job than it is now.
“So what do you want to do?” I whisper near her ear.
She smells like some soft, flowery perfume, and I take a deep breath to inhale it into me. Everything about Hailey seems soft. I like that.
“This is nice. We can stay here,” she says in a quiet voice.
I brush my lips against her skin just below her ear and feel her breath hitch. She ran away once before. Will she do it again now?
As I wait for her to respond, she turns in my hold to face me. Looking up into my eyes, she says, “So I’ve just about decided that you’re not an ax murderer and probably not married, even though that’s not one hundred percent. You have a great car, a great place here, and as far as I can tell, you’re nearly perfect. So why do you want me?”
After the shock of her words wears off, I smile. “Nearly perfect? What do I have to fix?”
“Nothing. I just didn’t want to say perfect because there’s nowhere to go after that. You haven’t answered my question, Cade.”
Now’s my chance. I can tell her I lied last night—more of an exaggeration, really—and then everything can be perfect with her. She won’t care. It’s not like Hailey is one of those women who gives a damn about what kind of job I have.
Or that I have one at all.
The problem is now she’s standing in front of me on my balcony looking so kind and understanding that I know as soon as I tell her, she’s going to lose that look she has in her eyes. That way she stares at me that says she thinks I’m pretty fucking special.
I like her thinking of me that way. It feels good for once to have someone be interested in me for me, not for my car or my condo or how much money I have. Hailey doesn’t seem to care at all about any of that.
So as much as I know I should say something to clear up the tiny misconception she may have about what I do, I can’t bring myself to say the words. Not if it means she won’t look at me like she is now.
“I want you because you’re you. It doesn’t go any deeper than that,” I say with a smile that hopefully hides that tiny lie hiding out inside me.
She twists her face into an expression of disbelief. “Because I’m me? I’m not anyone. I’m just some girl who bakes stuff for her parents’ restaurant hoping it will bring in more customers.”
“That’s enough for me. I’m just some guy who saw you looking at me through a kitchen door window and liked that.”
Hailey looks around the balcony and then fixes her focus back on me. “You have all of this. You drive that great car. You own a club of your own. I’m not exactly the kind of woman anyone would pair with you. You know that, right?”
I inwardly cringe when she mentions the club. “Exactly what kind of woman am I supposed to be with? Who’s doing this pairing up? Because they don’t have good taste if they aren’t putting me with you.”
“Stop joking. I’m serious, Cade.”
Cradling her face, I kiss her and hope I can quell the doubts she has about us. I might not be all I claim to be, but I’m not lying when I say I like her.
“I don’t care who thinks what about us. I wanted to get to know you from the minute I met you the other day. You seem to like me, right?”
Her blue eyes open wide, and she hesitates before nodding. “Yes, I do. I just—”
I cut her off before she can think of another question about us and kiss her again. “No just. I like you and you like me. Enough said. That’s all that matters.”
In the distance, lightning flashes and she quickly spins around. “Was that lightning? I saw it in the reflection in the glass. Maybe we should go in.”
“Only if you want to,” happy to be anywhere with her.
Hailey looks back at me, her eyes wide. “I forgot. I brought you something. It’s in my bag.”
As she hurries back inside, I follow behind, curious about what she could have gotten me. “I was wondering why you brought that big bag with you. I thought maybe you were hiding an ax or something.”
She smiles at me and shakes her head. “I’m not the ax murderer here.”
Reaching into