Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding)(11)

Her expression softened. “I meant about hockey.”

“Oh.” He leaned up on his elbows, gritting his teeth at the pain that stretched across his side. Perfect. A bruised rib was just what he needed after a bar fight and dropping out of a tree.

“You’re bleeding.”

“The icing on the cake,” he muttered, then dragged himself up to see if anything else hurt. Nothing else registered, though, when he noticed her still cradling her wrist. “Let me see.”

She waved him off. “Just a little sprain. No big deal.”

No big deal didn’t make sense with the way she avoided putting weight on it when she stood. Jackson didn’t let her get any further until she held it out for inspection.

With a sigh, she thrust her hand toward him. He gently probed her wrist, trying not to notice how smooth and warm her skin was beneath his fingers. She hissed out a breath and tugged her hand free.

With her left hand, she scooped up the kitten and continued along the path to her building. Seeing her favor one leg just a bit made it impossible to decide which one of them was in rougher shape.

He picked up his stuff along with Hayley’s discard sandals and trailed after her. His bad knee spasmed in protest for a minute, then settled into its usual dull pain. He’d gotten used to ignoring it for the most part, and it certainly helped that he was following Hayley and her killer legs even a guy on his deathbed would have appreciated. He couldn’t have asked for a better distraction from the lingering discomfort that would undoubtedly be worse in the morning.

Hayley knocked at the first apartment they came to, and an elderly man with a cane and a Beatles T-shirt opened the door.

He scowled down at the kitten. “More trouble, Copernicus?” He held his hand out, and Hayley handed the little bugger over. The kitten immediately snuggled in to him.

“Hope he wasn’t too much trouble for you, Hayley.”

Apparently the man had missed their gold-medal-winning dismount.

“Not at all,” she lied, giving Jackson a subtle shake of her head, as if he’d say otherwise.

The man’s white head bobbed. “How are the boys doing? Matt says you’re almost as good of a coach as your grandfather. My grandson isn’t giving you a hard time, is he? I know he’s been talking about you working with them on top of hockey camp this summer.”

“It’s no problem at all. Pete’s a good kid. Plays hard.”

The man nodded. “As good as this one someday maybe?” He gestured to Jackson. “Enjoy the wedding.” He closed the door, and Hayley led the way upstairs.

On the way she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Allie is going to kill me.” She opened the door at the top of the stairs. “Arresting you was probably enough to make her wonder if I was sabotaging the wedding, and now this.”

He leaned against the jamb, watching her pause in front of a mirror near the door to inspect her own appearance. “Why would she think you’d sabotage the wedding?”

Hayley headed down the hall, then waved for him to follow. “That’s a long story.”

His mind leaped to the only conclusion that could put a hold on the wicked thoughts he shouldn’t even be having about Hayley to begin with. “You and Josh never hooked up, did you?” His friend had certainly never said anything about it.

She paused at the entrance to a small bathroom painted a flowery shade of purple. “God, no. Nothing like that.”

Relieved, he set their stuff down and tucked his hands in his pockets. It shouldn’t have mattered if Josh and Hayley had slept together. She and Jackson weren’t really dating. Still, he was glad there hadn’t been anything between them. Maybe too glad.

“What’s with the scowl?” Hayley dampened a cloth under the water.

He shrugged. “Just thinking about that crazy cat,” he lied.

She stopped in front of him. “Undo your shirt.”

Probably the best idea he’d heard in a while. Which meant he couldn’t possibly have heard her right. “Pardon me?”

“I would have thought you’d be used to women asking you to take your clothes off for them.”

Forget other women, the idea of taking off his shirt for Hayley was what interested him. A lot. “Are you trying to take advantage of me, Detective Stone?” Christ, he hoped so.

“I’m trying to get the blood off you.” She tossed him the cloth, then faced the mirror. She pulled her hair back and probed the area around a scrape on her cheek. “From your watch, I think,” she volunteered when she caught him frowning at the abrasion.

“Sorry.” The scrape was almost directly on top of the faint bruise from last night. “Sorry about that punch too.”

“First time anyone has been stupid enough to hit me.” One corner of her mouth quirked, and she reached for the buttons on his shirt. “We don’t have a lot of time to get you straightened up and to the church.” Her fingers brushed his as she took the cloth and dabbed at the claw marks on his upper chest.

Jackson made a mental note to help her save more mangy kittens if it ended with her hands on him. “You said that like you’re not going.”

She ducked her head. To concentrate on her task, or to avoid meeting his gaze? “I just may be a little late.”

“If you’re trying to get out of being my date, you’re going to need a more original excuse than pushing me out of a tree.”

Her eyes snapped to his, giving him that stormy fire he wanted to see more of. “I did not push you.”

“Would make a great headline, don’t you think? Local cop tosses hockey All-Star out of a towering maple.”

“Towering maple,” she echoed, trying not to smile, and pressing a little harder than necessary on the scratches. “You’re unbelievable.” She went to work on his shirt, dabbing at the spots of crimson. “Your jacket should hide the bloodstain.”

Who the hell cared about a stain when he was trying not to think about kissing her? A tip of the chin and her mouth would be at the perfect angle. He inched just a fraction closer, but she was already turning away from him, throwing the cloth into a laundry basket.

“How’s your wrist?” Maybe if he focused on something else, he’d stop thinking about coaxing her within reach and discovering if he was the only one feeling the buzz beneath his skin when she got close.

“It’ll be okay.”

“We should put ice on it.” It didn’t look very swollen and she should probably try to keep it that way.

“After the ceremony,” she conceded. “We’ll be late if we don’t get going.” Hayley shooed him out of the bathroom, pausing just long enough to take the sandals he grabbed and handed her. “Allie might have a problem with you going barefoot, you know.”

She closed the door, leaving him to put his socks and shoes back on. He took his time, expecting to wait at least fifteen minutes. He’d never waited less than that once a woman locked herself away to get ready. Even his mother took at least that long, and she wasn’t anywhere near as high maintenance as most of the women he’d dated.

He’d barely gotten his jacket on when Hayley sailed out of the bathroom less than five minutes later, the high heels on her sandals clicking across the hardwood floors.

Her limp was only marginally obvious on the walk to his car. He opened the door for her, then rounded the hood and slid behind the wheel. Even with the windows down, the scent of her in the enclosed space hit him instantly, throwing his insides into a lazy backspin.

God, she smelled incredible.

Jackson thought about inventing a reason to lean across the seat so he could breathe her in, then realized what time it was. He started the car. Josh was probably already wondering where he was since he hadn’t mentioned anything about taking Hayley.

Half a dozen times at least he found his gaze straying from the road to the intriguing woman next to him. How had he missed seeing how attractive she was in high school? He should have noticed that wild spark in her eyes, heard that contagious laugh and felt his own rise in response.

Hayley ran her fingers through her hair. “Do I still have grass in it?”

“No.”

“Then why do you keep looking at me like I have two heads or something?”

Unsure whether being called out for staring bothered him or impressed him—both probably—he shrugged. “I wasn’t expecting you to look so amazing.”

Hayley shifted in her seat. “It’s just a little makeup and a dress.” A glimpse of the girl who used to fade into the background, when she hadn’t been neck deep in trouble, surfaced.

“It has nothing to do with makeup or the dress.” She could be sitting next to him in a clown suit and a giant foam nose and she’d still be sexy as hell. He tried to think of which women from his past he could say that about and came up empty.

The crowd gathering outside the church took instant notice of their arrival, more than a few stares following him as he grabbed Hayley’s hand and led her across the street and into the church.