Hailey chewed her bottom lip, then said, “Sometimes people who appear coldhearted are really just scared.”
This was the Hailey he remembered. She always saw the best in everyone. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean she was right. “You don’t know her.” The pizza arrived, and a silence hung over them for longer than was comfortable. Spencer picked up a piece. “You know what would make us both feel better?” Since what would really cheer him up wasn’t on the menu, he said, “Carbs, cheese, and grease.”
She laughed. “What an appetizing description. You’d be awful in marketing.”
“I rock at sales, though. I just need to turn on the charm.” He flexed his shoulders, then brought the pizza to his mouth and took a bite while imagining every place on her body he’d like to nip. He half closed his eyes, savoring the vision, letting himself remember her taste. From the sweetness of her mouth to the hot heat of her sex. “It’s just as good as I remember. Nothing ever compared,” he said in husky voice.
A blush warmed her cheeks, and he knew he’d led her thoughts to the same tantalizing place where his had gone. He raised the pizza to her lips. “Try it, then tell me—is it as good now as it was back then?”
Her breath warmed his fingers, and desire flamed in her eyes. “I remember it being really good.”
“Me, too. But I bet it would be even better this time around.” Her lips parted ever so slightly, and he was so turned on he wanted to toss the pizza aside and take her right there on the table. She licked her bottom lip the way she used to when she was just as hot for him.
“How is everything?” the waitress interrupted, and the mood was broken. “Would either of you like another drink?”
“An ice water,” Spencer said in a strangled voice. For my lap.
“One for me, too, please,” Hailey said.
The waitress walked away, but since she would soon return, Spencer decided to lighten the mood. He placed the pizza slice on a plate and shot her a cocky smile. “See, I could sell pizza.”
“He could sell me anything. That was hot,” a young woman said from the next table before turning to giggle with her friends.
A male voice boomed across the restaurant. “Spencer Westerly, I heard you were here and had to come out and see for myself. Are you looking to pick up a few hours?” Spencer turned to the man who had bankrolled most of his early technology needs by letting him work for him. Ralph Mangiarelli was still just as round as he was tall with a big smile and dark hair slicked back.
“Not this summer,” Spencer said as he rose to accept a backslapping greeting from Ralph. “Just here for a quick meal.”
Ralph’s attention went to Hailey. “And you brought a beautiful woman with you. She looks familiar to me.”
Hailey slid out of the booth to greet Ralph. “I used to eat here all the time when I was in college.”
“Did you? Were you two . . .” He paused. Neither Spencer nor Hailey confirmed his suspicion, but that didn’t slow Ralph down in the least. “Oh yes. You’re the one who broke his heart.”
No. No. No. We are not going there. Spencer shook his head.
“I remember you now.” He shook a finger at Hailey. “That wasn’t very nice. You should have seen him after you left. He sat alone in that booth for months looking like his world had just ended. Sure, he dated other girls”—Ralph frowned at Spencer—“but he never looked happy.”
Spencer glanced down at his phone. “Look at the time. I have to get back to the office.” He slapped several bills down on the table. “Hailey has to get back as well.”
“But you haven’t eaten.” Ralph called across the restaurant: “Carol, bring a box.”
The pizza was boxed quickly. Spencer accepted it as well as another hug from his old employer, then hurried Hailey out to her car.
They stood, pizza between them, next to the driver’s door. She moved as if she were about to open it, then turned back. “Were you really that upset after we broke up?”
He could have lied and retained more of his dignity, but if the truth brought her comfort, it was worth being honest. “I was.”
“I was, too. You should have asked me about Greg. I would have told you he meant nothing to me.”
He shrugged. “I was an idiot.”
She smiled sadly. “We both were.”
He cupped one side of her face. “Didn’t we already forgive ourselves for this?”
“Yes, we did.” Her gaze went to his lips, and it took everything in him not to kiss her then.
“Then let’s start over.”
“As friends,” she reminded softly.
“If that’s what you want.”
A beautiful rosy pink spread up her neck and cheeks. “Okay.”
With that, she turned, opened her car door, and slid into the driver’s seat. He handed her the pizza box because he was at a loss for what else to do. “I’ll call you.”
“I’d like that.” She closed the door.
He moved to the sidewalk and watched her drive off. The only woman who had ever reduced him to a grinning, lust-filled idiot had just done it again. Then she turned him down and left with his lunch.
And it was amazing—every moment of it.
Chapter Eight
Hailey put the air conditioner on full blast. She was overheating, but it had nothing to do with the temperature of the air. Seeing Spencer again had been a million times more intense than she’d anticipated.
People don’t meet up after nearly a decade apart and—bam—feel like that for each other again. That doesn’t happen. Does it?
She clenched the steering wheel as she drove. Holy shit, no wonder I slept with him in college.
But that doesn’t mean I will this time. I’m older, wiser. I understand now that just because something feels good doesn’t mean it is good. One good conversation does not make a relationship, or even a friendship.
I have too much to lose to jump into anything.
She stopped at a red light and cursed. Why did he have to say all the right things? Why couldn’t he be the dick he describes himself as? It would have been easy to know what to do then.
Friends. Who am I kidding? Her thoughts went back to how his kiss had seared through her. One touch. One look. That’s all it had ever taken with him, and her body was as eager for him today as it ever had been. Their chemistry was unapologetically primal.
I’m not being honest with myself or him.
I should have told him I’m working for his grandmother—the coldhearted one he never wants to see again.
As she drove, her thoughts went to the woman she was both grateful for and afraid of displeasing. What are you really doing, Delinda? Why did you hire me? Was it really a coincidence?
Her hands tightened again on the steering wheel. Please, Delinda, please be just a nice, lonely woman who cares about Skye and me.
Hailey’s mind was still racing when she parked in front of the guesthouse at Delinda’s. She stopped and breathed in a sigh of relief when she saw Skye and her teacher seated at the kitchen table, working. The talk she’d given Delinda must have sunk in. “How is she doing?”