I nodded, accepting the rebuke. “You’re right. And you had every right to slap me. I deserved it.”
His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Did Mabel or Dolly send you after me?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Mabel. How’d you know?”
He gave me a good once over, his expression was one of disdain. “I know your type. You wouldn’t apologize unless someone was holding a proverbial gun to your head.”
“Well, I don’t need anythingthatdrastic…” He was still glaring daggers at me. “But you’re right. Mabel threatened to not let me have anymore of her scones.”
Hayden raised an eyebrow, a little bit of that anger slipping away. “Scones?” he repeated. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, sir,” I replied, serious as I could be. “Mabel’s scones are legendary. And to be honest with you, she’s also terrifying.”
The corner of his mouth twitched like he wanted to smile but was refusing to give me the satisfaction.
“She seems like she could be scary. In a tough grandma kind of way,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t make what you did okay.”
“I know.” I stepped closer, still holding my hat against my chest. “And I really am sorry. Not just because Mabel made me come after you.”
Hayden crossed his arms, studying me with those piercing blue eyes. “So why did you do it, then? Was embarrassing me in front of the whole town that amusing to you? You some kind of high school bully reliving his glory days?”
“No! Not at all… I just…” I hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain something I barely understood myself. “I wasn’t trying to embarrass you. I just... I wanted to kiss you. And I took a stupid shortcut instead of just asking like a normal person.”
“You wanted to kiss me?” He sounded genuinely surprised, which caught me off guard.
“Well, yeah.” I gestured vaguely at his entire person. “Have you looked in a mirror lately? Of course I wanted to kiss you.”
His cheeks flushed pink, and he looked away, suddenly interested in the pavement beneath our feet. “That’s... that’s still not a good enough reason to do what you did.”
“You’re right,” I agreed, taking another step closer. “It’s not. And I’m sorry. For real this time.”
We stood there in silence for a moment, the sounds of the festival floating around us. Music and laughter and the general cheerfulness of the season that seemed to have skipped Hayden entirely. Something about him made me want to fix that, to see what he looked like when he wasn’t scowling or rolling those pretty blue eyes. Why was he so determined to be grumpy?
“You could ask,” he said suddenly, so quietly I almost didn’t hear him.
“What’s that?”
He looked up, and there was something vulnerable in his expression that made my chest ache. “You could ask. Like a normal person. Instead of tricking me.”
My heart kicked against my ribs. Was he saying what I thought he was saying? “Are you... giving me permission to ask if I can kiss you?”
“Maybe,” he said, a challenge in his eyes. “Depends on how you ask.” He paused for a moment. “Or are you all hat and no horse, cowboy?”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. Even when he was giving an inch, he made sure to keep me working for it. I liked that about him.
“Hayden,” I said, making sure to use his name instead of the nickname he claimed to hate. “Would you do me the honor of letting me kiss you? Properly this time, with no tricks or games.”
He bit his lower lip, considering me with those intense blue eyes. For a moment, I thought he might laugh in my face or slap me again. Then he stepped forward, closing the distance between us until I could smell the lingering scent of hot chocolate on his breath.
“No,” he said simply.
I blinked, momentarily dazed by how close he was, the heat of his body, and how damn good he smelled. Then his words sunk in and it took every last ounce of self-control I had not to lean forward and make the same mistake all over again.
“Fine,” I managed, trying to hide my disappointment. “I respect that.”
“Oh, so itdoeshave manners,” Hayden sneered, not hiding how much fun he was having with me. “For a minute there I wasn’t sure if you knew what the wordnomeant.”
“I know that one,” I grinned, placing my hat back on my head. “And I even know all my letters and a couple big words too. You know the ones that have three or four letters in ‘em?”
