“No,” she said, her voice sharp.
“Good. Glad that’s all cleared up,” he said, looking back down at his hat before glancing back at her and giving her a wink. “Now I’m going to go grab some breakfast. That bacon smells so good, my stomach started growling in the shower.”
Without even looking her way, he strutted out of the room, cowboy hat dangling in his grasp.
What in the hell had just happened? Hadley flopped back, swiped Will’s pillow from the bed, held it to her face, and let loose with a prolonged and frustrated groan. How had he turned this into her wanting to have sex with him again?
She didn’t.
She wouldn’t.
It was beyond inconceivable no matter how many very vivid, very specific bad ideas she might be having right about now.
…
An hour later, Will was back to clutching a preemptive can of ginger ale and staring at the rental car as if it were an acid-drenched carnival ride from hell. Hadley didn’t even look his way before she got in on the driver’s side.
Great.
Perfect.
Everything was going exactly to plan—if his plan had been to forget everything he knew about Hadley’s objective to fleece his brother and instead to fuck her like a man who hadn’t been thinking about anyone except her for the past year—which he had but that wasn’t the point. He’d been thinking strategically, not with his dick. At least he had been up until last night. And now?
He couldn’t glance her way without wanting to do it again, which was not the reason why he was out in the Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska, about to get into a car for another long-ass ride to a different part of the Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska. The state never fucking ended. It was just one flat, straight highway that continued indefinitely. It was hell.
“Are you sure you don’t want the front?” Will asked PawPaw as he opened the front passenger door.
Delay? Him? Absolutely. If giving up the front seat gave him an extra two seconds outside of the car, he’d consider it a win.
“Why, so I’ll be in the splash zone when you blow chunks while sitting in the back?” PawPaw shook his head. “No, thank you.”
What sounded like a giggle disguised as a cough came from inside the car, but by the time he sat down, Hadley’s lips were compressed into a straight line and she only had eyes for the road ahead.
“Let’s do this,” she said.
The engine roared—okay, as much as a rental could—and they were off. He popped the ginger ale before they’d even pulled out of the Sandhills Senior Living parking lot.
“So,” PawPaw said a few miles later. “What was your first impression of our Hadley?”
Hadley let out a groan of embarrassment. “PawPaw.”
“What? A grandfather has a right to know what is going on in his grandkids’ lives and who they’ve let into theirs.”
“It’s not fair to put Will on the spot like that.”
PawPaw snorted. “Like I give two pink figs about anything beyond saying what’s on my mind. You never have to guess what I’m thinking.”
Will pivoted in his seat, taking a look at Hadley and her grandfather. The two obviously shared more than just a pointy chin and the same big eyes. “Seems to be a family tradition, because that is exactly what it was like when I met Hadley.”
The old man rubbed his hands together with glee and leaned forward. “Do tell.”
“She came to my standing weekend rugby match.”
He’d just come off the pitch when he’d spotted her. The wind was whipping her long brown hair around and she’d wrapped her arms around her waist against the cold. She’d been watching the play but had turned and looked at him, and it was like finding out a secret. She’d waved and he’d nearly walked right into his brother, and that’s when he realized Hadley was waving at his brother and not him.
“I was there to cheer on your brother,” she said, one hand on the wheel and the other twisting a strand of hair around her finger. “He’s one of my best friends.”
Yeah. Friends. That’s what she liked to call it. He knew better. The way she looked at Web, so cautious and careful when he wasn’t looking and then morphing into Miss Perfectly Perky when he was, had told Will everything he’d needed to know. Always be on the lookout for false faces, that’s what he’d learned from Mia. Of course, he hadn’t noticed that at first. All he’d seen was the first woman who’d made him look twice since he’d almost lost half his trust fund and controlling interest in Holt Enterprises to Mia.