Hayden smiled. “The best. I can’t thank you enough for everything you did for my parents.” His foot traveled up Armi’s shin. “They love you.”
“I think they’re wonderful.”
“Did being together all weekend upset you? You were a little quiet earlier. Is it because of your father?”
“It shouldn’t bother me, right?” Armi picked at the label of the beer bottle. “I mean, I’m almost forty, and he’s gone. He andI never had that closeness you have with your parents. And my mother…yes, she loves me, and we’re fine together.”
Hayden frowned. “I thought you were close. The two of you had a nice lunch together.”
“She and I have a good relationship. Now. Growing up…she wasn’t around much. Besides, I have no desire to dump all my problems on her. She’s helped me with some of the issues with the team, but I can’t run everything past my mommy, and I don’t want to.”
“You’re hot when you get riled up,” Hayden teased, then grew serious. “I’m sorry you never had support when you were young. But these past few weeks I’ve come to realize something about you.”
Armi hung his head. “Yeah? What’s that?”
“Look at me,” Hayden commanded, and Armi was surprised to see Hayden’s fierce expression. “Our first night you said you’d never done anything like that—picked up a guy and had sex.”
“I-I hadn’t.”
“But you were amazing.”
Armi’s face burned. “It was special.”
“But it’s more than that. All your life you’ve listened to people tell you who you are, and you believed them.”
He winced. “Yeah. That’s pretty obvious.”
Hayden’s piercing green gaze met his. “But now that we’ve spent all this time together, I’ve seen the rapid change in you, and it made me think maybe you’ve always had the desire to work on the team. You’ve just never had the opportunity. Because your father was such an overwhelming presence, you let his negativity get under your skin and mess with your head.”
“I never thought I’d enjoy it, but…I kind of do. It’s just going to take time for everyone else to see that I’m not going to give up. Russell, especially.”
“That fucker,” Hayden growled, and Armi grinned, loving his possessiveness. “How do you plan on dealing with him after your talk?”
“I’m not sure. He won’t be back for several more weeks, so I have some time to think about it.”
“I think you need a plan as soon as possible. I would’ve fired him.”
Armi wanted to heed Hayden’s opinion, but he also knew that Russell possessed a deep wealth of helpful knowledge that would be almost impossible to find elsewhere.
“I know, but…”
“But you need him. I get it. I don’t have to like it, but I understand. Just…be careful. I didn’t trust him before, and I sure as hell don’t now.” Hayden finished his beer. “I’d better get my stuff together and go.” He got to his feet, stretched, and headed for the stairs.
“Wait,” Armi called out.
Hayden turned around. “What’s the matter?”
“I want to ask you something. Sit for a sec?”
Hayden returned to his recently vacated spot. “Something wrong?”
“No. I hope you think it’s right.”
Puzzled, Hayden pushed his hair out of his face. “Okay. What’s up?”
Armi licked his suddenly dry lips. “I was thinking…we had a great time this past week. Spending every night together, and this whole weekend.”
Eyes soft, Hayden smiled. “Yeah, it was amazing. Every minute.”
