“That’s my problem. I’m guilty by association.”
GD snort rolled into a laugh at that. “Ain’t that some bullshit. Your guilty all on your own, Kyle, or don’t you remember the hell you rained down on Hailey’s head through high school.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Time means nothing to a woman with a grudge.”
Kyle scrunched his lips at that, unable to argue that point. “I guess I got some making up to do.”
That mutter earned another smirk from GD. “Try some begging, boy.”
“Trust me, my knees are already bruised.”
“Is that a fact?” GD smirked. “Soon enough it will be ‘yes, dear’ and ‘I have to check with, Hailey—’”
“Shut up.” Kyle shoved GD toward the line.
GD stumbled over toward the yellow line on the floor, barking, “Hey, you gonna get your darts out of the way?”
In his good time, and Kyle made that point silently. Annoyance didn’t hold him quiet for the next few minutes. Dour contemplation did. Despite GD’s skepticism, Kyle had always had a thing for Hailey.
A very special thing and, truth be told, it had annoyed him for most of his life—kind of like a dog who knew its owner’s call meant having to crawl into a kennel for the night. Kyle had run as hard and fast as he could in the opposite direction in almost blind fear of being caged. Freedom had gotten lonely, and he tired himself out running.
“Your turn, lover boy.” GD bumped him with more than that insult.
A hard shoulder had Kyle tipping back slightly as the mountain of a man cleared too big of a path for Kyle to avoid being hit. Kyle rolled with the motion, tracking GD around the curve of the table with his gaze.
“You ain’t answered my question yet. You gonna help me with Cole?”
“And I was hoping you wouldn’t ask it again,” GD spat. “You know you’re putting me in a shitty position, right?”
“And if there was any way to avoid it, I wouldn’t I ask. Hell, man, Cole’s my best friend. You think I’d really do wrong by him? I’m just asking for a little time, and you can give me that. You control the schedule out at the club. Just make sure that enough of the right kind of women need his attention.”
GD’s jaw clenched before flexing outward. “You’re a real son of a bitch, and you owe me, but yeah. I guess he can’t complain about too much pussy, and God knows he got a pile of requests, but don’t think I’m going to hold this dam forever. You say you got a thing for Hailey, then you better get your thing in gear.”
That’s just what Kyle planned to do. The belted bleeps of GD’s cell phone cut off Kyle’s intended assurance. As he listened and watched the big man, Kyle grew tense right along with GD’s tone. Something had just come up. Not a happy something, but a bad one.
“I got to go.” GD snapped his phone closed and reaching for his dart case.
Like Kyle would let him walk out without an explanation. “What’s up, man?”
“The Davis barn went up in flames.” GD scowled. “Alex said somebody got caught in the backroom.”
The pause there didn’t take a genius to figure it out. Everybody knew what the backroom of the Davis barn was used for, and there would have only been one woman in it today.
“Everybody’s all right, man, but I got to go.” With that GD disappeared, leaving Kyle fumbling to call Hailey and get more answers.
Chapter 4
Monday, March 31st
Monday morning, Hailey stared through tired eyes at the tow truck backing down her drive. Eight o’clock and she managed to wash, dress, and feed herself, but Hailey still didn’t feel awake and alive. The weight of worry fraying the edges of her exhausted body made watching the Daytona come home a bittersweet welcoming.
As wretched and unloved as the old Studebaker looked, it filled her with a sense of warmth to know the classic would be a beauty once again. That revival would come through her own hands and determination. She needed the work today. It would help deal with the stress.
The arrival of the Daytona and Kyle just emphasized how much stress she had coming toward her in the days ahead. He called Sunday night, sounding all concerned about Patton. Hailey believed he sincerely worried like everybody else in a small town who didn’t plan too many untimely funerals. Thankfully, they wouldn’t be this week, either.
Kyle could have found that out from any number of sources. He didn’t need to call her to ask, but he had, giving Hailey the sinking suspicion he wanted into more than just her garage. The man wanted into her life. What remained a mystery was why.
“Morning, princess.” Like a gladiator already claiming victory, he hopped out of the tow truck and strutted up.
“Morning, Kyle.” Hailey managed to keep her tone even and her voice clear of emotion. Determined to start on a perfectly professional level with Kyle, she nodded to the space she cleared. “Go ahead and dump her. I cleared out a spot last night.”
“I’m surprised you found the time.” As if they had the kind of relationship that gave him any rights, he reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re looking a little rough this morning, princess.”
“Don’t touch me.” Hailey leaned away. “And I am tired, too tired, to deal with you, so could you just dump the Daytona and we’ll roll her back into the garage?”
The grumpy rebuttal had him shifting back toward the tow truck, starting up the wench to angle the flat bed down toward the pavement. “Maybe you should have invested more time in sleeping than trying to clean a spot out for the car. You saved yourself, what? An hour of my company and still have a few thousand more to suffer?”
He said it like a joke, but Hailey could hear the honesty of his opinion embedded in the words. “I didn’t clear it out just to get over on you,” she retorted. “I just…needed to work.”
The soft quality of those words seemed to penetrate Kyle’s smirk, and his lips flattened. With a nod, he conceded. “I get that.”
It took a good thirty minutes to lower the car and push its heavy ass back into the stall. Not trusting the breaks that had obviously worn through to dust, they braced her with thick wedges of wood under the tires. Toeing the last one into place, she came around the car. The only thing that disturbed her about the Studebaker was the man grinning over the hood at her.
“Ain’t she sweet?”
“She’s a rusted piece of shit.” Hailey smiled.
That had Kyle’s grin growing as he circled around the car to come stand with her at the front, staring down the long length of the rotted classic. “But she will be sweet once you and I get done with her.”
Hailey knew where that kind of talk led. “Don’t you even think about putting an arm over my shoulder.”
“Well, there goes that moment.” Kyle turned with his sigh as he began the long strut back to the tow truck. The man just had to look as good going as he did coming. “I’ll be by tonight to start going over the details with you.”
“What?” That had Hailey’s eyes lifting off his ass to blink. “What do you mean by tonight?”
Kyle paused with his hand on the truck door to give her that straight look of his. “I mean, I’ll bring the pizza.”
“Don’t bother.” Hailey knew he wouldn’t listen to her, but she intended to lodge her objection anyway. “I’ll take a look at her today and then work up some plans. How about we just meet for lunch tomorrow?”
“Lunch tomorrow?” Kyle pondered that before shrugging.
He wanted her to think he said yes, but she knew he’d be on her doorstep at six. “I’ll give you a call.”
“You do that.”
There came that grin again, a quick flash before he hoisted himself up into the truck. Hailey didn’t trust that grin or the wave he gave out the window before rumbling down her drive. He’d be back, and she intended to have a welcome waiting for him.
* * * *
At five-fifty exactly, Hailey pulled off her gloves and stepped back to admire all she’d acco
mplished in one day. The frame didn’t look too bad, but it didn’t look too good, either. Not that she had the energy to tackle that problem now.
The long hours of non-stop work finally caught up with her. Her muscles ached, and her stomach started to revolt. She needed food, something beyond the last soda in the twelve-pack she had stored out in the garage.
Thankfully, Kyle would be showing up with that pizza in ten minutes, not that she intended to rely on him. On the off chance she read his farewell wrong, a sandwich would be a good thing to be working on then.
Leaving her tools out and the lights on, she knew the first thing Kyle would see when he drove up—a naked car. The feeling of her life spinning out of control motivated her nicely today. She managed to get the whole car detailed out on paper, backed with pictures of just about every original inch, and still get all the body panels off, too.
For all the time it took, it didn’t even feel like an hour to her. She’d been so focused on her task. Hailey loved the work. Letting lunch roll past and the phone go unanswered, she barely spared the time it took to pee for most of the day. It had all been worth it.
Not just for the car, but for Kyle. Scrubbing the grease and grime form her hands, she contemplated just how Kyle would take her answer to his arrogance. It’d probably have him a little upset and getting a little pushy. Hailey already knew her response. If he didn’t like the way she did things, he could take his engine down to his shop and work by his damn self.
Slapping her sandwich together, Hailey kept her eye on the clock, getting more and more nervous as the minutes counted down to six. With her sandwich one inch from her mouth, the digital numbers morphed to six o’clock exactly the second her front door erupted in tremors as a hard fist pounded on it.
Struggling to put her grin in its place, she slapped her sandwich down on the counter and went for the door. It shook before her very eyes as he pounded again, and she paused to take a deep breath, schooled her features into a scowl, and opened the door.
“I brought the pizza.”
A box smelling like heavenly delight to her empty stomach almost smacked her in the nose. Stepping back quickly before he physically ran her over, Kyle didn’t even appear to take notice of how he all but shoved her out of the way. Passing by, he headed down the hall toward the kitchen, calling out to her over his shoulder.
“Since you didn’t tell me what you wanted this morning, I got what I want.”
Hailey slammed the door in response before taking off after the man. Just as it had yesterday morning, her heart raced, her knees wobbled, and she skidded into the kitchen with a welcoming enthusiasm she hoped read like outrage.
“Meat lover’s delight,” Kyle informed her as though they’d actually been holding a conversation. Plopping the pizza down on the counter, he cast her a dirty look. “You know you could have at least showered, princess because you’re smelling kind of rank over there. Oh, sandwich.”
Just like that, he picked up the sandwich she made herself and started eating. Holding it in his mouth like a dog, he just kept on acting like he owned her kitchen. Rifling through her cupboards and drawers as he amassed plates and silverware, Hailey just stared until he glanced back over at her. Pulling the sandwich from his mouth, he even managed to make chewing look sexy.
“I’m not kidding about that stink, princess.”
Like hot iron to the backside of a cow, his rudeness startled her back to the moment at hand and her role as the upset and indignant host. “What are you doing here?”
“I told you this morning, pizza and talk. We got plans to make, princess, so I’d really appreciate it if you’d get yourself cleaned up quick.”
Ignoring that reference to her dirty state and not letting embarrassment catch her for smelling bad in front of a hot man, Hailey stepped into that argument ready to go. “I thought we agreed to make those plans over lunch tomorrow. Tonight, I haven’t got time.”
“Why’s that? Didn’t get all the body panels off today?”
Hailey smirked, feeling her moment coming. “It’s half my car sitting in my garage. What am I supposed to twiddle my thumbs until you get off work every day?”
Braving the foul air, Kyle met her in the middle of her kitchen to give back just as he got. “You could wait until we talked, which we could get to doing if you’d stop trying to rush me out the door, partner.”
“And you should be thankful to have such a hardworking partner.”
“I would be thankful for an honest one who didn’t scheme behind my back—”
“Scheme? Behind your back? What do you—”
“And I certainly could ask for one who isn’t so argumentative, not to mention the smell.”
“Something smells all right in this kitchen, but it ain’t me.”
“You know it makes me hard when you argue with me like this.”
Hailey retreated instantly from that provocative statement. The grin weighing down on her had her taking another quick step back. She didn’t trust him in that moment anymore than she did herself.
Kyle matched her step back with one forward, his grin run a little wild as his gaze traveled over her length. “You know, I could help you with that stink, princess. I’m actually known for making showering interesting.”
The tremors beneath her feet warned her the scales had started to tip precariously in his favor. The slide had her feet stumbling backward in retreat.
* * * *
Kyle really hated watching Hailey storm off. He hadn’t been lying. He could work some magic in a shower.
Ah, hell, another day.
Piling the plates, silverware, and napkins on top of the pizza box, he stuck the sandwich back in his mouth as he carried it all out to the living room.
The princess better hurry up if she wanted any food because Kyle didn’t wait for anybody. Making himself at home in her house, he availed himself of the remote and settled in to enjoy his dinner. He enjoyed it all the more when he heard the shower kick on in the other room. The moment held the kind of domestication he’d been looking for.
One day, Hailey would come out of that shower wrapped up in a big fluffy robe. She’d settle down beside him on the couch for dinner, but it wouldn’t be long before he had her naked and panting over the cushions.
“What the hell are you doing eating there? I have a dining area, you know. And get your boots off my table. What is wrong with you? Were you born in a barn?”
So much for that fantasy. Kyle sighed and glanced over at Hailey to give her a straight answer. “Yes, and I was raised by pigs.”
The response earned him a classic wrinkled-nose look of disgust. Hailey mastered that expression around the age of nine. “Ha. Ha. Ain’t you just a laugh a minute?”
Say what she wanted, the little woman sat down, which meant he won round two. That’s probably why she got even crankier with him. “Listen, Kyle, we need to talk.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying since yesterday. All it got me was shoved out the door.”
The way her jaw flexed at that provocation made it that much harder to keep a straight face while he said it.
“Yes, well, it would help if you did less talking.”
“But you just said we needed to talk.”
“I mean I need to talk, and you need to shut up and listen.”
“Now see,” he lifted his boots off her coffee table to sit up straight, “that’s the kind of thing that doesn’t make me real interested in listening. I have this rule, people insult me and, well, I get them back. You don’t want me to be thinking like that given how many hours of work we have ahead of us, do you?”
“That’s my point exactly.” Hailey leaned in a little too excited for Kyle's liking. He had a sick feeling he knew what came next. “We don’t even get along, Kyle. How are we supposed to work together?”
“Well, it would help if you’d start being nice.”
She met that helpful suggestion with a glower that matched her growl. “Maybe it would just be
easier if we didn’t try at all.”
“I ain’t selling you the car, Hailey.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m suggesting that we lift that engine out and you take it down to the shop to work on and I’ll—”
“Nope.” Kyle cut her off with that simple, solemn protest.
“But you haven’t heard what—”
“Don’t need to.” He knew it pissed her off when he interrupted her a second time. Her little ears started to glow red, and her lips thinned out to a tight line.
“Kyle—”
“Listen, Hailey.” Kyle sat straight up and turned to confront her. “I brought that car here for both of us to work on, and both of us are going to work on it. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to learn to get along and work together, and who knows? Maybe even have some fun.”
“Like me falling into your bed.”
“Oh, princess.” Kyle sighed and risked getting bitten to reach out and cup her cheek. “If that’s all I was after, you’d already be bent over the edge of this couch moaning how good I am.”
Beneath his palm, he felt the delicate muscle of her throat contract with her swallow. “So what is it you really want?”
“You.” The flash of fear that shot through her eyes with that declaration didn’t go unnoticed by Kyle. Sensing he pushed just as far as he should in the moment, he released her to flop back on the couch. “Just you eating my pizza and relaxing. Is that such a bad thing to want, Hailey?”
Giving in after a long moment, Hailey snatched the slice of pizza out of the box. She ignored him as he flipped through the channels, silently brooding in her corner of the couch. Kyle let her be, settling on some caught-on-tape show.
It didn’t take long for the car chase to entrance Kyle with one near miss after another. Finally as the suspect hit over hundred and twenty miles per hour, he lost control. Veering off the road right before a bridge, the car went air borne. Shooting over the gulley like a rocket, the car disappeared beneath the bridge’s edge. Anticipating death or at least some blood, Kyle leaned forward in rapt attention. A second later a crash along with a large puff of dust had him laughing.
Hailey's Game Page 4
