Love to Hate You (Hope Valley #9) - Jessica Prince Page 0,69

instinct I had thrash inside of me with the need to get out. She was completely safe, tucked away upstairs, fast asleep. Even though there was no threat, I still stood there, the muscles beneath my skin twitching with anticipation like a guard dog prepared to strike out at anything that could possibly cause her the slightest hint of harm. For the first time in my life, I had someone I’d fight to the death and bleed myself dry to protect.

Once I felt the house was completely secure, I moved back up the stairs. Hayden’s soft floral scent invaded my senses as soon as I entered the room, loosening the ball of tension I hadn’t realized had formed in my chest.

Sliding back beneath the sheets, I reached for her, wrapping my arms around her belly so I could pull her into me, pressing my chest to her back. Burying my face in all her incredible hair, I breathed her in deeper and felt myself settle.

She let out a little hum as she nuzzled deeper into me, sleepily mumbling, “Where’d you go?”

“Just checkin’ to make sure everything was locked up. Go back to sleep, baby.”

“’Kay,” she murmured. Seconds later, she was out again. And as I lay there, holding her tight, I felt pressure building in my chest unlike anything I’d ever experienced.

This had to have been what the guys at work were talking about when they said I’d meet a woman who’d knock me on my ass one day, because as I pulled her even closer, I couldn’t shake the sense that wrapped in my arms was the most important thing in my life.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hayden

My phone started to ring again. Letting out a sigh, I pulled it from my purse and checked the screen, seeing the same name I’d seen twice already in the past twenty minutes.

Silencing the call, I flipped it over face down on the table and picked up my coffee, taking a long sip.

McKenna looked at me from across the table we were sitting at inside Muffin Top and lifted her brows quizzically. “You need to take that? That thing’s been blowing up since you got here.”

“Just ignore it.” Right on cue, the cell chimed with an incoming text.

We’d met at Muffin Top not only because the coffee was exceptional, but because Dani would come over to chat with us whenever there was a lull. It was supposed to have been my own personal time, where I got to hang with a couple of my new friends, shooting the breeze and talking about nothing in particular, but every time that stupid phone rang, my shoulders bunched up, knotting with tension.

“Whoever that is, they’re pretty damn persistent,” Dani stated.

Propping my elbows on the table, I let out a little groan and massaged my temples. “It’s Alex.”

When I’d refused to talk to him the day he brought Ivy home, he’d taken to calling and texting nonstop. It was a major annoyance for me, but it was really starting to piss Micah off.

“Maybe it’s important?” McKenna queried. “What if it’s about Ivy?”

“It isn’t,” I replied flatly. “This has been going on since he brought Ivy home three days ago.”

Dani crossed her forearms and leaned closer to rest them on the table, lowering her voice so people couldn’t eavesdrop. “What’s going on?”

I told them all about what had gone down during his pickup the Friday before. From Micah showing up and staking his claim, to Alex’s insistence that we needed to talk.

“Oh damn.” McKenna dropped back into her chair with wide eyes. “I bet seeing Micah Langford all territorial like that was all kinds of hot.”

I sighed dreamily, thinking back to how sexy Micah had been.

“Stay on track,” Dani demanded, pulling me from the lusty fog that filled my head every time I thought about Micah. “So, what happened on Sunday?”

“Nothing. Like I’d already told him, we had nothing to say to each other, so I refused to have a little sit down with him when he dropped her off. But I noticed Ivy was in a mood when she got home. She was mopey and quiet all evening, and when I finally got her to talk to me about it, she told me he and Krista fought pretty much the whole time she was with them, and that Krista had been mean to her.”

“God, what a bitch,” McKenna seethed.

“Pretty much. I’d been ignoring his calls until I found that out, so when he called the next time, I answered and