11. Quade
My gaze has been drawn to Hadley repeatedly all through dinner. She’s been quiet. More than I expected considering she barely knows anyone here except Littlest.
I’m worried I said or did something to make her pull into herself. I did it on the drive from Augusta to Charlestown so I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve managed to do it again.
I hate that she’s uncomfortable. But I have no idea how to fix it.
And I hate that too.
I’m a fixer. I see a problem, I work out the issues and find the solutions.
It’s what I’ve done my whole life.
Except it’s never felt this hard before. Never left me floundering in indecision. I’ve had my failures, as well as impossible situations I’ve had to walk away from, but none of those have put a lead weight in my gut the way Hadley retreating has.
Leaning close I whisper, “Are you okay?”
Her gaze meets mine. “Yes. Why?”
“You’re quiet and I know the family can be a bit much when everyone comes together.”
Her eyes leave mine to scan the tables filled with my extended family. “I don’t think they’re too much. I think it’s wonderful you all come together like this.”
Her explanation turns on the light bulb in my head.
Fucking hell!
I forgot she doesn’t have a large family. From what she’s told me, it’s only her and her father, and while that’s a foreign concept to me I can understand how being surrounded by the opposite could have her pensively observing instead of joining in the boisterous conversations bouncing across the tables.
“I promise I won’t be this quiet all the time.” Her grin eases some of my concern. “I’m getting the lay of the land, taking note of the dynamics between everyone. With what Aunt Millie and Aunt Maude told me, I think I’ll be able to navigate the next few months without blowing our cover.”
The last words are barely a whisper, but she’s leaned in so close that I hear her easily. I smell her too. Even with the overlay of sweat from her earlier work she smells like a garden. A sweet hint of summer I remember from when we were close last time.
In my bedroom.
Where we did things I didn’t do as a hormone-driven teenager.
Things I want to do again.
Now.
Something in my eyes must telegraph my thoughts because Hadley sucks in a breath and her eyes dilate. Our lips are so close, the heat of her skin brushes mine, pulls me closer.
“Get a room, you two!”
The shout from Easton, my best friend and a distant cousin as well as business partner, has me jerking back. A smile of apology sliding across my mouth. “Sorry,” I mouth at Hadley before turning to Easton. “Jealous much?”
He knows the deal. He and Vail, our other best friend and the third to our business partnership, managed to pry the information out of me the day after I hired Hadley to pose as my fake girlfriend for the summer.
I see the questions in his eyes, know he’ll be messaging Vail as soon as he can to report back. I’m dreading explaining myself, not because I don’t want to tell my two best friends all about Hadley, but because I want to keep this thing happening between us ours for as long as I can.
It might not be clear what this is, and I might be the only one feeling it—although I doubt it, there’s no way these feelings are one-sided—and whatever this is, it’s something.
Something deep.
Something profound.
Something real.
Realer than anything I’ve ever experienced, and I want to explore it without the meddling of my best friends. Or my family.
Which isn’t going to happen when I’ve brought her to the family’s summer retreat.
I’m such a fucking idiot.
I should pack up our stuff, bundle us both into my car, and drive back to my place in Charleston. Lock us away behind closed doors where no noisy relatives or friends can interrupt us.
“Quade?”
Hadley’s voice brings me out of my thoughts and I turn to face her again. “Yeah?”
“I’m full and to be honest, it’s been a long day of travel then with helping out, I’m exhausted. Would you mind if I headed back to the cottage for the night?”
“Yes. No.” I shake my head. “I mean yes, of course you can go to the cottage, and no, I don’t mind.”
She smiles at me. “You stay, enjoy some time with your family. The path back is straight forward. I’ll be fine to go on my own. No need for both of us to call it an early night.”
I shove my chair back so fast it scrapes across the patio tile. “No. I’ll walk you. I’ve got some work to do anyway.” It’s a lie. We both know it. But she doesn’t call me on it. Thankfully.
“Okay. Let me say goodnight to your parents and grandmother.”
“I’ll be there in a second.” I watch her walk away and can’t help wondering if I’m going to be able to do as she suggested and keep my hands off her if we share a bed. Everything about her makes me want to touch. Her curves, her voice, the way she moves…
“She’s hot.”
I shoot a scowl at Easton. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
He’s grinning and I know he said what he did to get a rise out of me. Holding up his hands he says, “Just stating the obvious.”
I huff out a breath. “Well, don’t say anything.”
“O…kay. I see how it is.”
“You see nothing. When’s Vail getting here?”
The sigh that leaves Easton tells me all I need to know but he answers anyway. “He’s not coming.”
“What’s his excuse this time?”
“The same as usual. Work.”
“Bullshit.”
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“What are we going to do about him?”
“Nothing. Yet.”
“When then? It’s been six months.”
“Not quite.”
“Close enough.”
“True. But he’s still brooding.”
“He was brooding before Felicity left him at the altar.”
“Yes, but this isn’t about her and you know it.”
“Damn that bitch!”
“I think he’s thinking about trying for custody.”
“Kavan isn’t his.”
“No, but Vail is the only father he’s ever known and four years of fathering the boy has to count for something. Plus she named him after Vail; it all has to hold up in his favor.”
“She wants money. It’s why she hooked up with Vail to begin with. I’ve never accepted she didn’t know she was pregnant at the time either.”
“Agree. On all of that. And I think he might be contemplating offering her a bunch of it to hand Van over and walk away.”
“Shit. Okay, find out what he needs from us and let me know.”
“And why can’t you find that out yourself?” Easton asks with a knowing smile.
“Fuck off.” I shove his shoulder and move past him, his laughter following me as I head toward the woman who has me thinking things I’ve never thought before.
Things like what if this were real, if she were mine.
What it would be like to watch her walk down an aisle toward me, make promises I’d keep until my final breath.
What it would be like to dedicate my life to her, to build a life with her.
Have children with her.
I didn’t lie when she applied for the summer job of my fake girlfriend. When I placed the help wanted ad, I had no interest in any of those things.
Not until I met Hadley.