned if seeing this lighter side of her now wasn’t making me want the same damn thing.
“Appreciate it, Red.”
I caught a peek at the pink that was blooming across her cheekbones just as she turned her back on me, and I knew then how completely fucked I was.
Because there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to have this woman under me again.
Chapter Thirteen
Hayden
Dinner turned out to be surprisingly fun. Between Ivy filling any silence with her usual chatter and Sylvia sharing stories of me as a girl and stories of Micah in the time she’d lived beside him—most of the stories embarrassing as hell—there hadn’t been a single lull in the conversation. I laughed almost as much as I had the night Micah and I first met.
I managed to find out more about Micah as we ate. I learned he’d been with the Hope Valley Police Department since the start of his career as a police officer over thirteen years ago. I learned his drive to become law enforcement came from his father, who was a cop in Richmond, but he preferred the slower pace of a smaller town and had left the city specifically for this job.
The better I got to know him, the more I liked him. He was funny and down-to-earth, and he didn’t seem to mind that my baby girl had latched onto him like a suction cup. But that was part of the problem. It wasn’t just about wanting to strip him naked and climb him like a jungle gym. That attraction I’d felt the very first night, the one that hadn’t faded even while we were fighting, was there in spades, only now it was more intense, because I was getting glimpses of the real man beneath the surface. He loved his job, he cared about the people in this town, and he was loyal to his friends and family. That was a side of him I’d never seen before, and damn if it didn’t make him even more attractive.
When dinner wrapped up, he offered to help clean, but I quickly shooed him out of the kitchen to join Sylvia and Ivy in the garden while I took care of everything.
Truth was, I needed a few minutes to myself to get my head straight. I was discombobulated and off balance. As I washed the dishes by hand, scrubbing the hell out of the baked-on cheese in the casserole dish, I practiced my yoga breathing, hoping to find my center, as Sylvia would say.
I’d almost gotten myself there when a hand came down on my shoulder, scaring a yelp from me and making me jump around, slinging sudsy water all over the place. “Holy shit,” I exclaimed, placing a wet hand over my heart to keep it from beating out of my chest. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry about that,” Micah said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I thought you heard me.” One corner of his mouth curled up in a smirk. “So how much do you owe the swear jar?”
“Real funny,” I deadpanned, turning back to the casserole dish. “Do you need something?”
“Nope. I was just wonderin’ what was taking so long. Then I saw you scrubbin’ that dish like you were trying to get a genie to pop out of it or something. Didn’t even hear me call your name.”
“Oh. Uh . . . yeah. Um, baked-on cheese is a real bitch. If you don’t get it all off the pan right away, you might as well buy a new one.”
“Well, I think it’s safe to say you got it all.”
I looked down at the dish that was now so clean it was practically sparkling beneath the soapy water. “Oh.”
“You good, Red?”
Was I? He wasn’t standing close, but I was still able to smell his intoxicating scent, and that was enough to make my body react. Goosebumps had broken out across my skin, my pulse was thrumming, and my breasts felt heavy, my nipples tightening to stiff peaks beneath my bra.
“Mmmhmm,” I hummed, keeping my eyes on the sink as I pulled the plug and turned on the water to rinse the stupid dish. “Just finishing up here. I’ll be right out. You need another beer? I’ll bring one out for you in—”
The rest of the sentence got stuck in my throat when Micah’s chest pressed into my back and his arm came around my front, taking the dish from my hands and dropping it back into the sink before shutting off the water.
I spun around in surprise and had to lean way back in order to look up at him. I’d forgotten just how big he was. Big enough to make me feel small and protected. Damn it, Hayden! Get your head in the game. “What are you—?”
“What’s the deal, Red?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You come over to my place and apologize, invite me to dinner, then act like I’m a walking case of typhoid. What was all that stuff about earlier? Was it just bullshit?”
“No! Of course not!” He was standing so close. Too close. “Could you maybe take a step back?”
He moved, but only to brace his palms on the edge of the sink beside my hips. “Then what’s with the avoidance?”
His gorgeous face and clear green eyes were all I could see. His musky, manly smell invaded my senses. “I’m not avoiding you, I swear.”
“Bullshit.”
“Micah, please.” My chest was beginning to heave. “Please just step back.”
“Not a chance. Not until you tell me what the fuck is goin’ on with you.”
I tried to keep my eyes from straying, but they drifted down to his mouth and those perfect, plump lips of their own accord. Just staring at them made the skin on the back of my neck prickle. My tongue peeked out to swipe over my bottom lip before I pulled it between my teeth and bit down.
A deep rumble worked its way from Micah’s chest, giving me a start, and when my gaze flew back up to his, I knew I was busted.
“Ah. I see what the issue is.”
“Micah,” I said on a breathy whisper. “Move back.” A gasp was ripped from my throat when he closed the last remaining inches between us, pressing his body against mine from hip to chest, the unmistakable impression of his steely erection prodding into my belly. My body jolted at the feel of it, an electric shock zipping its way through my limbs and coming to a stop at my core.
“You still want me,” he murmured, the green in his eyes darkening as his pupils expanded. “That’s it, isn’t it? You want me, and it’s freaking you out.”
“No, I-I don’t—That’s not . . .” I let out a tiny growl of frustration. “Please move. I can’t think when you’re this close.”
Instead of giving me space, he lowered his head, dragging the tip of his nose along the column of my neck until my whole body shivered against his. “What if I told you I still want you?”
Ah hell. There was only so much strength one woman was expected to possess. “We can’t do this,” I insisted, but the fight sounded weak, even to my own ears. “It’s not smart.”
Screw smart! That little devil shouted. Think of all the orgasms!
He made his way up, trailing his nose along my jawline and cheekbone before bringing his lips to mine, hovering millimeters away so they gently brushed against mine as he asked, “What would you do if I kissed you right now?” He knew what he was doing. He knew how to tease so damn well I felt like I was about to come apart. “Would you push me away or kiss me back?”