“Oh, shut up already.” Cole knew they did it just to annoy him, but that didn’t stop it from working.
“Go on, Cole, admit you got at least ten inches that’s just aching to break ol’ Hailey in,” Jacob dared him.
“Don’t be an ass,” Cole snapped. “I ain’t gonna break nothing.”
Aaron snorted at that, smothering his laugh with a mouthful of new donut.
“I ain’t.” Cole glared at him for even suggesting otherwise.
Jacob rolled his eyes at that. “You going to tell me that you’re just going to let the little woman get away with setting you up? ’Cause I ain’t buying it.”
“There is a difference between taming and breaking.”
“Oh.” Jacob’s gaze went wide with comical understanding. “So you’re going to tame Hailey Mathews?”
“You don’t think I can?”
“No.” Jacob couldn’t get any blunter than that.
“Face it, Cole, you’ve been trying to figure out how to get in that woman’s bed for two years, and all you’ve gotten were a bunch of self-administered hand jobs for the effort.”
Cole didn’t like hearing his failure so publicly aired. That was just another bone he had to pick with the little spitfire, and when he was done…
“Trust me, Aaron, I’m going to leave Hailey purring for weeks…years. You’ll see.”
“I’m seeing now.” Aaron nodded over Cole’s shoulder.
Shifting in his seat to track Aaron’s gaze, Cole felt every muscle in his body tighten at the sight of Hailey Mathews sashaying across the bakery. As if he weren’t there, and she didn’t know it, Cole didn’t buy that act for a second. He bought that she was arrogant enough to play it that way.
If he had any sense he’d turn around and give her equal measure. With his gaze narrowing in on that plump ass, Cole admitted that he didn’t really have much use for sense. Reason and logic wouldn’t get Cole what he wanted, the freedom to do whatever he wanted to every delicious inch of Hailey’s body, and she’d be…
Wet, begging, on her knees and calling me master.
Just the stir of those kinds of thoughts had his Mr. Man swelling to the ready, eager as always to try and forge his way out of Cole’s jeans and into the warmth it desired. Normally, Cole would have tempered that urge, knowing how hard Hailey hit back. Today, though, he had enough of taking it easy on the little woman. His patience had come to an end.
Sliding free of the booth, Cole could hear his cousins quickly following in his tracks and silently cursed their presence. This was going to end up looking more like school yard antics than the intimidating threat it should be. At least Heather took the hint when her gaze met his over Hailey’s shoulder. With a polite nod, she told Hailey to have a good day and hurried off.
Cole positioned himself so that when Hailey turned around her breasts grazed into his chest. So soft, so luscious, he liked feeling her pressed up against him. He especially liked the way her nipples hardened instantly, revealing the truth of the storms gathering in her gaze.
“Cole.”
Caging her in against the counter, Cole leaned in as she backed up until he had her pinned. Savoring the moment with a deep, pointed breath, he inhaled the intoxicating scent of cinnamon that clung to Hailey.
“You know, darlin’, if you start calling me master now, it might make me feel a little more charitable when it comes time to punish you for the little game you played on me last night.”
Her lip trembled, curling slightly into a snarl. “You better back off, Cole.”
“Or what? Ow!” Cole flinched back, hobbling on one foot as his other leg lifted up in pain. “What are you wearing? Steel toes?”
“Always,” Hailey snapped as she shouldered past him. Shoving between his two snickering cousins, she managed to make running away look more like storming off, but nobody could deny Hailey retreated quickly.
“Way to go, hot stuff.”
“Shut up,” Cole snapped at Jacob, about toppling him over as he pushed his cousin out of the way and took off after Hailey. He caught her as her hand curled around her Studebaker’s door handle. Swinging her around, he started before their gazes even locked. “Listen here, Hailey—Ow! Damn it, woman, stop doing that!”
“Then stop annoying me!” Hailey roared back, kicking out again.
Cole anticipated the hit this time and managed to dodge to the side. Wobbling on one leg with other still striking out, he caught her completely unprepared as he spun her around. Pressing her stomach over the bubbled hood with an arm in her back, Cole pinned her in place. He needed only that second to land the flat of his palm across her ass in a sharp smack.
“Cole!”
“That’s for kicking me!” He spanked her again, totally ignoring her struggles or bellowed outrage. “And that’s for trying to kick me again!”
A loaf of French bread broke across his cheek as Hailey finally managed to twist to the side. He got in one more spank before she managed to wrench around enough to latch on to his earlobe. At the first painful tug, Cole released her just as she released him.
Her teeth flashed bright white compared to the flush of her cheeks as she backed up growling. “You son of a bitch. I’m going to—”
“Do what?”
She didn’t have a comeback to that. “You started this, Hailey, and anytime you want to end it, you know what you got to do. Until then, you consider it game on, darlin’.”
Chapter 2
Hailey still fought the echoing trembles her encounter with Cole inspired as she barged into her kitchen. Patton bore full responsibility for the nightmare unfolding around her. Up until this moment, she and Cole had maintained a tense truce. He annoyed her, and she did everything in her power to avoid him.
It was best that way because the two of them had some kind of chemical reaction when they got close. It started with that custom-made charm of his. Swaggering all around, dropping “darlin’s” out of that wicked grin that had women sighing and wishing, and fantasizing about sorts of things naughty and, oh, so nice.
There lay the problem. No matter how much Hailey might despise the fact, she wanted the hard-bodied Cattleman. Something about him just got under her skin. It made her both burn with indignation and ache with a need she’d never confess to. Never confess because the last thing Hailey would become was one of his whimpering little pets.
Oh, she knew all about the women in Cole’s life. He had his pick of any woman he wanted in town, which sickened her. God’s honest truth, she got physically ill watching him smooth talk his way through every available bed in town while knowing he gorged himself weekly up at his precious little club.
It’s not like he needed to bother her, but that didn’t stop him. Nothing stopped Cole when he decided he wanted something. Who the hell was she to mess up that record?
Hell, not even Patton had resisted the man, and she’d resisted every other one up until him. Knowing Patton had only been using Cole to make the men she really loved jealous hadn’t stopped Hailey from feeling the dark tinge of the God awful emotion herself. Envious of Cole’s interest in her best friend, that’s how far the man had sunk her.
Hailey plunked the half a loaf of bread that hadn’t been left in the Bread Box’s parking lot onto her counter. Standing there, staring blankly at all the possibilities of what Cole could mean by “game on,” Hailey knew she’d fallen into some very deep trouble.
The kind of trouble she honestly didn’t know how to defend against. Hailey didn’t kid herself when it came to her skill set with men. She didn’t have the kind of experience that prepared a woman to deal with a man like Cole. It wouldn’t just be him, either.
Kyle Harding and Cole Jackson were joined at the hip. They owned a house together, they ran a repair shop together, and they tag-teamed their women together. They’d be coming after her together, and she would end up both figuratively and literally screwed. Screwed in every kinky position they knew.
The blare of a horn coming down the drive echoed like
a siren, snapping Hailey back to the reality of her kitchen. A peek out her window told her Patton had arrived. A good thing by Hailey’s reckoning because she wanted to have some words with her best friend.
Not bothering to wait for her best friend to annoy her into answering the door, Hailey made it to it before Patton got out a single knock. Not dawdling to catch Patton’s greeting, Hailey left her standing there by herself. To add to her silent statement, Hailey brooded all the way back into the kitchen, where she commenced slamming as many things about as she could.
She needed coffee now, but her patience would have to hold until it had finished brewing. Hailey never had been long on that virtue, and once enough dark liquid had gasped out into the pot, she yanked it clear. Ignoring the hiss and sizzle as more drops plopped onto the burning pad, she emptied the pot into her mug.
Pointedly rude, she didn’t offer any to Patton but slammed the pot back onto the burner to finish filling. With the fortification of caffeine starting to hit her system, Hailey finally turned to confront Patton’s tolerant smile.
“Rough night?”
“Worse day,” Hailey shot back.
“I hesitate to ask.” Patton got the clue and began helping herself to the coffee.
With narrowed gaze, Hailey tracked her movement, snarling when she came too close. “I can understand why, considering it’s all your fault.”
“My fault? How so?”
Patton actually managed to pull off sounding shocked. She even added to the performance by pausing to give Hailey that wide-eyed look of innocence. Like Hailey would let her get away with that shit.
“I ran into Cole down at the bakery this morning.”
“Oh.” Honest guilt flashed across Patton’s features, wiping away the act. Concentrating on pouring her own cup of coffee, her hesitation shined through in her tone. “How was he?”
“How was he?” That was one step too far. She almost hit Patton for caring about the wrong side of the equation. Instead, her friend got saved as her cup smacked into the counter, nearly cracking.
“Was it bad?”
“Bad?”
“Look, Hailey. I can tell you’re upset. Just tell me how bad he was hurt.”
Hailey looked around the room in a desperate attempt to find some kind of sanity in that moment. None came and so she snapped back at Patton in disgust. “He wasn’t hurt at all, Patton. That’s not the problem.”
“What do you mean he wasn’t hurt?” Typical Patton, she didn’t get it.
“Did I stutter?”
“But…I…are you sure?”
“Am I sure of what?”
“That he wasn’t hurt,” Patton explained as though Hailey was the idiot in the room. “Maybe Slade spared his face.”
There would be no getting to the part where she got to cuss at Patton if she didn’t get her friend over this speed bump. The annoyance at having to waste time though couldn’t be hidden in her tone.
“Please, there wasn’t a scratch on that boy.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. I saw Slade hit him.”
Patton’s head shook as she muttered to herself. Hailey began to get a sense that maybe, just maybe, Slade played Patton for a change. That had her smirking.
“Are you sure?”
“He hit him.” Patton glanced up as if Hailey would offer her any comfort. “Maybe he hit him in the stomach, but he ripped him from the truck screaming he was going to kill Cole.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because he was jealous. That was the plan.”
This time Hailey grinned for real, glad that she wasn’t the only one going to have a bad day. “He knew it.”
“You don’t know—”
“Chase figured it out at the bonfire and called me on it.”
“What?” Patton blinked.
“They knew, Patton.” Hailey waved her hands in the air. “The jig was up.”
Hailey really did enjoy the way Patton wore her stunned expression. It didn’t happen often that somebody got the better of Patton, which really made her friend’s angry flush that much more funny.
“That sneaky son of a bitch,” Patton whispered.
Hailey rolled her eyes at that and moved around to settle down at the kitchen table. Self-absorbed Patton was about to carry on as if she had any right. Banging her cup onto the counter to pull her friend back out of her own drama, Hailey snapped, “Are you listening to me?”
“I heard you.” Patton settled down across the table, all regal but for the blush still lingering in her cheeks. “They played me.”
“Not before you and I played them.”
“Oh, I see.” Patton reached across the table to give Hailey’s hand a comforting squeeze. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m not mad at you. You can’t help it if you’re not a good liar.”
“Mad at me?” Hailey gaped, snatching her hand back. “Oh, no. You’re not the one who gets to be mad. I’m the one who is mad at you.”
“Me?” Patton had the audacity to look amazed. “Whatever for?”
Hailey’s jaw clenched back on the anger that snapped forward at that question. “You dragged me into this stupid ass game, and now I’ve got the hounds of hell on my heels.”
“Are you worried about Chase and Slade? Don’t be. I can control them.”
“Such ill-placed confidence,” Hailey sneered. “But no. They’re not my problem.”
With an exaggerated sigh of patience, Patton asked her with all tolerance, “Hailey will you just tell me what is going on?”
“Cole.” Hailey spit his name out as if it was a sour taste in her mouth. “Cole Jackson and his two sidekicks, Beevis and Butthead. That is what is going on.”
“Cole?” Patton laughed. “He’s what’s got you all concerned?”
It almost hurt not to go over the table at that. The last thing Hailey would have admitted to in that moment were the real details of her misadventure at the Bread Box, not that she wouldn’t tailor it to prove her point. “He walked up to me at the bakery and said ‘game on’ with those two twits snickering at his side.”
“What two twits?”
“Jake and Aaron.”
“Doesn’t ring a bell.” Patton shook her head.
“They were two grades ahead of us. Remember? Aaron drove the black Malibu SS.”
Patton blinked. “Malibu what?”
“It’s a muscle car.”
“Sorry.”
“Jake had the beat up Chevelle they worked on in shop class.”
“The Chev…what? Isn’t that a rock band?”
Patton’s ignorance had to be intentional given how much Hailey used to talk about that car. Either that or she really did think Hailey was boring. “It’s an old Chevy.”
“Don’t give me that look, Hailey. I didn’t take shop.”
“Well, I did and those two Neanderthals made my life hell,” Hailey snapped. “They’re Cole’s cousins. They work with him down at his shop, and they’re just as bad as Cole.”
Patton snorted. “Cole isn’t that bad. I wouldn’t sweat him.”
Hailey’s mouth fell open. “Don’t sweat him?”
“Yeah. So what if Cole has taken an interest in you. A woman could do worse. He’s a hottie.”
Hailey’s head dipped to the side under the weight of her disbelief. “He’s a walking advertisement for the convent. A woman could make him wear four rubbers and still not be sure she wouldn’t get infected. Besides he hasn’t taken an interest in me, he’s declared war.”
“Just because of what happened the other night?” Patton looked doubtful and still completely unconcerned. Why would she be? It wasn’t her ass caught in the cross fire.
“He’s been ticked at me since I turned him down a year ago.”
“He asked you out, and you turned him down?” Patton’s mouth fell open. “Why am I just hearing about this now?”
“He didn’t ask me out. The sleazy, arrogant, bastard just wanted to get his hands—”
“—on your hot little body.” Patton grinned.
“On my car.” Hailey waved her hands in agitation. “Hello? Remember our conversation?”
“Your car?”
“You never listen to me.” Hailey sighed. “I’ll make this short. Cole has been lusting after it since I bought it. Thinks he’s God’s gift to wrenches and has been insulted ever since I told him where he could stick his ratchet. I take care of my own car.”
“Sounds like the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”
“There is no relationship!” Hailey shouted, provoked by Patton’s dismissive attitude. “I’m telling you he’s been lusting after my Commander for a year now. Oh, I’ve seen his eyes all over my baby, checking her out when my back is turned. I don’t trust that man, and I know full well what the double dorks are capable of.”
“Don’t you think you’re blowing this out of proportion?”
“No, I don’t.” Hailey crossed her arms over her chest. “You remember when somebody super glued my books to the shop table?”
“Oh, yeah, that was funny.”
Hailey’s eyes narrowed on Patton. Obviously she hadn’t found any humor in the joke. “That was Jake and Aaron led by their then leader Kyle.”
“Kyle? Kyle Harding?” Patton grinned. “He’s hot, too.”
“He’s an ass.”
“Oh, yeah, he certainly has one of the best.”
“Patton, the man rivals Cole for the title of jerk of the century.”
“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating?”
“No.”
“I talked to him last night, and he was nothing but a gentleman.” Patton pursed her lips and wiggled her eyebrows. “Much to my disappointment. I was hoping…you know. He and Cole appeared to be good friends.”
“They’re partners in the restoration shop in town.”
“I wonder if they partner in anything else?”
“Patton!” Hailey’s mouth fell open. “You have three men at home. Now you want two more on the side. What do you want? To die with your legs spread?”
“I wasn’t thinking for me, sweetheart.”
“Oh, no.” Hailey shook her head at Patton’s look. “That’s your sick dream. Leave me out of it.”
Hailey's Game Page 2
