Sassy Blonde - Stacey Kennedy Page 0,39
half the size of Maisie and handed it to her. Without looking at them again, the attendant yelled out, “Winner. Winner. Winner. We got ourselves a winner here. Who’s next?”
Maisie hugged the bear tight as Hayes asked, “Why the bear?”
“Because it reminds me of you. Of this road trip.”
He arched an eyebrow. “I remind you of a bear. Do I want to know why?”
“Oh, it’s not so bad.” She began walking and he settled into stride with her. “You’re all broody and growly, but really, you’re all soft and snuggly on the inside.”
He snorted. “Please don’t repeat that ever.”
She laughed and slid her arm through his, inhaling the sweet goodness of the doughnuts sizzling in the vats of oil nearby. “I had no idea you could shoot like that.”
“I’m a cop—” He cleared his throat, averting his gaze. “Was a cop. Came with the training.”
She didn’t poke that topic. Hayes was an amazing police officer. He seemed born to protect others. She could tell he missed it, the longing was there is his eyes whenever they talked about his life as a police officer, but she didn’t press him on why he’d walked away from his job. She understood the need to let go of an old life to make sure you survived in the new one. They passed a tired toddler crying as his mother tended to the scrape on his knee on the way out the parking lot.
“Ma’am, can I help?” Hayes asked the woman.
She glanced up and gave him a lopsided smile. “I’m all right, but thanks for the offer.”
He nodded, striding forward down the rows of parked cars, like his reaction was no big deal.
But it was. To Maisie. She laid her head on his shoulder. “You’re sweet, you know that?”
“By offering to help her?” Hayes asked.
“Most people wouldn’t do that.” Hayes did because he was a public servant. He was born from generations of cops. She dropped a kiss onto his muscled bicep and told him the God’s honest truth. “I’m happy you’re in my life.”
He stopped walking then and pulled her against him, and set those warm whiskey-colored eyes on her. “And I’m happy you’re in mine.” He kissed her forehead before leveling her with the sweetest smile. “Thank you for today. It’s been a long time since…”
She leaned against him and filled in what he couldn’t say. “I had a lot of fun too.”
His tender smile was his only reply. He turned to walk away, when suddenly, his steps faltered.
“What?” she asked in question, glancing ahead.
She instantly realized the problem. A rush of heat swept over her, and not in a good way. She looked left then right, but only saw cars. She scanned the area again. And again. “Um, Hayes, where is the truck?”
He slowly turned to her, jaw set. “I have no fucking clue.”
Hayes swore he’d never step foot into a police station again. Because of Maisie, he’d seen the inside of two in the last two days. He took stock of her sitting in the hallway of the Boulder police department. She kept looking at the clock on the wall, twisting the ring on her finger. Today had been…amazing, the best he’d had in a long time. And Maisie was the reason. Something restless in him settled. Something that felt good, instead of painful. Something that told him it wasn’t wrong for him to smile.
Needing to be close, he reached over and took her delicate fingers into his, and she jerked her head toward him. “It’s going to be okay,” he told her.
She gave a quick nod and began fingering her necklace.
Unsure of how to fix this for her, Hayes brushed his thumb across the back of her palm, glancing out at the station. The sound of a crying baby came from the room across the hallway. To his left, officers discussed cases behind glass. To the right, cops were chatting and joking in the breakroom. The camaraderie was something he missed most. After Laurel’s murder, he’d shut everyone out. But this place, the smells of old coffee and stale air, felt familiar. Good. Almost like a missing part of Hayes was sitting in there.
Maisie nearly jumped out of her skin when Hayes’s cell phone rang. He reached for it in his pocket, looked at the screen. “It’s Beckett.”
Again, she nodded, not looking at him.
Hayes hit answer and lifted the phone to his ear. “Hey.”
“At least this time you’re not behind bars,” Beckett said by way of greeting.
Hayes snorted, stretching