Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding) - By Sydney Somers Page 0,35
the chance. Maybe you would have come to your senses.”
“I can think of other ways to bring me to my senses.” If her hands weren’t still trembling just a bit he might not have joked with her.
“Do not get cute with me,” she growled.
He grinned. “You think I’m cute?”
She blew out a breath. “I think you’re a whole lot of trouble.”
“You used to like trouble.”
With a laugh, she leaned forward. “I used to like joyriding, skinny dipping and deep fried ice cream too, but I’ve learned—”
“Together?” he cut in.
“What?” She shook her head. “No—”
“They should go together.” They sure as hell fit together pretty damn nicely in his head all of a sudden. That kiss had given him a taste for her, and Hayley had a body he could spend hours eating off of. A body he could spend hours with period.
She arched a brow. “Do you have ADD?”
He tried to follow, wondering if the trace amount of nicotine she might have taken in between coughing fits had gone right to her head. “No.”
“Then how the hell do you go from being furious I tased you to joking around and talking about skinny dipping and ice cream?”
The hell if he knew. He felt more off-balance with her than the first time he’d tried skating, but the feeling was becoming a little addictive.
A wayward lock of her hair distracted him, and he drew the thick blonde strands back, tucking them behind her ear.
“You shouldn’t have been in the shed.” She didn’t make it sound like an accusation this time.
“Didn’t mean to be such an inconvenience.”
Her lips parted, her gaze falling to the hands she clenched in her lap. “If I had hurt you or if you’d banged that thick skull of yours…” The words were swallowed by another cough.
“I’m fine.” And he was. Better than he’d been in a good long while overall. Maybe fifty thousand volts weren’t exactly the highlight of his day, but sitting this close to Hayley, her skin warming his side, worry reflected in those pretty eyes of hers, he was more than fine.
“There are laws against trespassing, you know.”
“I didn’t think Coach would mind.” He gave the room another once-over. “Though I’m pretty sure he’d mind what you’re doing to his house. Do all the rooms look like you set off a renovation grenade?”
“Stop changing the subject.” She ran her hands through her hair. “When you didn’t drop the ax, I thought you were the same guy who’s committed multiple break-ins around town.”
“Is that your apology?”
Her earlier vulnerability retreated. “I was doing my job.”
“I think you were better at breaking the law, Hayls. Kidding,” he threw in before she reached for another weapon. “And you can’t blame me for not keeping up with the local news coverage when I haven’t been home in a long time.”
“Well, now you know.”
“Good. Any other criminal activity I should be aware of? Anyone streaking at the football games? Toilet papering the mayor’s place? Stealing the high school mascot’s costume for nefarious purposes?”
Surprise flashed across her face, and was then buried beneath a frown so quickly he might have imagined it. A cop frown if ever he saw one, and with his reputation for fighting both on and off the ice, he’d earned the same frown from a police officer a time or two. The look of surprise before that was definitely new.
Hayley pushed herself to her feet. “We have to sell the house. Medical bills are piling up and Gramps’s insurance coverage isn’t so great.”
“Now who’s changing the subject?” Because it was easier not to talk about the fact that Coach was dying, Jackson redirected the conversation back to the intriguing part. “Let me guess, you once stole the high school mascot suit.”
She ignored the comment. “The guy I had lined up to refinish the cupboard doors and woodwork in here backed out on me last week, and the other local carpentry place is already booked for the next month and a half with other jobs.”
“Your rebellious days aren’t exactly a secret,” he continued, remembering when the mascot’s costume had been tie-dyed and glued to the hood of their principal’s new Beamer.
The guy had been a genuine dick, and it had been hilarious to watch him rip the bear suit off with half the afterschool crowd looking on. No one had been caught in the act, but more than a few people had whispered about Hayley being behind it. He also had a vague memory of their mascot being linked