Kit stuck it behind her ear and held out her arms for her son. “Time to go, bud. What do you say to Cam and Aunt Hadley?”
“Thank you for the haircut, Aunt Hadwey,” Ollie said, bending to give her a kiss. “Bye, Cam,” he added a little shyly, then kissed him on the cheek too.
“Anytime, buddy,” Cam said, looking a little taken aback. “Next time bring a ball, okay?”
He rubbed his eyes and held out his fist for Cam to bump.
“You just said the magic word,” Kit said. Then she turned to Darla. “I’ve got to go before somebody falls asleep in the car.”
“I’m coming,” Darla said, who had caught a ride with Kit. To Hadley, she said, “Thanks for a fun evening.” Then she dropped her voice and winked. “Hope your fun is just getting started.”
As they left, Hadley could hear Ollie saying, “I’m not going to fall asleep in the car,” as he rested his head drowsily on his mom’s shoulder.
Cam didn’t appear to be in a rush to go anywhere. “She’s so good with him,” Hadley said, desperate to fill a sudden void. Because now they were alone. “It’s hard though. She worries about him not having a male role model. So I’m sure your offer to play ball is much appreciated.”
“Well, I happen to love to play ball,” he said, grinning.
Hadley cleared her throat. “Well.” She grabbed the broom again and did another sweep. She must’ve swept the hair out from under that chair seventeen times. Her obsessive cleaning skills would make Gran proud.
As the sky faded to indigo over the sea and the summer surf churned softly in the distance, she was filled with that familiar longing again, rolling through her stomach and making her heart beat with anticipation—but for what exactly? Sex? Admittedly, yes, sure. For connection, love, the start of a real relationship?
It had only been four months since Cooper. How could she know what she wanted in that short amount of time?
And she was leaving.
And what if he left her? He’d done it once before. She understood all his angst over his injury, his need to restart his life…and how all that uncertainty could lead to another heartbreak.
And that’s not even mentioning the building.
All great reasons to go running in the opposite direction. Yet her heart whispered, Stay. And the very air felt electric with possibility after those incredible kisses on the beach. Try as she might, she simply couldn’t muster up any regrets.
As if sensing her turmoil, Cam walked over to the chair vacated by Ollie. Hadley thought he was going to pick it up and carry it back into the house, but he sat down instead. “Actually…,” he said, raking his hands through his hair and shooting her a sheepish half-smile. “Would you mind?”
“Mind?” Mind what?
He smiled at her confusion. “I’m sort of desperate for a haircut. They want me to take photos tomorrow with the team.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Of course he was, because he could afford a two-hundred-dollar haircut. And getting one for a picture with a high school team? Hardly a hair emergency.
Plus…if he was serious, which she very much doubted he was, in order to cut his hair, she’d have to touch him. And that would remind her again of their time at the beach and…well, she was shaking a little just thinking about it. “I literally haven’t done a guy in years,” she said.
Oh no. Did she actually just say that? “I mean, cut a guy’s hair. I haven’t done an adult male haircut in a long time.”
Okaaay. Maybe that would scare him enough to redirect this conversation.
He sat there unfazed, his full lips quirked up in a smile. “I’m sure cutting hair is like riding a bike.”
“You never forget how to do it?”
“You might fall off and get hurt, but you get back on and discover it’s not so scary as you thought—with the right person.”
She frowned, pretty sure they weren’t talking about haircuts anymore.
Hadley crossed her arms and tried to rein this discussion in. “Maybe I used to cut your hair back in the day when you were saving every penny.” She held up her hands defensively. “But I really don’t want to be known as the one who ruined Tony Cammareri’s hair.”
“You used to do a really nice job, remember?”
Oh no. No, no, no. She did not want to remember. Yes, she used to give him haircuts, but…but there were certain other things that went along with those haircuts. Like talking and laughing and kissing. Sometimes lots of kissing. And other things. Haircuts that devolved into full blown make-out sessions that ended up…well, where they would’ve ended up if those kids hadn’t shown up.
Yeah. She was suddenly having another hot flash, twenty years too soon.
When she’d hated him, she didn’t think about the possibility of him walking into her house and her life and her bed. She didn’t have…fantasies. She didn’t…imagine. When you didn’t indulge in pretending, you didn’t set yourself up for another heartbreak.
And he just might be a heartbreak waiting to happen.
And she was a smart woman. She’d let him break her heart once. But twice? Never.
“You’re not afraid, are you?” he asked.
“Afraid?” She swallowed hard. “Of ruining your hair?” She was as afraid of touching him, yet the pull toward him was a magnet she was completely helpless against. “You can afford to have someone fly in from New York straight to your doorstep and cut your hair. You don’t need an amateur who learned her trade from YouTube videos.”
“Please?” He rubbed his neck in a self-conscious gesture she found endearing. “It’s getting really long.” Then he pointed to the top of the brick garden wall. “Look, all your stuff is right there.”
He was prodding her. Egging her on in his usual amiable, irresistible way.
She was kidding if she told herself this was just a haircut. Touching him would be, in this case…intimate. Sensual. And it would have consequences she wasn’t sure she was ready for.
Chapter 22
So,” Cam said a little while later, in the middle of his haircut, “how’s it going?” Hadley had dropped the scissors twice, startling the dogs as they slept on the patio. But she wore this look of intense concentration where she sank her teeth into her lower lip as she worked that was the cutest thing he’d ever seen.
“You still have beautiful hair,” she said as she lifted each layer and carefully measured as she cut. “Super thick and wavy.” The sensation of her fingers sliding through his hair was familiar and felt way too good.
“I might lose it one day,” he said, but even that thought didn’t alarm him enough to stop thinking of how much he wanted to kiss her, to pick up where they’d left off the other day at the beach. But he knew that she was thinking…a lot.
She laughed. “Somehow, I can’t imagine that. But I’d still think you were cute.”
He flicked his gaze up, and it got snared in hers, caught and trapped in the pull of her warm brown eyes. “Why would you still think I was cute if I was bald?”
“Because you have a nicely shaped head.” She ran her hand along his scalp, assessing. “Your face is nice and oval, and you have a strong jawline.” Her hand grazed over his cheek. “And as far as I can tell, your head is perfectly egg shaped.”