I swallow, my mind automatically flaring to Hayden, my legs wrapped about him, my teeth pressed tight against his firm chest.
“You’ll see one day,” Mom says.
I nod, muttering something like sure, though I hardly hear it. I don’t know what to do about dad, about Hayden.
I’m certain Hayden was silently asking me something during breakfast. My hand twitches for my phone.
“I’m just going to the bathroom,” I tell mom.
“We’ll wait at the big slide. You remember the one, right?”
Mom gives me a mischievous grin. She always does whenever she mentions that slide since I apparently threw a legendary temper tantrum when I was four because I wasn’t allowed on. I don’t remember it, but it’s always nice to see mom smile like that.
Walking toward the restrooms, I walk past them, around the back, where it’s quieter. There’s nothing here but trash cans and a view of the city across the water.
Luckily, my deadlines aren’t due for a few days. I wanted a head start, but dealing with this won’t torpedo my career.
As long as I focus tomorrow.
But can I, or will I just fantasize about Hayden?
No, I will. I’ll get my work done. That’s what professionals do, and that’s what I want to be.
I wonder if I should text Hayden instead of calling him. It’s a natural choice since the idea of talking on the phone makes my heart pound, but I haven’t got much time.
I need to know if I was right and if there’s something Hayden wants to say…but he couldn’t since Lila and dad were there all this morning.
“Hello?” he answers gruffly on the third ring.
“It’s me,” I murmur, struggling to keep my voice steady.
I’m not sure how that’s possible.
We’ve kissed. We’ve done more than kiss and now just talking with him feels like a feat.
“Hallie.” The way he says my name has my body tingling again. “I was hoping you’d call.”
Another shimmering note of pleasure whispers over me as I clutch the phone hard, pressing it firmly against my ear, struggling to believe this is happening but also knowing it’s true. It’s real.
I can still taste his skin and feel his powerful hand pumping between my legs.
“Hello?” he says.
“I’m here,” I murmur.
“I thought I’d lost you for a second.”
You’re never going to lose me, I almost say.
“No,” I reply.
“Last night…”
I brace myself for his next words. It seems obvious there is going to be a but this was a mistake. It seems like the natural finish, but then he goes on, and my heart starts to soar as though literally trying to burst out of my chest.
“I don’t regret it,” he says. “Not even a little bit. But I know I should, we should. Do you?”
“No,” I whisper, then I think of dad’s face, completely ignorant of what his best friend and I did. “But I get you. I know I should.”
He sighs heavily. “You’re too beautiful, Hallie, too sexy, too interesting. I couldn’t even believe it was you. That you were Graham’s daughter, that same girl with the braces on your teeth.”
I shift slightly, my clothes suddenly feeling tighter, rubbing raw against my sensitive skin, as my body desperately screams for it to be his hands instead.
Roaming over me, squeezing, pressing, claiming like he did last night.
“I can’t believe you wanted me,” I whisper.
“Want you,” he corrects savagely. “But it’s wrong…unless….”
“Unless?” I whisper.
“I’ve thought about this. We need to tell Graham.”
I gasp, looking around as though somehow somebody will know what Hayden just said, will understand the significance of it.
My mind floods with a vignette of dad, standing at the front door with his suitcases ready, and then his face dropping, collapsing in on itself into an expression of pure heartbreak.
“We can’t,” I say.
“Why?” Hayden asks bluntly.
“Because he’s about to start the opportunity of a lifetime,” I reply, my tone getting snappy even if I don’t mean it to. “How the heck is he going to focus with this hanging over him? And what would we even tell him?”
“The truth,” Hayden says.
“So you want to go and say, Hey, Graham, I kissed your daughter while you were sleeping upstairs.”
“It’s the truth,” Hayden repeats. “I didn’t choose my career by mistake. The truth matters.”
“I know.” I sigh, massaging my forehead as tears attempt to rise. I push them away. “But it’s also true dad won’t be able to do his work if we drop this on him now.”
Hayden pauses, then says, “We both saw how much it meant to him.”
“I just can’t believe he didn’t mention it sooner.”
“Graham’s always been that way,” Hayden says, the warmth in his voice making me feel like the worst daughter imaginable. “Ever since we were kids, doubting, stressing, but he always finds a way.”
Hayden sighs again, darker this time, sounding like he wants to roar.
“Maybe you’re right. This is going to be a massive shock for him. He’s leaving in a few hours. The timing’s the worst it could possibly be.”