As he dried the last of the dishes, he heard a creak coming from the living room. Chase sighed, drying his hands on a dish towel, and making sure he had his reindeer well in check.
“Hi.” Chase gave her his best comforting smile, joining her on the couch. “How are you holding up?”
As if he didn’t already know. She glanced down at her feet and his hand twitched toward her, wanting to smooth her hair aside and tell her she had nothing to be ashamed of. He stuffed it down beside his leg and ordered it to stay there.
“I’m sorry. I just want to apologize for acting so weird tonight.”
“Hey, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. Nothing, okay?”
She gave him a weak smile and then looked back down at her hands. “It’s not about you; I trust you. But my ex…well, he wasn’t a good guy.”
“You mean he was abusive.”
Hailey gave him a wide-eyed look. “How did you—?”
“I’ve seen the look before,” he replied sadly. “You learn to recognize the signs.”
“Oh.” She swallowed. “That’s depressing.”
“The only depressing thing is when I can’t help.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t want to push. I can only imagine how hard it must be for you to trust people right now. Thank you for confiding in me.”
Her face turned red as she shifted in her seat. “I just didn’t want you to think I was purposely being cold or anything. I wanted to, um, clarify.”
He nodded. “Do you mind if I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why are you running from him? Have you ever tried reporting him?”
“I tried…but nothing ever came from it. He comes from an old, wealthy family. He’s untouchable as far as the law is concerned. But I couldn’t keep putting up with it either…so I ran.”
“I really think you should try reporting him again. If you want, I can take care of it myself so he can’t squirm out of it.”
“No!” Hailey suddenly cried. Then her cheeks flushed, clearly embarrassed by her outburst. “No…please don’t. It’s useless, reporting him has only ever made things worse. I really don’t want you getting dragged into this. Plus, I don’t want him knowing where I am.”
“…if that’s what you want.” Chase’s reply was reluctant.
“It is,” she said, nodding emphatically. “Look, can we just try to have a good time tonight? It’s been so long since I had a proper conversation with another adult.”
“You got it. So, how about this weather?”
She laughed and shouldered him lightly, setting his pulse racing and driving her ex from his mind. Right now it was just him, and her, and his very strong desire to touch his lips to her.
This was going to be a long night.
Chapter Five
Hailey
It turned out Chase was a surprisingly easy person to talk to once she started to relax. He seemed to recover quickly after their intense conversation, concentrating on doing whatever it took to make her feel better. The man was charming and had an excellent sense of humor. It wasn’t long until Hailey’s troubles began fading from her mind.
She was so unexpectedly relaxed that she ended up blurting out exactly what she was thinking.
“I can’t believe you’re still single.” Her words caught up with her a split second after they left her mouth. She flushed bright red and laughed awkwardly, trying to make a joke of it. “Are you sure you don’t have a family stashed round here some place?”
