I probably wouldn’t tell him about the lying in bed naked with his son part, though.
“Incredible,” Hayden said as I hung up the phone and put it aside. “You came all the way out here and hestillmanaged to call at exactly the wrong moment.”
“That wasn’t the worst one,” I pointed out. “Like, we got off easy there.”
Hayden snorted. “Getting off with you isalwayseasy,” he said.
Two months ago, I would’ve bet money he wouldn’t have said anythinglikethat. Seth was rubbing off on him.
… I’d have to remember to say Seth was rubbing off on him out loud the next time they were in a room together. They’d both get a kick out of that.
“Calling me easy?” I asked, stretching out beside him again.
“Remind me what your screenname was again…?” Hayden said, grinning at me.
There were dark circles under his eyes again, but they didn’t matter right now. Not in this little pocket of time we’d carved out for ourselves.
“Remind me ofyours?” I asked, grinning right back.
“I was planning to remind you pretty regularly the whole time you’re here,” Hayden said, so casual that all I could do in response was stare at him with my mouth hanging open.
“What? You spend a couple of weeks telling me how sexy I am on a daily basis and you don’t think that might stick?” he asked.
I laughed, heart soaring at being with him again, at seeing him at his incredible best for this tiny little sliver of time we had together.
“The confidence is also sexy, for the record,” I said.
“Would taking you out to dinneralsobe sexy?” Hayden asked. “Because we need to shower if we’re gonna make our reservation.”
I laughed, rolling off the bed and offering Hayden my hand. “That would beincrediblysexy.”
“Wait,” Hayden said on the way to the bathroom, poking his head out of the bedroom. “Did we forget to close the front door?”
* * *
I was still laughingabout the front door as I followed Hayden to his ice cream bar after dinner. We’d been so excited to see each other that we’d forgotten about thedoor.
Somewhere along the line we’d become one of those disgustingly cute couples in love that I’d spent half my life rolling my eyes at, and I couldn’t have been happier.
I loved him so much, and seeing him again was the best thing that’d happened to me since he left Otter Bay.
“Why am I so nervous about showing you this?” Hayden asked, both hands stuffed in his pockets as we stood outside Pleasure. “I feel like I’m about strip naked and run down the street.”
“As much as I like seeing you naked,” I said. “You promised me ice cream.”
“Howwasthe vanilla, by the way?” Hayden asked, pulling the heavy metal-framed door open and holding it for me.
I wasn’t sure what I’d been imagining, but the inside of Pleasure was somehow a complete surprise, from the checkered floor to the crystal chandelier hanging over theactual bar, all the way to the brass-studded velvet-upholstered booths that lined the front and side.
Even more surprising was that itworked. It shouldn’t have, it had no right to, but I’d read once that the atmosphere here wastransportive, and I suddenly believed it.
It was like stepping back in time. I wasn’t necessarily clear onwhattime I was stepping back to, but it felt like walking into another world.
Hayden’s world, I realized. This was Hayden.
Well. His dadwasan architect. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised.
“It… I… holy shit. Holyshit,” I said, staring around in awe. “This should be the tackiest place on Earth and yet, somehow, it’s incredible.”
