Chapter 10
ten
. . .
Savannah
Sunlight flooded the room, and I tried to lick my lips, but it appeared my tongue was superglued to the roof of my mouth. It felt like someone was banging their drums inside my head, and I covered my eyes with my hands and rubbed them several times before attempting to open them.
After I blinked a few times, I sat forward.
Where the hell am I?
Tequila. Puking. Hayes.
“Oh, God,” I groaned.
“You beckoned, Shortcake?” Hayes’s voice called out from somewhere outside the room before he appeared in the doorway.
I glanced around. “Is this your room?”
“It is.”
“Did something happen between us?” I asked, panic coursing through my veins. I would know if I slept with someone, especially Hayes, wouldn’t I? But what was I doing in his bed?
“Relax, Sav.” He came around my side of the bed and handed me a mug of coffee. “I carried you in here after you puked more than any human ever should, because it’s the only room with a bathroom attached. I slept in the guest room.”
“Oh.”
“Oh? That’s your apology for basically asking if I took advantage of you?” he grumped, before making his way back toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“I have to get to work. I left a spare key on the counter for you. You’re going to need it when you move in here in a few weeks anyway. Your car is in my driveway, and the keys are on the table.”
He’d thought of everything. He’d taken care of me, and I was being rude.
“I’m an awful human being, and if you want to make a citizen’s arrest and tell the whole town that I pulled that fire alarm back in the day, I wouldn’t blame you.”
“Nah. That would hurt my chances of getting promoted to captain if my fake wife was a fire-alarm-pulling criminal. I’ll be working for the next three days, and then it’ll be showtime again.
River thinks we should do this whole dating thing for three weeks and then get hitched.
We don’t want to do it on the day of the cutoff because that’ll look a little too obvious.
So, we take it to the next level this week. ”
“Okay. I can do that. I’m going to get dressed and head out to the farmhouse now,” I said, taking a sip of coffee as he started to leave the room, and I climbed out of bed. “Hey, Hayes.”
“Yep.” He glanced over his shoulder at me.
“Thank you for taking care of me last night.”
He didn’t answer. He just nodded and walked away. I heard the door close behind him, and I had a flashback of me telling him how I’d hated him all these years.
Why do I feel guilty about that now?
I had every reason to despise Hayes Woodson. Just because he was being nice now didn’t mean that what happened in the past didn’t happen.
We were just two people with a history that were helping one another out right now.
I pushed out of bed, looking down to see I was fully clothed, and I remembered him taking my boots off.
I remembered him rubbing my back while I puked.
I had a flashback of him carrying me to his bed.
Why did he have to be so damn sexy, too?
It only made me want to hate him more.
I made my way to the bathroom and splashed water on my face.
I glanced over at the bathtub and stared at it for a long moment.
The hot water wasn’t working at the farmhouse, so I’d been taking really fast ice-cold showers the last few days.
The thought of a hot bath sounded really nice, especially considering I had a hell of a migraine.
I ran the bath, turning the water on extra hot.
He wouldn’t care, would he? He let me sleep here. I would be living here soon.
I let the tub fill, and I walked out to the kitchen and refilled my coffee. Hayes’s house was not a typical bachelor pad, but that didn’t shock me.
He’d always been very clean. His house was decorated with minimal décor, but there was thought behind it. He took pride in his home. He’d always hated the chaos in his childhood home, so I wasn’t surprised that he’d made a comfortable home for himself.
I moseyed down the hall, smiling when I took in one of the guest rooms that was clearly for Cutler. It had a bookshelf, a few puzzles, and some stuffed animals.
Hayes was always adamant that he didn’t want kids after the way he’d grown up, and I wondered if that had changed.
As his future fake wife, I could probably ask.
The way he was with Cutler made me think he may have changed his mind.
Just seeing them together made it clear how much he loved that little boy.
It was a side of Hayes I didn’t know. A softer side.
I hurried down to the bathroom just in time to turn off the water, and I set my coffee on the ledge surrounding the large tub.
I pulled off my jeans and sweater from yesterday before unstrapping my bra, because who in the world wants to sleep in a bra?
I pushed my panties down my legs and glanced out the small window to see the snow falling once again.
This was exactly what I needed. I dipped my toe in the water and a loud shrieking yelp escaped, and I stumbled back.
My God. This man must have his hot water heater cranked up.
I leaned over to turn on the cold water just as a loud voice startled me from the doorway.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
I whipped around to see Hayes standing there gaping at me, and he wasn’t looking away.
“Oh, my gosh! What are you doing?” I covered my parts with my hands and reached for the only thing I could find, which was a small hand towel.
I frantically tried to cover anything I could as he moved past me like this was no big deal.
He opened the cabinet across from me and pulled out a towel and held it up, with a deviously sexy smirk on his face.
I quickly wrapped it around myself and glared at him. “Why are you so calm?”
“Because it’s my bathroom.” His lips turned up in the corners. “And I’ve seen you naked before, remember?”
“You are the one who doesn’t remember,” I said, my heart racing because he’d just seen every inch of me.
When was the last time I shaved?
My God, this was so bad.
I liked to prepare before someone saw me naked.
And especially before Hayes saw me naked.
“Well, I can promise you this, Shortcake. I will not forget it this time.”
“What are you even doing here?” I snarled, tightening the towel between my breasts. “I thought you left fifteen minutes ago.”
Why am I breathing so heavily?
He was fully clothed, but it was the way his eyes trailed up my legs as he took in every inch of me that had my body betraying me.
“I live here.” He pulled out another towel and set it on the counter.
“You could have knocked.”
“Why would I knock? The door wasn’t closed. I heard a shriek, and I thought your hungover ass fell down or something.”
“That’s because I thought you were long gone.”
“I came back in here to tell you that I drove your car around the block, and it’s running great. I can’t have my little woman driving an unsafe car,” he said, as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Thank you?” I said, sarcasm pouring from my almost naked body.
Why was he still in here?
“You’re welcome. I thought you were leaving. That’s why I started up your car.”
Damn it. His reasoning made complete sense.
Once again, I was the asshole. How was that possible?
I sighed. “The hot water heater isn’t working at Abe’s place, so I saw the tub, and I thought you were gone…”
“Hey. You don’t have to ask to take a bath, Sav. I’ll turn your car off and leave the keys on the counter. Take your time.”
“Thank you. And, er, sorry about the little show.”
“Don’t apologize for that. Great way to start the day.” He winked and pulled the door closed after he stepped out of the bathroom.
I buried my face in my hands and groaned. I dropped the towel and mimicked the pose I’d been in when he’d walked in and then looked in the mirror.
He’d definitely seen a lot. Especially when I whipped around.
I tied my hair up in a pile on top of my head with the hair tie on my wrist before dipping my toe back into the water. It wasn’t as hot as it had been a few minutes ago, before I’d embarrassed myself. I climbed in and sank beneath the hot water, allowing it to cover my shoulders.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to relax.
So much had happened since I’d arrived in Magnolia Falls.
I’d let my guard down with Hayes because it was so easy to do.
But I needed to remember that this was a business deal, nothing more.
I’d spent the last few days placing calls to the hospital in Texas and gathering all the information we’d need to get my father admitted into this trial.
Insurance would pay a portion, and all that was required up front was ten thousand dollars cash, which I currently had on hand.
It felt damn good to be able to go forward with the application process, because normally, this was where everything came to a stop.
But I had the money, and we could keep pushing now.
Obviously, it would cost much more once he was in, but the initial deposit after insurance was covered.
I no longer felt guilty about lying to everyone about what I was about to do.
Because if this worked, it would be totally worth it.
I’d spoken to Nadia about it, and she felt confident it could be the difference between buying him several more years of life or throwing in the towel now. I was not giving up on my father.
I’d also started coming up with renovation plans for the farmhouse. I’d met with Nash and Kingston, who owned RoD Construction, and all I would need was a deposit to get things started here, and the rest of the money would be released in a couple of weeks.
After I become a married woman.
Hayes and I had been texting while he was at the firehouse because we had to come up with some plans for this week. Maybe we texted about other things, too, but I didn’t have many people here that I talked to, and he was probably bored at work.
So, yeah, we texted often when he was at the firehouse.