“Wes. I don’t need you to fight my battles. Ana’s issues with me have nothing to do with business.”
His fingers squeezed gently. “I know but the behavior is unacceptable. If that’s how she does business, I want no part of it.” He paused. “Why didn’t you tell me about the contracts?”
Hailey fidgeted, avoiding his gaze. “I guess because I thought you’d be protective or mad.”
After tilting her chin up with his fingers, he met her gaze. “What’s wrong with that?”
Wanting to protect her? Support her? Nothing. Intentions. Wouldn’t she be upset if someone treated him that way? “I replaced those contracts with others immediately. I didn’t want to impact your business.”
“You’re a big part of my life, Hailey. How other people treat us will impact the other person.”
She nodded. “Just tell me you and your brothers are okay.”
Wes laughed, tapped her nose. “We’ll always be okay.”
Hailey kissed him on the cheek. “Look at us, communicating like champs.”
He laughed, kissed her, letting his mouth linger. She didn’t have that much time before work. She wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing hard. “I’m so glad you were here this morning. I want things to be okay between us.”
He pulled back, stroked her hair. “So do I. It’s good that we know we can work through things reasonably. It bodes well for our future.”
She nuzzled against him, wondering how long she could put off going into work. “Well, when you put it like that, I’m so very glad we made up.” The questions bubbled up inside of her. She tried to shove them down, live in the moment. Instead, she went with a statement. “I’m glad you think about us having a future.” It gave her permission to hope.
Pulling her up to sit, he kept his arm around her shoulder. “I’m a little old to be investing time in a relationship otherwise.”
Hailey swung her legs to the floor. “Guess I nabbed you at a good time then,” she joked.
Wes took her hand, traced his finger along the back of it. “I worried, when we first got together, that it would ruin things between us. The sexual, romantic piece. I didn’t want to lose my friend. Instead, it’s just enhanced everything that was already great. I’m glad we took the chance.”
She turned her head, the declaration stuck in her throat. Her heartbeat danced in the base of her neck. “Me too,” she whispered.
Wes leaned toward her, brushing his lips with hers. The kiss was so sweet, so soft. Hailey was pulled into the moment, the man.
“I love you,” she whispered, her lips skimming his. Life was too short to keep it to herself.
Wes’s body jerked, making Hailey go rigid against him.
“What?” The word was scratchy, like his throat went dry.
She laughed nervously, easing away as she rubbed her hands up and down her legs. It’s okay. You know he’s different, it takes him time to wrap his head around his feelings.
Wes angled himself toward her, waited for her to look at him. When she did, his gaze was wary. Uncertain. “What did you say?”
She cringed. Too much, too soon. Pushing up off the sofa, she grabbed her purse. “Never mind, Wes. It was just a slip.” It would be fine. She’d got caught up in the moment and thrown it at him without any warning. They’d laugh about it one day.
He stood as well, letting out a sigh of what could clearly be called relief. “Okay. Thank God.”
She whirled on him, stared, wondering if he realized what he’d said. How it would make her feel. She did love him. She didn’t have the best timing but that didn’t make it less true. “Thank God?” She shook her head, her lips trying to form words. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Wes shoved his hands in his pockets. “Hailey. It’s not like you didn’t know this going in.”
“Know what?”
“That I’m not … that love isn’t—” He stopped, shook his head. Pacing away from her, he almost seemed to be mumbling to himself. He stopped in front of her. “I care a great deal about you. You are very important to me. But you’ve known since the beginning of our acquaintance I’m not the declaration, marrying kind of guy.”
Now she huffed, wrapping her arms around her purse like a security blanket. “I didn’t ask you to marry me.”
“Okay.”
They stared at each other. Hailey blinked away the tears that threatened. It was fine if he didn’t love her back but did that mean he never would? He was the one who brought up their future.
Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she asked, “Just out of curiosity, where do you see this going?”
Wes pulled his hands out of his pockets, a V forming between his brows. “I don’t like that question.”
Hailey’s laugh felt like acid in her throat. “I’m not particularly enjoying this conversation so I guess we’re even.”
He let out a frustrated sound. “Things are great between us. Why do we have to do this?”
“Wes, you got your mom to buy my building because you were worried about my rent. But you’re mad because I love you?”
Shock registered in his expression. “You said it was a slip!” He pointed at her.
“Yeah, as in, I shouldn’t have said it out loud.” The buckle of her purse was digging into the spot between her breasts but she only held tighter.
“But you love me?” He sounded … heartbroken.
What the actual hell? “I can’t help how I feel.” At least, not to the extent he clearly could.
“Of course you can. We both can.” He closed the distance between them. “We’re a great match. We make each other laugh, we’re attracted to each other, we enjoy each other’s company. Can’t that be enough?”
“You’ll never love me?”
His gaze answered before his mouth. “I don’t want to be in love. I don’t want to get married or have children.”
Her throat went dry. She wanted all of those things. She nodded her head, up and down, up and down, like the movement could absorb the pain of his words.
Wes gripped her shoulders. “That doesn’t mean we can’t be together. I want to be with you. So much.”
“I’m not asking for declarations or promises but I don’t know if I can just go forward knowing you never want those things with me.”
“It’s not you. It’s those things I don’t want. We can be—we are happy together.”
Pain radiated through her body with the truth of what he was saying. “I can’t be in another relationship where I’m the only one who’s willing to give. Who’s willing to fall all the way. I told you this.”
He dropped his hands but Hailey wasn’t done. “Wes, you’re scared. I think you care about me more than you want to. Isn’t it possible that you’re just afraid to admit how you really feel? To me and to yourself?” His behavior, his words—not at this particular moment but usually—suggested that he could love her. That he might already.
Wes stared at her like she’d lost her mind. “You don’t make any sense. You sell salads but eat sugar, you’d give the shirt off your back to anyone but get mad when I step up to help, you’ve been on the wrong side of love but still throw the word around like a na?ve person who doesn’t know any better.”
Hailey tossed her purse to the couch and stepped into his space. She wanted to touch him, pull him close, make him feel what she felt. Instead, she worked to gentle her tone. “Believing in love doesn’t make me na?ve. It makes me brave. The fact that I was hurt makes me stronger, more sure of what I want. I’m not afraid to ask for it or want it. You think you can slot everything into its own box but life doesn’t work like that. I don’t work like that.”
“You’re supposed to learn from your mistakes,” he said haughtily.
All gentleness fled. Hailey’s heart fell right down to her shoes. She squared her shoulders. “Screw you, Wes. I did learn. I learned that I’d rather get hurt again than be too damn scared to feel anything real. All the money, the investments, the control over your feelings you’re so proud of? Those things seem safe but playing it that way makes you a coward. If you can’t give yourself completely, let yourself fall even if it means you break, you’ll never be truly happy. And if you can’t at least try, we aren’t going to work out.”
His hand clenched and unclenched. She saw the tightness in his stance, the coldness in his gaze. “I hate to be the one to tell you this but love and happiness rarely go hand in hand.”