it all over in silence, and the second he pulled up in front of the apartment building she barely lived in anymore, she couldn’t scramble out of the car fast enough.
“Hold up a second.”
She shut the door but leaned into the window.
“Today didn’t go like I’d planned.”
Not the way anyone had planned, Hayley thought, resisting the urge to ask him exactly how he had planned for their fake date to go.
Jackson stared out the windshield, and she took a step back from the car. “Bye, Jackson.”
“It wasn’t just because of the picture.” The words came out rushed, like he might trip over them if he didn’t get them out. “The kiss, I mean.”
The rough confession was either the perfect line or he meant every word, and no matter how much she tried to fight it, her body responded as though it was the latter, warming her head to foot.
“Sure you’re not just trying to smooth things out with the cop who arrested you?”
“Absolutely,” he admitted, grinning. “That doesn’t mean I’ve ever kissed anyone like that either.”
The warmth gave way to a knee-weakening flush almost as potent as their kiss had been.
“Bye, Hayley.” He smiled again, the sexy curve of his lips making her think crazy thoughts that went against her better judgment. She’d just reminded herself why being anywhere near him was a bad idea, and she still found herself half wanting to crawl across the seat and see if what happened in the lobby had just been some crazy fluke.
She settled on keeping her distance, knowing it was for the best, but couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Your kissing skills have improved.” Smiling, she didn’t wait to hear his response, but felt him watch her until she reached the front of her building and let herself inside.
Welcome home, Jackson.
Jackson sat in his car long after Hayley had gone inside. What the hell had she meant by that?
It crossed his mind to turn off his car and find out, but he doubted she’d let him in. She wanted him to stew over that tidbit. Probably wanted to drive him crazy wondering about it, and damned if he wasn’t halfway there already.
He would have remembered kissing Matt’s sister, and he’d never had so much to drink that he would have forgotten something like that.
And after that kiss at the inn—poorly timed though it might have been—he was even more convinced something like that would have stayed with him.
He’d been fighting the impulse to kiss her for most of day, and somewhere between his frustration with the wedding and his unexpected attraction to her, he’d just gone with his gut.
The camera had registered only a moment before he’d made up his mind to reach for her, and it ceased to matter the second she was in his arms. He wasn’t sure if she believed that it wasn’t just about putting on a show. The fact that she’d looked like maybe she wanted to get back in the car nearly as bad as he wanted her to gave him hope.
Determined to figure out this mystery kiss on his own, he finally drove away.
A few minutes from Hayley’s place he passed the hospital, trying hard not to think of Mitch Stone. It didn’t work.
Distracting himself with thoughts of what just happened between him and Hayley wasn’t even enough to keep him from remembering what Matt had told him that afternoon.
Coach had cancer. Fuck.
The tough old bastard was the reason he’d been drafted, and the thought of that disease eating away at him made Jackson’s gut ache. He pulled in to the parking lot even though he’d rather do anything than face Mitch Stone. The old man was dying, and Jackson didn’t have anything for his coach to be proud of. Not anymore.
He turned off the car once he found a place to park but stayed where he was, dragging it out. He wasn’t sure what the hospital’s visiting hours were, but maybe that didn’t matter so much with palliative care. He gripped the wheel hard then climbed out.
Counting on the small hospital not to have changed all that much, he headed up to the fourth floor. He’d lost track of the number of times he’d walked these halls after countless sports injuries growing up.
The area outside the double doors marked Palliative Care was quiet and Jackson hesitated. He should come back another time. He even turned around, but never made it to the elevator, changing his mind.
He pushed through the doors, noticing the different