“But you have to stop this.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders, and I nearly collapse into him. “Do you know how many lunatics are out here at night? This park is like their stomping ground.”
“Yeah, I think I get it now,” I say. “How did you know I was here?”
“I always walk Lady at this time, luckily for you.”
The adrenaline running through me is breaking apart now, which makes me shake. Hayes pulls me in against him, holding me tightly. “Thank you,” I mumble.
“I don’t want you doing this any more, Felicity. No more late night walks to the park. Please. I care about you. And this isn’t a safe area.”
I lay my head against his chest, hearing his heart beating hard, which makes my pulse speed up. He does care about me. “Okay,” I whisper.
Lady presses her snout in between us, breaking us apart and nuzzling her head into my hip. I drop to the ground, wrapping my arms around her neck, welcoming the warmth and comfort this dog continues to give me. “I think this lady is coming between us,” Hayes says. I look up, finding his usual corny joke grin stretched across his face as he pulls me back up to my feet. “You are doing something to me. Something I can’t explain. I’d been stuck in a rut for so long. I hadn’t found an honest reason to smile since that kid’s death a couple of months ago, and then I stumbled upon you. I know you get it, and I think watching you pick up your pieces is helping me pick up mine. I also think some of our pieces might be getting mixed up. In a good way.”
He’s making more sense out of all this than I am. We need each other. It’s so simple. He’s independent of the life I have to leave behind, and I’m separate from his. It’s perfect. “I like being mixed up with you,” I say.
“This could get messy,” he replies, his voice low, raspy and oozing sex. His hands drop to my hips, pulling me with him until he’s leaning up against a tree.
“Is messy bad?” I ask.
“It’s okay once in a while.”
“Well if things are messy, then I think we can make this count as a date—you know, the kind when the guy saves the girl from the creepy guy in the park. It could work.”
“I thought I was the creepy guy in the park?” he says.
I press my fists into his chest, gripping at his shirt. “Do creepy guys invite girls back to their houses?” I ask.
“I’m pretty sure a creepy person is one who uses reverse psychology to get herself invited over to said creepy guy’s house.” He leans down and lightly touches his lips to mine. “I want you to…but even if we count this damsel in distress act as a date, it’s still only number five. So don’t come to my condo and try to have your way with me, Blondie-locks.”
I finally get the whole “you want what you can’t have” thing. It’s ringing quite loudly in my head right now, and I’m pretty sure he’s well aware too. But I think he might also be regretting his stubbornness with his seven-date rule. “I have resistance like you wouldn’t believe,” I tell him.
I decide not to leave my car here after my parking ticket this morning. Instead, I follow him down several side streets until we pull into a small parking lot up against a tall stone-covered condo complex. It’s a nice street, and the lot is filled with expensive cars. I’m not sure what to expect going into his place.
I step out of my car; he holds the door open and leans in, placing a plastic card against my windshield. “Guest card. Prevents parking tickets,” he says, looking over at me with a wink. He takes my hand, leading me toward the front door. I can see inside the windows; the building is beautifully kept with hardwood floors and charcoal-colored walls.
We hike up two flights of stairs and unlock another door from the stairwell. “This is my floor. It’s kind of like a flat.” We walk in, and he flips the lights. His condo matches his style of dress: everything is neat and in its place, and it can’t be for my benefit since we didn’t have plans tonight.
Lady runs in past us and finds her bed in front of a fireplace, turns a couple of times and plops down.