Chapter 25
Three o’clock in the morning and Haley was close to crying. She was exhausted. Her head was pounding and she felt sick to her stomach. She hadn’t slept in five days.
Not one single wink.
No, the reason that she couldn’t sleep was quite simple.
The bastard, who refused to leave no matter how many times she’d begged, pleaded, or threatened to kick his ass, was one hundred percent responsible for this problem.
Being this dependent on another person for sleep wasn’t normal, but no matter how many times she’d tried to get that message across to her exhausted body, it wouldn’t listen.
She tried everything over the past three days.
At first, she’d thought relaxation would do the trick, so she’d taken about a dozen hot baths, read a few books, and even went for a relaxing moonlit stroll along the beach.
When that didn’t work, she’d moved on to vigorous activity.
She tried swimming, went for a bike ride, and cleaned the cottage from top to bottom.
Absolutely nothing worked.
There was no way that she could handle another day without sleep, especially since Jason was determined to keep her here for four more days.
She sat up in bed and kicked the sheet away.
Damn it. If she was going to be stuck with him, then she might as well get something out of it, she decided as she threw open her door and stormed down the short hallway.
Jason looked over at her and sighed. She wasn’t really surprised to find him awake.
It seemed this sleeping addiction went both ways, thankfully, because if she was going to suffer then, so was he.
Granted, his inability to sleep might have more to do with the small wicker chairs that he was forced to sit in all night since she’d refused to let him sleep with her.
“I don’t know what you did, but you’ve wrecked sleep for me and since you won’t give me back my stuff, I’ve decided that you will allow me the use of your body for sleep,” she clarified, afraid he might get the wrong idea, “until we go home and I can get a prescription for sleeping pills from my doctor.”
Jason simply looked at her through bloodshot eyes. “Okay, move your ass,” she said, gesturing for him to head back to the bedroom.
“No,” he said softly.
She narrowed her eyes on him. “Don’t make me hurt you, Jason. I am way too tired for any bullshit tonight, so move your ass.”
He stubbornly shook his head. “Not until you promise to spend the last four days with me.”
“No.”
They broke up and she really needed him to accept that, especially since they had to go back to work in two weeks.
She didn’t want to have to deal with this at work.
He needed to accept this so they could both move on.
It was already hard enough being around him and not being able to touch him without losing it.
She loved him so much and this was killing her.
The best thing he could do for both of them was to let her go now before it destroyed her.
She already knew that she’d have to put her house on the market and look for a new job as soon as she got back because there was no way that she was going to be able to see him after this without feeling like her heart was breaking all over again.
She needed to put as much space between them as she could if she hoped to survive this.
“We have four days left, Haley. If you want to sleep, then you’ll give me what I want.”
“You need sleep just as much as I do,” she pointed out.
Jason nodded even as he said, “And I’m willing to go without it if that’s what it takes.”
“We’re not getting back together,” she said, feeling more exhausted than she had five minutes ago.
“I’m not asking for that, Haley. I’m asking for some real time with you.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes,” Jason said, sounding as exhausted as she felt. “I just want some time with you.”
She considered him for a moment. At this point, she was willing to fork over her kidneys if it meant getting some sleep. “Fine,” she said slowly before adding, “But just sleep. Nothing else.”
He sighed as he got to his feet. “That’s fine,” he said, walking past her to the bedroom.
“Underwear stays on,” she announced as she walked into the room.
Jason yanked his underwear back up, probably too tired to argue, and flopped down on the bed. After a slight hesitation, Haley lay down and curled up against him. In a matter of minutes, she felt her body relax and started to drift off.
“Oh, my God, no! It’s going to bite me!” Haley squealed, jumping back as the small crab moved towards her.
Jason chuckled as he watched his little grasshopper run on her tippy toes, trying to get away from the small crab that did seem to have it out for her. Every time Haley changed direction, so did the crab.
Now, Jason could very easily fix this problem for his little grasshopper by picking her up, but he was following her rules.
He only had four days left to convince her that she couldn’t live without him and if that meant that he had to follow her rules to spend time with her, then he was damn well going to follow them.
He wasn’t about to give her a reason to break their agreement.
That’s why an hour ago when he woke up to find Haley curled up in his arms, he’d quickly jumped out of bed and put some space between them.
She’d looked a little confused and hurt, and he’d almost ignored her rules and pulled her into his arms, but he’d forced himself to keep his head in the game.
He’d said good morning and left her alone to take a shower and not joining her had almost killed him.
After lunch, it had taken a little prompting and about a dozen reminders that she’d promised to spend time with him.
With a resigned sigh, she’d followed him to the beach.
For the first time since he’d wrecked her flowers, things became awkward.
He had no idea what he was supposed to say to her.
Every time he opened his mouth, he’d force himself to snap it shut before he made this worse.
Several times, he found himself biting back an apology, remembering what his father said, and walked next to her as he tried to figure out what the hell he should say to her.
Unfortunately, Haley seemed to be just as uncomfortable as he was.
She’d been on the verge of suggesting that they go home again when they came across the little crab hell-bent on attacking her.
“Jason!” Haley gasped, laughing as the crab made a grab for her toes.
Sighing, Jason bent over and plucked the small crab up and took in its buggy eyes. “It’s kind of cute.”
Haley squished up her face adorably. “If you say so.”
He noticed that she didn’t make any moves to take a closer look. In fact, it looked as though she was trying to discreetly step away. Jason bit back a smile as he held it out to her. She squealed, jumped back, and almost fell on her adorable ass.
“Get it away from me!”
“Aw, come on, Haley. He just wants a little kiss,” Jason said, shoving the crab towards her once again. “Just a little kiss.”
Haley giggled even as she ducked out of the way.
“Come on, he likes you!” Jason said, chuckling as he chased after her.
“Go away!” Haley said with that beautiful smile that he loved.
Haley dropped her book as she latched onto Jason’s arm and tried to drag him away.
“That’s false advertisement!” Jason shouted, heading back for the door that they’d been unceremoniously kicked out of ten minutes ago. “The sign says, ‘All you can eat!’”
Thankfully, the last several months in Jason’s company had pretty much cured her problem of embarrassing easily. Otherwise, she’d probably be dying of mortification right about now and wishing for a hole in the ground to open up and swallow her whole as people stopped to gawk at them.
“They were closing,” Haley pointed out.
“That’s no excuse,” Jason bit out, glaring at the waitstaff that watched them nervously from behind closed curtains.
“I think they ran out of food,” Haley said, doing her best not to laugh when he pouted.
“Bastards,” Jason muttered.
“Come on, I’ll let you treat me to a late movie,” she said, tugging on his arm.
He reluctantly allowed her to pull him away, only throwing the occasional look of longing towards the restaurant as they headed across the street.
Haley did her best not to roll her eyes.
The man was way too obsessed with food, she thought as they stepped into the long line outside the movie theatre as another thought occurred to her, one that actually terrified her a little.
“You never brought me to an all-you-can-eat buffet at home,” she pointed out because now that she thought about it, she was really surprised about that.
It seemed like the perfect place for Jason and his father. They both adored food, which was probably why his parents stopped with just one child. Just the thought of a bunch of little Jason’s running around, eating everything in sight terrified her.
Jason mumbled something.
“What?” Haley asked, tearing her gaze away from the list of movies playing.
“I said, I’ve been banned,” he grumbled unhappily, only to add, “It’s all political,” with a sad shake of his head.
“Uh-huh...and your father?” she asked, having a bad feeling that she already knew what his answer was going to be.
“He’s been banned since 1995,” Jason said with a shrug.
“I see,” Haley said, her lips twitching.
“In two years, the ban in Las Vegas will be lifted. We’re planning a big trip,” Jason said, looking at her hopefully.
Haley opened her mouth to remind him that they weren’t going to be doing anything in two years when she realized what he just said.
“You’ve been banned from Las Vegas?”
“Not from Las Vegas, just from all the buffets,” Jason said with a shrug as if it was no big deal.
“All the buffets?” she asked slowly, unable to hide her shock. There had to be hundreds of buffets in Las Vegas.
“I guess they had a meeting or something. As I said before, it’s all political,” Jason said, gesturing for her to move up in line.
She was too stunned to say anything for a few minutes. She knew they loved food, but wow...
“What movie do you want to see?” Jason asked, pulling her from her frightening thoughts that were probably going to keep her up at night for the rest of her life.
Haley quickly scanned the list, about to tell Jason to go ahead and pick a movie when she spotted a movie she’d been waiting to see for a while. How about “To hell and back?” she suggested.
Jason frowned. “The one with Edward and Dana Pierce?”
She nodded.
“Fine,” Jason said with an exaggerated eye-roll, earning a smile from her. “A chick flick it is.” He bought their tickets and headed for the concession stand with a muttered, “I just need something to eat before I pass out.”
He reached out to take her hand, only to drop his hand away right before he touched her.
His smile became polite as he gestured for her to go ahead of him.
Haley forced a smile as she stepped in line ahead of him, reminding herself that this was exactly what she wanted.
She wanted to go back to being friends, even if it was only for a little while.
So, Jason readily accepting that they were only friends was a good thing, she told herself.
After they bought their snacks, well, Jason’s snacks, since she was still full, they found two seats towards the front.
Thankfully, the previews were already playing so Haley took the opportunity to remind herself that they were just friends and that she needed to stop thinking about just how much she wanted him to touch her.
They were over. Jason had obviously accepted it and so should she. It was for the best, no matter how much it made her want to cry.