so we go fishing too.”
He looks at me and winces. “I think we should go back to talking about cupcakes or you’re going to decide you never want to see me again because I have no life.”
I give him a sympathetic smile and try to think he’s a boring guy who does nothing. I can’t, though. He’s not boring at all, and if I’m not careful, I’m going to find myself letting him past all those walls I’ve so carefully constructed this past year.
Chapter Eleven
Cade
The time I spend walking along that path with Hailey and talking like we’ve known each other forever is the best hour of my day. I knew my instincts weren’t wrong about her, even if she ran away from me the other day.
She’s every bit as incredible as I’d built her up to be in my mind. Passionate and committed to her work, she’s also sweet and sexy and not that shy once she gets talking.
All I had to do was make the effort and it paid off. Now I want to see how far we can take this thing between us.
We get back to her car and I sense she’s nervous because she’s gone quiet on me again. She lowers her head, fixing her gaze on the ground while I talk about anything that pops into my mind so our time together doesn’t have to end. I’d much rather stand here talking gibberish than go to the club to serve drunks for the rest of the night.
“So what do you think about doing this again? How does tomorrow night sound?” I ask as I take a step closer to her.
But she doesn’t look up at me when she answers, “Tomorrow night? I don’t know.”
“You had fun, didn’t you? You got to hear about me pissing the bed and how my family is one step away from insane ninety percent of the time. And I got to find out about what makes peach roses peach, which I guess I should have known by this point in my life, but to be honest, I don’t think most guys know exactly what the color peach is. We lump that in with salmon and colors like mauve, which I have no idea what it looks like but I’m guessing it’s like peach.”
Hailey finally lifts her head and looks at me, smiling at my color ignorance. “Mauve is not like peach,” she says with an adorable giggle. “As for salmon, I guess I can see why you might get that confused with peach.”
I take another step toward her, shrinking the space between us to only a couple inches. She really is so beautiful right now looking up at me with those crystal blue eyes that seem to sparkle under the streetlight above where her car is parked.
“Now I know the surefire way to get you to talk is to show you how stupid I am about something. Good to know.”
She tilts her head like she isn’t sure if I’m being serious or not and she wants to decide before saying anything else. “I don’t think you’re stupid about colors. You’re just a guy. Guys think of things in basic colors. Black, white, blue, red, green, yellow and maybe orange is pretty much all men consider when it comes to colors, so you’re no different than anyone else and definitely not more stupid.”
The way she tries to make me feel better about being so utterly ignorant about something she understands so well charms me. I’m not even sure she realizes how sexy it is that she’s sweet like that.
Still, I like the banter that’s part of the chase with any woman, so I put on my fake sad face and tease her about saying I’m no different than anyone else. “So I’m just like every other guy you’ve ever met? Ouch. That hurts a guy’s ego, and we’re practically all ego, you know.”
Instinctively, she waves her hands in front of her, brushing up against my chest since I’m so close now. “I didn’t mean it that way. No, I don’t think you’re like everyone else. I don’t. Really.”
Leaning down, I stop her explanation with a kiss I’ve been dying to sneak since she started talking about those delicious sounding cupcakes nearly an hour ago. Her lips are soft, and although I’ve been nearly hard for the past few minutes, just the touch of her mouth on mine makes my cock stiffen so it’s pressing against the front of my pants.
She returns