Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding)(43)

Hayley gave up on trying to get through the crowd when she spotted Bernice throwing her arms around Jackson. Why couldn’t someone else have won him, anyone else? Someone who wouldn’t set out to rub it in Hayley’s face.

Retreating to the bar, where the crowd was a little thinner, she slipped behind the counter. She didn’t wait for Matt to ask for help. She jumped right into filling drink orders. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes before Jackson found her.

He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hi.”

“Hey.” She set a glass of wine in front of the woman standing opposite her. “Guess I missed all the action. I got hung up at work,” she added when he didn’t say anything.

“Uh-huh.”

“Another robbery case.” She wouldn’t know if they were connected until she reviewed the security footage outside the condo that they’d have access to in the morning.

“No big deal.” He shrugged, his shoulders stiff despite the dismissive gesture. “Not like you were going to bid anyway, right?” He offered another smile, this one noticeably forced.

She’d disappointed him, she realized. He’d been expecting her, although he had to know she would’ve had to empty her savings account to have been able to compete with Bernice.

“You wouldn’t want to get in over your head anyway.”

“Jackson…” she began, not sure what to say to that. That she wished she’d made it on time? That maybe it was for the best?

Bernice waved to Jackson, and with a nod to Hayley he walked toward the grinning real estate agent when they both knew he would have rather faced a media firing squad. If she hadn’t known better, she’d have sworn he wanted to make her jealous, which was ridiculous.

Even more ridiculous was that it was almost working.

Annoyed with herself, she stacked a bin with dirty glasses and carried them into the kitchen. She narrowly avoided a collision with Matt on the way back out front.

He stopped. “Shit.”

“What?” She glanced around, hunting for the problem.

“You’re disappointed.”

“No.” Maybe a little, but like Jackson said, it wasn’t a big deal.

Matt shook his head. “You’re also a shitty liar.” He searched her eyes, and whatever he was thinking, she hoped he wasn’t going to say. “Be careful.”

No such luck. “That’s not necessary. We’re not serious.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

From Jackson obviously. Good. Then they were both on the same page. That had to be a good thing, right? Her stomach disagreed with a nervous twist that unsettled her.

“Sometimes things change, Hayls.”

“Sometimes they don’t. He’s waiting for that coaching job and then he’s gone.” And that was the bottom line. She had to keep reminding herself of that. What happened between them wouldn’t change that.

“What if you’re wrong?” Matt walked away, leaving her to stare after him and wonder where that had come from.

“Refill, Hayley?”

She turned at the sound of the voice, happy to have something to do that she didn’t have to think about. For the next two hours she helped Matt and the two waitresses working tonight. When the crowd started to die down, she signaled to Matt that she was heading out.

She didn’t know where Jackson was and decided she preferred a little time to clear her head anyway. Whenever he was close she struggled to remember where the two of them stood. Winning him would have just blurred the lines even more.

Wishing she could convince herself of that, she walked down the street toward her truck.

Across the street she glimpsed Bernice digging a box out of her trunk. Bernice paused next to the front of her car and snatched the piece of paper from beneath the wiper. “Another ticket?” she growled under her breath. She stuffed the piece of paper in her purse and continued back to Stone’s with her box.

It was then Hayley noticed Bernice had parked next to a fire hydrant.

Hayley stared after the woman who’d won a date with Jackson tomorrow night. Maybe she wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel just yet.





The next morning Jackson, having just finished choosing new hardware for the kitchen cabinets at Coach’s place, turned to find Bernice in the aisle right behind him. The small aisle in Bert’s Hardware was not the place he wanted to find himself up close and personal with Bernice Cabot.

Resigned to their date, he nodded to the can of paint in her hand. “Doing some renovations of your own?”

“Just picking something out for a client.”

“We didn’t get to talk about what time you wanted me to pick you up tonight?” She’d insisted on getting his number to call him—and let him know how much they’d raised for Kyle, of course.

Her expression instantly darkened. “Hayley didn’t tell you?”

“No.” He was almost afraid to ask.

“She bought my date with you.” Bernice didn’t do a great job of masking the bitterness in her voice. A moment later she smiled, the gesture entirely practiced.

He could understand the need for that in her line of work.

“That’s too bad,” he lied, just as familiar with putting on a good front. He’d relied on that last night when he came across Hayley after Bernice had won him. “I’m glad you asked me take part in Kyle’s benefit. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been nearly as successful without you running point.”

Her face lifted. “Hopefully the autograph signing will go off without a hitch tomorrow. All of the advance tickets for the presigning are sold out.”

“I’m sure it will.” Regardless of the fact that he wasn’t looking forward to it quite as much as everyone else. He’d probably be more enthusiastic about talking about his hockey career if the signing were after his interview with the Sentinels and he could mention the coaching position.

Sticking around Promise Harbor after the wedding hadn’t been part of the plan and had certainly come with its own complications. Complications that were easier to forget in the face of hearing what Hayley had done.

By the time he’d helped Matt close up the bar last night, he’d been too wiped to drive over to see Hayley, and he hadn’t been entirely sure she wanted to see him. He’d planned to head over there as soon as he finished picking up the new fixtures, and now even that didn’t feel like soon enough for him.

Bernice’s phone rang, sparing him from making an excuse to end their conversation. He paid for the supplies and headed back to Coach’s place. He couldn’t find Hayley in the house and, leaving everything in the kitchen, went in search of her.

He found her—or more precisely found her legs—under her truck. She had driven the vehicle up on ramps and had a tool box open beneath her on the ground.

“Miss your calling as a mechanic?”

She wiggled out from under the truck. “Just checking out an oil leak.” If she hadn’t said a word, the greasy smear on her cheek would have given it away.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“I didn’t think you’d care about oil stains in the driveway.”

He scoffed. “Not what I meant.”

“Oh, you’re talking about Bernice and the whole auction thing.” From her seat on the ground, she poked through her toolbox.

Playing innocent wasn’t her strong suit, he decided. “Yeah, that.”

“I probably would have told you before you left to get Bernice.”

“Probably?”

She shrugged, and climbed to her feet. “Might have been fun to see you squirm out on a date with Bernice.”

“Your idea of fun is a bit warped.” He gestured to her cheek. “You have oil on your face.”

“Oh?” She looked at her hand, then unexpectedly reached out to smear her palm across his cheek. “Now you do too.”

He grabbed for her, but she was already running away laughing. It only took twenty feet or so for him to close the distance and catch her around the waist. She twisted in his arms, but he wasn’t giving her the chance to use any of her police training to throw him off. He put all his weight into taking her to the ground.

His mouth found hers the second he took the brunt of the impact and rolled her beneath him. She parted her lips, dragging him into the kiss that raced across his skin like a live current.

Warm and soft, her mouth moved with his, deepening with the slick stroke of her tongue across his bottom lip. He groaned, tightening his hold on her. Relief and heat and bone-deep pleasure that she’d bought the date with him pulsed in his chest.

He slowed things down, kissing her chin, her cheek and finally her forehead.

“A bit early in the day for power plays, isn’t it?” She bit her lip, looking so sexy he had to kiss her again, drawing it out until she sighed into his mouth.