Chapter 23
“Can I have my keys back?” Haley asked, holding out her hand expectantly just as Jason placed the last bag in the backseat.
“No,” he said, stepping past her and climbing into the driver’s seat.
Sighing, Haley climbed into the passenger side, knowing there was no point in arguing with him. Not right now when she was too tired to do anything more than glare. All she wanted to do was find the cottage, take a bath, and sleep for the next week.
She pulled her hand away when Jason tried to hold it. Instead of arguing, he acted like nothing happened and focused on the printed driving directions. After a few minutes, he took her hand in his again.
After a two-minute tug of war, Haley gave up and let him have his sad victory, mentally promising herself all kinds of revenge when he smiled smugly. She was too tired to argue, so she sat back against the cool leather seat and tried not to fall asleep.
Her eyes darted to the rearview mirror and narrowed on the large pile of grocery bags he’d purchased.
She turned her glare on Jason. “I hope you don’t think I’m cooking for you,” she said, narrowing her eyes on him as she decided that if he so much as pouted over that announcement that she was going to break out the fists of fury on his ass.
He shook his head. “You’re not allowed to cook this week,” Jason said, surprising her.
“What’s this, now?”
“You’re on vacation. I don’t want you lifting a finger,” he said, raising their hands so that he could press a sweet kiss against the back of her hand. When she felt herself starting to melt, she reminded herself that he didn’t trust her.
After one last useless attempt to tug her hand back, Haley sighed and sat back in her seat, watching as they passed small houses, apartment complexes, and small businesses.
Ten minutes later, they passed through a quaint downtown shopping area and onto a scenic road that took them past several large hotels along the beach.
Haley was just about to drift off when Jason said, “I think this is it.”
She forced her eyes open and watched as they drove past several small cottages. A minute later, they were pulling into the long driveway of a small cottage.
“Do you have a key?” Jason asked, throwing the car in park and shutting it off.
Biting back a yawn, Haley nodded. Without a word, she climbed out of the car and made her way up the short, crushed-seashell walkway and let herself into the house, deciding she’d handle Jason later.
Right now, she was too tired to do anything more than take a bath and a nap.
She looked around the cottage and noted that it was cuter than the pictures her grandmother’s realtor sent her.
The wicker furniture in the living room was small but looked surprisingly comfortable, Haley noted as she walked through the open doorway into the small eat-in kitchen and looked out the double-glass doors and couldn’t help but frown as she watched the waves crash against the smooth sandy beach and-
“Damn it,” Haley groaned when she realized that her grandmother had tricked her, again.
When Haley asked Grandma to see if her realtor could look into rental properties for her, she should have known Grandma wouldn’t be able to stop herself from swooping in and taking care of it.
She knew that her grandmother meant well, but she really wished her grandmother would stop doing things like this.
“Are you sure this place only costs a thousand dollars?” Jason asked, placing a half-dozen grocery bags on the table.
Haley looked over her shoulder and sighed.
That was one more problem to deal with. She pushed her glasses back up her nose and pulled her cellphone out of her front pocket.
“Look, why don’t you call one of the guys to pick you up?
” she suggested because she was too damn tired to drive him back home right now.
“Why would I do that?” Jason asked as he started putting the food away.
“Because you’re not staying here?” Haley said, wondering why he was having such a difficult time understanding this.
He snorted.
“I’m serious, Jason,” Haley said, moving to step in front of him so that they could talk about this, but he simply walked around her.
“I’m not going anywhere, Haley.”
“Look,” Haley said, slowly taking in a deep calming breath, “why don’t I give you a ride to one of the hotels that we passed on the way here?”
“I’m staying right here until we work this out, Haley,” Jason said firmly.
“You’re not staying here, Jason. First of all, I paid for-”
“Here,” Jason said, cutting her off as he slapped a check on the white oak kitchen table. “I’m paying for the cottage, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Jason was the only person besides her grandmother that she knew who still carried checks in his wallet. She picked up the check and frowned when she saw that he’d intended to pay the entire amount.
She held the check out to him. “I’m not taking this.”
“Yes, you are,” he simply said as he headed back into the living room. “If you tear that up, I’ll just write you another one when we get home.”
Haley folded the check and stuck it in her back pocket.
One more argument to have later, she thought, biting back a pathetic groan.
Right now, she was too tired to care. She walked into the living room and headed for the small hallway to the right, deciding she’d get her bags after her nap that would hopefully give her the energy that she was going to need to deal with Jason.
She headed for the only door in the hallway only to step out of the way as Jason stepped out of the room with a sheepish smile.
“Sorry,” he said, stepping to the side so she could walk into the room. “I was just bringing in the bags.”
“Thank you,” Haley mumbled absently, wondering if she’d ever been this tired before. She hadn’t slept at all last night and the night before, they’d stayed up late watching old horror movies.
“You look tired, baby,” Jason said, reaching over to touch her only to drop his hand away at the last second with a heavy sigh. “Look,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck, “why don’t you go relax. We can talk everything over later.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that there was nothing to talk about, but that would only start another argument, so she simply nodded as she closed the bedroom door behind her.
She looked over the small Cape Cod-style bedroom and nearly groaned.
This would have been perfect for a romantic getaway, Haley thought with a sad smile before she forced herself to think of something else before she did something stupid like cry.
She threw one last look of longing towards the bed before heading for the bathroom.
Even though all she wanted to do was to curl up on that bed and pass out, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to sleep until after she took a hot bath to help her relax.
She still couldn’t believe that this happened.
She knew that falling in love with Jason was a risk, but she’d never thought that he felt the same way.
It made her wonder if he’d ever trusted her.
Despite Jason’s flawed dating past, she’d trusted him, more than anyone.
He’d been kind, sweet, and considerate and never tried to manipulate her into doing something that she didn’t want to do.
When they were intimate, he’d never once pushed for more than she was willing to give him.
That alone had made her love him even more.
Too many times in her past, men had gone out of their way to coerce her into taking a step that she wasn’t ready to take.
When she’d refused, they’d tried to sweet-talk her, manipulate her, guilt her, until they’d finally got pissed and ended things with her when she wouldn’t sleep with him.
She’d been called a bitch and a tease more times than she cared to remember.
The fact that she’d been upfront about her sexual comfort level never mattered.
There had been several men that ended things as soon as she’d told them she wouldn’t have sex with them, but others thought that she was lying to them, teasing them, or setting up a challenge that they’d happily taken.
When they’d eventually realized that she hadn’t lied, things would end quickly, and they’d turn cold and mean.
Some had hung around a little longer, hoping to change her mind, but she never did.
Until Jason.
His reaction had taken her by surprise. Instead of arguing with her, he’d readily accepted what she told him with a smile and a little teasing.
Every time they became intimate, she’d expected Jason to push her into having sex, but he never had.
Not once. Even those times when she knew that he was dying to take her, he hadn’t tried to push her.
He’d grit his teeth and accept whatever she offered him, which was why she’d made love to him last night.
Taking the next step with Jason had felt so natural.
It wasn’t until after he’d told her why he’d made love to her that she’d realized that he didn’t trust her.
He’d done it because he thought that she was playing him only to end up hurting them both.
Last night he’d made love to her in order to prove something.
She’d waited for nothing.
He said he loved her last night, but he really didn’t.
There was no question that he cared for her a little, but love?
The simple truth was, Jason was stubborn.
It was the reason why he’d slept with her, to prove something and the same reason he’d hid in her car and was being bullheaded about this breakup.
She doubted he’d ever been dumped before and he probably wasn’t handling it well.
Jason liked to call the shots when it came to women and having his shy little neighbor dump him probably grated on his ego.
There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that if she took him back that he would never be able to trust her again.
It was better for everyone that they ended things now.
This way, she was only disappointed in Jason and didn’t hate him, although maybe that would be for the best if she did.
It would definitely make this easier if she could just hate him.
She paused by the bathroom doorway and sighed heavily as she took in the bubble bath Jason had drawn for her in the deep, claw-footed bathtub. He’d even set out a towel and her favorite tee-shirt to change into.
“Stupid jerk,” Haley mumbled, once again stopping herself from melting. She just had to remember that this was all a game to him and she’d be fine.