Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Leighton
Our meeting with Jagger wraps up, and I couldn’t be happier—he’s an intimidating man.
He obviously knows about Hayes, but he’s a straight-talker.
I didn’t even think about the repercussions of what would happen if our fake relationship was discovered, how bad it could be for Hayes.
People would question his character once again.
So as soon as we step out of Peeper’s, Hayes does his part, slipping his hand into mine.
He nods at the black security gate on the right side of the building. “Do you want to come up?”
“To your place?” That’s an idiotic question. He’s not going to take me up to Easton or Decker’s.
He chuckles, gripping my hand a little tighter, and I pretend it doesn’t send a fission of electricity rushing up my arm. “Yes, to my place.”
“Sure.” Damn my curiosity for wanting to see where he lives, since he knows exactly where I spend my nights.
It’s so you can visualize it later when you get off.
Ugh, I need my sex drive to shut off.
“Am I deserving of seeing what’s behind this guarded gate?” I turn and walk backward, his hand still in mine. In the short time I’ve been here, someone has added another sign on the gate. “Oh, there’s a debate now. The Corral or The Stable?”
My hand slips from his, and I tap my finger on my lips and playfully point at each sign, alternating back and forth. He comes up behind me, chest pressed into my back, and reaches around me, tearing both signs off the gate.
“Ah, what fun is that?” I circle to see him walking to the trash can. “You’re getting rid of all their bubblegum and notes. Tell me, Hayes, is your dick as impressive as your bat? Inquiring minds want to know.”
He shakes his head. His cheeks have a hint of pink, and not from the tease of summer today. “Unfortunately, this stuff comes with living in this condo.”
“Well, it is kind of an iconic building.”
He punches in the security code and opens the gate for me.
I step in, wondering if some woman is lurking around, wondering who I am.
I’d have to say I’m a nobody. But then his hand touches the small of my back, playing the part perfectly until the gate closes behind us.
I don’t want to be a nobody. I wish I really was here to find out his dick size. But I’d keep it all to myself.
“Unfortunately, I’m on the top floor though.”
“I bet you usually just carry all the women up the stairs,” I tease, and he knocks me with his shoulder, causing me to bump into the first-floor unit. “Whose place is this?”
“Easton’s.”
“I bet that door sees a lot of action, huh?”
Easton seems like a decent guy. A family guy, from what I witnessed at my house. I shouldn’t believe the rumors I hear, but if the gossip is to be believed, he definitely enjoys his life as a professional baseball player, especially the nightlife.
“You interested?” Hayes cocks his eyebrow at me.
“My nights are getting a little lonely.”
He stops us mid-step, crushing me against the wall, his hands on my hips. “Just say the word, and I’ll fill the vacancy in your bed.”
I’m flushed and at a loss for words. His eyes brim with lust, and I can’t deny I feel the same way. “How come you’re always caging me against a wall?”
“’Cause you’re always one second away from running.”
We stare into one another’s eyes, and god, I could sink into him so easily. Allow all these feelings to rise to the surface and take advantage of the sexual tension that feels as though it’s always the third party in a room with us.
“No one’s here. You’re wasting all your good moves when it’s just the two of us.” My voice is way breathier than it should be.
His fingers mold to my hips. “Believe me, Leighton, if I ever get you behind a closed bedroom door, you’ll see this is just the warm-up.”
He steps back, and my body instantly misses the heat of his. He jogs up a few stairs and looks back at me, a cocky grin in place because he knows what he just did to me.
I follow, his ass at my eye level, probably something he did on purpose. “Didn’t your mom ever tell you it’s not nice to tease a girl?”
He stands at his condo door, his finger hovering over the keypad as he smirks. “Just tell me when you want me to do more than tease.”
The space between my thighs throbs with his comment. “I think we’re playing with fire.”
He punches in the code and opens the door. “Sorry, it’s hard for me when I know you had a crush on me.”
I scoff and slide by him into his apartment, hoping he has a dog or a cat I don’t know about to act as a distraction. “I crushed on a lot of people, don’t hang your pride on it.”
It’s a lie. Hayes has been my number one crush my entire life.
“Always one to pull my head from the clouds.” He steps inside and closes the door.
“Oh, did I bruise your ego? I’m only one woman.
If guys were leaving notes on my door every day, I wouldn’t let one man chink my armor.
” I look around his private space. I’m just joking with him, but being in his space, a place I don’t think he shares with many people, does make me feel a little special.
“Have I not made it clear how uninterested I am in anyone but you?”
My heart stutters to a stop for a second. Sure, we’ve had some heated moments, and I admitted to a crush, but what is he implying?
I twirl around, pressing my hands on the back of his brown leather couch. “Too bad there’s a list of reasons you need to move on.”
It’s easier not to ask him directly, to let his comments just hang in the air. That way they won’t lead to disappointment.
“I don’t believe in lists like that. You’d come with more pros than cons anyway, Leighton.”
God, the way he says my name makes me want to squeeze my thighs together. “Ha.”
I walk through his family room area. It’s a bachelor pad for sure with all the dark wood and brown leather.
At least he doesn’t have black leather. I swear they must sell the stuff at some store named Bachelors ’R Us.
So many of the guys I’ve dated had black leather couches.
It’s clearly a guy’s space, but there’s a homey feeling about it.
Maybe it’s the pictures on the wall and the end tables.
The fact that he took time to get photos of the people he loves framed.
His family, Callie, high school and college friends, even Foster Davis made the wall.
I hear him walk in my direction, then his shoulder hits mine as he looks at them with me.
There’s no reason for me to be hurt that I’m not in any of the pictures.
We haven’t been a part of each other’s lives in a really long time.
But I find myself wanting to be on that wall.
Knowing that some other woman will be there one day is a hard truth to stomach.
“So, you’re really that close with him, huh?
I thought it was just, like, a teammate thing.
” I point at the picture of him and Foster.
It must have been taken after they won something important because Hayes has his catcher’s helmet resting on top of his head, and he’s wearing his full uniform, a huge smile on his face.
“That was after we won the division two years ago, before things…”
He doesn’t need to finish his sentence. We both know how he went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.
“Callie said you two were really in sync. That you worked well together.” I turn away from the wall to face him. “Do you miss him?”
He smiles, then leans his shoulder against the wall.
“I do. We’re great together when he’s on the mound, and I’m behind home plate.
Maybe that’s because we’re such good friends, I don’t know.
I miss playing in Seattle with him, but I’d rather be here.
Now I play with Decker, and they don’t get along, so it’s always weird talking with Foster and telling him what his brother has been up to.
I’ve heard shit from Foster about Decker, and now Decker—although he doesn’t say anything bad about his brother.
Mostly when Foster’s name gets brought up, his attention wanders off.
They’re both good guys though. I don’t even know what happened. ” He shrugs.
“Yeah, well, sometimes family relationships can be complicated. Just look at mine.” I smile wide, hoping to mask the trauma from adolescence that somehow still has a way of affecting how I live my life.
His lips tip down.
We’re not doing this. I shouldn’t have brought it up. “You saw them in the courtroom.”
He pushes off the wall and heads toward the kitchen. “This place must seem pretty small compared to Sky’s place.”
I’m not sure if he’s purposely giving me an out, but I’m going to take it.
“It’s a great location, and you don’t need a lot of space. You’re a bachelor. I really like it though.” I scan the place again and see an open door that must lead to his bedroom on one side of the kitchen.
“What have you done with your apartment?” he asks.
I walk up to the breakfast bar to see that he’s taking a bag of microwave popcorn out of his cupboard and placing it in the microwave.
“It’s still mine. My lease isn’t up for a while.
I’m stopping there on my way back to pick up my coffee maker.
Cross your fingers I don’t have any rodents that have moved in and think of the place as theirs now. ”
“Sky didn’t have a coffee maker?” He tugs the popcorn out of the microwave and opens it, dropping it on the counter when all the steam billows out.
“Tough guy there,” I joke, and he glances at me through his long eyelashes. “I tried to use Sky and Patrick’s fancy machine, but all I want is a regular cup of coffee, you know? So, I’m just gonna go get mine and bring it back there.” I shrug.
He dumps the popcorn in a bowl and buries his head in the fridge, pulling out two waters. Then he reaches into a cabinet and drops a bag of licorice on the counter. “Won’t you have to move everything out and find room at Sky’s for all your things?”
He’s right. Assuming I maintain custody of the kids, moving is inevitable, but I’m still in the guest room next to Sky and Patrick’s bedroom, living out of my suitcase and a laundry basket. It just doesn’t feel right to take up residence in their bedroom.
“I’m guessing all your clothes are there by now?”
His questions make me realize that I haven’t really moved in. I’m still living like a guest in a house that might end up being mine. I’ve made a couple of quick trips, grabbing a bag here and a bag there, but anything personal is still back at my apartment.
He must notice me thinking and probably clocks the worry etched on my face.
“It’s not anything you have to decide now. Anyway, what do you think of this place now that you’ve seen it?” he asks, changing the subject again.
“I really like it. If I ever envisioned where you live, this is what I would think.”
He smiles big, as though that means something to him. “Who’s watching the kids?”
“My mom, but they all have places to go tonight. Lake is at a friend’s house, and Lincoln and Monroe are going to the same house to hang out with kids their own ages. I have to pick them up…” I glance at my phone. “In a couple of hours.”
“So, you have a few hours to yourself?” He picks up the bowl of popcorn and cradles it in his arms.
“I do. And it’s still light outside. Amazing.”
He bites his lower lip in what seems like it might be a nervous gesture. “Would you be willing to spend those hours with me?”
The teenage girl in me is swooning right now, but I do my best to keep from outwardly reacting. “That depends on what you have in mind.” I glance at the items in his hands.
“I’d like to show you the rooftop.” Again, his teeth nibble on his bottom lip.
If I was in charge of choosing the theme for today’s National Day, it would definitely be known as the day Hayes Carlisle Looked Nervous in Front of Me.