The first kiss was tender. Hailey wrapped her arms around my neck and I enveloped her in my arms. We continued to kiss this way for the first part of the song, swaying to the music. But my craving for her became too much, and I needed more.
I opened my mouth; Hailey did the same. Her tongue welcomed mine, and like a man savoring a fine meal, I explored her mouth. And just like when we had kissed in my room, I fell even deeper for her. She was everything I had imagined she would be when we were seventeen years old. Everything and more.
I had no idea how long we’d been kissing—though in my opinion it wasn’t long enough—when Kayla said, “Hey, you two, get a room.” She laughed as Hailey and I shot apart as though lightning had struck us. “God, it’s about time you two kissed. The sexual tension between you was making me want to jump one of you just to break it.” She winked at Hailey.
“It’s…it’s not what you think,” Hailey stuttered. “I saw the creepy guy. Nolan was just kissing me to send him a message. You know, like, ‘Get lost. I’m not interested.’?”
Her words were a dagger to my heart, adding to the previous wound, although I shouldn’t have been surprised. This wasn’t news to me.
Kayla rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“Is he still there?” I asked, needing to redirect the conversation. Right now the asshole was the priority, rather than how I felt about Hailey and how she didn’t feel about me.
Her mouth traced the line of my jaw. “Yes.”
“Is he watching you?”
“Yes.”
The slow song ended. Even though the kissing was an act, I wasn’t ready to let Hailey leave yet. I removed her arm from around my neck and interlaced my fingers with hers. Kayla and Dylan followed us off the dance floor. We stood far enough from the guy so he didn’t get suspicious, but near enough so I could keep an eye on him until the cops showed up.
Now that I no longer had my baseball cap on, people were beginning to recognize me. I could tell some were confused why my arms were around Hailey’s hips, her back against my chest, when I was supposedly dating a Hollywood actress. Not that I cared what they thought. It was all a lie anyway. Much like me.
Brandon joined the four of us a minute later. “Detective Mathews is on his way.”
“Thanks, man,” I said.
“Anytime. Let’s hope they can get the truth out of him so you can get back to L.A.”
Hailey was busy talking to Kayla and Dylan, so I thought she hadn’t heard my conversation with Brandon. I was wrong. She stiffened in my arms when Brandon mentioned L.A., which surprised me. Was she feeling something for me like what I felt for her? Or was that just wishful thinking? But whatever it was, we were facing a ticking clock. She knew it too.
I casually peered at the asshole. He was still watching Hailey, face red, lips flattened in a bitter line. I tightened my hold on her and brushed her hair away from her neck. My lips caressed the sensitive spot below her ear. She inhaled sharply. With her back against my chest, I didn’t hear it as much as feel it.
I closed my eyes and breathed in her sweet scent. God, this time when I left town, it would feel as if someone had gutted me. Last time I’d had no idea what she tasted like, no idea what it felt like to kiss her. Now that I was aware of these things, my days were about to become emptier than last time. And no amount of screwing other girls would save me.
Even though I knew I should move away from Hailey to spare the last of my sanity, I kissed her neck again. But before I could do any more than that, a hand grabbed my arm and roughly yanked me away from Hailey.
I released my hold on my girl and swiveled around to see what douchebag had pulled me away from her.
The asshole who’d been watching her glared at me, nostrils flaring. Even though he was a good several inches shorter than me, the height difference didn’t faze him. His face was practically in mine.
“Get away from her,” he growled.
“What the fuck is your problem? I’m with her.”
Brandon placed his hand on my shoulder—a subtle reminder of what was at stake here if I screwed up.
“You celebrities are all alike. You only care about yourselves.”
I glared back at him. “You don’t even know me.”
The nearby crowd eyed us with interest, waiting for me to live up to my cocky, badass reputation. Shit. Where the hell was the detective?
“I know your type. You plan to use her, then toss her aside like a three-day-old piece of luncheon meat.”
I flinched at the truth behind the words, at least when it came to any girl besides Hailey. Contrary to how he’d put it, the girls I’d met while touring hadn’t been interested in me beyond a satisfying fuck. And he was stepping well out of bounds when it came to Hailey. But as Tyler Erickson, I’d done nothing to prove the asshole wrong.
Hailey was watching me, her eyes wide. I had no idea if it was because the asshole had verbally attacked me in her defense or because she’d heard the truth in his words. Like him, how was she to know that he was wrong?