“No,” he said, stepping past her and climbing into the driver’s seat.
Sighing, Haley climbed into the passenger side, knowing there was no point in arguing with him. Not right now when she was too tired to do anything more than glare. All she wanted to do was find the cottage, take a bath, and sleep for the next week.
She pulled her hand away when Jason tried to hold it. Instead of arguing, he acted like nothing happened and focused on the printed driving directions. After a few minutes, he took her hand in his again.
After a two-minute tug of war, Haley gave up and let him have his sad victory, mentally promising herself all kinds of revenge when he smiled smugly. She was too tired to argue, so she sat back against the cool leather seat and tried not to fall asleep.
Her eyes darted to the rearview mirror and narrowed on the large pile of grocery bags he’d purchased. She turned her glare on Jason. “I hope you don’t think I’m cooking for you,” she said, narrowing her eyes on him as she decided that if he so much as pouted over that announcement that she was going to break out the fists of fury on his ass.
He shook his head. “You’re not allowed to cook this week,” Jason said, surprising her.
“What’s this, now?”
“You’re on vacation. I don’t want you lifting a finger,” he said, raising their hands so that he could press a sweet kiss against the back of her hand. When she felt herself starting to melt, she reminded herself that he didn’t trust her.
After one last useless attempt to tug her hand back, Haley sighed and sat back in her seat, watching as they passed small houses, apartment complexes, and small businesses. Ten minutes later, they passed through a quaint downtown shopping area and onto a scenic road that took them past several large hotels along the beach.
Haley was just about to drift off when Jason said, “I think this is it.”
She forced her eyes open and watched as they drove past several small cottages. A minute later, they were pulling into the long driveway of a small cottage.
“Do you have a key?” Jason asked, throwing the car in park and shutting it off.
Biting back a yawn, Haley nodded. Without a word, she climbed out of the car and made her way up the short, crushed-seashell walkway and let herself into the house, deciding she’d handle Jason later. Right now, she was too tired to do anything more than take a bath and a nap. She looked around the cottage and noted that it was cuter than the pictures her grandmother’s realtor sent her.
The wicker furniture in the living room was small but looked surprisingly comfortable, Haley noted as she walked through the open doorway into the small eat-in kitchen and looked out the double-glass doors and couldn’t help but frown as she watched the waves crash against the smooth sandy beach and-
“Damn it,” Haley groaned when she realized that her grandmother had tricked her, again. When Haley asked Grandma to see if her realtor could look into rental properties for her, she should have known Grandma wouldn’t be able to stop herself from swooping in and taking care of it. She knew that her grandmother meant well, but she really wished her grandmother would stop doing things like this.
“Are you sure this place only costs a thousand dollars?” Jason asked, placing a half-dozen grocery bags on the table.
Haley looked over her shoulder and sighed. That was one more problem to deal with. She pushed her glasses back up her nose and pulled her cellphone out of her front pocket. “Look, why don’t you call one of the guys to pick you up?” she suggested because she was too damn tired to drive him back home right now.
“Why would I do that?” Jason asked as he started putting the food away.
“Because you’re not staying here?” Haley said, wondering why he was having such a difficult time understanding this.
He snorted.
“I’m serious, Jason,” Haley said, moving to step in front of him so that they could talk about this, but he simply walked around her.
“I’m not going anywhere, Haley.”
“Look,” Haley said, slowly taking in a deep calming breath, “why don’t I give you a ride to one of the hotels that we passed on the way here?”
“I’m staying right here until we work this out, Haley,” Jason said firmly.
“You’re not staying here, Jason. First of all, I paid for-”
“Here,” Jason said, cutting her off as he slapped a check on the white oak kitchen table. “I’m paying for the cottage, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Jason was the only person besides her grandmother that she knew who still carried checks in his wallet. She picked up the check and frowned when she saw that he’d intended to pay the entire amount.
She held the check out to him. “I’m not taking this.”
“Yes, you are,” he simply said as he headed back into the living room. “If you tear that up, I’ll just write you another one when we get home.”
Haley folded the check and stuck it in her back pocket. One more argument to have later, she thought, biting back a pathetic groan. Right now, she was too tired to care. She walked into the living room and headed for the small hallway to the right, deciding she’d get her bags after her nap that would hopefully give her the energy that she was going to need to deal with Jason. She headed for the only door in the hallway only to step out of the way as Jason stepped out of the room with a sheepish smile.
